Why did Jesus command people to not tell others of the miracles He performed?

Another means of arresting attention is the power of miracles. Men are attracted by any appearance of the supernatural. Witness the Samaritans (Acts 8), whom Simon Magus had a long time bewitched with his sorceries. Herod rejoiced when he saw the Lord, because he had heard many things of Him, and hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him. (Luke 23:8.) Many at Jerusalem believed on Him when they saw the miracles which He did (John 2:23); but Jesus did not commit Himself to them. At Nazareth the people in the synagogue were evidently on the tip-toe of expectation for some display of supernatural power (Luke 4:23), but He made none. At Capernaum all were amazed when they saw the devil cast out in the synagogue; "and they glorified God being filled with fear saying, We have seen strange things to day," when the paralytic man walked out of the house carrying with him that whereon he had lain. (Luke 4:36; Luke 5:26.) So many were His miracles that men questioned whether, when the Christ came, He would do more miracles than Jesus had done. (John 7:31.) Holding John high in estimation as a prophet, they drew a contrast between him and Jesus in favour of the latter, saying, "John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there." (John 10:41-42.) The raising of Lazarus from the dead attracted many to Bethany; and, as the Lord entered Jerusalem in triumph, the people who had witnessed it bare record of it, and for this cause many more swelled the royal procession. (John 12:9, 17-18.) Here again was something which appealed to the natural man, an argument in favour of the Lord it must be confessed of no mean power. By the exhibition of supernatural power on the part of the magicians of Egypt Pharaoh's heart was hardened to disobey God. (Ex. 7:22.) By miraculous power, to be exercised in a future day, the second or two-horned beast will deceive them that dwell on the earth. (Rev. 13:14.) Miraculous power has a voice for all classes; yet we never find the Lord using it to draw disciples after Him. On the contrary we find Him retiring from observation, desiring that the miracle should not be made known, or working it outside the city, and before the multitude could collect. (Mark 1:34-38, 44-45; Mark 5:43; Mark 7:33-36; Mark 8:22-26; Mark 9:25.) In a word, whilst the Lord could use all that influence which appeals irresistibly to the natural man, He did not use it to make disciples of the multitude. And why? Because He aimed at the gaining of the heart, not the moving merely of the feelings; the conscience, and not simply the intellect. He desired the welfare of the souls around Him, and not mere personal popularity, however great or lasting. And is not this what labourers in the work at the present day should aim at? How are they to accomplish it? The Lord has shown us.

The Lord forbids the man to tell others of this, but tells him rather to show himself to the priest and conform to the law Moses had prescribed in case of the healing of leprosy. This would be solid testimony for the priests as regards the reality of the man's healing, without the excitement that many words might cause. The man however was not obedient, just as today there are some who put such emphasis on healing that the true work of God is hindered. Bodily healing is a simple thing for the Lord; but the deeper work of soul exercise is far more important, a work that may be stifled by the excitement occasioned by visible miracles. The miracles were generally signs intended to draw attention to the truth proclaimed by the Lord Jesus. His Word being put in the background by undue emphasis on His miracles, rather than on their significance, He could therefore not openly enter into the city, but remained in more deserted areas. Yet people came out to Him from every direction. This sober discernment and wisdom of God's Servant is precious to contemplate. Later we find the Lord returning to Capernaum, where many gathered at the house (no doubt Peter's house) when they heard of His presence there. The crowd became so large that the house was not adequate for them. As the true Servant of God, He preached the Word.

Again we see how our Lord did not court popular enthusiasm and notoriety. His instruction to the man was that he should allow the testimony to his cure to flow in the channel indicated by Moses. He however, filled with delight did the very thing he had been told not to do, and as a consequence for some days the Lord had to shun the cities and dwell in desert places. Very few things stir up human interest and excitement more than miraculous healing, but He was seeking spiritual results. There are modern healing movements which create considerable excitement in spite of the fact that their so-called "healings" are very unlike our Lord's. The actors in these movements most certainly do not retreat from the blaze of publicity, but rather delight in it.

