Is There A Secret Side To Your Life?
Sunday of Week 6 in Ordinary Time - Year B
Lev. 13:1-2, 44-46; 1Cor. 10:31-11:1 & Mk. 1:40-45
Can you keep a secret? Even something dramatic, unusual and exciting? Most of us can hardly resist the temptation to tell someone! Do we sympathize then with the man in today's Gospel reading?
He was a leper. This was not only a debilitating physical illness but also in first century Palestine a social stigma. Leprosy was generally regarded as a sign of disfavour with God and thought to be highly contagious. Its victims were condemned to a life of loneliness because, by law, they were ostracized from society, isolated from family and friends, and allowed to mingle only with other lepers.
In these circumstance the man in our story met Jesus, and was cured of his disease. But curiously the Lord gave him specific instructions not to tell anyone what had happened. Think of that! Well, as it turned out, the man was a complete failure at keeping such a secret, as Mark tells us, although you or I probably would have done no better!
Why did the Lord gave him that instruction? All through the New Testament we are commanded to be witnesses, to speak up, to tell others what Christ has done in our lives. But here is a man whom the Lord had blessed beyond measure and he is under orders to remain silent.
One reason seems fairly obvious. It is clearly implied, if not actually stated, by Mark that after the man had made his story public, Jesus could no longer openly enter the towns of that region. But it was not Jesus' desire to lead a religious parade of over-excited, half-hearted, uncommitted people. He was looking for serious followers who would still be around after the original excitement was forgotten. This man's testimony was actually more of a hindrance than a help.
But another reason why Jesus wanted him to keep the matter a secret, I think, had something to do with this being in the best interests of the man himself. At that particular time in his life silence was one of the things he needed most. There are times when you and I need the same thing. Every life should have a secret side. Any life that doesn't is exceedingly shallow and lacking in something vital.
In contrast to his reaction, I think of the example given by Mary, the mother of Our Lord. She, too, had a tremendous experience when the angel, Gabriel, came to her. Told that she would conceive and give birth to the Son of God, her mind must have been racing and her heart bursting with the news. But what she did was to visit her kinswoman, Elizabeth, whose life had also been touched by God. The two of them spent the next three months talking, thinking, wondering, trying to understand. Then after the birth Luke tells us that "Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart."
Something like that should have happened in the life of the man in the Gospel story. What he needed most was to contemplate the goodness of God and to thank Him for His favour. Did he ever come to grips with the real issues ... Who was this Man who had healed him? Why did He do it? What did it all mean? How would he handle this new lease of life? Unless he faced these key questions squarely and answered them honestly then his miracle, as wonderful as it was, would never have made that much difference to him. A healthy body does not necessarily guarantee effective living.
The same thing, of course, applies to you and me, because we have dealings with God, every day, in a hundred different ways which touch our lives, just as surely as Christ touched that lonely leper. The problem is that most of us neither slow down nor shut up long enough to realise it. But every life needs a secret place where we treasure sacred moments known only to God.
Lord Jesus, like Your mother Mary, may we ponder in silence all the wonderful things you have done for us, in every day of our lives.