He Did It Again!

I heard the other day that a complete stranger given just 15 minutes to observe a person and his/her environment will have a better chance of predicting behavior than a close friend or family member. Sounds hard to believe, but I guess our familiarity or prejudice blinds us to other possibilities that a stranger will see. Let’s face it; family and friends can surprise us. Just about the time you think you’ve got them figured out they will go and do or say something completely unexpected.

Jesus went again into the area of the Decapolis; this is where the man delivered from the legion of demons went to tell his family and friends about all that Jesus had done for him. Apparently the word that Jesus was in the area had gotten around and people brought a man who was both deaf and mute, and they begged Jesus to heal him. Jesus took the man aside and in a most unusual way opened the man’s ears and mouth so that he could hear and speak. But that’s not the end of the story.

• [36] Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. [37] People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."
  Mark 7:36-37 (NIV)

This is the second time Jesus gave orders for people not to say anything about what He had done. Why would Jesus tell these people not to talk about this miracle when he had previously told the man delivered from demons to go back to his family and friends and tell everyone what the Lord had done for him?

Does Jesus really want to keep His identity as the Messiah a secret as some claim?[1] That seems unlikely to me because most of the people in this area would have been Gentiles and not Jews looking for the Messiah. Does Jesus not want people to know that the Kingdom of God has come like I thought He did in Mark 5?[2] Why does Jesus tell everyone to not say anything about this truly amazing miracle?

Could it be that Jesus did not want people to just focus on the signs and wonders that demonstrated God’s Kingdom had really come to be among them? Do you think Jesus wanted them to talk more about the MESSAGE of the Kingdom rather than the MIRACLE? Let’s face it, people have not change much in 2,000 years; folks will still get all excited about miracles. The message of the Kingdom, a message of repentance and living a changed life, doesn’t sell as well as miracles. But which is more important, the message or the miracle? What do you think?
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[1] See Mark 8:30 – Jesus instruct His disciple not to say anything about being the Christ.
[2] See Monday’s Pondering: Schizophrenic or Following a Plan