Image source: Webding symbol from MS Word
Reading: Matthew 8:1-4
Several times we read Jesus warning people he has healed to ‘not tell anyone’.
Why?
I think because Jesus had a mission to accomplish, a healing in a particular place and time could “disrupt” his timetable on earth–being mobbed, being demanded for more signs and wonders (to prove that he was the Messiah), a premature death…. But things did not always happen as he wished, and he would at times try to avoid attention and escape a crowd.
But it was not an excuse not to declare one’s healing. Jesus often recommended that the healed make an announcement through the established institutional process. Hundreds of years ago, God provided the structure for that: “But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” (v.4)
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” – Acts 1:8 (NIV)
My Bible Reading, Listening and Living 