Good News
Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 6:24-7:20
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.”
—2 Kings 7:9
This story is an awful one. A siege has reduced the townspeople to eating donkeys’ heads and each other. The king is driven to attempt murder; a royal officer expresses deep doubt in God, and lepers desert to the enemy. It’s about a terrible situation forcing people to desperate measures, people who have given up hope. This is a story about what happens when despair and fear and helplessness rule the day.
“Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?” asks the king. And God answers in a way that no one could have anticipated.
God acts—but no one is there to see it. God does a great thing, but what does it matter if no one is willing to talk about it?
By sharing the good news, the lepers help to save the city of Samaria. Without their message, the king would never have heard the answer to his question.
A bearer of good news is like one starving person telling another starving person where to find food; being a prophet of God is a matter of one person telling another person the reason why they can hope.
What stories of the good things God has done for us can we share so that others will know there is good reason to hope in the Lord?
Open our mouths, Lord, to be the bringers of good news to others. Help us to speak words of hope. Amen.
About the author — Thea Leunk
Thea Nyhoff Leunk has been a high school English teacher, a director of Christian education, a pastor of discipleship, and a regional coach for the Christian Reformed Church in North America. She is currently the senior pastor at Eastern Avenue Christian Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Thea has also written courses for teens and young adults on world religions, Christian faith traditions, and science and the Bible. She and her husband have three adult children.
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