“He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it.” Somehow, I find this Gospel reading a little humorous, and let me tell you why. Jesus just cured a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. The poor man couldn’t hear, couldn’t talk, but after his encounter with Jesus, he was able to hear and to speak, also to sing and to scream. Great joy! But to the witnesses of this miracle, Jesus said: do not tell anyone what you have just seen. I am thinking that maybe Jesus should have performed a reverse miracle and make them all mute so they wouldn’t be able to tell others. Jesus asked them for a very simple thing, but they couldn’t follow His request. I think today about times when I got into gossip about others. Maybe at times I was asked to keep something to myself, but I didn’t. Maybe I have witnessed something that I should have kept secret, but instead I spread it around. Obviously, there are things that we must report or tell others about, but there are also those moments when Jesus asks us not to tell anyone.
