This Day is a Day of Good News

‘We are not doing what is right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent.”
2 Kings 7:9

Four lepers sat at the entrance of the city of Samaria as it was being besieged by the Syrian army and suffering famine to the point that women were eating up their children. The lepers decided to surrender to the enemy in the hope of getting something to eat. As they entered the camp, much to their surprise, they saw there was nobody there. They could freely enter the tents and help themselves to food and water until they were full. After they had enjoyed their meal they said to one another: “We are not doing what is right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent.”

The good news was that the enemy had fled and they felt the moral obligation to communicate it to their people, not to remain silent. They said further: “If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. ” (2 Kings 7:9)

We also have good news to give and we are not doing right if we keep silent. We do not have to wait until morning breaks, but in these dark hours in which the whole of humanity is sunk in deceit, degradation and hopelessness, we who have found the bread and water of life, we who are not any better than they and whose flesh has also been corroded by the leprosy of sin are the most appropriate to bring the good news of salvation, of healing, of deliverance from the siege of the wicked one.

The Syrians had fled because the Lord had made them hear the sound of chariots and they thought the Israelites were getting help from Egypt. The Lord has the power of making our enemy flee and leave us in peace if only we trust in his power. “This day is a day of good news”. Every day is a day of good news since we are still living in the time of grace, but if we remain silent we are not doing right. Paul says in his letter to the Romans: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ” Romans 10:9.

The beautiful message of salvation, of the cleansing of sin through Jesus Christ’s blood and of deliverance from eternal death by the power of His sacrifice of love has not only to be believed in the heart but also confessed with the mouth, and we know that the mouth speaks of what is in the heart. So we should ask ourselves what our main topic of conversation is.

If we have tasted salvation, if we have drunk from the water of the fountain of everlasting life, then our duty is to spread out the good news. Paul says, “Woe of me if I do not preach the gospel” Jesus said to the Pharisees who asked Him to rebuke the disciples who were rejoicing and praising God: “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out. ”

One way or the other the good news will reach the four corners of the world and then the end will come, an end that to those who believe and trust in God means the beginning of eternity. Isn’t this a joyful message? “If we wait until morning light some punishment will come upon us ” said the lepers. We know what the Bible tells us about Moab: “Moab has been at ease from his youth; he has settled in his dregs; and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel nor has it gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remained in Him, and his scent has not changed.” (Jeremiah 48:11).

The gifts the Spirit has given us are to be shared. Just as the widow who had been left with so many debts that she feared her sons would have to be given as slaves followed the prophet’s advise to gather all the vessels in the neighbourhood and fill them with the little oil she had. By doing this she was witness of a great miracle: the oil did not stop flowing until she had filled up the last vessel. In the same way we should spread the good news.

The Lord has made us to be an aroma of life for those who will be saved (Cor. 2:36). But if we keep the light under a bushel it will happen to us as it did to Moab, whose scent did not change, who remained his old self. We shall not resurrect to a new life in the spirit but remain with our stinky putrefying flesh clinging to our bones. Let us go into captivity, let us become prisoners of Jesus’ love, and then we won’t be able to remain silent and every day we shall say: “This is a day of good news.”

May the Lord give us the grace of keeping fresh in our minds what He did for us and to share it with others.
AMEN

Teresa Corti