Do you ever like to show off? Never? Really, is that quite true? All the time? O dear! Some off us would never dream of it (well most of the time) and others are showy as a way of life. Being quiet is fine, of course, as is having a more extrovert nature, but most of us probably wouldn't want to admit that we actually show off too much. That has rather negative associations with pride or arrogance, doesn't it?
Do you think that Jesus ever showed off? After all, he was the Son of God, so if anyone could do it legitimately, he could. He did turn water into wine at a wedding in Cana, but only his mother and a couple of servants knew about that. He had at least four disciples with him there, who we are told knew about it as well (John's Gospel, chapter 2, verses 1 - 11). He fed 5,000 men with five loaves and two fish (Luke's Gospel, chapter 9, verses 10 - 17), and 4,000 men with seven loaves and a few fish (Matthew's Gospel, chapter 14, verses 13 - 21). On both occasions there were lots of women and children present, so we're talking about perhaps something like 20,000 people or more given a good meal from 12 loaves of bread and a couple of handfuls of fish - with several basketfuls left over afterwards! However, only his 12 closest disciples knew about this at the time, and maybe a few in the crowd caught on that something interesting was happening as well.
Perhaps the time when he came nearest to doing a magic trick was when he told Peter to catch a fish from the sea and the one he found would have a coin in it, which would be just enough to pay the tax collectors who had come to the door (Matthew 17:24-27). Yet, even on this occasion, it would have been only his closest followers who knew about it. And, yes, of course, Jesus twice told his fishermen disciples to cast their net out again, whereupon they had massive catches, after finding nothing beforehand (Luke 5:1-11; John 21:1-14). In the latter case the number of fish that Jesus allowed to be caught (153) was very possibly because that is an extremely fascinating number, as known in ancient times and maybe with earlier fishy connotations attached to it as well. I think that Jesus was making a point here to train his disciples, but being fun about it as well.
What we do for God is for God and the growth of his Kingdom, not for our glory. Even Jesus, himself the Son of God, didn't perform public spectacles to make himself look good.
So there were times when some or all of his disciples, and perhaps a few other people, knew that Jesus had done some kind of miraculous 'trick', but he didn't use this to publicize himself; they were performed for training purposes or out of compassion. In fact, he had made a decision early on not to use that method to attract attention. When he was in the wilderness after his baptism, one of the temptations that he faced after the 40 days was to jump off from the top of the Temple in Jerusalem and have angels come and catch him (Matthew 4:5-7). That would have been right in the middle of the busiest part of the most populated city in the country. Everyone would quickly have known that this was someone special whom God sent his angels to prevent landing heavily. The crowds would soon realize that he was the Messiah and lend their support to his cause, which would have been a quick win. Instead, Jesus chose a path of suffering and taught his followers that there was a high cost to being one of his disciples.
Had Jesus agreed to the devil's suggestion that he announce who he was through some dramatic, miraculous trickery, being cluched from a certain death by a group of angels suddenly appearing, then he would have by-passed his central mission. Jesus was actually very careful not to take all the glory himself, but point to his Father as the one whose will he obeyed. Are you a minister who can sway congregations through your sermons? Are you able to prophesy to people accurately? Are others healed regularly when you pray for them? Do people enter deeply into the presence of God when you lead a time of worship? Have you had friends become Christians when you've witnessed to them? Have your children grown up knowing God because of the way that you've brought them up and taught them when they were young? Most Christians probably have at least one thing that they can be proud of having done for God, but we mustn't hold on to that, keeping the glory for ourselves and attracting people to us.
It's a hard balance to strike. I want to do things for God and I want to do them successfully so that as many people as possible can get to know him better. However, we mustn't use that to justify our own existence or put ourselves on a pedestal. Jesus said that the wind blows where it wills and no one knows where it comes from or where it goes off to afterwards, but we just hear the sound; that is how it is with people born of the Spirit (John 3:1-8). No one needs to know who we are, so long as God's work is done, yet his work is seen through what we do, so we shouldn't hide that (Matthew 5:14,15). This is a difficult balance for successful ministries, but to be honest, probably many of us have a bit of a problem with it at times. We need to remember that even John the Baptist knew that he had to decrease in his ministry so that Jesus could increase (John 3:22-30); he was always adamant that his role was to point to Jesus, not to himself. If that was true for him, then it must be for us as well. So the party trick with three hats and two walking sticks is fine, but let's follow Jesus' example by not showing off in ministry.
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