Good News, Bad News...Who Knows?

Greetings, Sisters, Brothers and Friends of the Community!

I pray that this note finds you all well and at peace.

Just a thought for you on today’s lectionary readings, particularly on Genesis 50:20, “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good…”

It is a natural thing for us to quickly label an event in our lives as being either “good” or “bad”. Especially when we’re in the thick of things, it seems to be a way to handle the difficulty, to make it more palatable so as to create the sense that we are more in control than we really are. Joseph was aware that his brothers did him wrong when they sold him into slavery, and may have held a grudge against them for the longest time. But when he was able to see the event in the larger picture of life, over time, he realized that God was able to make good of it.

Some of you may have heard the story of the old farmer of years ago whose horse ran away from him. The neighbors gathered around and said, “Oh, bad news!”
“Bad news, good news…who knows?” he replied.

A week later the horse returned with several other wild horses. Now the old farmer had more horses than he had had before. The neighbors gathered around and said, “Oh, good news!”
“Bad news, good news…who knows?” he replied.

The next day the farmer’s son was training one of the new horses when he fell off and broke his arm. The neighbors gathered around and said, “Oh, bad news!”
“Bad news, good news…who knows?” he replied.

The following week the local army came through to conscript young men into service. When they saw the old farmer’s son had a broken arm, they passed him by and left.

“Bad news, good news…who knows?” he replied.

Judging what is good or bad, what we see in others and ourselves, might best be left to God alone. We’re not very good at it.


Br. Daniel-Joseph, CTG
Guardian