“Good,” a word I used too often in my story, repeatedly got my fifth-grade teacher’s red marker. “Too bland!”
Still, people move to Helena because it is a “good” place to live, a “good” place to raise kids, and a “good” place to work. Good enough.
At the other extreme, Jesus gives us startling goodness.
Once, “a man ran up and knelt before” (Jesus). “‘Good’ (‘agathos’) Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “Why do you call me ‘good’ (‘agathos’)? No one is ‘good’ (‘agathos’) except God alone.” (Mark 10:17,18).
For Jesus, “good” is white-hot/holy, like the heavenly-threshold-shaking message of angelic warriors: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD Almighty!” (Isaiah 6:3).
Such staggering goodness seems impossible.
How could Jesus know about searing holy-goodness? After all, Jesus’ hometown, Nazareth, couldn’t hold a candle to Helena. When initially skeptical/scoffing Nathaniel learns that Nazareth is Jesus’ home, Nathaniel’s prejudice erupts in a thoughtless run-on cliche: “Can-anything-‘good’ (‘agathos’) come-out-of-Nazareth?” (John 1:46)
Jump to Scotland. People living out in the sticks, the “heath,” were “heathen.” Scorned people from small “villages” in England were “villains.” Prejudices abound. Montanans observe; God ordered our languages so that Naz-“rez” sounds like an abbreviated “Nazareth.” Could Goodness himself come from “the rez?” Mindboggling!
Jesus’ “God-alone-is-good” stops us in our presumptive good-old-boy/sisterhood tracks. How can sinners like us approach shockingly holy God? We’d rather cancel his goodness. Can God re-dignify those who were made in his image but became dead in sin?
Yes!
One prominent clue? Counterintuitively/spectacularly, the Best Good came from ‘can-anything-good-come-out-of-Nazareth.’”
Now, Abraham as a Willing Witness
God made flawed Abraham right with him. Why? Abraham trusted God to make him right. Paul could have had Abraham in mind when he wrote: “I am sure of this, that he who began a ‘good’ (‘agathos’) work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)
With Abraham, God initiates and then gives away his holy goodness. Goodness-Gracious!
Then, God tells us: “Abraham obeyed my voice” and became a “keeper.” Keeping what? God says Abraham “kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” (Gen 26:5)
These four landmark words in the Old Testament (OT) are used 583x. Note, this passage is the first time each of those words is used in the OT! As God’s friend, Abraham became a trailblazer in goodness.
Continuing with Mary
When archangel Gabriel visited astonished teen Mary, she lived in Nazareth. We should be shocked!
What would it be like for Mary to grow up on such a “rez”?
In her Magnificat, Mary sings: “The Mighty One” (1:49), “has lifted up the humble (and) ‘filled’ (‘empiplemi’) the hungry with ‘good’ (‘agathos’) things.” (Luke 1:52, 53) Rough Nazareth taught Mary humility and hunger.
But, Nazareth did not rob Mary of her song. Mary knew God didn’t overlook Nazareth or her.
Likewise, Paul writes: God “did not leave himself without witness, for he did ‘good’ (‘agathon’) by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, ‘satisfying’ (‘empiplemi’) your hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:17,18)
‘Satisfied’ Mary sang about God’s faithful provision – even in canceled Nazareth. Sinners though we are, God takes care of us. Goodness-Gracious!
Now, come back to Mary’s Magnificat. Mary sings:
“The Lord, God my Savior ‘has looked on’”
Friend, this word means: “to look upon with focused attention; to give special regard to, to be moved with compassion as the one looking beholds who/what he is looking for.”
Oh, Mary, you captured the attention of the Lord God of the Universe. How could he be bothered to give attention to you, a Nazarene? Goodness-Gracious!
“the humble estate”
Here the Holy Spirit helps Luke record an unusual word for Mary’s song. Bypassing the typical word for humility, this word is still lower, “humiliation.” Moved with compassion, does God “look on” the humiliated, the shipwrecked? Goodness-Gracious!
Mary’s song shows she perceived her lowliness.
Isaiah knew deeper dishonor awaited Messiah. “In ‘humiliation,’ he was deprived of justice.” (Isaiah 53:8)
This stark Isaiah passage captured the Ethiopian eunuch. Using this Isaiah Scripture, Phillip pointed the eunuch to God’s love in Christ, even for eunuchs, even for foreigners. Jesus gives many – even the despised – his white-hot goodness. Goodness-Gracious!
“of his servant” (Luke 1:46-48)
Literally, “of his ‘slave’” – what lessons God taught Mary in Nazareth!
So, when with Nathaniel we ask: “Can-anything-good-come-out-of-Nazareth?” – or any of the Nazareth-messes we make, God answers: “Yes, in Mary’s womb the Pearl of Great Price, Goodness himself, came to Nazareth!” Goodness-Gracious!
Even after his resurrection, glorified Jesus repeatedly links ‘dissed’ Nazareth, his Mom’s hometown, with his name. Goodness-Gracious!
Finally, Considering Joseph
Coming from King David’s city, Joseph’s ancestors had a name in Bethlehem. And the only person in the New Testament called “son of David” other than Joseph is Jesus. Additionally, Matthew 1:19 refers to stellar Joseph as a righteous man. Like Abraham, by faith, Joseph loved God.
But, did God’s goodness/graciousness also lead Joseph to love his despised/lost Galilean neighbors, leaving Bethlehem to move to Nazareth – perhaps showing them God?
Nazareth cost Mary and Joseph. When Joseph and Mary presented the newborn Jesus in the temple, they offered the sacrifice of the poor, turtle doves. They could not afford a lamb.
How did grace triumph for/through Joseph? A one-word testimony, the only word Scripture records Joseph speaking, is: “Jesus,” “Savior.” (Matthew 1:25) Goodness-Gracious!
“Queue up the millions who have spoken the name of Jesus, and look at the person selected to stand at the front of the line: Joseph. Of all the saints, sinners, prodigals, and preachers who have spoken the name, Joseph—a blue-collar, small-town construction worker—said it first.” (“Christmas Stories,” Max Lucado)
Rather than making a name for himself, Joseph protected Mary and baby Jesus – going to Egypt. Eventually, loving his neighbors, he brought Jesus home to Nazareth. Goodness-Gracious!
Friend, along with Abraham, Mary, and Joseph, hear God calling you to bring Jesus, the Greatest Good, to those who need him most. Goodness-Gracious!
Note: The photo I used on my website is of two Palestinian women. The photo was taken by French photographer Felix Bonfils in about 1880.
