To tell or not to tell

Young Jew as Christ, Rembrandt, c. 1656

This question refers to what scholars call ‘The Messianic Secret’. It is something your editor has never quite understood and so he invited a rather well-known theologian and teacher to answer for him, Pope Benedict XVI, who spoke on this very topic after the Angelus in St Peter’s Square on Sunday, 1 February 2009. I will highlight some parts and add [comments].

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This year, [2009, Year B of the three-year Sunday cycle in the Lectionary for Mass] among the Sunday celebrations, the liturgy proposes the Gospel of St Mark for our meditation. A unique characteristic of this Gospel is what is called the ‘messianic secret’: namely, the fact that, for the moment, Jesus does not want it to be known outside the small group of his disciples that he is the Christ, the Son of God. Moreover, at this point he warns both the Apostles and the sick whom he heals not to reveal his identity to anyone. For example, this Sunday's Gospel passage (Mk 1: 21-28) tells of a man possessed by the devil who suddenly shouts: ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God’. And Jesus commands the spirit: ‘Quiet! Come out of him!’ And immediately the Evangelist notes the unclean spirit, with excruciating cries, came out of that man. Jesus not only drives demons out of people, freeing them from the worst slavery, but prevents the demons themselves from revealing his identity. And he insists on this ‘secret’ because what is at stake is the success of his very mission, on which our salvation depends. [Bearing witness to our faith is much more than sharing ‘testimonies’. Indeed, it is not always appropriate to give a testimony. A Catholic doctor or nurse, for example, bear witness to their faith by the professional, loving care they give, not by ‘preaching’.] Indeed, he knows that to liberate humanity from the dominion of sin he will have to be sacrificed on the Cross as the true Paschal Lamb. The devil, for his part, seeks to dissuade him so as to divert him instead toward the human logic of a powerful and successful Messiah. The Cross of Christ will be the devil's ruin, and this is why Jesus always taught his disciples that in order to enter into his glory he must suffer much, he must be rejected, condemned and crucified (cf. Lk 24: 26), for suffering is an integral part of his mission.

Jesus suffered and died on the Cross for love. On close consideration, it was in this way that he gave meaning to our suffering, a meaning that many men and women of every age have understood and made their own, experiencing profound tranquility even in the bitterness of harsh physical and moral trials. And the theme that the Italian Bishops have chosen for their customary Message on the occasion of today's Pro-Life Day is precisely ‘The strength of life in suffering’. I wholeheartedly make their words my own, in which is seen the love of Pastors for their people and their courage in proclaiming the truth the courage to say clearly, for example, that euthanasia is a false solution to the drama of suffering, a solution unworthy of man. Indeed, the true response cannot be to put someone to death, however ‘kindly’, but rather to witness to the love that helps people to face their pain and agony in a human way. We can be certain that no tear, neither of those who are suffering nor of those who are close to them, is lost before God.

The Virgin Mary kept her Son's secret in her maternal heart and shared in the painful hour of the passion and crucifixion, sustained by her hope in the Resurrection. Let us entrust to her the people who are suffering and those who work every day to support them, serving life in all of its phases: parents, health care workers, priests, religious, researchers, volunteers and many others. Let us pray for them all.

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This is not a direct response to the question, but I raise an issue that is being hotly debated today. Some accuse Pope Pius XII of saying and doing nothing to save the lives of Jews during the Nazi persecution. The fact is that his messages during the war, which used diplomatic language, were very clearly understood both by the Nazis and by the world’s press, as the archives of the New York Times clearly show. On the other hand, a direct condemnation of Nazism by the bishops of the Netherlands led to the deaths of many Jews because of the fury of the Nazis. This, of course, was not the intention of the bishops. But there are situations where only a certain element of secrecy enables people to do what is right.

At an entirely innocent level, many of us have been involved in preparing a surprise party, for example, for someone we love. I have been a happy ‘victim’ of such secret ‘plots’ on at least two occasions. If someone had told me beforehand about the plans the joy for everyone would have been spoiled. On one occasion I was expecting a particular group to organize a surprise birthday party for me. It turned out that another group did, and on the day before my birthday!

But Jesus, in his humanity, must have known that the individuals he healed could not possibly remain silent. And others would have noticed the change in those persons and asked them about it. But Jesus didn’t want to be proclaimed as a political messiah and so worked quietly.