Gospel of Matthew, Day 21 of 58, January 23
Reading
Matthew 11:20-30
https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=510097155
Scripture
27All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Observation
Several scholars have called Jesus’ propensity for asking others not to tell others about him, “The Messianic Secret”. These scholars posit several reasons for Jesus doing this.
This article goes more in depth about the theory of the Messianic Secret:
https://www.gotquestions.org/Messianic-secret.html
First, I believe the strategy behind the messianic secret for Jesus is that the appointed hour for sacrificial death had not yet come. In reality, he did not want to hasten it. The hour would come when Jesus willingly decided it would come. Erroneously, we can think that it was all up to Pilate. Really, Jesus willingly revealed himself as our Redeemer on the cross. No one, not even God the Father, forced God the Son to do what needed to be done for the salvation of God’s people and the whole world.
Application
Can I be patient for God’s appointed time when the Lord will reveal things to me? As a sometimes impatient person, I confess that I have often tried to hasten God’s timeline. In the case of my ordination for ministry, God humbled me in September 2016. I went into the chapel at St. John’s to inquire of the Lord, “Will I be ordained at Annual Conference in 2017?” I audible heard a still, small voice say, “No”. One of only handful of times that I have heard that still, small voice. A few weeks later I got a letter back from the Board of Ordained Ministry that the answer was “Not at this time.”
Then, the next year in 2017 when I submitted my paperwork, I was not as worried. I felt a sense of peace that it would happen in God’s time. It did. I was ordained on June 9, 2018, a week after my earthly father’s birthday on June 2. My father’s last birthday on this earth was June 2, 2011. Seven years before. You can say that it was coincidence. I say that it is God’s Providence. If your time is not yet. It will be someday in God’s time. “Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him” – Psalm 37:7 (NIV)
Song for prayer and contemplation:
Prayer
Almighty God, Author of time, our Alpha and Omega, increase of our faith by your Spirit that we might trust in your perfect timing that reveals the glory of your kingdom in due time. In Your Holy Name I pray. Amen.