Looking at Jesus’ example, we were surprised to see that, after healing a leper, He tells the man to keep it quiet. This seems very odd. Our instincts are to broadcast our good deeds. Yet Jesus is telling this guy to keep His deeds a secret. And not just here. Time and again, Jesus suppresses information that would seem helpful to those around Him.
Consider other examples:
- Jesus is asked to go heal a sick, 12 year old girl, but before He arrives, she dies. He kicks everybody out except Peter, James, and John. After resurrecting the girl, He gave “strict orders that no one should know about this” (Mark 5:43; Luke 8:56).
- In spite of Jesus’ strict instructions about the above incident, the news spreads throughout the land (Matthew 9:26). Two blind men come, seeking healing. He grants their request, but sternly warns them that no one should know about this. Nevertheless, they spread the news throughout the land (Matthew 9:30-31).
- Again, in Mark 7, Jesus tries to keep a low profile (v. 24), but a Gentile woman comes, wanting Him to cast demons out of her daughter. Jesus resists, but because of the woman’s persistence, He casts out the demons.
- This is followed by a deaf man being brought to Jesus (Mark 7:32). Rather than making a public spectacle, He took him aside, healed him privately. Again, He gave orders not to tell anyone, but “the more He ordered them, the more widely they proclaimed it” (Mark 7:36).
So, while Jesus sometimes responds publicly to a physical need (e.g., Mark 3:1-6), He frequently displays a puzzling tendency to hide these activities.
To begin to make sense of this, let’s return to last week’s passage (Mark 1:29-45). Clearly, the miracles He was doing to address physical needs were creating a spectacle which hindered His primary mission. Because of the crowds, He couldn’t even enter the cities where He wanted to preach.
This might seem to be an opportunity, not an obstacle. Why go to them if they will come to Him? But, Jesus knew better. After feeding the 5000, He rebuked the crowd that had followed Him around the Sea of Galilee, saying, “I tell you the solemn truth, you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted.” (John 6:26 NET). He knew they were so focused on their physical needs that they missed the signs He performed to meet those needs.
Signs of what? When messengers from John the Baptist, come to ask if He was The Christ, He does not answering directly. Instead, Jesus points to the signs He performed. They identified Him (Matthew 11:2-6; Luke 7:18-23). Shortly after this, some of the people He healed seemed to make the connection, because He warned them “not to tell who He was” (Matthew 12:15-16). Because of the signs, they recognized Him as The Christ, Who was expected in fulfillment of the promises made in the Old Testament.
So, the signs were not primarily about meeting needs, but about identifying Jesus as the Christ. But here is another surprise. Because, even if Jesus doesn’t want people to be distracted by His miracles, surely, He would want to publicize that He is, in fact, the Christ, right? Not according to the Gospel writers. On at least a couple of occasions, as Jesus is casting demons out of individuals, the demons attempted to reveal His identity, but He did not permit it (Luke 4:41; Mark 1:24-25; 3:12). As backwards as it seems, the demons wanted to publicize His identity, but Jesus kept it secret.
Why? Well, consider the responses of the Jewish leaders, versus that of His disciples.
In an encounter with the Jews in the Temple (John 10:24-39), they challenge Him to say clearly whether or not He is The Christ. Again, rather than answer directly, He points to His works. But here’s the key. He says that the Jews do not believe those works because they are not His sheep. Indeed, as the story unfolds, their rejection is so complete that they seek to kill Him. Later, when He is being tried by the Sanhedrin, they also ask directly. Again, He refuses to answer directly, saying that, even if He told them, they would not believe (Luke 22:67). The problem was deeper than a lack of information.
On the other hand, when Jesus asks the disciples who they believed Him to be, Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus says this was not revealed to him by man, but by the Father (Matthew 16:16-17). And then, as in other places, He sternly instructs the disciples not to reveal that He is the Christ (Matthew 16:20; Matthew 17:9; Mark 9:9). So there it is. The recognition that Jesus is the Christ does not come through the words of men. It must be revealed to the individual by God (John 6:44-45).
Meeting people’s needs does not make them acknowledge Jesus. It only makes them want to have more of their needs met. It MAY make them like us well enough to listen to our words, but it will not convince them that Jesus is the Christ. That must be reveled by God, and requires a response of belief (John 21:30-31). Our mission is to represent God’s character and provide a community where those who are drawn to Christ can learn to walk as His disciples.
Does this mean that we should not show love to unbelievers? No. We should. But we do so as a reflection of God’s character, not because it is our mission. And the questions of when and how will depend on the leading of God’s Spirit.
Well said. I have also wondered if one way the Spirit reveals Christ to us and draws us is through the mode of teaching (John 6:43-45, and I think another passage I can’t recall right now). I have been wanting to study that idea out.
Charlie,
Your comments about how the Spirit reveals Christ to us have stimulated my thinking and generated several thoughts –
~ The revelatory work of the Spirit seems to be a process. E.g., the imagery of God’s “drawing” in John 6:43-45 seems to imply such.
~ God holds people responsible because they don’t respond to what is manifest about Him in Creation (Rom. 1:18-21). In fact, we call this manifestation “General Revelation”. So, that must be part of the process.
