The Secret Is Out!

To the troubling spirit that cried out,

“I know who you are, the Holy One of God”

He said:

“Be silent.”[i]

To the leper who asked

if He would chose to make him clean,

He said:

“I do choose, Be made clean!”

and

“See that you say nothing to anyone.”[ii]

After He took a dead child by the hand and said

“Little girl, get up!”

“He strictly ordered that no one should know this.”[iii]

After a double touch opened sightless eyes

He said:

“Do not even go into the village (or tell anyone).”[iv]

When He asked: “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered correctly

“You are the Messiah.”

Then He “ordered them not to tell anyone about him.[v]

Not wanting to be labeled as an exorcist

Not willing to be hemmed in as a healer

Not wishing to be confined by conflicting expectations

He waited until the moment was right

to acknowledge who He was:

“Again the High Priest asked him,

‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’

Jesus said,

“I am.”[vi]

To the untrained ear

the two word answer seems a simple reply.

But to those given ears to hear

the condemned man’s words

contain an audacious claim

as the name first heard by the light of a burning bush is repeated

“I am.”[vii]

Thus the secret so long kept is revealed.

The Son and the Father who sent him are One.

“God-with-Us”

is

God for Us!

God!

God on trial

Falsely Convicted

Mocked and Abused

Crucified and Entombed

“Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”[viii]

Though it seemed the voice which said

“I AM WHO I AM”

was silenced for all time

the One who called Creation into being

brought order to chaos once more by declaring

“I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE”

through the words of a young man dressed in white

who said:

“Do not be alarmed;

you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified.

He has been raised, he is not here…

But go, tell his disciples and Peter

that he is going ahead of you to Galilee;

there you will see him, just as he told you.”[ix]

The secret was out and permission given

to Go and to Tell!

Still, Mark’s pattern--

of people not doing as they were told held firm--

“So they went out and fled from the tomb,

for terror and amazement had seized them;

and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”[x]

Except they must have found their voices

for if they had not

how would we know all this?

Knowing the One who so often told the faithful,

“I will be with you,” promised disciples

“I AM with you always to the end of the age,”[xi]

the secret is ours to tell.

“The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness did not overcome it.”[xii]

Go and tell!

Be silent no more.

[i] Mark 1. 23-26

[ii] Mark 1. 40-45

[iii] Mark 5. 21-43

[iv] Mark 8. 22-26

[v] Mark 8. 27-30

[vi] Mark 14. 53-62

[vii] Exodus 3. 13-15

[viii] John 1. 29

[ix] Mark. 16. 1-7

[x] Mark 16. 8

[xi] Matthew 28. 20

[xii] John 1. 5