A doctor says to her patient, “I have some good news and some bad news. Which would you prefer to hear first?
The patient says, “Tell me the good news first.”
The doctor says, “All right, the good news is that YOU ARE NOT A HYPOCHONDRIAC.” Of course, the bad news is that you REALLY ARE SICK.
A doctor takes his patient into the examination room and says, “George, I have some good news and some bad news.”
George says, “Give me the good news.”
The doctor says, “They’re going to name a disease after you.” AND THE PATIENT BRACES HIMSELF FOR SOME REALLY BAD NEWS after that.
Comedian Rick Mercer recalls being booked to perform at a big corporate event. Just before his performance, the company president walked up to the mic and announced that the corporation would be re-structuring in the next year, and many of the people in the room were at risk of losing their jobs. Then he said, “Ladies and gentlemen, funny guy, Rick Mercer!”
“What a terrible time to be introduced as a comedian,” reports Rick Mercer, “right after people found out they were losing their jobs.” (1) What a downer.
According to one comedian even Moses had to deal with good news/bad news, though.
God said to Moses, “I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”
Moses replied, “Give me the good news first.”
“Moses, the good news is that I’ve chosen you to deliver my people from bondage,” God answered. “I will force Pharaoh to release my children by causing years of pestilence in Egypt. There will be plagues of locusts and frogs and incredible devastation upon the land.
“Pharaoh’s armies will chase you as you try to leave, but do not fear because I will part the waters of the Red Sea to aid in your escape.”
“And the bad news?” Moses inquired.
“You have to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement,” God replied. (2) What an Environmental Impact Statement that would be!
Good news, bad news. Both come to us from time to time. But one of the most difficult tasks for people in leadership positions is finding a way to convey bad news. Even Jesus had to deal with the problem of conveying bad news.
Jesus and his disciples were at Caesarea Philippi. Good news was everywhere. Their ministry to this point had been a stunning success. Crowds pressed in on them everywhere they went. People eagerly reached out to touch this attractive young teacher from Nazareth. The disciples themselves were caught up in the excitement of it all. Jesus asked them, “Who do you say I am?” and Simon Peter answered enthusiastically, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” It was one of the most dramatic moments in the disciples’ pilgrimage with Jesus.
Then Jesus changed the subject. Up until now it had been mainly good news, but then Jesus started to give them a different kind of news. He began to tell them that the crowds would soon turn against him, He would be crucified, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. The disciples didn’t know what to make of all this. Simon Peter took Jesus aside: “Forbid it Lord that these things should happen to you.”
Peter loved Jesus. The last thing he wanted was for his Master to be killed. However, Jesus’ response to Simon Peter was as harsh as any words in the New Testament: “Get behind me Satan!” Jesus said. “You are not on the side of God but of man.”
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul . . .’”
This was decision time for the disciples. The easy days were coming to a close. If the disciples were going to continue to follow Jesus, they were going to have to prepare themselves for a rougher ride.
Bishop Will Willimon says that he is still haunted by a long conversation he had with a man who was a member of one of his early congregations. The man told Willimon that one evening, returning from a night of poker with pals, he had a stunning vision of the presence of the risen Christ. Christ appeared to him undeniably, vividly. Yet though this event shook him and stirred him deeply, in ten years the man had never told anyone about it before he told Willimon, his pastor. Willimon pressed him on his silence. Was he embarrassed? Was he fearful that others would mock him or fail to believe that this had happened to him?
“No,” the man explained, “the reason why I told no one was I was too afraid that it was true. And if it’s true that Jesus was really real, that he had come personally to me,” the man continued, “what then? I’d have to change my whole life. I’d have to become some kind of radical or something. And I love my wife and family and was scared I’d have to change, to be somebody else, and destroy my family, if the vision was real.” (3)
This was that kind of decision moment for Jesus’ disciples. And it should be for us as well. Jesus is “really real,” in that man’s words. That’s good news, of course. But it is also life changing news. If we take it seriously, then some changes might need to take place in our list of priorities. It was decision time for the disciples.
Of course, it was decision time for Jesus as well. In a very short time, the Master would be kneeling in a garden. Sweat would be dropping from his brow like great drops of blood as he prayed, “Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass before me, but nevertheless let thy will, not mine be done.” Jesus knew what lay before him. He came to do the work of his Heavenly Father. And that included laying down his life for those he loved. That, of course, includes us.
Rev. Alex Stevenson says the story goes that in ancient Israel there was an Old Wise Woman. And this Old Wise woman wanted to know what the messiah would be like so that if she saw him, she would know him. So she prayed that God would show her what the Messiah would be like. And as she prayed an angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “Your prayer has been answered. Just watch and you will see the answer to your prayer.
And the old woman looked and there in front of her was a small farm. And she heard a voice and it said: “Joshua.”
And she heard another voice and it said, “Yes Father.”
The first voice said, “Go fetch some water for the sheep, they are thirsty.”
Then she saw a young boy running to the well to draw water. Then she heard the voice again and it said, “Joshua.”
And the boy said, “Yes Father.”
And the first voice said, “Go plow the fields so that the seeds can be planted in good soil.”
Then the old woman watched as the boy plowed a field.
Then she heard the voice a third time. “Joshua.”
“Yes Father.”
“Go bring the sheep into the pen, for darkness is coming and the wolves will get them.” Then the boy went and brought the sheep in.
