The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Durrell Watkins at
the Sunshine Cathedral on
Sunday, April 6, 2008.
I’ll never forget the time that my great-aunt Gladys went on vacation. She
went to some seaside vacation spot and she decided that she wanted a tan…
without tan lines. So, she went up to the roof of her hotel and began
sunbathing in the all-together. After about 10 minutes of sun worshiping, she
was startled when the assistant manager appeared on the roof clearly feeling
uncomfortable. Aunt Gladys reached over for her towel and covered herself with
it while the embarrassed assistant manager said, “Ma’am, we don’t mind if you
use the roof for sunbathing, but you really must wear a swim-suite.” Aunt
Gladys, amused by the assistant manager’s apparent prudery, scolded him:
“Young man, what difference could it possibly make if I’m wearing anything or
not… up here on the roof, no one can see me.” To which the assistant manager
replied, “That’s not quite true, Ma’am. You see, you’re lying on the dining
room skylight.”
[Has nothing to do with our topic today, but I will go to great lengths to
make sure you are listening.]
Now for business: I’m not going to talk about the Luke reading today, even
though it is one of my favorite gospel stories. Resurrection is experienced in
a variety of ways in the New Testament, most of them mystical, and today’s
story is another example of people experiencing Resurrection in a mystical and
life-changing way. But I want to focus on the Apostle Paul this morning… but
first, let me set the scene.
Forty years before the birth of Jesus, Julius Caesar died. After his death,
he was declared divine, which made his great-nephew and adopted son, Octavian,
the son of a god. Octavian ruled as Caesar Augustus, and was the emperor at
the time of Jesus’ birth.
A tradition developed of emperors being deified after they died, and their
heirs were called divine son or the son of god. This imperial cult grew
exponentially for a while. The cult of emperor worship even offered “good
news”. The good news — or “gospel” of the imperial cult — was that Caesar, son
of a god, was now Lord of the whole world, bringing peace and prosperity and
justice to all people throughout the empire. Of course, anyone who disagreed
with the propaganda would find themselves in a prison cell or impaled on a
stick, but the official word was that it was good news that the divine son
Caesar was in charge of a thriving, dynamic, ideal empire.
So, with that in mind, hear these words of the Apostle Paul:
I, Paul…
was set apart for the gospel …about God’s son, descended from David according
to the flesh, but established as son of God in power according to the spirit
of holiness through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 1.1, 3-4)
The reigning Caesar is son of God because the previous Caesar was raised to
divine status. Paul says that JESUS is the son of God because God has raised
HIM to a cosmic, eternal significance.
Caesar is a divine son because he is descended from previous Caesars. JESUS
is the son of God because he is descended from God’s servant, David.
Caesar is the Lord of the empire, but Paul says Jesus is OUR Lord.
And Caesar has good news proclaimed about his imperial might, but Paul says
that he has been set apart to proclaim good news about Jesus!
Rome’s good news is that Caesar is in charge; the good news of Jesus is
that nothing outside of ourselves can be in charge of the real us.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a counter-cultural, seditious, in your face,
liberating gospel that takes on the powers of oppression and gives hope and
dignity and empowerment to those on society’s margins.
Rome executed Jesus, but Paul says that he didn’t stay dead. He was raised
as a son of God according to the spirit of holiness through resurrection.
Jesus trumps Caesar, according to Paul. Rome killed Jesus, but Rome didn’t get
to have the last word. And now all the honors Caesar claims for himself, Paul
is attributing to someone Caesar’s government killed.
No wonder Paul does so much of his writing from prison!
Paul isn’t searching for good news; he’s affirming it! Paul imagines divine
possibilities right where he is. He even imagines a lordship over against
Caesar’s… a gospel over against Caesar’s… a divine son over against Caesar.
Paul imagines and experiences Resurrection Power and Resurrection Joy in
the midst of his lived reality with all of its challenges.
Paul finds good news within himself. He finds that the divine love
demonstrated by Jesus Christ can lift him up no matter what the circumstances
in his life happen to be.
In fact, Paul said, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”
That’s Happiness Now! Paul facing prison and execution and tribulation can
say, “My happiness doesn’t depend on my circumstances and my happiness can’t
be robbed by my circumstances… I HAVE LEARNED TO BE CONTENT WHATEVER THE
CIRCUMSTANCES!!!”
This bible that we love isn’t after-life fire insurance. It isn’t an escape
from reality that we visit once a week in church. The bible is a tool of
empowerment to liberate hurting people and to challenge the powers of
oppression — whether those powers are external or internal.
On April 3, 1968, the day before his murder, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. gave the last speech of his life and in that speech he said that he
was happy to be living in the time that he did. He said he was happy
to be grappling with the problems that all people have had to struggle with
throughout history. In the midst of strife, Dr. King affirmed that he was
happy
.
Dr. King had been harassed by the FBI. He had survived assassination
attempts. His family had been threatened. He had been jailed. He knew that
fighting for the sanitation workers in Memphis might cost him his life.
He said, “I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I
want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.
And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing
any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” That’s
Happiness Now! It is the wise and enlightened soul who can observe all hell
breaking lose and still affirm, “I am happy.”
I have learned to be content
whatever the circumstances.
Robert Holden tells us today, “No matter how low, hurt hopeless… fearful,
or how awful you feel, the potential to experience peace and happiness never
goes away. Just as clouds in the sky can eclipse the sun but not destroy it,
so too can fear and pain eclipse your happiness but not destroy it. The
potential for happiness is with you permanently.” This is the good news. Amen.
One of a series based on the topics covered in Robert
Holden’s book, Happiness Now!: Timeless Wisdom for Feeling Good FAST
(Hay House, 1998; 2007)