Too good not to tell
by Maria Rudolph
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People were overwhelmed with amazement. ‘He has done everything well,’ they said. ‘He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak’ (Mark 7:37).
Some things are just too good to keep under wraps. Think of the amazement of the woman at the well in John’s Gospel in chapter 4. She meets Jesus and drops her water jars then and there to run back to the village to tell everyone about him. It wasn’t just his teaching about God but what he had done to her that blew her mind – he revealed intricate knowledge of her life.
The people in today’s story are overwhelmed with amazement at what Jesus does, too. Only a short while ago, none of the people in this non-Jewish region of the Decapolis were interested in Jesus or the one true God at all.
Do you know who these people are? There used to be a demon-possessed man living among the tombs by the seaside there, shunned from society, for he was not in control of his mind nor his violent outbursts against others and himself. Jesus drove a legion of demons out of this man and restored him. The transformation was so amazing that the people of that region couldn’t help noticing and being awed by this Jewish rabbi, Jesus. The healed man himself and the witnesses of this healing obviously brought a crowd to believe in the powers of Jesus.
By the time Jesus returns there, people bring a deaf and mute man before him, expecting restoration. Jesus heals the man. The people’s amazement grows. Despite Jesus asking the people to stay quiet, this was too good to keep under wraps.
Of course, the good news of Jesus isn’t meant to be kept under wraps by us. At the end of Jesus’ earthy ministry, he tells his disciples, ‘Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you’. When you become aware of God’s constant transformative power in your own life and the lives of people around you, the good news of Jesus becomes too good to keep under wraps. How could you include God in the conversations you have with people today?
Loving God, you amaze me time and again with your timing, provision and transformative powers. I am in awe of all you have done and continue to do for me. And I am in awe of the work of your Holy Spirit, whom I can see at work around me. Help me find the words to talk about you with the people I come in contact with today. Thank you for letting me be your light to the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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