He sent me to bring the good news to the poor ... (Luke 4:18)
What is News?
Many years ago and an old chap told me how he, as a child, had heard the news of the end of the First World War - they didn’t get the news on the 11th November, via a telephone message to the house of the Squire, but almost a week later, via a telegraph to the local railway station.
No hourly news bulletins, or rolling news in those days!
When we think about "news" perhaps we think of something which is instant: votes live from parliament or earthquakes and tsunamis from the other side of the world - these are instantly before us.
But actually, the most important thing about news isn’t
So perhaps its a bit of a surprise that they had "news" in the ancient world. No papers, no radio or tv or internet, no mobile phones, no iPads - how could it be?
But let's go back to what “News" actually is.
Because news can be so instant, we generally think news is something which has just happened.
The way we get new these days has changed greatly - because of the technology around us. It is or can be indeed instant, if that is what we want. But the technology also means that we tend not to consume news (just receive it) but choose news - to select the news we want - not just the subjects we want, but that attitudes we prefer to. This was always true to a certain extent, but now it has come to shape the news itself. And this has given rise to what is called “fake” news - stories which are false, but which are designed to attract, excite, and even titilate.
So, Often the things which make the news - things which amaze or annoy us - happened well in the past: scandals about things which took place decades ago and have only just come to light, comments posted on the internet by famous people when they were much younger, crimes which were not solved at the time, but which now, many years later, are coming under scrutiny because of DNA and other techniques. And it is not only these big and serious matters which become news long after they occurred - films, music, literature is often “rediscovered” sometimes long after their creators had died. People who were virtually unknown in their lifetime are now celebrated for their significance - like Alan Turing, the mathematician, for example, or Matthew Flinders, the man who gave Australia its name, whose grave was recently discovered in London.
So - News often isn’t actually new at all, but is something which provokes a reaction - an event, a happening, a change. It is something out of the ordinary, beyond the run of the mill, which departs from the usual, which disrupts the routine. It excites our emotions, moves our hearts, stirs us with anticipation. The reactions it produces might be positive or negative. It might make us weep; it might foster hateful or lustful thoughts and feelings; that is news. But if it leaves us cold and disinterested and unmoved, then it is not news.
So It is not its immediacy which makes it News, but its ability to provoke. And even old news, is still news, if it can continue to create a reaction. And the story of Christ is news beyond news.
At the birth of Christ, the angels cry Lo! Behold! and the shepherds rush from the fields to Bethlehem.
Herod hears the news of the birth of the child and reacts with fear and anger.
John the Baptist tells his followers - Behold the Lamb of God, and they turn to Jesus.
In today's Gospel, Jesus proclaims the news of his coming in Nazareth, and the hearers are outraged.
And the apostles will tell the extraordinary news of his teaching and miracles, of his betrayal and his arrest, of his death and his resurrection, and people are inspired to join them and follow him, or arrest and imprison them.
This News, is Good News, the greatest news story ever. The scoop beyond all scoops. News that moves hearts -by word of mouth, by journeys and by letters, by speeches given in market places and in the courtrooms, by charity and by martyrdom.
And to our day, this is News which moves the heart and saves the soul.
Which is why we call it Good news!
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