But I do... and it's my blog... so I'll post if I want to! Here are a couple questions from my Bible Essentials class that I teach at church. Enjoy! Why in the New Testament did Jesus heal the sick but tell them not to tell others?
Good question. To be honest, I can only speculate here. If someone claims to know the mind of Christ completely, along with his motivations… I personally think they are nuts! But, with that said… let’s take a look at the New Testament. First of all, Jesus does not always tell the people who he performed miracles on to keep quiet. In Mark 5, Jesus heals a man possessed by many demons. After the exorcism, Jesus says, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.” (Verses 19-20, NIV) If Jesus always wanted everyone to keep quiet, wouldn’t he have said the same here instead of telling this man to go back home? In other places however, it is true that Jesus asks the people he performed miracles on to keep quiet… keeping in Mark. Mark 7:36 “Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.” Mark 8:30 “Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.” And then the author gives us a little more insight into Jesus’ instruction, “As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” (Mark 9:9, underlining my own) This last instruction came after the transfiguration where Jesus shows his true form in his entire splendor. This is an amazing event that you can read about in Mark 9. The question is however, why wouldn’t Jesus want everyone to know about this amazing event? Why not just tell everyone flat out, “I am God and also man.”? Why wait until after the resurrection? Here is my best guess (and I’m sure others would disagree): The Israelites were a highly monolithic people. The Hebrew people to this day recite the Schema daily which is Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” (NASV) In order to contrast the pagan cultures that surrounded Israel and their many Gods, the Bible repeatedly shows that the Lord is the one and only God in the universe. If anyone, thing, or being claimed to be a god besides the Lord, the Israelites would know this was an imposter. So, what would happen if the Israelites saw this man walking around healing people, changing form, and claiming to be God? They would either assume he was a fake or demonic… and in either case kill him for blasphemy. How could a mere man claim to be God? And this IS what eventually happened, was it not? The key here is that Jesus knew his message would lead to his death. Jesus did not go to the cross unwillingly or by surprise, he knew that he would be crucified for claiming to be God (and he did claim to be God, despite what the DaVinci Code might lead people to believe!), but this all had to happen in its proper time. After the resurrection, Jesus wanted everything he did and said to be known throughout the world… but he could not accomplish his entire mission if he was killed in 3 months from the start of his work. Jesus needed the three years of ministry to build into the disciples so they could carry his message of one God, three distinct parts to the entire world. This radical shift in theology was not going to happen overnight. Jesus did want the word to get out… but all in its proper time! How should Christians talk to non-believers and prove what the Bible states is true?
This is an interesting question because it assumes that Christians are called to prove their faith to the people around them. I don't think they have to... and before you pick up that stone and get ready to hurl it at me, let me explain! Christians are called to be able to intelligently and gently explain their faith. Peter makes this quite clear when he writes, “And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.” (1 Peter 3:15, NLT) But I don’t feel that I have to defend the Gospel to my non Christian friends. All I have to do is unleash the Gospel and it will defend itself. There is a plethora of evidence and research done by many faithful scholars and apologists (someone who defends the faith by trade). I would strongly suggest books by Josh McDowel and Lee Strobel in this area. Both have put together very intelligent and compelling defenses for the Christian faith. But know this, at the end of the day there is still a faith element to believing in Jesus. Some people find are opposed to believing in anything by faith… but I would propose that they use faith all the time without even realizing it. Every time you take a bite out of a Jr. Bacon Cheese burger, you are using faith that the patty is beef and not… say pig… or chicken. We don’t usually thoroughly inspect our burgers before we get them because we’ve ordered the same thing 100 times before and each time it’s been the same result. Every time you sit in a chair, you have faith that the chair will hold you. You don’t inspect the legs to make sure they haven’t been sawed through. Every time you step out of your house, you have faith that gravity is going to place your foot squarely on the ground. We use faith each day in any number of ways… so why do we find it so hard to have faith in a God whose very presence is made known all throughout the world? After all, how can something… anything… come from nothing? The world is here… it is intricate and beautiful and incredibly ordered… how could this happen by chance? If you are walking through a forest and you find a watch keeping perfect time, you don’t think “Wow, the forest created this watch and it works great!” Instead you think, “Someone lost this… this was created by a watchmaker and sold to some unfortunate soul who dropped it right here.” I believe that all of creation cries out to the very existence of God (Paul talks about this in Romans 1:20). That God’s invisible qualities can been seen all throughout a visible universe. And that most of all, God revealed who He is through the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ. One more thought to wrap this whole discussion up. The biggest evidence for the Gospel that your friends will probably ever see will be your life. No one was every argued into the faith… but millions have experienced the love of Christ through the love of a Christian, and been compelled to respond in a personal way. No one… or very few people are out looking for God, but they are looking for true, authentic friends. I know I was before I became serious about my faith. If you want to prove the Bible to be correct, live like Jesus lived and don’t be shy about what God is doing in your life! If you aren't sure about where you stand on your faith... or you flat out disagree with everything that I just said... first off thanks for reading. Secondly, don't give up the search. If you are serious about finding truth, you will. -Luke Shortridge, is the college pastor at CedarCreek. He enjoys talking about nerdy subjects like this, hanging out with college kids, and Frisbee of all forms. Feel free to comment or shoot him an email... if you know it... sucka! Thanks!
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