Then the angel said to the wise old woman: “Do you understand?”
And the wise old woman said, “Yes, I understand! The Messiah will do as he is told.” (4) Jesus was obedient to God. He did what the Father told him to do.
There was an amusing story on the Reader’s Digest website from a woman named Patricia Nihill who said that she was raised in an Irish Catholic family with a strict father, charming mother, and eight siblings. She said that during Lent, it was common practice for their parish priest to visit their grade school classrooms to help them understand this religious observance.
Father Lynch visited her youngest brother Danny’s first-grade class and asked, “Why did Jesus die on the cross?”
Her brother was first to raise his hand. His answer, “Because his dad told him he had to.”
Patricia Nihill said, “Clearly, Danny knew the chain of command with our family and with God.” And it’s true. Jesus knew the chain of command. He did what his Heavenly Father told him to do.
Another woman, Laura Albrecht, wrote to Reader’s Digest to tell a very different story about her three-year-old daughter.She said that, after moving to the country, she and her daughter were often alone in their house. Because they lived in a rural area with no close neighbors, Laura wanted to make sure her daughter would be able to call 911 in the event that something happened to her mother. After instructing her daughter on what to do, she decided to test her. “OK,” she asked her small daughter, “what would you do if you found me on the floor and you couldn’t wake me up?”
Laura says she could see her daughter’s little brain working. To her surprise her daughter finally said, “I would go into the kitchen and eat anything I want.” (5)
Not every child is going to do what her mother or father instructs her to. But Jesus obeyed his Father’s will for his life. And, of course, it cost him his life.
Christi O. Brown tells a story that can serve as a modern-day illustration of the sacrifice Jesus made for us. It comes from a friend with whom Christi plays tennis. As they were waiting for another match to finish, her friend was relating how badly her knees hurt. This was a surprise, because Christi says her friend is the most fit 30- something-year-old she knows. Yet her friend sat beside Christi with a brace on each of her knees.
Christi pointed to the open hole of her knee brace and asked her friend if her scar was from knee surgery. Her friend said, “No, it’s from my son, and I actually have an identical scar on my other knee.” Then she told her story.
It happened several years ago at a swimming pool. She scooped up her toddler son from the swimming pool and began to walk toward a lounge chair. As she stepped onto the tiled patio, her foot slipped on the wet, slick surface. She was seven months pregnant, and it was one of those moments where you feel like you’re moving in slow motion but there’s nothing you can do to stop the fall. Within a split second, she knew her momentum was toppling her forward, and she realized she could either fall on her face and land on top of both her son and her unborn child, or she could fall on her knees and avoid falling on them.
Of course, as any loving parent would do, she chose to fall on her knees directly onto the unforgiving concrete. Her knees immediately burst open, and blood went everywhere. She ended up needing stitches, which resulted in the scars, but her son and her unborn child were both unscathed. (6)
It's a sacrifice any parent would have made. She has scars on her knees, but she protected her son and her unborn child. It was her time of decision.
It was a time of decision for Jesus’ disciples. But it was also a time of decision for Jesus himself. “Not my will but thine be done.” And he gave his life for us.
Pastor David Moore tells about a man who was walking through an art gallery when he came upon a picture of the Lord Jesus dying upon the cross. As he stared into the face of Christ, so full of agony, the gallery guard tapped him on the shoulder. “Lower,” the guard said. “The artist painted this picture to be appreciated from a lower position.”
So the man bent down. And from this lower position he observed new beauties in the picture not previously shown. “Lower,” said the guard. “Lower still.” The man knelt down on one knee and looked up into the face of Christ. The new vantage point yielded new beauties to behold and appreciate.
But motioning with his torch toward the ground, the guard said, “Lower. You’ve got to go lower.” The man now dropped down on both knees and looked up. Only then as he looked up at the painting from such a low posture could he realize the artist’s intended perspective. Only then could he see the full beauty of the cross. (7)
Jesus did the will of his Father and the full beauty of his sacrifice continues to move all those who fall to their knees and look up. Jesus took the disciples aside at Caesarea Philippi to give them some bad news about their immediate future. This was a time of decision for Jesus’ disciples. But it was also a time of decision for Jesus as well. It cost him his life. But think what came from that one isolated event. More than 2,000 years later millions of people bow down at the name of Jesus. The bad news of the cross became the best news ever conveyed.
1. Rick Mercer, “13 Public Speaking Pros Share Their Best Tips and Horror Stories” by Kevin Donnelly, Entrepreneurship, Aug. 8, 2016.
2. https://www.shopify.com/blog/121468293-public-speaking-tips.
3. The Best of Will Willimon: Acting Up in Jesus’ Name (Kindle Locations 1483-1487). Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.
4. “What Kind of Messiah is He?” Rev. Alex Stevenson, Grace United Methodist Church http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/1506/lent6b.htm#What.
5. https://www.rd.com/advic.e/parenting/hilarious-parenting-true-stories/ “Hilarious Parenting Stories That Will Make you Laugh Out Loud" by Juliana LaBianca.
6. https://www.rd.com/advice/parenting/hilarious-parenting-true-stories/ "Hilarious
Parenting Stories That Will Make you Laugh Out Loud" by Juliana LaBianca.
7. From a sermon, “In and Around Heaven.”