Sssh...don't tell anyone.

Texts to consider: Mark 1:43-44; 3:12; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26

Why Does Jesus Command Silence in These Passages?

On five occasions in this week’s readings, Jesus commands silence after performing miracles. Why? Given that miracles were a sign, why would Jesus want that sign to be inhibited in any way? Rather than deal with them in the sequence they are recorded in Mark’s gospel, they will be considered as part of either a public or private setting.

Public Setting

            Mark 3:12 is the only one in the setting of a crowd. Also, the statement is recorded only once here but seems to have been repeated on the many occasions when Jesus cast out demons. While the beneficiary of the exorcism was some poor soul, the focus of the record is on the demons themselves and their response to Jesus. As Guelich puts it, “…The demons by virtue of their supernatural knowledge recognize who Jesus is as seen by their prostration and their statements.”[1] It is argued that Jesus could not tolerate the witness of an unclean spirit, so He commanded its silence. However, Guelich makes the point that Mark does use the demons as witnesses to the deity of Jesus, so such an argument collapses. Guelich continues to explain the censuring of the demons “…since as supernatural beings they recognize Jesus and Mark has placed on their lips the correct identity of Jesus as ‘Son of God.’ We are left then with the possibility that their statement of who Jesus is came at an inappropriate time.”[2]

Private Setting

            The other four events – Mark 1:43-44; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26 – all take place in a private setting that in the latter three instances Jesus ensured. Mark 1:43-44 is the only one of these events where Jesus did not do so, and it seems reasonable to accept that it was a private encounter.

            Noteworthy too, is that in Mark 1:43-44 and 7:36, the prohibition to tell anyone what happened was ignored. Gould points out “His spreading the story prevented Jesus’ work in public, and forced him into retirement, and so Jesus forbade his telling it.”[3] Guelich asserts the prohibition as “…a ‘messianic secret’ motif”[4]. He continues, “…the ‘secrecy command’ and its violation serves an ironic purpose for Mark to show the drawing power of the “preaching” of those healed.”[5] With regard to Mark 7:36, Guelich continues, “The people disregard the command in proportion to Jesus’ insistence on it.”[6]

            The Greek words used by Mark do not help with the interpretation of these passages as several different words are used and occasionally repeated. Instead, Guelich makes the best argument as to why Jesus insists on secrecy, “So the evangelist adapts the secrecy command to accent the futility of any attempt by Jesus to keep a low profile.”[7]

            Simply put, the injunction of the beneficiaries to remain silent about their respective blessings from Jesus were a useful means that Mark uses in his narrative. Again, Guelich says, “Instead of contributing to a ‘messianic secret,’ these injunctions serve as a literary device by which Mark prepare’s [sic] for the next scene.”[8]

            Perhaps more than that, the “secrecy motif” is that Jesus is only properly understood as deity with the death, burial, and resurrection in plain view of the believer.

__________

[1] Robert A. Guelich, Mark 1–8:26, vol. 34A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1989), 149.

[2] Robert A. Guelich, Mark 1–8:26, vol. 34A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1989), 149.

[3] Ezra Palmer Gould, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to St. Mark, International Critical Commentary (New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1922), 32.

[4] Robert A. Guelich, Mark 1–8:26, vol. 34A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1989), 76.

[5] Robert A. Guelich, Mark 1–8:26, vol. 34A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1989), 76.

[6] Robert A. Guelich, Mark 1–8:26, vol. 34A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1989), 396.

[7] Robert A. Guelich, Mark 1–8:26, vol. 34A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1989), 397.

[8] Robert A. Guelich, Mark 1–8:26, vol. 34A, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1989), 435.

Photo by James Orr on Unsplash