The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was. Mark 1:33-34
Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him. Mark 3:11-12
He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat. Mark 5:43
Jesus was not being secretive about his identity. He spoke boldly in synagogues and made some
very clear claims about himself, challenging religious leaders who questioned
his ability to heal people (all done very publicly).
Some say Jesus was using mind tricks, telling people not to
do something, but expecting them to disobey and tell people anyway. It doesn't seem right that Jesus needed to
capitalize on people's promise-breaking nature to get the word out about him.
Jesus told others to keep his identity quiet for four
reasons...
Some were demons. Jesus told the demons to be quiet about his
identity. They aren't the most reliable
public relations tool. If demons go around
telling everyone you are the son of God, people might not believe.
The people were not completely informed. The people only understood a portion of who
Jesus was - a healer. He wanted people
to know that he came to heal not just our bodies, but the world from sin. Once the apostles knew the full picture of
who Jesus was - the savior of all mankind - then he told them to go to the
whole world and proclaim his identity.
Jesus needed to monitor the growing
attention against him. If there was too
much fervor and opposition, Jesus could have been killed earlier. He needed to die on Passover to show himself
as the lamb of God. Jesus balanced some
of the chatter so that the timing would work out perfectly.
His followers could be in danger. Jesus was later killed for telling people who
he was, so maybe he was protecting his disciples from a similar fate from the
religious leaders.
Jesus had good reasons at the time to suspend discussion until
everything was right.
After the Gospels, we read the Book of Acts, where Christians
are told to be bold and proclaim the good news.
Nothing secretive now.
No holding back.
The restraining order has been lifted.