I went to a wedding for a couple I had gone to seminary with.
A person that had met me years ago took me aside to tell me a story about when he told someone – a friend or relative – at a church service about my history.
He said “I told him ‘That lady used to be a man.’”
What he told this person was true. But I felt it wasn’t something he needed to share, and I felt a bit betrayed by this.
The only reason he knew this was because that morning I had led a workshop about transgender people, and had revealed that information in that workshop. And while my being transgender wasn’t exactly a secret, it wasn’t something I expected people to share.
Especially in that way.
Let’s go to God in prayer.
God of wisdom, may the words that I speak, and the ways they are received by each of our hearts and minds, help us to continue to grow into the people, and the church, that you have dreamed us to be.
Amen.
The Emblem of the United Church of Christ is a cross with a crown and an orb at the bottom. The orb is a reference to the first chapter of Acts:
7 “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father who has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:7-8, NRSVUe
In Mark 16:
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.”
Mark 16:15
So why would Jesus sternly order the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah?
In Matthew 16:15, Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do you say I am?” And in the next verse, Peter says “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And then He tells the disciples to not tell anyone that.
Why?
The answer is in the verses preceding this:
Jesus asks the disciples who people say he is, and they tell him the people think he’s John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.
People think Jesus is the resurrection of John the Baptist, who was recently beheaded, or the return of Elijah, who was taken up in a whirlwind, or the resurrection of Jeremiah or another of the prophets, all of whom are dead.
They’re not saying Jesus is the Messiah.
What would happen if the disciples were to say Jesus was the messiah at this point?
Some people might believe it. Some people might turn away and say “another false messiah.”
The better question is: what can be gained by proclaiming Jesus as the messiah at this point, and what would be lost?
Even if something is true, that doesn’t mean it has to be told. This is a tricky place to be, but I’m going there.
There are times when you definitely want to tell the truth:
Maybe it’s something really good that people need to hear, like “Jesus didn’t reject people, and neither do we.”
We have that banner on the church.
There are some times when you don’t want to tell the truth, but you really should.
Maybe it’s something that would make people cautious, but they should need to hear, like “We’re running a deficit budget.”
But there are some things that are not so necessary to say, like “We use Ring cameras for our security.” Unless there’s a benefit – such as Ring giving a discount or preferential treatment – there’s no real reason to share that information and, in fact, it might make us more vulnerable to people who want to defeat our Ring cameras.
We do not, in fact, use Ring cameras, by the way. Nothing against Ring. We just use something else.
The point is that we don’t necessarily have to wear all the truth on the outside of our clothes.
Some things are not helpful to share. Some things are not helpful yet.
In the case of Jesus telling the disciples not to tell anyone he was the Messiah, that was a temporary command.
That changed later.
People were gossiping and saying Jesus was any number of people, and while those things were not accurate, it wasn’t going to be helpful to add Messiah to those names.
Not at that point.
So how do we apply this today?
In our culture, we are often uncomfortable with silence. We often feel we need to say something to fill the space. When we’re speaking just to fill the space with sound, we may say something we don’t need to say.
Most of the time, those things are not a big deal:
“It’s cloudy today.”
“Well, it’s another Sunday.”
or other small talk.
But we ought to be careful with our words, because what we say cannot be taken back. Information we share tends to get shared in more places.
Gossip, although not helpful, is often somewhat intentional. We tell stories about other people.
But sometimes it’s unintentional. We think we’re just making small talk.
So my challenge this week is to practice thinking about what we’re about to say.
- Is it important?
- Does it need to be said now, or would it be better to say later?
- What is the purpose? What do I hope will happen because of what I say?
- What is the risk? What might happen because of what I say, even if I don’t want that to happen?
And we can be quiet.
Silence can be uncomfortable, but it is rarely harmful.
Amen.
Let’s sing CH 273 Built on the Rock
* Scripture quotations marked NRSVue are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue
* Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James version of the Bible.
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