Let's keep it a secret

I must confess that I almost laughed at the passage. It is in Mark's gospel. Jesus goes to the home of Jairus. His daughter is sick when he comes to get Jesus, but by the time Jesus gets through with the woman and the bleeding, the child is reported as dead.  Jesus goes to Jairus' home. There is a crowd of mourners there. They are all sure that the child is dead. Jesus said the child is sleeping. They laugh at him. Jesus goes into the room where the girl is, he restores her life, and she gets up and he suggests that they give her some food.  What was most amusing to me was that Jesus then gives them strict orders not to tell anyone.

So how do they keep it a secret when the girl goes out to play?  How do they not tell anyone when she is seen moving around.  What are they supposed to keep secret?

Anyway, one of the constant themes in Mark is the scholarly subject of the Messianic secret. But what I find most appropriate now for Christians is that Jesus spends a lot of time telling his disciples to cool it. To keep their mouths shout. Not to say anything. Just to keep doing what they are doing, healing the sick, caring for each other, and listening to Him.

I think that in our current situation as Christians in a culture that is evolving and trying to find a way to have a multi-religious society, one of the best contributions Christians could make is to curtail and refrain from a lot of talking.  As followers of Christ, we do not have to out yell everybody. There might be a lot less stress and hostility if we were a lot more silent and patience.  The advice of Gamaliel to the Jerusalem council is still good advice for us, "If this great evolution of our society is of God, it cannot be stopped. If it is not of God, it will not endure."