Let Your "Yes" mean "Yes," and Your "No" mean "No"
by Deacon Bob Schnell
In today's reading from Mark's Gospel (Mk 5: 21-43) Jesus does something He often seems to do: He works a great miracle and then tells those who see it not to tell anyone what has happened. In today's reading the miracle is curing (perhaps raising from the dead) the 12-year old daughter of the synagogue official, Jairus. Jairus had come to Jesus seeking healing for his sick daughter but by the time Jesus can get to the child, those attending to her arrive and say that she is dead. Jesus goes to her anyway and, as He arrives at the house to see people mourning and weeping, says: "Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep." Of course, the crowd ridicules Him for that statement. Undeterred, Jesus goes into the little girl's room and says: "Little girl, I say to you, arise!" The girl gets up and walks around, and those present are amazed. At that point Jesus gives "strict orders that no one should know" what has just happened. Why do that? Why work a great miracle and then tell people not to talk about it? Doesn't Jesus want others to know that He is the Son of God? Won't the miracles help grow the Kingdon? And what it the world is Jesus thinking if He expects that what He has just done can be kept a secret? There is a crowd of people around the Jairus' house, and they think the little girl is dead. When she comes out alive and well after Jesus has gone to her (in spite of their ridicule) won't they immediately know what has happened and talk about it? Why strictly order something that is impossible to carry out? Some people say that this often-repeated scenario of a miracle which Jesus orders not to be mentioned is a kind of "reverse-English," that by telling people not to talk about the miracle Jesus in fact is encouraging them to talk about it all the more. After all, the human reaction when you are told not to discuss something is often an increased desire to do just that-- to discuss the thing you have been told not to discuss. But I don't think that is what is going on at all. I don't see Jesus as a trickster who says one thing but secretly intends the opposite. That sort of attitude is beneath the Son of God, and, if we think Jesus plays that kind of game-- saying one thing but meaning the opposite-- where does it end? When can we believe what Jesus says and when does He really mean something else? Does the One who says "Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No' be 'No'" (Mt 5:37-- in the context of giving oaths) really intend the opposite from time to time? No, I think we take Jesus at His word-- He really doesn't want people to talk about what has happened. He heals-- even raises from the dead-- because of His great love and sympathy, but that isn't the point of His mission. The more we focus on His miracles, His power, His might, the less we see the cross. And the cross and everything that goes with it -- Jesus' self-sacrifice leading to our salvation-- is the true point of Jesus' mission. We might even wonder whether Jesus' command to the folks at Jairus' house applies to us. After all, Jesus gives that command after many of His miracles, often in the strictest possible terms, and the command on its face isn't time- limited. Jesus doesn't say: "For now, keep this quiet but you can talk about it after I rise from the dead." Sure, the miracles are part of the story of Jesus, along which His instructions about what to say and not say about the miracles, just like all Jesus' other instructions (the Sermon on the Mount, the Last Judgment, the parables and all the rest) are part of the story. But a couple dozen miracles are a small part of the story, and in some sense a futile part as well-- all those people who Jesus healed or raised from the dead eventually died anyway. No, if the miracles don't point us to the cross, we're being distracted and missing the true import of Jesus' life here on earth. When we reflect on the miracles, and even ask for miracles in our own life, we might keep that in mind. After all, Jesus' "yes" means "yes," and His "no" means "no."