"DON'T TELL ANYONE"

The Question Series

 

Many of us have spoken these words, “Don’t tell anyone, but…” A secret is being shared and you are among the privileged to hear it. But what goes through your mind as you hear the warning “Don’t tell anyone”? If it’s juicy, you think, “Who can I tell?” You promise not to tell anyone, but there is the unspoken rule that I will tell my spouse, because you cannot keep a secret from your husband or wife. Or maybe you have this confidentiality agreement with your best friend. The point is, when someone tells you a secret prefaced with “Don’t tell anyone, but…” that secret is going to be shared. I am not sure there is such a thing as a secret. 

            Our question today is based on this premise. Someone asked: When Jesus heals, why does he tell them not to tell anyone? If you perform an online search, you will find several posts on this question. I will save you the time and share what I have gleaned from my studies. 

            It happens more than once. Jesus heals a person and then tells the person not to tell anyone. It seems counterintuitive to the ministry. Why would Jesus want to keep these miracles quiet? Years ago, I speculated that he was using reverse psychology. Jesus would tell the person not to share his healing with a wink, and then they would go and do the naturally opposite action – go tell. 

            Jesus also tells demons and disciples alike not to reveal his identity to the masses. This is what is called the “messianic secret” and it has been debated for 150 years. Why would Jesus not want people to know he is the Messiah? Why would he say “don’t tell” back then when we are expected to “tell” now? 

            I think the question boils down to a much more critical question for us today: What are we telling people about Jesus in our witness? 

 

1. What was Jesus trying to keep secret? 

 

The tail end of our text in Mark features a narrative of Jesus healing a leper (1:40-46). A leper boldly comes to Jesus and is confident that Jesus can heal him. The only question is, is Jesus willing? Two things stand out in the confrontation: Lepers are not supposed to approach people like this, and Jesus heals the leper by touching him (risks infection or being labeled “unclean”). The man is both healed and touched so that he is cleansed physically and in the heart. This is a dramatic moment for the former leper. Then Jesus sobers the moment by telling the man not to tell anyone. 

            Before we point out the obvious, consider the bigger picture. If we think that Jesus is hiding his identity from people by saying “Don’t tell,” we would be wrong. His command to silence is part of the broader pattern of revealing and concealing who he is. 

Jesus is not secretive as we may think. At his baptism, the Spirit descends on him like a dove and a voice is heard from heaven, “You are my beloved Son,” (1:9-11). Then Jesus preaches the kingdom in Galilee (1:14-15) and conducts several healings in public (1:34; 2:1-12). He calms a storm while several boats are caught up in the tempest (4:35ff) and feeds 5000 people (6:30ff). Jesus even encourages a man freed from a legion of demons to go and tell his village all the great things God has done for him (5:19-20). 

These instances make the command to silence harder to figure out. There are three different audiences Jesus commands not to speak of him: demons, the healed, and the disciples. Each of these audiences reveal a need for caution in who speaks, why we speak, and what we speak, as well as the results (potentially) of what was said. 

            What was Jesus trying to keep secret?

 

 2. Silencing the Demons

 

At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. While he was teaching with amazing ability, a man with an unclean spirit (demon) cries out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God,” (1:24). Jesus immediately responds, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 

            We read a little further on that Jesus was casting out many demons along with performing healings of various kinds. Mark adds the note, “And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him,” (1:34b). This curious emphasis is made again in Mark 3:12, that the demons knew him and wanted to reveal him.

            Of the three audiences we are looking at it seems that the demons were the only ones who really knew who Jesus was. They knew that he was the Holy One of God - more than a man, more than a teacher – Jesus was divine. The demons seem terrified, and they should be. But there is something unexplained in their actions; it seems like the demons were trying to “out” Jesus, to not just reveal him but to expose him. And by exposing him, perhaps they were trying to sabotage Jesus’ plan. 

            At this stage of the mission, Jesus did not want people to know his identity as the Christ. Jesus wanted them to reconnect with God through his teachings and to see God in him without being told by him or these obnoxious spirits. Can you imagine Jesus being endorsed by evil spirits as the Christ? That is not good marketing. That would be like China endorsing a candidate for president of the United States. 

 

3. Commanding the Healed Not to Tell

 

We can understand why Jesus would silence the demons, but why did he silence the poor folks who had been released from pain, suffering, and crippling conditions? Would they not be a testimony of the power of Jesus? Would people not flock to Jesus all the more? 

            Jesus commands secrecy four times in Mark. He said to the Leper, “Don’t tell anyone about this,” (1:44). When he raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, Jesus “…strictly charged them that no one should know this…” (5:43). Later, Jesus heals a deaf man who could not speak, and we read, “And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it,” (7:36). Then he heals a blind man and tells him, “Do not even enter the village,” (8:26); in other words, avoid any witnesses.

