The word ‘good’ appears in scripture over 900 times, seven times as often as the word ‘bad’. Here are just a few of the numerous occasions that scripture asks us to think about what is good.
GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD (GENESIS 1)
There’s plenty of doom and gloom in the world and heaven knows there is reason to be concerned. Human beings have a lot of experience making trouble. But creation is our sacred text, the place where we come to know God. Scripture reassures us from page one that the world is good. It is not supposed to be a valley of death through which we pass on the way to something better. It is a gift for us to treasure.
A GOOD AND BROAD LAND (EXODUS 3)
The journey to peace and justice is one of the major themes of scripture. In the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy, learning about the moral requirements of the good life is closely connected with being entrusted with care for the promised land. The good things are to be shared.
THE BEGINNING OF THE GOOD NEWS (MARK 1)
Sometimes people say, ‘I have good news and bad news’. St Mark is not like that. He only has good news, although a good deal of his story of Jesus is tough reading. It leaves us with the question of what is good about the terrible deaths of John the Baptist and, even more, Jesus. Why do we call our commemoration of the crucifixion ‘Good Friday’? Yet Mark was so deeply convinced that he comes up with a new word, Gospel, to describe just how much good is at stake here.
IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE (MARK 9)
It’s hard not to love Peter. When we first meet him, his idea of good is at sea level with a decent haul of fish. In the middle of Mark’s Gospel, he says that it is good to be on top of a mountain with Jesus, James and John. We know that his journey is only just beginning, and he will have some not-so-good days. He keeps learning. His idea of good takes him further and further from his comfort zone. He learns how to love.
GOD HAS FILLED THE HUNGRY WITH GOOD THINGS (LUKE 1)
Mary never saw herself as isolated. When she welcomes the news that she is to be the mother of Jesus, her famous prayer reminds us that God has always been on the side of the poor. All through history, people of no account have been chosen as instruments of God’s peace and creativity. She is part of a great community who work for the good.
CAN ANYTHING GOOD COME OUT OF NAZARETH? (JOHN 1)
John’s Gospel has some of the most sublime and poetic passages. It also has some of the most down-to-earth and realistic characters. Nathaniel doesn’t believe anything good can come out of such a dusty backwater as Nazareth. He speaks for all of us who have doubted if anything good can come out of a job we don’t like or a relative who annoys us or a suburb we’d rather not visit. God’s idea of good is broad. We just have to get our heads around it.
TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD (PSALM 34)
How can we possibly taste God? Taste is perhaps the most intimate of the five senses. We see and hear things that are outside us. We experience touch and smell when something is close. But taste means allowing something right inside. The Psalms constantly ask us to be intimate with God and Psalm 34 is one of the most daring, so much so that it is quoted when Jesus is close to death. ‘The Lord is close to the broken-hearted.’ In good time, God will release us from all our fears.