FROM
THE SERVANT GENERAL
DISOBEYING
JESUS
January
28, 2009
We
are disciples of Jesus, and we are supposed to live a life
of obedience to him. Is it then ever permissible to disobey
Jesus? We know that the answer is No. Never!
But
there were people during the time of Jesus who did disobey
him, and I would actually extol them. Before you cast aspersions
on me, let me explain.
Who
were these people who disobeyed Jesus? They were the ones
he healed and whose lives he changed. There were the leper
(Mk 1:40-42), the two blind men (Mt 9:27-30a), and the deaf
and mute man (Mk 7:32-35). Jesus told all of them not to speak
about their healing (Mk 1:43-44; Mt 9:30b; Mk 7:36a).
- But
they disobeyed Jesus.
-
The leper immediately “went away and began to publicize
the whole matter. He spread the report abroad ….”
(Mk 1:45).
-
The two no-longer blind men “went out and spread word
of him through all that land.” (Mt 9:31).
-
The deaf-mute, and the people who witnessed the healing,
were adamantly disobedient, such that “the more he
ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it.”
(Mk 7:36b).
Why
would those whom Jesus had done such a great thing for disobey
him? Well, they disobeyed him precisely because he did such
a great thing for them. They simply could not contain their
joy. They could not hold back their amazement. They simply
could not keep such miraculous works to themselves. They could
not be selfish and keep silent about this miracle worker.
They had to share him with others. They were extremely grateful.
Jesus had radically transformed their lives.
What
in effect had they become? They had become evangelizers. They
proclaimed the good news of salvation and healing in Jesus.
Paul,
that great apostle, himself said, “woe to me if I do
not preach (the gospel)!” (1 Cor 9:16b). Just like those
whom Jesus healed, Paul could not be restrained.
How
about us? God has blessed us tremendously (though we often
do not recognize the blessings). Do we thank Him? Do we proclaim
His greatness? Are we enthusiastic about sharing our experience
of Him with others? Or are we uncaring, complacent, disinterested,
too preoccupied with other things? Or perhaps we do tell others
about Jesus, but not passionately. We do not respond in the
manner and to the extent that God has blessed us. Jesus gave
his all, but we only give a small part of ourselves.
CFC-FFL
is called to be evangelistic and missionary. This is the reason
for our existence. We are to proclaim Christ. We should be
as enthusiastic as the people Jesus healed. We should work
such that “his fame (would) spread everywhere throughout
the whole region” (Mk 1:28), that “people (would
keep) coming to him from everywhere” (Mk 1:45c), that
“the whole crowd (would rejoice) at all the splendid
deeds done by him” (Lk 13:17b), and that “all
(would be) astonished by the majesty of God” (Lk 9:43).
We should work such that Jesus would be known and loved by
all.
And
in our situation, we do not face the dilemma of wanting to
speak about Jesus but being told not to. Jesus does not tell
us not to speak about him. On the contrary. Jesus commands
us to “go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel
to every creature” (Mk 16:15).
Make
sure you obey.
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