“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.’”
My first love was baseball. I lived it, played it, dreamed it, loved it. And truth be told, I was pretty good at it. I also remember the movie the “Bad News Bears.” Now while the movie was cute, funny, and ultimately somewhat inspirational, the pathetic baseball playing of the “bad news bears” was anathema to my baseball loving soul. Their baseball playing was bad news and they desperately needed to repent and believe the good news! They needed to believe the good news that they could indeed be better and then repent by practicing new habits of throwing, fielding, pitching, and hitting. Only new beliefs and new practices would transform the bad news bears into good news bearers.
I wonder if God sometimes looks at us and sees bad news bears. People clumsily succumbing to errors of pride, gluttony, greed, racism, homophobia, contempt, nationalism, militarism, divisiveness and so much more. We bumble around and make mockery of the cherished game of life.
Yet God in his great love for us sends us an encourager, a coach, a model player, a teacher, a deliverer and a Savior. He sends Jesus who emerges from the wilderness temptations exhorting us to repent and believe the good news. Repent from limiting beliefs, false narratives destructive ideologies and error producing practices. Believe that life and the world can indeed be better, resembling the life of the kingdom surrounding Jesus. Believe the good news that we are not stuck in endless cycles of bad news, whether internal or external. As we believe in new possibilities, we also practice new thoughts and behaviors. We can live and play differently as we are inspired to trust in the reality of good news.
I’m quite sure we humans are quite like the bumbling bad news bears, but the way things are not the way they have to be. We can heed Jesus’ plea to repent and believe the good news! May it be so!
Submitted by Pastor Tiger Pennington
Prayer Eternal and loving God, forgive us for all the calamitous errors of our own making and inspire us to repent and believe the good news. Forge in us the hope of good news that motivates us to new practices and behavior. For the sake of and in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.