“Don’t Talk About It Yet!”

“Don’t Talk About It Yet!”(Mt. 17:9-13).
In African wisdom the hen told the cock, “I do not crow in the morning like you, but I too know that it is daybreak.” Again, the goat once told the dog, “What you just saw and now disturbing the place with barking, I saw it long ago.”
Some things are not to be spoken until the appropriate time.
When Jesus was coming down from the mountain after the Transfiguration, he instructed the three disciples, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised.”
This instruction was necessary. If they went ahead to talk about it, they would not have given the full story. Their ignorance is evident in the question they raised: “Why then do the teachers of the law say Elijah must come first?”
Jesus told them that the teachers of the law were correct. It was myopic of the disciples not to know that Elijah had already come again. Elijah had come in the guise of John the Baptist but was not recognised and they did everything they wished to him. “In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”
It was at this moment that the disciples knew that John the Baptist was the new Elijah.
Dear friend, as we make this journey of life there are things we see which we must not tell until the right time. Besides, most times we claim to be adepts in what unfortunately we have scratched only at the surface. We are not skilled to fully understand. A finite, imperfect mortal can never have full knowledge and understanding of the infinite, perfect immortal!
What we know is that we are accompanying the Son of Man as he suffers at the hands of his killers. May we be guided by God’s word so that we suffer with our Lord; especially by suffering for others in the same way he suffered for us. And may God forbid that we should be amongst those who conspire against him.
Weekend prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for emptying yourself for our sake. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.