Then they said to each other, "What we're doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let's go at once and report this to the royal palace." – 2 Kings 7:9

Today's Scripture Reading (January 23, 2023): 2 Kings 7

I am convinced that we have become a society of bad news. I seem to hear it all around me, and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it only seems to be getting worse. The network and cable news cycle leads with it and uses it in their teaser ads. Your homepage blares it out with headlines that read "The terrible news about (insert public figure here), and if you bother to click on it to find out what has happened, it is usually something minor or innocuous. Somehow, we seem afraid to admit that things are getting just a little better. We worry about the next wave coming out of China or run around worried about runaway inflation. And yes, these things are problematic. But every day, we are also given the opportunity to rejoice about something. Life is much better for most people around me than we often let on. And we might enjoy it more if we would simply stop looking for the dark side. And of all the things we worry about, only a fraction of what we fear actually becomes a reality. Worrying becomes just another waste of time. Yet, we stand at the ready to spread whatever bad news we think we possess.

Ben-Hadad, the King of Aram, has laid siege to the city of Samaria. Food has run out in the city, and the people are starving. Trapped at the city gate are four lepers. And the lepers have run out of options. The only food seems to be in the Arameans' possession, so they decide to surrender to Israel's enemy in hopes of being fed. The lepers decide that if they are fed, they are better off as prisoners than they had been in the city, and if the Arameans kill them, well, they were going to die anyway. It seems that whatever they choose to do, the outcome of death seems likely.

But when they reach the camp of the Arameans, no one is there. And so, they eat; it is, after all, what hungry people do. But amidst their meal, they realize this is a secret they can't keep to themselves. The empty Aramean camp is good news that must be shared. Keeping this good news a secret would be sin against all of the people in Samaria.

The lepers' actions have been compared to our actions as Christians in contemporary society. We are the lepers. Or, in the language of Paul Tillich, we are beggars whose only job is to tell other beggars where to find bread. The word Gospel literally means "good news." In a world that seems to be dominated by the bad, we possess the good news that the world needs. Or, as Charles Spurgeon pointed out, Christ "came to save us from [our] selfishness." Jesus didn't come to save us so that we could selfishly hold on to what we have been given. And if that is what we decide to do, then punishment should overtake us. Jesus came to give himself for our good, and as Christians, we are called to do the same thing. To be selfish is really anti-Christian.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 8