Just this morning I was asked:
"Question about a couple passages: What have you gathered from verses like Mark 1:44-45 and Mark 7:36 where Jesus urges them not to tell about the great things He has done and the people decide to do it anyway? Is that showing the failure of humans even with the simplest of tasks?"
These passages relate to Jesus' words of warning to His followers after performing a miracle. They were to stay 'mum' about the wonder they had just seen. "And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, and He *said to him, 'See that you say nothing to anyone'...(Mark 1:33,34). In this chapter Jesus healed a leper. It was instant, complete and mind-boggling.
I answered the question this way:
I interpret such incidents in a most mundane manner. The last phrase of v45 says "they were coming to Him from everywhere." The multitudes surrounded Him. Everyone was talking about Him. They were ever so curious. The press of the crowds (the Paparazzi) necessitated extreme measures for His safety and that of the crowds. Crowd control. So, Jesus hushed the listeners to offset the mad rush. In effect, why add fuel to the fire? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I think it was a safety measure to guard God's time table for His redemptive mission. I don't think we need to read any 'anti witness' allegation into Jesus' word of common-sense caution.
And, they disobeyed out of mere excitement for the great things He was doing. They couldn't contain themselves, they couldn't keep it in. They'd burst from the sheer marvel of it all. I think Jesus understood this and with tenderness resisted any urge to rain down fire on them for their failure to heed His directive 😃.
Certainly the Bible is deep with mystery. When we interpret it we sometimes are so bent on finding deep mysteries that we fail to understand the obvious and surface plain sense that is there also. This is a mistake and leads to unnecessary intrigue. As has been said, when plain sense makes common sense, seek no other sense.
dick christen
