“Secrets”

September 12, 2021

First Lesson Psalm 19:1-4a

¹ The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
² Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
³ There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
⁴ yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.

Second Lesson Mark 8:27-38

²⁷ Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸ And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹ He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” ³⁰ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

³¹ 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. ³² He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴ He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶ For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷ Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸ Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

“You are only as sick as your secrets.”  This phrase runs through self-help communities as an anthem to be honest with yourself and to be freed from the hurtful secrets woven through our lives.  Secrets used to protect your family from anyone discovering your parent’s alcoholic drinking.  Secrets to hide the trouble in your marriage.  Shameful secrets from past mistakes you pray no one will ever discover.  You are only as sick as your secrets.

Before we think secrets are all bad, temporary secrets enable you to surprise a loved one on their birthday, complete the first trimester before sharing the blessed news, hold a diagnosis until you have a treatment plan then welcoming support.  Secrets have their place, keeping parts of ourselves for only a select few people.  People we trust.  People who hold confidences.

Today we heard Jesus ask the disciples to keep his secret, the Messianic Secret.  In the context of identity and sharing about how people think about Jesus, who asked “Who do people say that I am?”  We hear several responses, John the Baptist, Elijah, a prophet all to prepare the way for Peter’s confession of who Jesus is, “The Messiah, the Christ.”  This is a radical declaration.  The first time anyone declares this about Jesus and in the first gospel written.  Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah, is bigger than a birthday celebration, a birth announcement and a diagnosis all rolled into one.  So why does Jesus turn around and order the disciples to tell no one, to keep his secret?

At first this feels problematic. But one commentator noted that in this passage Jesus or Peter tell the other one to shut up three times.  Jesus tells the disciples (30), then Peter tells Jesus rebuking him (32) and then Jesus tells Peter to get behind him (33).  When we have secrets, we too often tell people to shut up, to shut down, to not be their true selves.

There are several theories about the Messianic Secret, about Jesus being the Messiah, but I think the practical one is best.  One commentator writes, “Far from denying His identity as the Messiah, Jesus was aware that the people, and even the disciples, did not yet understand that He came to die on the cross for sin. They were awaiting the appearance of the Messiah as the conqueror who would free the Jews from Roman oppression. If the crowds attempted to press Him into service in such a way, His mission and message would be compromised. As further proof, Jesus immediately began to teach His disciples about His true mission” (gotquestions.org/Messianic-secret.html).

Jesus had a secret.  He knew the reason God sent him into the world.  He knew it was so that he could die and be resurrected for our sins.  Jesus had held that secret with God for quite some time.  But now Jesus was telling his disciples, his trusted followers his secret- the truth that would set us all free.  Jesus said, “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” (31).    That is why Jesus wanted the disciples to tell no one, and to keep his secret.  Jesus had a mission, and he was sharing his secret with his followers so that they were in on the secret because soon it would be their secret to tell the world.

A friend told me about another reason Jesus might have asked his disciples to keep this secret.  Jesus was clever.  Jesus knew human nature better than anyone.  So, when he wanted people to share this reality of God’s love for the world he told them to keep it a secret.  Because we all know what we want to do when we hear a secret. WE WANT to share it.  Hopefully they kept the secret until the right time, but then that became a motivator for sharing the gospel after Jesus’ death.

Remember back to a time someone told you a secret.  Maybe they hung their head not able to look you in the eye.  Maybe they cried. Maybe they felt relief to finally share the secret with someone.   Now think back to your response.  Maybe you were in shock, maybe you wanted to yell at them, or hug them and say you loved them.  Whatever your response, secrets can take a while to process.  You try to fit this secret into all you know about the person.

The disciples felt the same way.  They knew Jesus as a teacher, they had seen him do miracles like feeding the 5,000, walking on water, and healing people.  But now Jesus is telling them he must die. What do they do with that?  How do they process that?  Jesus is the one to save them, how can he save them if he dies?  Then he talks about rising again in three days.  I can’t even imagine hearing that secret.

Jesus knows how hard this is to hear, so he tells his disciples three times about this secret (Mark 8:31-31, 9:30-32, 10:32-34).   He tells them about his reality of dying for our sins as a way for them to own his secret and then to become messengers of this good news.  But first their world view shifts, first hearing about Jesus’ death and resurrection means their concept of Jesus being the warrior to save them from the Romans must die.  Then they have to make space for this new idea, this radical idea. The disciples had left their families, traveled around with this man, to now be told that Jesus would die.  It feels reminiscent of a spouse being told the other one cheated, your world is turned upside down.  Maybe I thought of that because of Jesus closing words, “Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (38).

But before that declaration, Jesus invites the disciples and followers to take up their cross and follow him.  Jesus has just shared his secret, the secret of his death being about the forgiveness of sins and God’s glory in his resurrection.  So, then Jesus gives them something to do, a task, to deny themselves and take up his cross.  This is a pivotal moment.  A cross is the worst form of torture used by the Roman Empire, for those who have criminal secrets that were discovered and punished.  But now Jesus is saying you can take up a cross to save your life, to join in Christ’s secret, to create a path to new life.  The Cross is both the high point of the Gospel and its lowest level of abject humiliation and suffering. Because at this moment the wonderful meaning of the cross remains a secret.  The disciples do not know Jesus will die on the cross, they do not know he will rise from the dead.  They do not know that they will take up Christ’s cross carrying his messages of love and forgiveness to all the world.  That remains a secret.

Yet Jesus has invited them and us into this calling to take up the cross, the very means of Jesus’ death, as a way of sharing the grand secret with the world.  What is the grand secret?  That God so loved the word that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him, shall not perish but have eternal life.  But I can hear you say, that is not a secret.  And you are right.  It is not a secret to you.  But it remains a secret to the millions of people who have not seen the light, the power of the secret, the magnitude of God’s love, the joy of salvation and the miracle of the resurrection.

Jesus tells his disciples his secret, then Peter and Jesus get into a power struggle, “Get behind me Satan.”  Then Jesus gives a warning to Peter and to us, “For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”  We can get caught up in the secrets of human things.  The ways we fall short, the hurts we have caused, the truths we have left unsaid. But what we are called to do is to set our minds on the divine things, the things higher than our secrets, the things beyond our petty squabbles, that when exposed to the light of Christ will lead us into confession and then into sharing Christ’s secret of love and forgiveness with all the world!  Amen.