Our readings this week are Isaiah 9.1–4 and Matthew 4.12–23.

'Jesus went throughout Galilee... proclaiming the good news of the kingdom'. 

That's verse 23 of our gospel reading this week.  I wonder what that phrase, 'the good news', means to you?   It's one that gets used quite a lot in church circles, alongside its synonym, 'the gospel'.  But what is it?

Isaiah offers us the ideas of light in place of darkness, glory in place of contempt, an increase in joy, a reduction in gloom, a lifting of oppression, and a release from burdensome toil.  They certainly sound pretty good, don't they?

The reading from Matthew quotes many of the same verses, but adds in the calling from obscurity into recognition and purpose of Jesus' first disciples; and the curing of disease and sickness among the people.  

So is the 'good news' that these things are possible?  Or even that they are happening?

If that is so (and I think it probably is), then that leads us to another question: who is this good news for?  Because whether news is good or not very much depends on where you are standing in relation to it.  This news, for instance, isn't all that good for those who are doing the oppressing - and presumably doing quite well out of it.  It's not good news for the lamp-makers, or whomsoever it may be that is making profit from the darkness (and I promise you someone will be!).  In fact it's probably not good news for anyone in any way invested in the status quo.

No, it's good news for the anguished, the poor, the weak, the vulnerable, the sick, the persecuted, the reviled, and the oppressed.  And maybe, let's be generous, for the odd oppressor too - if they themselves find freedom and healing from whatever it is that has wounded them so deeply.

This is the narrative we find when we watch the Kingdom of God spring into being in Jesus' actions and teaching: "blessed are you who are poor - woe to you who are rich; blessed are you who are hungry - woe to you who are full; blessed are you who weep - woe to you who laugh..."

That turns this into a really tough question for us.  When we look across the history of our faith, and the tradition and institutions we've inherited, that have upheld it, and been upheld by it - and when we consider many contemporary expressions of our faith - which of those groups do they fall into?  It's sobering to recognise, when we're honest, that the difference between the two might not be as stark as we would hope.

But looking back does less good than looking forwards - and so the question I want to leave you with is: if we believe what Jesus was preaching is good news, how will you, and I - individually and together - shape our lives and attitudes to align with it?  How will we challenge what's around us in order to bring freedom, healing, light, and love to those who are most in need?  How will we be good news?