~ We call all the teaching of Scripture, “Special Revelation”, implying that it is critical to the process.
~ Cornelius (Acts 10) needed Peter’s teaching to trust to Christ. Clearly, he was already devout, and seems to have benefited from Old Testament teaching by the Jews. Yet, without Peter’s teaching, the revelation of Christ would not have been complete. In fact, it was so important that God explicitly and dramatically sent Peter to explain Christ.
~ On his missionary journeys, it seems to be Paul’s habit to go to places where people who are already responding to God’s revelation, or in some cases, less specific spiritual promptings (e.g., Mars Hill), to proclaim Christ. Without the teachings, presumably, they would not discover Christ.
~ Romans 10:14-15 seem to make teaching essential to the process.
~ 1 Corinthians 2:12-13 indicate that the things Paul teaches about God are not the result of human wisdom, but are taught by the Spirit. The text seems to indicate that this involves a process in which the Spirit combines spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. I have understood that to mean that, in an environment where I am teaching, the Spirit combines the words I am saying with thoughts the Spirit places in their hearts, to give them understanding.
~ Paul prays for the Ephesians in 1:17, that God will give them a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. This seems to imply that the drawing/revelatory process is not complete with the recognition that Jesus is the Christ, but continues throughout our life, and that the process requires the active working of the Spirit.
These is by no means a complete, but are just some of the thoughts your comment has generated since yesterday morning.
Garth, thanks for another thought provoking post. Reminds me of “those that come for what’s on the Master’s table and not for the Master.” I have few question I’ll throw out there….
In regards to Jesus not publicizing His identity, how do we reconcile this with the Samaritan Woman in John 4. Jesus clearly claims to be the Messiah and doesn’t tell her to keep it a secret. Moreover, He allows her to return to town and publicize His identity. Also, you mention Luke 22:67 and the Sanhedrin, but what about Mark 14:61-62 when the high priest asks Jesus, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” – to which Jesus declares unequivocally, “I am…”
Adam,
Sorry for the delayed response. My daughter’s wedding took my out of the routine for a week.
Both questions you ask are really helpful in seeing Jesus’ strategy work itself out.
The first thing that we need to be clear about is that this issue is not “all-or-nothing” – that is, it is not “tell everyone” vs. “don’t tell anyone”. Clearly, the whole point of His coming was for people to recognize Him as the Messiah, so, He ultimately wants people to know who He is. But there are considerations that we tend to overlook when we follow our instincts and expect a high-profile approach.
A major one is timing. For example, at the Wedding at Cana, Jesus is actually reluctant to perform the miracle. He says, “My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). Later, His brothers advocate the high-profile approach, encouraging Him to go up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths, saying, “For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If you do these things, show Yourself to the world.” Jesus replies, “My time is not yet here…” (John 7:4-6, 8). Note that after His brothers leave, He does indeed go up to Jerusalem, but does so secretly (John 7:9-10).
Also, to the larger point we have been making, it is interesting to note that, although His brothers knew who He claimed to be, they did not believe Him. As His brothers, they would have clearly been recipients of His love, and known, first-hand, His claims, yet, that was not enough to cause them to believe.
The other consideration that I think we overlook is expectations. I would summarize the Old Testament description of the Messiah with three elements: 1) bring blessing in place of the curse, 2) suffer for the healing of men, 3) establish a kingdom characterized by perfect peace, righteousness, and justice. He knew that the people would want to emphasize the kingdom element, having been under the domination of other nations since the Babylonian Captivity in 586 BC. Indeed, we do see that at times, when people got a glimpse of who He was, they did attempt to make Him King by force (e.g., John 6:14-15). But, as He told the disciples, on more than one occasion, the time has not yet come for that part.
So, both of these considerations – timing and expectations – and perhaps others, factored into when Jesus wanted to let His identity be known.
Which brings us to the Samaritan Woman in John 4. Note how the conversation developed to the verse you mention. The whole interaction is about who she perceived Jesus to be (cf., 4:9-10). And note that He doesn’t start out claiming to be the Christ. He leaves room for her recognition of who He is to develop. “Are you greater than our father Jacob?” (v. 12). “I perceive that you are a prophet” (v. 19). And then, note that she brings up the issue of the Messiah, implying that the question was in her mind (v. 25). It was to this statement that Jesus identifies Himself as the Messiah. And when she goes and tells the others, she bases her tentative conclusion on what she has seen of Him – she has seen the indications that He is the Christ, and believes (v. 29). Later when many other Samaritans believed, it was because they had seen for themselves who He was (v. 42). They recognized Him in light of the Old Testament descriptions.
The incident in Mark 14:61-62 also fits. Having seen the things He did, and knowing His claims, the religious leaders ask Him to state definitively whether or not He was the Christ. Two things to note. 1) His identification of Himself as the Christ did not result in their belief. They didn’t believe the evidence, and didn’t accept His claims. He was on trial, and they wanted hard evidence to convict Him of blasphemy. This brings us to the second point – 2) His confirmation that He is the Christ would result in His crucifixion, and bring about the completion of His mission. He revealed His identity because it fit His purpose and timing at this point.