Thursday, February 14, 2019

Healing and Miracles: Jesus’ Attitude of, “Tell no one”.


Jesus Christ is our perfect example. Followers of Christ have to study, understand and imbibe the Master’s teachings. Jesus never advertised or made so much noise about healing, miracles, signs and wonders.

Matthew 8:4, “And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.” Please beloved, note that this is just one example. There are others.

There is an incident where our Master Son, Jesus Christ told two individuals to make mention about healing, miracles, signs and wonders. And it was a specific instruction for a very specific reason - to encourage John the Baptist:

Matthew 11:2-6, "And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”"

Even this specific instruction from Jesus to a specific individual, John has been twisted by many fame seeking preachers and used as a reason to shout and make so much noise about the miraculous. But this was not the Master’s example. Jesus said, "Go and tell John..." He did not say, "Go and shout it everywhere; tell everyone; make so much noise about it. Spend a lot of time on it."

Jesus Christ discouraged unnecessary noise about the miraculous because he knew such a practice would create distractions from the spiritual work of spending quality time in dishing out teachings that would transform souls; transform people's character inside-out; teachings that would cause them to grow spiritually and be drawn closer to the Father - to forge a living and a vibrant one-on-one personal relationship with the heavenly Father.

Placing too much emphasis and time on healing, miracles, signs and wonders can have an adverse effect of people just coming to God for what they think they can get from God without being interested in the ways of God. They also may become lazy and fail to use their brains to develop man-made cures for their physical maladies or physical, natural problems. Advancements in man's work, for example, Science and Technology, the Arts, etc would suffer.

Does God perform miracles today to solve physical or material problems? Of course, "Yes". God intervenes. However, he would prefer humankind discovers and comes up with the cures or solutions. That's one of the reasons he gave us a brain. God would rather focus on our salvation and spiritual development. These are things Science and Technology (for example) cannot do for us. But the things Science and Technology can do for you, God would rather have you get them done through Science and Technology. Nevertheless, in his infinite love and mercies, he still intervenes for us, even to this day. Amen.

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Examples of incidences where Jesus discouraged the broadcasting of the miraculous:
(Please brothers and sisters, note that broadcasting, shouting and making so much noise about the miraculous is not a sin. However, there are dangers or disadvantages to it. Therefore, Jesus cautioned against it.)

1) Matthew 8:4 (A leper, healed)
Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

2) Mark 7:33-36 (A deaf and mute man, healed)
So Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue. And looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). Immediately the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more He ordered them, the more widely they proclaimed it.

3) Matthew 9:29-30 (Two blind men, healed)
Then He touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you.” And their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one finds out about this!”

4) Mark 5:41-43 (Jairus' daughter brought back to life)
Taking her by the hand, Jesus said, “Talitha koum!” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” Immediately the girl got up and began to walk around. She was twelve years old, and at once they were utterly astounded. Then Jesus gave strict orders that no one should know about this, and He told them to give her something to eat.

5) Mark 8:25-26 (A blind man at Bethsaida, healed)
Once again Jesus placed His hands on the man’s eyes, and when he opened them his sight was restored, and he could see everything clearly. Jesus sent him home and said, “Do not go back into the village.”

{Karo's commentary: “Do not go back into the village.”...because he did not want him to go into the village to make so much noise about the miracle; create a stir and get himself (Jesus) jampacked with a lot of miracle seekers. This would take time away from the all-important work of preaching and teaching. Besides, mankind is expected by God to come up with solutions to physical problems. Nevertheless, he does intervene sometimes.}

6) Mark 7:24 (Jesus did not want anyone to know he was in the region of Tyre)
Jesus left that place and went to the region of Tyre. Not wanting anyone to know He was there, He entered a house, but was unable to escape their notice.

{Karo's commentary: A key question is why did he not want anyone to know he was there? Perhaps, he needed some rest. He wanted to get away for a time. Broadcasting or making so much noise about the miraculous can get you to end up not having enough private time for yourself. Jesus wanted to avoid that. This is another reason he discouraged people from making so much noise about it. Some believers have worn themselves out for failing to take a cue from this important attitude of the Master. You have to learn to take care of yourself. Then you can do a much better job of taking care of others. This is sometimes misunderstood as selfishness. It is not.}

These are just a few examples. You can be rest assured that there are more cases, when you consider Christ's over 30 years of living on the planet as "son of man and Son of God in one".