Daily Lectionary: Human Nature

Morning Psalms 72, 148
Evening Psalms 100, 67
Isaiah 49:1-7
Revelation 21:22-27
Matthew 12:14-21

"Well, whatever you do, you may not eat your vegatables," we'd say to our kids at dinner when they were little. Naturally, before the words were out of our mouths the vegatables had usually disappeared into theirs. As everyone knows, the fastest way to get anyone to do anything is to tell them they mustn't.

Why did Jesus tell people not to talk about Him? Over and over in the gospels, Jesus tells people not to tell anyone what he's up to (Matthew 12:16) and the next thing you know everyone in town has heard and Jesus can't spit without drawing a multitude. No one knows human nature better than He. (John 2:24-25) Was He teasing?