Go and Tell No One!

“Go and Tell No One!”

One of the most interesting things to me about Jesus is the way that He always did the unexpected. He was always reaching out to those He “shouldn’t” have talked to, or finding a clever way out of a situation where someone was trying to trick Him, or even experiencing righteous anger in the temple—He tended to go right, just when people knew He was going to go left.

We know as Christians that one of our main tasks is to spread the Gospel. We are to let others know about the love of God, so that they can experience it. However, there are a few times in Scripture when Christ has healed someone, that He directly commands them to keep it a secret. In fact, after the healing of a couple of blind men, Matthew 9:30 says, “And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.” He sternly warned them NOT TO TELL.

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts this morning, and the presenter was teaching on this topic. She made the point that some of this was about crowd control, but that often times in our own lives today, some of our most important moments are things that are private, that we can’t (or don’t want) to tell anyone about. In our age of posting what you had for lunch, pictures of you in a movie theatre that evening, and then sharing about your day before you head to bed, it can be hard for us to hold things secret anymore. However, when you have a moment of intimacy, whether it be with God, or even with a friend or family member, sometimes it just isn’t appropriate to invite the world in.

As I was listening to these ideas, it reminded me of some times of ministry I’ve had at MFH. We ALL KNOW that because of HIPPA, we can’t share pictures of something fun and silly, or even something important and meaningful, that has happened at work. And not only that, but beyond HIPPA, sometimes these stories aren’t ours to share. God has given each of us the blessing of working to bring healing in the lives of these clients.  No one is working alone, but the hope is that the collective services that those in our care receive will make them well. And that healing, orchestrated by God, is sacred. It is special, and it is important, and you are a part of that. (Whether you serve meals, you lead therapy, or you perform administrative tasks to ensure that other things happen, YOU are a part of that.)

The encouragement that we have, though, is that even though we aren’t sharing this on social media, and even though you may not get a million “likes” because you can’t post a picture of your workday, we all know. We know the important work that each other are doing. We know there are fun days, we know there are hard days, and we know there are days in between. We can serve as one another’s “likes” as we support and encourage those who work around us.

And, the even more encouraging fact is that God knows. The Bible tells us in Matthew 6:4 that the Father sees what is done in secret, and will reward you. So, if you ever face discouragement that you aren’t able to show (or tell) others the details about what you did on a given day, know that your reward is coming. And, while that reward may not be the fact that your post has gone viral, we can rest in the fact that God’s admiration is the kind that truly matters.