15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all 16 and ordered them not to make him known.
There have been many anonymous benefactors who put thousands of dollars in Salvation Army buckets and seek no attention for it. It is admirable but when Jesus did it, it never seemed like it was the right thing to do. Surely, his name must be proclaimed so this injunction from Jesus seems to go against everything he came to earth to do. Today we will tackle this issue. There are many occasions in the gospel where Jesus tells the recipient of a miracle to tell no one. There is an immensely practical reason for this and the next few verses quoting Isaiah 42:1-3 give us a hint. Isaiah tells of all he will do, “until he brings justice to victory”. Too much attention to what Jesus was doing would lead to his arrest and crucifixion before the appointed time. That is an excellent reason to be silent about Jesus. It no longer applies, however.
D. L. Moody replied to criticism of his evangelism methods, “…I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.” Ed Stetzer said yesterday in an article, replying to scorn at “outdated” methods, “The Roman Road is probably better than rolling your eyes.” All excuses for remaining silent, not making him known, ring hollow when we see how much he has healed us of our disease of sin. When he did these things in the gospels, “many followed him”. When he does things today, many will follow him, but only if we tell them what he has done. This our charge…
Until he brings justice to victory
Go forth everywhere.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church