            Two reasons become clear as we look closer at the first incident: one practical and one theological. First, when news begins to spread about Jesus healing the sick and casting out demons, everyone wants to either be healed or to see a miracle. This causes a congestion of people so thick that Jesus can barely move (see 1:32-33). After telling the leper not to tell anyone, the leper went out and talked to everyone about this miracle spreading the news everywhere “so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town but was out in desolate places…” (1:45b). And still people came to him. They came, not to hear him preach, but because he was a healer. 

            That leads to the second point – preaching. Notice that after Jesus heals several people, he goes to a desolate place to pray. Simon finds him and tells him that everyone is looking for him (read: looking for healing). Jesus’ response is telling: “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out,” (1:38). What was the primary mission of Jesus? To preach. And you may think me horrible for saying so, but he did not come primarily to heal. Jesus began his ministry by preaching the good news. Healing was a confirmation of what he said. It was not the main event. If healing were the primary feature of Jesus’ ministry, he would have healed everyone. Instead, he left the crowds behind and continued preaching. Healings made the preaching ministry difficult for Jesus because a) people were becoming focused on the healing and miracles and not on who Jesus was, and b) he could not preach in the towns because of the frenzy over healings. 

            Jesus wanted to heal people, but preaching was his priority. When he healed the leper, the deaf man, and the blind man, he did so willingly and with the hope that they would keep it quiet. In all honesty, how do you keep something like this quiet? If everyone knows you were born blind but now see, if everyone knows that you broke your back but now can walk…how do you hide this miracle?

 

4. Warning the Disciples

 

Jesus even commands the disciples to keep things quiet about himself. One instance involved Jesus asking the disciples who they think he is, and Peter proclaims, “You are the Christ,” (8:29). To which Jesus responds to keep it quiet. Mark wrote, “And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him,” (8:30). 

            A second instance was the Mount of Transfiguration when Peter, James and John witnessed Jesus glorified and heard a voice from heaven say, “This is my beloved Son,” (9:7). Afterwards Jesus charged them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead (9:9). 

            Both scenes spotlight Jesus’ identity as the Christ, as revealed by Peter, and as Son, as spoken by the Father. Why keep this quiet?

            Even though at this stage the disciples are beginning to understand that Jesus is the Christ, they still don’t get it. Three times, Jesus reveals to them his mission: to suffer and die and be raised to life. Each time, the disciples fail to grasp the suffering part of Jesus’ ministry and squabble over who the greatest disciple is among them. 

            The warning to silence about the identity of Jesus is not about keeping the gospel quiet, it’s about not spreading misinformation about who Jesus is. To the demons, Jesus is a threat; to the crowds, Jesus is a vending machine who can grant their deepest wishes; to the disciples, Jesus is the ticket to glory. If Jesus charges these groups to silence, it is because none of them really represent the message of the Christ. 

 

5. You and Me – What do we tell?

 

I have often wondered about how we present Jesus, whether we are accurately portraying what the Christian hope is, why we believe in Jesus. 

            On a bridge was spray-painted the familiar phrase, “Jesus is the answer.” After a time, someone came along and painted, “What’s the question?” In our post-modern times, people are trying to figure out the question. Consequently, we are not sure what question Jesus answers. 

            The questions we used to ask were: How can I please God? How can I be forgiven? How do I get to heaven? People today are not asking those questions. Forgiveness is not an issue unless sin is acknowledged, and sin has become a word of judgment to society. Going to “heaven” only counts if you believe in an afterlife – many do not. So what question are people asking?

            Why me? It is a universal cry. Why me? People are suffering and can’t figure out why they, good people, are the victims of life’s unfairness. The Bible offers stories of suffering, but no one answer seems to explain the ups and downs of life. When Job suffered, his friends gave an answer – a wrong answer. At the end of the dialogue that is the book of Job, God never gave Job an answer for his suffering. 

            So, what do we tell people about Jesus? If we say he is the healer, people will expect real physical healing. If we say he is a wonderworker, people will expect answers to every problem. But if we say he is Lord, then all the preconceived ideas about Jesus melt away before our allegiance to Jesus as Lord. 

            Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Truth doesn’t seem to satisfy those who are looking for answers. What if we lift up the other two words: “way” and “life”? Now we see that Jesus doesn’t just give answers to existential questions, a way of understanding the world, but a way of living in the world. Following Jesus means coping, acting, obeying (even when it makes no sense), and prioritizing everything under his Lordship. 

            Perhaps Jesus silenced the healed so that instead of running off to show off new skins, new eyes, or new ears, they would stop to consider the One who healed them. Perhaps their testimony would be more like the man born blind who wanted to follow the One who healed him (John 9). 

            Jesus is the answer! He is Lord! Follow him!

 

                                                AMEN