On Good News and Great News
June 14, 2026
Rev. Traceymay Kalvaitis
Psalm 100
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him; bless his name. For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations.
Matthew 9:35-10:8
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.
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Today’s sermon is titled On Good News and Great News.
We have a special name for the first four books of the Second Testament, the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We commonly refer to them as the Gospels, the Gospel according to Matthew or the Gospel according to Luke. The original Greek word for gospel is euangelion, (U-on-gail-E-on) made up of eu (good) and angelion (message). The Gospels are meant to be “good news, good tidings or good message.” In our reading today from Matthew, Jesus’s charge to the disciples is to “Proclaim the good news that ‘the kingdom of heaven has come near.’” Since Jesus gives such a clear imperative to his students, it would we worth our while to consider what he might have had in his mind and on his heart when he said, “Proclaim the good news that ‘the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
When we think about a kingdom, we naturally picture a physical place with boundaries and perhaps we even picture ruling monarchs that faithfully protect all those living within the boundaries of their kingdom. You may remember from our previous studies that the original Greek word that is so often mistranslated as “kingdom” is basileia. Basileia is more accurately translated to mean rule or reign. Any kingdom would reflect the nature of its ruling monarchs, whether they be benevolent or tyrannical, so over time the use of the word kingdom took the place of the original word, basileia. Reign of God became kingdom of God. Reign of Heaven became kingdom of heaven.
Using the more accurate translation, the good news that Jesus charges his disciples to carry is “the reign of heaven has come near.” The implied message is this: things are changing, there is a new paradigm. Merriam Webster dictionary defines paradigm as “a model for something that may be copied.” The new paradigm is based on the concept of heaven as a way of being, a way of relating, a way of acknowledging that the needs of others are as important as our own. The new paradigm Jesus was offering to his community is based on thousands of years of Jewish wisdom and messages from the prophets. This paradigm offers a way of co-existence in this world, not in the next.
Jesus says the good news is this: the reign of heaven has come near, right now, today; I have come to bring a new way of being in the world. I have come to show what the reign of heaven looks like. I have come to provide a new paradigm of leadership because your leaders have failed you; instead of power over, I offer you power with. I have come to model a life focused on love of God and love and care of one another. Go and tell.
And that is not all. Jesus said, “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons.” In other words, serve the people. Notice Jesus did not say “convert the people.” Jesus commanded his disciples to serve, to cure, to raise, to cleanse, to restore, and to make whole what is broken.
Friends, you may be thinking, “What does this have to do with me? I have no power to cure the sick or cast out demons or raise the dead.” I call our attention to the letter of Second Timothy chapter 1, verse 7, where it is written, “The Spirit God gives us does not make us timid but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” Friends, we have more power than we know. Consider first the misuse of power that leads to all manner of violence in this world, not just physical violence, mind you, but the emotional violence that is wielded in homes, schools, workplaces, and through the media constantly. We humans have a tremendous capacity to inflict harm. Consider the power of our words, how they can hurt and harm or they can encourage and uplift. We have more power than we know.
We carry an immense capacity for goodness, too. I just finished a novel titled Theo of Golden. It is a brilliant testament to how one person’s benevolence can serve as a catalyst for positive change that can extend through generations. Without giving away the ending of the book, I can share with you some of the last few sentences that were chosen to honor the life of one person who made a tremendous difference in a small community. The words are congruent with the good news Jesus sent his students to share. “This is a place where heaven and earth meet. All, who choose to be, are capable of saintliness. Faith, hope, and love endure, but the greatest of these is love.”
Friends, we have more power than we know. We have the power to foster wholeness where there is brokenness using only our words and, at times, our willingness to patiently listen. We have the power to be a presence of calm when others are frantic. We have the power to transform every relationship of our lives through our commitment to honesty, compassion, and devotion. Family, friends, colleagues, neighbors are all indelibly affected by who and how we are in the world. We can bring healing even when there appears to be no cure. We can offer forgiveness to relieve the burden of guilt and shame. We can offer our most precious gifts, our time and our focused attention. We might not be able to cast out demons, but we can cast out fear from our own hearts and live, instead, with hope and trust that there is goodness, there is God-ness, alive and at work in the world. We have more power than we know. We can speak and act as if we are living under the reign of heaven or we can speak and act as if we are living under the reign of hell. We have the power to align ourselves with death-dealing and destructive forces, and we have the power to align ourselves with life-giving and restorative forces. The choice is ours. The choice is becoming more and more clear.
In Deuteronomy 30, there are beautiful words reminding us that all we need to know is already within us. It is written, “Turn to God with all your heart and with all your soul. Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
All we require is already within us, Friends. We find similar words to guide us in II Corinthians 3:3, “Show that you are a letter from Christ, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
In closing, I remind us of the good news, that the reign of heaven has come near to us through the life example and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth who sends his students out to be of service in the world, and to mend what is broken. The great news is that we can be full participants in the work of mending and healing and restoration on this earth, right now, in this moment. We have all we need within us to live as disciples, as students, of Christ. We can live as if we were a letter from Christ to the world, written with the Spirit of the living God, on the tablets of our hearts. I invite us to imagine what Christ’s message to the world would be and then allow Christ to work in us to share that message in a million beautiful ways. So be it. Amen.
Indigenous theologian Rev. Danny Zecharias wrote a beautiful commentary on this passage from Matthew. “These verses capture the heart of discipleship: responding to the needs of the people, relying on God’s provision, and carrying forth the work of healing and restoration. This passage challenges us to see discipleship not as passive belief but as active participation in the work of restoration.”
Pastoral Prayer
Lord of all things, we find ourselves in tumultuous times. Your presence is often difficult to sense among the news headlines and stories from around the world of disasters large and small, and yet Your Presence is in us and among us in ways we can not comprehend. We pray for a heightened awareness of how we may be instruments of your goodness and your peace. Help us to still our bodies and minds so that we may respond to your guidance, Lord. Spark our memories, that we may be reminded of the power of prayer, as we pray for ourselves, and as we pray for our sisters and brothers around the world. I pray for Fathers especially today. May they be guided by the highest form of love as they care for those around them. This I pray in the name of Christ. Amen.
Benediction
I leave you with these words from Thessalonians, chapter 5: “May the God of Peace sanctify you completely, and may your spirit and soul and body be sound.” Amen.