Keep Quiet About a Miracle?

[drfuss]

In Luke 8:49-56, Jesus heals the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. After the healing, Jesus "ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened". (NIV).

Does anyone have an explanation for this? Everyone knew the daughter was dead when Jesus entered the room and the daughter was alive when He left. Why would He not want them to tell what had hapened?

There are also other miracles performed by Jesus that He said not to tell anyone. Any explanations?

 

[Bible Believing Bill]

In Luke 8:49-56, Jesus heals the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. After the healing, Jesus "ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened". (NIV).

Does anyone have an explanation for this? Everyone knew the daughter was dead when Jesus entered the room and the daughter was alive when He left. Why would He not want them to tell what had hapened?

There are also other miracles performed by Jesus that He said not to tell anyone. Any explanations?

Take a look at Matt. 13:53-58

53And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. 54And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?
55Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
56And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?
57And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.
58And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.



The most important part to your question is in verse 28. Jesus did not do mighty works because of their UNBELIEF. If they don't believe in Him why would they believe in His miracles.


Jesus didn't want his miracles advertised because he knew that the scribes and pharisees would not believe them. His miracles were for those who believed, or at least those who had not hardened their hearts toward Him.







Bill

 

[Scarlett O.]

There are also other miracles performed by Jesus that He said not to tell anyone.

Yes, there are other examples. Let's get them all out on the table. I looked up the word "tell" in Matthew, Mark, and Luke on biblegateway.com and here are the ones I found.

• The Leper (Matthew 8:4; Luke 5:14) - The man came to Jesus and worshipped Him and asked to be healed. Jesus healed him, sent him to the priest and told him not to tell.
• Peter's Confession (Matthew 16:20; Mark 8:30) - Peter confessed via the Holy Spirit that Jesus was the Christ. Jesus charged all those listening not to tell.
• The Transfiguration (Matthew 17:9; Mark 9:9; Luke 9:21) - Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah and God said that of those three only Jesus was the Son of God and to be hearkened to in that manner. Peter, James, and John were charged not to tell what they saw until Jesus was resurrected.
• The Deaf Man (Mark 7:36) - Jesus healed the deaf man with the speech impediment and told no one to tell, but they told anyway.
• The Blind Man (Mark 8:26) - Jesus healed the blind man at Bethsaida after he led him privately out of town and he told him not to go back into town and not to tell anyone.
• Jarius' Daughter (Luke 8:56) - The dead child was brought back to life after Jarius sought out Jesus. It's only in the Luke passage that Jesus charged them not to tell.

Any explanations?

I'm not a scholar, but I can only make some observations. First of all, in the cases of the sick people, they either came to Him out of faith or someone brought them to Jesus out of faith or in the case of the dead girl, her father came to Jesus out of his own personal faith.

That says something to me about why they were healed. But why were they charged not to tell? Again, I can only give my unschooled opinion.

Jesus, Himself, said that His primary purpose on the earth as fully man and fully God was to "seek and save that which was lost". He couldn't spend all of this time healing or else He would be swamped with mass mobs of people just wanting a healing. Many crowds followed Him in the bible. But healing was not His primary purpose on this earth.

And some of those would NOT have had faith, but only curiousity or demands. Remember Herod, after killing John the Baptist, wanted Jesus to perform a miracle for him and he got NOTHING from Jesus.....not even a word?

Secondly, the more He supernaturally healed and taught in the presence or "ear-shot" of the Pharisees, the more that they desired to kill Him. Jesus needed to keep the Pharisees at bay until their time to kill Him was at hand. Keeping Himself constantly in the public eye and in the center of hot debate detracted from His mission.....to seek and to save that which is lost. (Luke 19:10)

He healed, but that wasn't His chief mission.
He taught as one with authority, but that wasn't His chief mission.

His chief mission was to make known the truth of the gospel. Salvation was his chief mission. Healing those who came to Him by faith or had petitions made for them by the faith of someone else was in His heart, but was secondary to His obedience to the Father for salvation's sake.

 

[bobbyd]

You will notice in relation to some of the miracles Jesus told them to go to the rabbi/priest and give the proper offering that was required by the law. This was a reminder that Jesus didn't come to destroy or to end the law, but to complete the law. Therefore He had them continue to follow those teachings.

 

[TCGreek]

In Luke 8:49-56, Jesus heals the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. After the healing, Jesus "ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened". (NIV).

Does anyone have an explanation for this? Everyone knew the daughter was dead when Jesus entered the room and the daughter was alive when He left. Why would He not want them to tell what had hapened?

There are also other miracles performed by Jesus that He said not to tell anyone. Any explanations?

He was on a timetable.

 

[drfuss]

Yes, there are other examples. Let's get them all out on the table. I looked up the word "tell" in Matthew, Mark, and Luke on biblegateway.com and here are the ones I found.

• The Leper (Matthew 8:4; Luke 5:14) - The man came to Jesus and worshipped Him and asked to be healed. Jesus healed him, sent him to the priest and told him not to tell.
• Peter's Confession (Matthew 16:20; Mark 8:30) - Peter confessed via the Holy Spirit that Jesus was the Christ. Jesus charged all those listening not to tell.
• The Transfiguration (Matthew 17:9; Mark 9:9; Luke 9:21) - Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah and God said that of those three only Jesus was the Son of God and to be hearkened to in that manner. Peter, James, and John were charged not to tell what they saw until Jesus was resurrected.
• The Deaf Man (Mark 7:36) - Jesus healed the deaf man with the speech impediment and told no one to tell, but they told anyway.
• The Blind Man (Mark 8:26) - Jesus healed the blind man at Bethsaida after he led him privately out of town and he told him not to go back into town and not to tell anyone.
• Jarius' Daughter (Luke 8:56) - The dead child was brought back to life after Jarius sought out Jesus. It's only in the Luke passage that Jesus charged them not to tell.

I'm not a scholar, but I can only make some observations. First of all, in the cases of the sick people, they either came to Him out of faith or someone brought them to Jesus out of faith or in the case of the dead girl, her father came to Jesus out of his own personal faith.

That says something to me about why they were healed. But why were they charged not to tell? Again, I can only give my unschooled opinion.

Jesus, Himself, said that His primary purpose on the earth as fully man and fully God was to "seek and save that which was lost". He couldn't spend all of this time healing or else He would be swamped with mass mobs of people just wanting a healing. Many crowds followed Him in the bible. But healing was not His primary purpose on this earth.

And some of those would NOT have had faith, but only curiousity or demands. Remember Herod, after killing John the Baptist, wanted Jesus to perform a miracle for him and he got NOTHING from Jesus.....not even a word?

Secondly, the more He supernaturally healed and taught in the presence or "ear-shot" of the Pharisees, the more that they desired to kill Him. Jesus needed to keep the Pharisees at bay until their time to kill Him was at hand. Keeping Himself constantly in the public eye and in the center of hot debate detracted from His mission.....to seek and to save that which is lost. (Luke 19:10)

He healed, but that wasn't His chief mission.
He taught as one with authority, but that wasn't His chief mission.

His chief mission was to make known the truth of the gospel. Salvation was his chief mission. Healing those who came to Him by faith or had petitions made for them by the faith of someone else was in His heart, but was secondary to His obedience to the Father for salvation's sake.

Drfuss: A very good explanation. I think you are right. Thanks.