Can you keep a secret?
by Sonia Hulme
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Jesus warned them sternly, ‘See that no-one knows about this’. But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region’ (Matthew 9:30b,31).
Have you ever had an encounter that leaves you wanting to ‘spill the beans’? When our daughter’s boyfriend came recently to ask us if he could ask her to marry him, we gave him our wholehearted ‘Yes!’ But our young suitor asked us not to say anything to anyone for several weeks. He still had work to do before his plan could come to fruition. Buy a ring and plan a proposal. The timing had to be just right.
Perhaps Jesus was a bit the same. He knew that once his claimed identity became known, it would raise the ire of the religious leaders and set off a train of events that would lead to his death. And he still had work to do before that happened. The timing had to be just right. So, he made his request.
We managed to keep our secret, even though it was a lonely sort of joy. But these two men in the Scripture could not! Unlike many of the people around them with physical sight, these two somehow understood that this man they could not see was the long-awaited Messiah. They understood enough about Jesus’ identity to pursue him until, in his compassion, Jesus granted their request. They had received miraculous healing, freeing them from a lifetime of poverty and social isolation.
So, who am I more like? The ‘religious’ people of the day who could see Jesus physically but couldn’t understand what he was offering them? Or these two men who came from a place of nothing and received everything they needed to live a life of wholeness? Because if we really understand what we’ve been given and who gives it to us, we too will be unable to keep it a secret. We’ll want to spill the beans.
Thank you, Jesus, that we do not have to keep our encounter with you a secret. Let it bubble up and spill out of us so that others may see and know for themselves the goodness we have met in you. Amen.
Sonia lives in the north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide with her husband and five children. She works part-time in a support role at Good Shepherd Lutheran School and as a spiritual director, helping people discern God at work in their lives.
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