Jesus says a lot of things. Sometimes, Jesus says outrageous things, like “it is not right to give the children’s food to the dogs (remember that?) and it turns out that in Mark’s gospel especially, Jesus spends much of his time telling people NOT to tell people about him. This is a long way from the (so called) ‘great commission.’

Remember the great commission? The little gem found only in the gospel according to Matthew (28:19-20) – Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

It’s pretty sound advice. The bedrock of what makes the church the church is the urge to go and tell – to share the ‘Good News.’ Yet here in Mark’s gospel – at one of the highlight moments – Jesus ‘sternly orders them NOT TO TELL ANYONE ABOUT HIM.’ I don’t know about you, but this sort of thing confuses me…and Mark’s gospel is famous for it.

Some would argue that this was meant to be a secret – revealed only to those who had earned or learned their way into the circle of knowledge. There may well have been a time when the public admission of Jesus as Messiah – Christ as Lord – was dangerous to those who dared to believe. It would be safer to keep that knowledge to yourself – or at least, share it only with people you could trust with your life. But that is an argument for historians or sociologists. We need to ask – as theologians – why would Jesus ask his disciples to be secret keepers. Especially this secret.

Jesus is on a particular mission. He is spectacularly different in his approach to faith, and in his relationship with God. He spends all his waking hours trying to tell people that there is another way to honour God – a way to live that does NOT involve guilt and sacrifice, and the strictly regulated path to God. That has been his mission since he stepped in after the arrest of John the baptizer, and when he does a quick, informal survey (who do the people say that I am?) He discovers that the message is not sinking in.

He is seen as a renewal of the old way – at best; or a forerunner of the new way. The people are so deeply stuck in their understanding of a relationship with God that they cannot imagine Jesus as offering them the key to unlock their chains. That has to be discouraging.

But wait – Peter, that solid, serious fisherman has seen the light. If the message can penetrate his old-school thinking, then maybe there is hope…

“Don’t tell a soul.” Says Jesus. And that is that.

I’ve wondered about this for years. Three of the gospels have a version of Peter’s revelation – and in all three, the disciples are told NOT to tell. This is the sort of information that you would think might change the argument – tilt the field in Jesus’ favour – but it is not to be. Jesus is not the kind of ‘influencer’ who will rely on public opinion (which is subject to misinterpretation. This is a different kind of influence.

The next episode in Mark’s gospel has Jesus explaining the next steps to his friends – and it will not be pleasant. Maybe it is a secret worth keeping…But the result is that Peter tries to fall back on old information. Even his bold declaration is not held for very long. It takes more than just talking about this new way of being to make it so; more than just declaring Jesus to be the Christ to free us from the shackles of a lifetime of assumptions about what is possible with God. There are times when words are all we have. But words are never enough.

Of course word of mouth matters – but merely telling isn’t enough. There needs to be action that accompanies the stories of Jesus. Lives need to reflect the message that is presented. ‘Practice what you preach’ is, was, and ever shall be an important dictum.

This tendency in the gospel of Mark for Jesus to urge people to silence is a lesson for us. The words that Peter listened to during his time in Jesus’ crew were not what prompted his outburst of faith. Peter believed because of the accumulation of experiences. The things he has seen – the work they have done together.

His relationship with Jesus – and with the people whose lives Jesus changed – was the powerful, secret ingredient that allowed him to say what he says with conviction.

Now this presents a more difficult problem for you and I – who do not have the privilege of walking the streets with Jesus at our side. We are separated by too much history. The physical reality we inhabit is fundamentally different, and we understand and encounter things differently. And yet…the echoes of those first experiences still resonate. The world is different now because people have experienced grace and forgiveness. The stories of Jesus have been carried by those who took advice for James’ letter (I will show you my faith by my works.) Just as faith can (and should) transform the life of the believer, so to our words must be supported by our actions.

We have a long history of faithfulness. Here in St Marys alone, 175 years of preaching and teaching – millions of words – thousands of stories told and re-told, that we might know about the love of God in Jesus the Christ. But those words and stories are not all we have. We have been moved to do justice, to love kindness, and walk humbly along the path of Jesus. We engage the  community; we offer sympathy and share in celebration. Knowing that Jesus is Lord – the Messiah of God – is all well and good; telling Jesus’ story is part of our mission.

But we are still here – and the church only matters – when we bring Jesus’ ideas and principles to life. We do what we do, not just because of the stories we’ve been told, but because we’ve been invited into those stories. We are called to act as Jesus did – to share joy and compassion and hope and sorrow with those whose paths cross ours. We are urged to visit and sympathize – to laugh and weep and share and rejoice in real time – this is how the story lives and this is how the Spirit changes lives.