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Mark 1:43-45
In Mark 1:43 we learn that Jesus instructed the man that He had healed that he should not tell anyone of this great miracle, but as we learn in Mark 1:44 (NKJV), “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” The time of Jesus fulfilling the Law had not yet come; He had not yet died for the sins of the world, nor had He been risen from the dead in fulfillment of the promise (Matthew 5:17-20). They were still living under the Law that God gave to Moses, and Jesus instructed the man to obey the regulations of it.
But the man, in his own excitement for his being healed, ran away telling everyone about this great miracle of healing that he had received. We may wonder why Jesus would instruct the man to keep this a secret, but the physical ministry of Jesus had just begun, and as we see in Mark 1:45, “Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.”
This is an example that we should follow God’s will rather than our own will, even in the excitement of the moment.
I find it possible that the explosion of Jesus’ popularity may have made it difficult for Him to conduct personal ministry as the text tells us, “and they came to Him from every direction.” The most feasible answer that I find for this situation is that if Jesus’ popularity spread to much, they may have forced Him into the kingship of the nation, as this is what the people of Israel expected to find in the coming Messiah, and the result would have led away from Jesus being crucified unto salvation through His resurrection for humanity, and to a physical leader as their earthly King, which would have been man’s will and not God’s.
Dear LORD,
Please give us understanding in the ways that You lead us that may seem unusual for our lives. Please help us to see that Your ways are higher and greater than our ways and that in no situation do we know more than You about the paths of our lives as You have laid out for us to follow. You work through our weaknesses to make us stronger. Please help us to always seek Your will for our lives – in Christ. In Jesus name I pray, amen.