Kept Knowledge and other Musings

I was reading in Matthew, chapter 26, and noticed how the disciples and Jesus sang together at their last meal, even though their hearts were breaking. My mother wrote a poem about that. It goes something like this:

"Wouldn't you like to have heard Him sing,
That man from Galilee?
Creator of the Universe,
Master of Land and Sea.
Savior of the sick and sinful,
Bringing Hope and harmony.
Wouldn't you like to have heard Him sing,
That night before Calvary?"

I think He is singing now.
He knows our end from our beginning.
We may as well sing His song.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After He had been arrested, later that evening,
the religious leaders were trying to find someone
who would give false testimony against Jesus
so they could put Him to death.
They weren't looking for true testimony-
just false testimony.
At last two came forward and twisted His words
about the temple, saying, "This fellow said, 'I am able
to destroy the temple of God and to build it again
in three days.'"
Jesus didn't straighten out the meaning of those words.
He knew what He meant when He had said something
akin to them.
Oh, that the only bad testimony against us
would be a false one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then they began to beat Him and spit on His sweet face.
They struck Him with the palms of their hands, saying, "Prophesy to us,
Christ! Who is the one who struck You?"
And He could have told them who struck Him.
He knew their names.
He knew what they had for supper.
He knew their hidden sin.
He even knew the good things they had done in life.
He could have prophesied and wowed them and caused them
to think twice about hitting Him.
Maybe they would have apologized to Him.
But He remained silent.
He prayed for them, I am sure.

Sometimes, we are tempted to tell what we know.
If we would tell what we 'know' and be right,
then people would think we are spiritual
and close to God.
And sometimes we should tell what we know
in order for change to take place
or so that someone else knows that God
has not forgotten them.

But sometimes,
it is better to keep our mouths shut
and turn our 'knowledge' into
a prayer.
Sometimes,
it is our turn to die.
It is our turn to be invisible.
It is our turn to suffer with Him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later on, Jesus did tell Peter what He knew.
"Before the rooster crows,
you will deny me three times."
But Peter needed to know that Jesus knew that he had denied Him.
If he had denied Him, and tried to keep it a secret,
he may have gone the way of Judas.
But his sin of denial was known
and known ahead of time,
and Jesus had loved him anyway.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Help us know when to keep our knowledge to ourselves.
Help us know when to speak out what we know.
And help us to do it for all Your right reasons.
Amen.