A LINGERING QUESTION: Why did Jesus tell people to stay quiet about the miracles?
- Matthew 9:31.
- This is something that happens repeatedly throughout the gospels: Jesus does a miracle and then instructs the healed not to share what happened.
- It’s hard to understand: wouldn’t you want to shout about these miracles at the top of your lungs?
- We live in an age where we praise ourselves over the smallest accomplishments. How would you not want to tell everyone about something that great?!?!
- And yet He consistently tried to keep it quiet.
- Why?
- As I’ve dug into this passage, I’ve come to believe that it is uniquely suited to answer that question for us.
WHAT WAS JESUS LOOKING FOR? Jesus was looking for obedience.
- Matthew 7:21-22, 24, 26.
- Jesus wasn’t going for fame, attention, notoriety, respect, or applause.
- He was after disciples, followers, apprentices.
- If He had been after the attention, He would have publicized the miracles.
- We read in Matthew 7 repeated emphasis on the importance of obedience.
- It’s the defining characteristic of a true Christian.
- When we understand this, it helps us to have a better understanding of reasons that Jesus did what He did.
COMPARING THE TWO STORIES: The first is a “friendly” disobedience and the second is a “fierce” disobedience, but both are equally failures.
- Matthew 9:27-30, 32-34.
- Let’s look at how many contrasts there are in the two stories:
a. The first story has the oppressed speaking words of faith (“Have mercy on us”) (v. 27); in the second story, the person is unable to speak (v. 32).
b. The first story deals with natural evil (v. 27); the second with demonic evil (v. 32).
c. In the first story, they call Jesus “the Son of David” (v. 27); in the second, He is said to be in league with the “prince of demons” (v. 34).
d. In the first story, the miracle happens “indoors” (v. 28); in the second, it happens outside among a “crowd” (v. 33).
e. In the first story, Jesus is sought by the oppressed (“the blind men came to Him” – v. 28); in the second, the oppressed is “brought” to Jesus (v. 32).
f. In the first story, the oppressed have “faith” in Jesus (v. 29); in the second, there is no expressed faith (v. 33).
g. In the first story, “no one knows” initially (v. 30); in the second, everyone knows initially (v. 33).
- That’s a lot of contrasts.
- Because of all those contrasts, the initial inclination is to think of these as being two stories that make opposite points. That’s incorrect, though. As I’ve studied this, I’ve come to believe that the contrasts are there to highlight the common outcome that happens.
- The two stories are tied together at v. 31. That’s the central verse and the central point of these verses. It’s in the middle of these stories because it’s the heart of these stories.
- The two situations are different in all the ways that I just highlighted. But the outcome is the same, not different. This is the easily overlooked point.
- The first story initially looks like the “successful” story, but it’s not. The men have faith, but they don’t have obedience. Jesus tells them – and not casually but by “warn[ing] them sternly.” They do not obey. They had faith but not obedience. Faith is a good thing, but it’s not the big thing that Jesus is seeking.
- The second story is a straightforward “unsuccessful” story. They opposition is obvious and clear.
- The point that the text is making is something like this: “Look at all the differences in these two situations, but they were both ultimately frustrating to Jesus because in neither did obedience result.”
- This explains a major piece of Jesus’ frequent statements to people not to tell others about the miracle.
- Here we have two miracles that arise from two wildly different situations and see two markedly different immediate responses and yet neither creates obedience.
- If Jesus’ goal is followers, then miracles don’t help further that agenda as well as you’d hope they would.
- We’ll get more into the scenario where the miracles sometimes have a positive impact on discipleship in a minute, but for right now I should just say that the immediate reason that Jesus did the miracles was His compassion for the oppressed person. That would explain Him doing the miracle but not wanting it publicized.
WHEN DOES THE MIRACLE INSPIRE REAL FAITH? When you have the miracle first, people usually walk away impressed; when you have the obedience first, people usually walk on encouraged.
- Let me emphasize the words “away” and “on.”
- In the first half of the sentence, the people are impressed but they’re walking away. That’s just what the two healed men do – they walk away and immediately disobey what Jesus told them to do.
- It’s nice that they’re impressed, but it’s ultimately futile if they’re walking away.
- When you have the obedience first, they walk on encouraged.
- They walk on encouraged because the miracles confirm what they already believe about Jesus. It gives them more confidence in who He is. It gives them more faith in His abilities.
- It pushes them further down the road.
- Contrast that with the miracles first: it amazes and interests, but rarely leads to obedience. Why is that? Let me share a story that might bring some insight.
- Let me use an analogy that I think will help.
- Imagine that you have the ability to drop 50 3-pointers in a row. It’s amazing, but your goal isn’t to draw a crowd or have people be impressed with you but to get kids to play ball themselves.
- The amazing nature of what you did wouldn’t cause people to think, “I could do that,” but rather to just walk away shaking their heads and saying, “That was amazing.”
- Your goal is not for them to be amazed at you but for them to want to become like you.
- The very “miracle” (being able to make that many shots in a row) works against them thinking this is something that they could participate in. It’s shocking! It’s amazing! The very other-ness of it would cause them to be impressed but not inclined to move toward participating.
- If you start with obedience then the miracles can cause you to more deeply believe in the power of the one you are following to change you; if you start with the miracles then obedience seems beyond you because of the other-ness of Christ.
A REMINDER FOR US: Obedience opens the doors for miracles.
- John 7:17; John 15:10.
- To pull off what we’ve been talking about, I’ll put it this way: obedience opens the door for miracles.
- What I mean by that is that obedience opens the door to seeing God move powerfully in our lives. It opens the door to all that God wants to do. It opens the door to truly seeing the miracles that Jesus is doing.
- In John 7:17, Jesus tells us that obedience has to happen for us to understand that Jesus’ words are God’s truth.
- This is important to understand because we tend to want to do it the opposite way: we want God to reveal His truth and path and then we’ll believe it and follow. Jesus says that we have to step out in obedience first and then the confidence, insight, and assurance will come.
- Similarly, in John 15:10, Jesus says that our obedience causes us to abide in the Father’s love. We there too want it to happen in the opposite order: if God draws us close then we’ll obey.
- In both of these verses we see a similar truth to what I shared earlier: when we put obedience last, we miss out on the bigger picture of what Jesus wants to do.
- We need to understand that obedience is an essential first step. We have to lead with obedience and then doors will open up.
