You can’t keep quiet about God.

At least that’s my experience.

When someone experiences the revolutionary God, they become different.  They can’t help it.  And one of the first things to change is that they can’t keep their mouth shut!

How many times did Jesus say to someone, “yes I’ve done this miracle, but don’t tell anyone” and then that person went off and told, well, everyone?

“Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone.  But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.  People were overwhelmed with amazement.  ‘He has done everything well,’ they said.  ‘He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’” (Mark 7: 36-37)

People were overwhelmed with amazement.

Because that’s what happens when we experience God; he overwhelms us.  I think this is especially true when we’re living without hope.  When all we can see is suffering, pain, fear, and doubt it’s really hard to imagine anything good happening to us. 

So many people Jesus hung out with were completely isolated from society.  These were people who were truly without hope.  They were totally rejected, not just by the “cool kids” but by everyone.   

Everyone except Jesus that is.

It was into that pain that Jesus stepped and offered hope.  He offered not just healing from a current problem, but a new life, a new way of living, and most of all a future.  Is it any wonder everyone was talking?