The Narrow Path Ministries

Several times in the gospels, Jesus performs a miracle and then tells the recipient not to tell about it. I know there has been much discussion as to why He did this, but I have a different question: Was it a sin for these people who went ahead and told anyway? Weren't they disobeying a direct command from Christ?

I have a few thoughts, but they aren't satisfactory to me, what do you think?

Was it a sin for these people who went ahead and told anyway? Weren't they disobeying a direct command from Christ?










I think you answered your question with a yes. Jesus probably knew they would tell and they may not have known the full extent of his identity but it still is a sin to disobey his commands.

I have often wondered why Jesus asked many people not to tell others about their healing. Was it in order that He wouldn't be constantly crowded by people seeking healing? Yet, it seems that He was crowded anyway. But maybe that's because a significant number of them did tell.

Something I was pondering regarding this question is: when did Jesus become Lord? Jesus was of course Messiah from His birth, but it is not until after the resurrection that Jesus says in Mt 28:18 "all authority has been given to Me". And in Acts 2:29-36, it seems that Peter is saying that Jesus, having been resurrected, has now been raised up to the throne and Lordship. Of course there is also Lk 2:11, which seems to call Jesus Lord from His birth, so that could be taken as an argument against this.

Anyways, I was just thinking that maybe some of Jesus' "miscellaneous" statements prior to His resurrection might not carry the same authority as when He was prophetically revealing God's heart (i.e. sermon on the mount). I'm not saying this is true, just thinking "out loud" in order to get feedback.

A different thought: could this be some sort of Hebraism? Like when a mother tells a child "I've to you a million times", she doesn't really mean one million. When Jesus said "tell no one", could He have just meant "keep it quiet"? It seems like in some cases, it would be practically impossible for the healed person not to say something about what happened. If you had been known by your family and neighbors to be lame/blind/dead/etc., and then you show up healed, some sort of explanation would be required it seems. Were they to keep silent about it for the rest of their lives?

I guess I just would find it sad to think that so many of these people who had just received a miracle from Jesus made it their very first act afterward to sin. If that is in fact the case, so be it, but does anyone else have thoughts on this?

I guess I just would find it sad to think that so many of these people who had just received a miracle from Jesus made it their very first act afterward to sin. If that is in fact the case, so be it, but does anyone else have thoughts on this?










I think it was a sin from ignorance since they didn't really know who he was. Also the "sin" was an effort to let other people know there was a healer in their midst so again the intent may have been good.

Jesus healed many people, large crowds, every disease and sickness (Matt 4:23-25). He didn't say "don't tell" in all cases. It looks like Jesus was pretty serious about it - "See that you don't tell anyone." (Matt 8:1-4 with no report about whether the man told), "Jesus warned them sternly, 'See that no one knows about this.'" (Matt 9:30 - They told.).

I guess that you could find all cases where Jesus told people not to tell something and see if there's anything that those particular cases have in common (someone's probably done this already), and go from there. If some guy who I didn't really know gave me $500,000 and asked me to not tell anyone that he gave it to me, then I would want to honor his wishes.

The question about "when did Jesus become Lord?" is interesting. And when did Jesus come into His kingdom? Is that the same question? If I remember correctly, Jesus sometimes preached that the Kingdom of God is near, other times He said it was upon his listeners or had overtaken them, I think. He talked about how his listeners would see Him coming in His kingdom. ... and so on.

Has it anything to do with "To the Jew first", were the ones He healed all Jews?

MsCread wrote:
Has it anything to do with "To the Jew first", were the ones He healed all Jews?

That seems plausible, but I don't think every case says so for sure, but I don't know. Good thought.

There were matters other than healings of which Jesus told his disciples not to tell.

He told them not to tell anyone that He was the Messiah:

And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. (Mark 8:29, 30)

Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah. (Mark 16:20)

He also commanded Peter, James, and John not to tell about the vision they had of Moses and Elijah and the transformed Jesus:

And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” (Matthew 17:9)