The Redemption of Bad news

 I have some good news and some bad news. What would you like to hear first?

 

According to a 2014 study, 78% of people want to hear the bad news first. The reason given was a belief that they would feel better if the bad news was out of the way and they were left with a good vibe.

 

Those of you who like to hear the bad news first, welcome to the words of Jeremiah the prophet.

Jeremiah’s message delivers the bad news first; 30 chapters worth. Then Jeremiah turns to good news for 3 chapters (only 3 of 52), where his words focus on God’s promise of restoration and a ‘new covenant.’ But don’t get caught relaxing in the good news, because he follows the good news with 19 more chapters of bad news.

 

Although reluctant to accept the call to be prophet, Jeremiah is an articulate prophet, skilled at delivering bad news. He harps on false and insincere worship, and the people’s failure to trust Yahweh particularly in national affairs. He refers to society as a whole, as unfaithful and rebellious with regards to the covenant. There has been a failure of the people to love God, love neighbour, and love creation; moral decay has settled in. Society is rotting and consequences are upon them. It is bad, very bad.

 

Imagine that you have good and bad news to deliver. Which do you prefer to give first?

A study was conducted to see which kind of news people prefer to deliver first. The results were split. It really depended on the personality and perspective of the news bearer. Some put themselves in the shoes of the other person to think about what they would want to hear first; usually delivering the bad news first. The others thought about themselves and which they were more comfortable delivering; usually saying the good news first because it was easier on them.

I wonder if prophets like Jeremiah, had a choice, in how they shared the prophetic message given to them?

God’s words given through Jeremiah were harsh and devastating; not an easy message to bear particularly in tumultuous times. In Jeremiah’s sandals, I think I would have given the good news first, so that at any point in the telling of the bad news I could flee from the possibility of being bombarded by an angry crowd throwing vegetables, rotten eggs, and stones. It doesn’t surprise me that Jeremiah in his role as prophet faced opposition and imprisonment.

 

The question has been asked, “Which news is better to hear first?” Interestingly it depends upon whether you want to focus on your mood and how you feel, or on growing by changing your behaviour.  So, to hear bad news first, the idea is that the good news acts as the mood enhancer. It allows one, for at least that moment to worry less by putting the bad news aside. Setting the news aside, it can be forgotten, the hearer has no interest in a change of behaviour. Societal preference is to begin with loss and negative outcome and to end with gain and positive outcome. We like stories that have happy endings.

 

Good news first is a completely different understanding. It means one is left with the bad news or the negative. It means that one is left a little, or a lot, unsettled. Being unsettled – wrestling with bad news, the negative, critique - has the potential for growth and possibility. Being unsettled can be motivating and opens one to making positive behaviour and life changes.

I wonder how Jeremiah interpreted the news he proclaimed? I am wondering if he didn’t label it bad news, but, rather interpreted the message as a prophetic word meant to do good; Jeremiah assuming that to be unsettled would motivate the people to change and bring in the ‘new covenant.’

The prophetic nature of the word was seen as redemption of bad news; hearing the prophetic word would cause all things to be made new.

 

 

Heaps of bad news were fervently proclaimed by Jeremiah because Jeremiah was a man of the covenant who believed in God’s word:

I will restore the fortunes of my people…

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ”Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. (31: 31-34)

Jeremiah believed this to be true - God’s grand vision.

 

Jeremiah believed in the people too. He believed his message -heaps of bad news- would motivate the people to return to covenant living. He believed people would change once they were reminded who they were and what they were to be about. This bad news, would be a catalyst and the people would want to change their behaviour, to return to the Lord; to once again live the covenant, loving God and others, and no longer putting themselves first. For 5 decades – 50 years- Jeremiah proclaimed God’s word to the people.

 

In this case and in this time the people chose to set the bad news aside – to not change…

 

50 years is a long time to keep preaching and proclaiming a return to God, urging people to think about others before themselves, and to resurrect a covenant society from the rot of moral decay. No wonder Jeremiah comes across as a melancholic prophet who wrote a whole book called Lamentations. Yes, it is sad, it is full of tears, and bad news. In the hope that someone – maybe you – maybe us as we discern the transformation of church property and building- is unsettled and thus motivated to change and bringing God’s grand vision to life; redeeming bad news and resurrecting a covenant society; where God’s people live by God’s grace and through God’s grace, loving God, loving neighbour, and loving creation.

 

 

…. upset? disappointed? … the people who heard the word of the prophet Jeremiah chose not to change.

Unwillingly Jeremiah is dragged off to Egypt by the Judean leaders who run away in fear of the Babylonians who had burned down the Temple and taken control of Jerusalem.

 

In this case and in this time the covenant was not restored. Moral decay continued. There was no justice. No peace. No love of God. No love of others. No love of creation. … all because the people chose their mood and feelings, over, being motivated to grow and change.

 

 

God,

This life is so not about us. Let your prophetic word, as spoken through Jeremiah, --bad news--- unsettle us. Unsettled may we be motivated to change our behaviour. Help us to move from pacifying our moods and feelings to wrestling with how to love you with all our hearts and our neighbours with covenant love. Assist this community, in turning moral decay into restored covenantal living. We believe in God’s vision of restoration, justice, peace, and love – we choose to change and be part of bringing your vision into being, now. Amen.