Why Did Jesus Tell The People He Healed Not To Tell Anyone?
"He ordered them to tell no one. But the more He ordered them, the more they greatly proclaimed it. They were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."" – Mark 7:36-37 (MEV)
Jesus healed many people. He cast out demons from people, made the blind see, the deaf hear, and the mute speak. He did these things to show the love of God to people, but why did He command the people He healed not to tell anyone that He healed them? Why would He want them to keep it to themselves?
Let's take a look at the heart of this humble Man.
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A look at what He wants
Christ Jesus came to do the will of the Father. He was intent on keeping it that way.
In John 6:38, He said, "I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." He came here to do what God wants. He didn't long for earthly praise nor human acclaim. He was intent on doing what the Father wanted, and had no need for human approval to do it.
We humans tend to do things for the praise of people. We tend to make a show of what we do. We may not know it, but we tend to be proud of ourselves for a "job well done."
Consider the amount of trophies, certificates, and medals we have on display somewhere we can see it. We may not brag about our accomplishments to men, but we like to look at our achievements and find a sense of fulfillment in them. Actually, searching the term "fulfillment" in Google yields about 104,000,000 results! That simply shows just how much we really look for it.
For Christ, however, living means doing God's will, period. In fact, He said it's what drives Him:
"My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work." (John 4:34)
A humble heart
Now we see that Christ simply lived to do God's will and not to earn praise, we now get to have a deeper understanding of one of His teachings: humility. Consider Matthew 6:1-4:
"Be sure that you not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Therefore, when you do your charitable deeds, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do your charitable deeds, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deeds may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly."
Christ modeled what He taught. To Him, sickness and disease has no place in God, and the devil has no part with God (see 1 John 3:8). In Him there is simply fullness of joy and abundance of life (see Psalm 16:11; 1 John 1:5; John 10:10). There's nothing to brag about, nothing to show in pride through a parade in the streets. It's all about God.
A real Servant
So why did Jesus tell people not to tell anyone that He healed them? While there are some more reasons like not to draw praise to Him but to God, I offer you one simple but amazing answer: He is humble. He was simply a Servant who came to show us the true face of God in His love for sinners (see Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Romans 5:6-8; 2 Corinthians 5:19).
