MARK 9:30-37

30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know,

31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”

32 But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?”

34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.

35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them,

37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Do you remember the game show “I’ve Got A Secret?”  Each night contestants with a secret would try to stump a panel of celebrities.  The contestant’s secret was usually some unusual claim to fame like walking across the country backwards of making a model of the White House out of graham crackers and mayonnaise.

I’ve got a secret.  You’ve got a secret.  We all have our little secrets.  Jesus also had a few secrets.  For example, Jesus didn’t want people to know where he was while he was on his way to Jerusalem with his disciples.  Jesus didn’t want people to know because time was running out and he needed to have some quality time with his disciples.  That’s an example of a good secret.  A good secret is when you’re planning a birthday party for someone and you want it to be a surprise.  A good secret is when you wait until Thanksgiving to tell the entire family that you’re expecting a child.  Corrie ten Boom knew all about good secrets.   She grew up in Holland and she and her family had a secret.  During World War II the hid Jews in their home to help them escape the concentration camps. When the Germans found out about their secret though though they arrested Corrie and her family and sent them to a concentration camp.

Yes, there are good secrets and there are bad secrets.  A husband who was celebrating his 50^th wedding anniversary knew that which is why he knew exactly what to say when someone asked him what the secret was for a long and successful marriage.  The husband said he learned the secret to a long and successful marriage while they were on their honeymoon.  “We went to the Grand Canyon,” he said, “and took a tour that takes you by mule to the bottom of the canyon. Well, we hadn’t gone very far when my wife’s mule stumbled.  She didn’t get angry though.  She just shook her head and quietly said, ‘That’s once.’  A little while later the mule stumbled again.  Again she didn’t get angry.  She just shook her head and quietly said, ‘That’s twice.’  About a half a mile later the mule stumble for a third time.  That’s when my wife got down and without saying a word shot the mule dead.  I was horrified.  When I asked her how she could do such a thing to a poor defenseless animal she just looked at me and quietly said, ‘That’s once.’”

The poet Ogden Nash probably put the secret to a long and successful marriage a little more eloquently when he wrote these words:

To keep your marriage brimming,  With love in the wedding cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it;  Whenever you're right, shut up.

Okay maybe it isn’t all that eloquent but there are good secrets and there are bad secrets.  A good secret is Jesus not wanting anyone to know where he was so he could spend some quality time with the disciples.   If you keep on reading though you quickly come face to face with a couple of examples of bad secrets.

The first bad secret is when Jesus tells the disciples what’s going to happen when they get to Jerusalem.  Jesus tells them that he’s going to be arrested and crucified and then rise again on the third day.  When the disciples hear that they basically stick their heads in the sand.  They don’t understand what Jesus is saying and what’s even more important they don’t want to understand what Jesus is saying.

Sometime you prefer to live with a secret because you don’t want to know the truth.  That may have been true for the minister who went to visit an elderly woman in a nursing home.  During the visit he noticed a bowl of peanuts on the nightstand.  Since he hadn’t eaten all day he began to nibble on them.  By the end of the visit the bowl was empty.  The minister felt bad and apologized but the elderly woman wasn’t upset at all.  “Oh don’t worry about it,” she said.  “Ever since I lost all my teeth I’ve just been sucking the chocolate off and putting them back in the bowl.”

Sometimes you prefer to live with a secret because you don’t want to know the truth.  It’s called living with the elephant in the room. Before I came to North Reading I served as the interim minister at the Congregational Church in Grey, Maine. Two weeks before I left an elderly gentleman in the congregation was arrested for abusing a number of teenagers over a period of several decades.   As shocking as that was I was even more shocked when someone said to me, “Oh yes.  People in town have been whispering for years about Norman and his boys.”

So many people knew something wasn’t right but no one wanted to bring the truth out into the open.  You have to wonder.  Before the clergy abuse scandal exploded here in Boston how many people heard something or saw something or knew something but didn’t do anything?  Just look at what happened down at Penn State. Or how about the scandal with that doctor at Philips Academy that’s in the news right now?

There are good secrets and there are bad secrets and if you keep reading the story you’ll see what Jesus does with bad secrets.   What he does is flush them out into the open.   You see it when Jesus and the disciples get to Capernaum and he asks them what they were talking about on the way. Mark tells us that when Jesus asked the question the disciples, were “silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.” 

Now at that point Jesus could have dropped it but he didn’t.  Instead of doing that he walked to the middle of the room with a child and showed them what it really means to be great.   Jesus says, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”  In other words greatness isn’t defined by power, fame or wealth.  Greatness is defined by humility and meekness and your ability to love and serve others.

Jesus flushed the secret out into the open because he really meant it when he said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”  Jesus knew that secrets lead to fear while the truth leads to wisdom and understanding.  Secrets lead to pain and shame while the truth leads to healing and hope.  Secrets lead to lonely miserable prisons while the truth leads to salvation and new life.

Twenty-two years ago I learned what Jesus can do when you get rid of a secret.   When I was growing up I lived with a big secret. I knew I was adopted but I didn’t know who my birthmother was or why she didn’t keep me when I was born.   It was a secret that the legal system said I wasn’t supposed to know.   When I was 35 though I decided to search for my birthmother and can you believe it?  When I found her she was living in Wakefield.   We met for the first time at the old Harrow’s Restaurant in Reading. There weren’t a lot of tears and shrieks of joy like you see on television but it was a healing grace filled moment for both of us.  

A few years after we were reunited my birthmother’s health began to deteriorate.  She had major surgery and then went to the Bear Hill Nursing Home in Stoneham for rehab.  About a week later I received a message on my answering machine informing me that she was having a bad day.  When I got to the nursing home there were nurses going in and out of her room.  Eventually, I went up to one of them and asked if I could go in to see my birthmother.  “Of course” the nurse said but then she asked, “Are you aware of what’s going on here?”  I paused for a moment and then said, “I’m not sure but I think you’re going to tell me she’s dying.”  The nurse nodded her head and I walked over to the side of the bed.  I brushed my birthmother’s hair back and said, “Elsie, it’s Rick.  I just want you to know I’m here and the others are on their way.”  She died about ten minutes later.  When the rest of the family arrived they said their goodbyes and then as we were walking out of the room one of them said something that gave me chills.  He was referring to the fact that when I was born my birthmother kept it a secret until we were reunited.  “You know,” he said, “it’s kind of ironic.  She was alone with you when you came into the world and you were alone with her when she went out of the world.”

So there you have it.  The secret about secrets is that Jesus doesn’t like secrets.   Jesus doesn’t like secrets that fill you with fear and pain and shame which is why he’s always there to lead you to the truth that will set you free.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

September 23, 2012