Imago Gospels - 44 - Spreading
On one of our days driving between places in South Africa, we noticed a bunch of wildfires burning. At first, we were concerned - was the grass dry and sparked by lightning? We were concerned as we saw big brush fires burning right near towns and villages. We later found out that the vast majority of these were set on purpose to burn off old plants and grass and prepare the soil for new. The remainder of our trip we saw these fires all over the place. In fact, the pictures of the Blyde River Canyon that I have posted recently would have been far clearer if not for a smoky haze that was in the air at the time. We asked one of our guides about this and he said that the people who set and manage the fires do a great job of keeping them in control. But there was one fire that I saw as we were on what was known as the Panorama Route that had spread out of control and jumped the road and burned several homes unfortunately. Fire is a hard thing to control. You can have as much set up as possible to keep it and a strong gust of wind or a shift in a breeze and all of a sudden you have something you are not expecting or ready for.
I have wondered many times as I read the Gospels why Jesus told people not to tell others about him and the actions he took. He does it here in this chapter he says the leper to keep it quiet. But how is that possible for one who has been cleansed and experienced such a miracle. Even if he didn't say anything, his appearance would show that something miraculous had happened. There are many theories about the reasons behind the "Messianic Secret" but the fact is that there is no way that this news could be controlled. Sure maybe it might spread a bit slower, but still it will spread.