1919 216 The miracle was performed privately, and the Lord's expressed will was that it should be kept secret; clearly, therefore, it was not wrought for the wicked and unbelieving generation who had rejected his teaching. To them the Lord shortly before had said emphatically that no sign should be given: and the healed man was accordingly bidden not to advertise his cure, but to go straight home.

283 Though He still exercised the mercy, it was not the Lord's object now to be known by these miracles, for He was now severing and discriminating in a nation that had rejected Him, or rather itself. So afterwards, they should tell no man of Him. They confessing He was the Christ, morally as Son of God in all His grace they had rejected Him. He was not now to take reputation as Christ, when they were morally bad and rejecting the Lord, and had no taste for what was true in it.

His forbidding them to tell the matter is evidently connected with their recognizing Him the be Son of David; for though He is King, He had not come to reign, and He desires no advertising in such a way as to incline people to think the kingdom had arrived. But the men did not have that implicit faith that simply obeys if His word, though they admired Him for what He had done. They spread abroad His fame as though He had come to reign, which He had not. May we remember not only to admire our Lord, but to fully obey Him.

Jesus, knowing their purpose, withdrew from the area, certainly not from fear, but He would not rally public support in His favor against this evil. The common people, however, followed Him, for they had not yet been pressured by the influence of the Pharisees. All who came for healing were healed. This was certainly evidence of His being the Messiah of Israel, yet He charged them that they should not publish this, for it was not the time of His great manifestation rather, in lowly grace He was fulfilling Isaiah 42:1-3, taking the place of God's Servant rather then that of the Messiah; but the one chosen Servant, beloved of God, in whom God found pure delight, and upon whom God had put His Spirit. These are precious words to be said of a servant, for a servant's place is one of comparative obscurity and of little outward importance in the eyes of men; but God's approval is the vital matter.

Into all this it is not here the place to enter. Mark emphasizes the prohibition to the healed man not to publish the miracle, and notes the effect of this being violated, the reason for the Lord's withdrawing from the crowds being, no doubt, what it was before. Follow Him, however, they will, for their needs are imperative, and the omnipotent mercy of God is with Him, flowing freely for them.

There has been much conjecture as to the reasons for the silence imposed upon the man by Jesus: "See thou say nothing to any man." But from the narrative it will be seen that the leper's mission to the priests was made to appear by the Lord to be one demanding immediate execution. After the healing Jesus at once sent him off, strictly charging him to say nothing to any one, but to show himself to the priest, who would then have before him indubitable evidence of the reality of this cure. This injunction the man disregarded, and as soon as he left the Lord began to spread the news in the immediate locality, so that Jesus could no longer go into town, but remained in desert places where persons visited Him.

"See thou say nothing to any man" may be compared with the Lord's direction to the seventy, "Salute no man on the way" (Luke 10:4). In matters of urgency it was necessary to avoid these tedious and elaborate salutations. Elisha gave similar instructions to Gehazi (2 Kings 4:29). The verb (ekballo) used of the Lord's sending him on the errand, while literally meaning "to drive forth," certainly implies urgency and speed. The man was directed to discharge his obligations to the Levitical priesthood before abandoning himself to the selfish joy of announcing his cure to his excitable friends and neighbours. Divine claims were paramount.

But the healed leper disregarded both the word of His Healer and the express commandments of the law. And there have been those who have sought to justify the act of disobedience, as if grace such as the leper had received absolved the recipient from the responsibility of obedience. On the contrary, "to obey is better than sacrifice," and He, who told the delivere Gergesene to go home and tell his friends what the Lord had done (Mark 5:19), had wise reasons for what He said to the leper. Silence is a grace equally with speech when in accordance with the will of the Lord.

Notice how the Lord touches the leper, suggesting how He came to meet our sin and put it away. The command here to tell no one does not seem to be because of the opposition, but rather that His true service was in danger of being hampered by the multitudes treating Him as a mere healer. Miracles themselves were only acted parables, and our Lord came from heaven to do something more than cure the ills of the body.