Tell No One

Mark 1: 45-50

Modern Christians are all about testifying, evangelizing, spreading the Gospel, and sharing with others.  Entire cottage industries of apologetics and evangelism depend on this activity and our recent desire to share everything.  It makes people a lot of money, gives folks their 15 minutes of fame, but it does not advance the work of Jesus one bit.  In fact, it has the opposite effect.

We overlook the many times Jesus performs a healing miracle and then orders people to tell no one about it.  Today's Gospel is an example, and it shows us why Jesus gives this instruction.  The man, like all others in the Gospel, ignore the command. He tells others, and it creates a mob looking for Jesus, but impeding his work.  Jesus goes off to a desert place and remains alone.  

Our testifying does nothing but create mobs, but Jesus is not present in these mobs.  He knows they are only about ourselves - about making ourselves famous and making some money on our story.  The mob will go away eventually, but not after they have killed the Lord.  Instead of doing a touchdown dance at the work God has done in our lives, let us instead live humble lives of service and care for others as Peter's mother-in-law did.  Then, and only then, will we be doing the Gospel's work in the world.