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Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
– Mark 8:31-32
If you have ever spent any time studying the gospel of Mark, you will probably learn about what some call “the Messianic secret.” It seems that every time somebody is catching on to who Jesus actually is, he then commands them to keep quiet about it. It’s like Jesus doesn’t want the word getting out about who He is. If you’ve never read the entire gospel of Mark in one or two sittings, I want to encourage you to do that. It’s short, and it’s meant to be read like a short story. If you read it in its entirety, you’ll see what I mean.
That’s why it’s fascinating to me that Mark says in these verses above, “He said all this quite openly.” And what was it that he said openly? That he would undergo great suffering. That he would be rejected and killed. And that he would rise again. When it came to messages about how great Jesus was, “The One Who Is To Come,” or “The Holy One of God,” or “The Messiah,” Jesus shushed people. But he didn’t keep his voice down when it came to his suffering. His great suffering.
Peter didn’t want to hear it, and he then decided it was time to shush Jesus. You can read on in Mark 8 to see how that went for Peter!
For Lent, one of the things I have given up is the news. I love keeping up with local and national news, and news sites are certainly some of the most popular websites on my phone’s internet browser. So for Lent, I gave all that up. If I’m going to hear “the news,” somebody is going to have to tell me, because I’m not reading it online or in print.
I’ve given up the news, in part because so much of it is bad news. What’s fascinating to me is that Jesus Christ comes to all of us as… NEWS. The word gospel literally means “good news.” Jesus was openly proclaiming what was in fact good news for all the world to hear, but Peter didn’t like it. He thought it sounded like bad news. Or maybe even fake news!
Our world today is drowning in news. A lot of bad news, sad news, fake news, and old news. If you turn on the TV, you’re likely to see the chyron say, “BREAKING NEWS” when it’s not even news! For Lent, I decided to say “SHUSH” to “the news.” But I hope you’ll be in your place this Sunday to hear some Real News. It might sound like Bad News, but it’s not. It’s actually Good News. If you can believe it.
Grace and Peace,
Tom
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