Keep it safe, keep it secret

Frequently in the gospel of Saint Mark that we are reading day by day, Jesus tells someone He has cured (or the family of someone He has raised from the dead) not to tell anyone about it. What is the meaning of this mysterious desire of Jesus who has, after all, come to be a light to the Gentiles? If Jesus is here to share revelation with us, then surely, He should be giving these people the very opposite instruction. Could it be that these words were said with a wink and a smile, as if both He and His listeners knew very well that such miracles could never be concealed?

According to some authorities, Jesus’ intention is something quite different. Jesus wants those who benefit from his miracles not to turn them into a huge spectacle but rather to reflect deeply on the meaning that such interventions have in their lives. Let us imagine for a moment that we were the recipient of such a miraculous cure. The very first question we would ask ourselves is not how many people can we tell but rather: what does this miracle mean for me and for God's purposes for my life? The restoration of good health, or indeed of life, is not an absolute end in itself. Jesus is not simply the minister of well-being. These cures and these resurrections point beyond the natural order towards the supernatural and eternal vocation to which their beneficiaries and we are called. Just as our personal vocation (the particular form of holiness which God calls us to) precedes and accompanies our vocation to a state in life (married or religious life, priesthood or single life), so it would seem that sounding the deepest meaning of the miracles of Jesus precedes the noisy, gossipy festivity that they always seem to have unleashed. If we are simply overcome by the performance, we are in danger of missing the reality.  

The message here is not so much to be secret. The message rather is: go out into the deep. Do not stay in the shallows: dare to plunge into the very depths of truth. The surface appearance will always be there and almost any fool can see it. God's invitation is to cast ourselves into the abyss of His mysteries.