Is there a time that gossip is good? What if the gossip is about Jesus? Does that make it any different?
Years ago, children used to play a game named Gossip, where they lined up in a circle, and the first would whisper a phrase in the next one’s ear. It might be something like, “Jerry got a new basketball for Christmas.”
By the time the phrase got back to the starting point, it rarely resembled the original. It might sound something like this, “Mary fell down and ate her fist.”
Of course the game was meant to be funny, but we view gossip as the bane of the church. Yet, what if the gossip we share is about Jesus?
Merriam-Webster tells us that a gossip is a person that habitually reveals personal or sensational facts about others.
In Luke 1:58, a great deal of gossiping went on, and it was of the most welcome kind.
Before we turn to our scripture, let’s look at a little background. An angel had come to Mary, telling her she would conceive, and her baby would be called the Son of the Most High. The angel’s words troubled her, for she was a virgin and unmarried. To bear a child out of wedlock was not something she would want to proclaim to the world.
How like that are we? God brings us good news, and we find fault with it. However, God understands our humanity, and he is quick to tell us he loves us.
When the angel told her that her kinswoman, Elizabeth, was also with child, she knelt and praised the Lord.
We all know the story of Elizabeth. She had been barren into her old age, and her husband Zechariah was struck dumb because he doubted Gabriel’s good news. What a joy it must have been for her to have a child in her old age! However, she hid herself away, not telling anyone the wonderful news.
We also know the story of Jesus’ birth, because we celebrate it every Christmas. Over the centuries, it has overshadowed every other birth in the history of the world.
What about John’s birth? Elizabeth had hidden herself away. There were no angels attending her son’s birth. No one brought silver and gold to lay at his crib.
Yet, in Luke 1:58, we read:
“And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.”
How did they find out John had been born?
Anyone familiar with the story of Jesus and his cousin John will agree that Jesus’ life eventually overshadowed John’s. However, John’s life was pretty sensational in itself. Even his birth was filled with its own sort of drama.
Isn’t that what a gossip does, tell personal information that is sensational in nature? John the Baptist was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth, and he had come to prepare the way for the Lord.
Someone gossiped for good, and we have the tale recorded in the Word of God.
That is the type of gossip we should all aspire to be, the one who shares the personal and sensational message of the Word. We should be a Good Gossip for the Lord.
The mighty works of the Lord are always something we can gossip about, for when we share the Lord, we share his love.
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