Why Does Jesus Silence People Who Say Who He Is?

This article is part of the Tough Passages series.

The Injunction of Silence

Generally speaking, Jesus had to defer the full disclosure of his identity (cf. Mark 7:24, Mark 8:30, Mark 9:9, 30) because God’s Messiah was to die and be raised from death in order to be enthroned as the eternal Messiah-ruler (Acts 2:36; contrast with John 6:15). During the time of Jesus’s public life, there was, therefore, an anticipation of the ultimate disclosure of his unusual messianic identity (Mark 9:9).¹

Historical and Political Motives

Historically speaking, popular Judaism at the time of Jesus expected a Davidic, political messianic king who would arise to liberate the Jewish people from Roman oppression and impurity. Various other forms of messianic expectation of Jews at the time of Jesus have also been noted,² but these were not general or prevalent views. The heightened hope for a political messiah among Jewish people (esp. among the Pharisees; e.g., Acts 5:36–37) in the first half of the first century AD went hand in hand with a narrowing of OT messianic expectations (cf. the narrow focus on 2 Sam. 7:12–14, 16 in Second Temple Judaism; cf. 4QFlor [Dead Sea Scrolls] I, 11–13).

Such narrowing was flavored by the memory of the Maccabean uprising.³ The Maccabean revolt had led to the reestablishment of Israel’s theocracy around 164 BC. This was viewed as the victory of God via his emboldening guerrilla fighters to resist a great military power. At the time of Jesus, this now-past revolt might have become one of the primary lenses through which the OT was read by an oppressed people. The likelihood that someone would call for a revolt against Rome was thus high.

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Generally speaking, then, the people of Israel held a predetermined expectation for their coming Messiah (cf. John 6:15). Such a politically narrowed expectation would certainly be at variance with the challenging messianic claims and mission of Jesus (see below). When one inserts the unique claims of God’s Messiah, Jesus, into the historical matrix of the narrow, messianic expectation of Second Temple Judaism, one is faced with a seemingly insurmountable conflict. Should Jesus act even faintly like the hitherto expected political-messianic figure (e.g., Mark 11:1–10), it could trigger a political revolt (cf. John 6:15).

Jesus, the eternal Son of God, was commissioned to accomplish a very comprehensive purpose that included a broad spectrum of the OT anticipation of liberation effected by God, while the general, messianic expectation centered on one particular hope surrounding political liberation.

Practical Motives

For Unclean Spirits

And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.—Mark 1:23–26

Although it is true (cf. Mark 1:34) that Jesus is the “Holy One of God”⁴ (Mark 1:24), he does not engage with them in discussion and quickly silences the unclean spirit (cf. Zech. 3:2; Mark 3:11–12; Mark 5:7), because he will not tolerate their attempts to exercise controlling and detracting power over him by naming him.

The exorcism (cf. Mark 5:7) reinforces Jesus’s authority to teach and is awe inspiring (cf. Mark 10:24, 32; cf. comment on Mark 1:21–22). Jesus challenges and rebukes everything that opposes the legitimate claims and purposes of God with his creation. Exorcising on a Sabbath, however, draws opposition, since it is viewed in Pharisaic Judaism as breaking the Mosaic laws governing the Sabbath (Mark 3:1–2). On the other hand, the “fame” of Jesus spreads, fueling further opposition.

In merciful response, Jesus “healed many” (cf. Mark 2:12; Mark 3:2, 10; Mark6:5). He also “cast out many demons,” again with injunctions to silence (cf. Mark 1:25; Mark 3:12), both as an expression of mercy and in order to substantiate his divine authorization to teach and to lead (cf. Mark 1:38).

That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.—Mark 1:32–34

Jesus challenges and rebukes everything that opposes the legitimate claims and purposes of God with his creation.

Mark 1:32–34: It is important to distinguish three recipients of, and thus reasons for, Jesus’s varied injunctions to silence: (1) to demons (e.g., Mark 1:25, 34; Mark 3:12), because they must not gain or retain power by speaking; (2) to healed people (e.g., Mark 1:45; Mark 5:43; Mark 7:36; cf. John 11:54), for this impedes demonstrably the mobility of Jesus; and (3) to his disciples (e.g., Mark 8:30; Mark 9:9), for they do not yet understand that the Messiah of God must both die and be raised before taking up his exalted and eternal reign (Mark 8:31; Mark 10:45; Mark 14:25).

For the Healed

And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.—Mark 1:40–45

These verses describe the first Markan injunction to silence to a healed person. “Show yourself to the priest” is necessary according to Jewish law so that the healed person may be declared ceremonially clean by a priest and thus become socially restored (Lev. 14:2–31; see the repeated references to cleansing in Mark 1:40–45). Secondarily, Jesus appears to give this command as a witness of his power specifically to the priests: “for a proof to them.” Amid the tension between Jesus’s practical injunctions to silence (cf. comment on Mark 1:32–34) and his specific command to testify to the priests, the larger motif of serving as a witness of Jesus might already arise here. Those affected by Jesus will, in due time, be called to testify with their transformed lives to who Jesus is and what he has done (cf. Mark 13:9; see also Mark 6:11). In contrast to this, opponents of Jesus will bear false witness (Mark 14:56–57), which breaks the law of Moses (Mark 10:19).

In contrast to demons, who must remain silent, the joy of the healed man outweighs Jesus’s earnest and practical injunction to silence (cf. comment on Mark 1:32–34). The man sets out to proclaim it all and to spread the word about his cleansing. As a consequence, Jesus’s ability to move freely becomes more limited. More and more people from various regions seek to find him — he cannot remain hidden.⁵

Notes:

An extrabiblical example for the need to be confirmed as a messianic contender is Simon ben Kosiba (Bar Kokhba). Rabbi Akiva was convinced that Bar Kokhba was the Messiah, referring to Numbers 24:17 and Haggai 2:21–23 (cf. Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 97b). However, Bar Kokhba failed miserably.
A number of different expectations can be documented as less prevalent hopes during Second Temple Judaism. They include the expectation of a priestly Messiah in Qumran (1QS IX, 11; 4QTest; CD 7). Some expected an anointed prophet (Psalms of Solomon 17 and 18). Others, again, expected a heavenly Son of Man (Ethiopic Enoch, 37–71). Cf. John J. Collins, The Scepter and the Star: Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature (New Haven, CT: Doubleday, 1995), 209.
Second Maccabees describes how Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who governed the Seleucid Empire, tried in vain to hellenize the law-abiding Jews under his jurisdiction. He sought to force the Jews to act against the Mosaic law (e.g., to eat pork) and also defiled the temple in Jerusalem (2 Macc. 6:1–2). The ensuing uprising led by the Maccabees against the Seleucids would later be remembered at the feast of Hanukkah (= “dedication”; cf. John 10:22), commemorating especially the rededication of the temple to Yahweh (164 BC). Second Maccabees 8:1–4 describes the /beginning of the revolt: “Judas, however, who was also called Maccabeus, and his companions secretly entered the villages and summoned their kinsmen and enlisted those who had continued in the Jewish faith, and so they gathered about 6,000 men. They earnestly prayed to the Lord to look upon the people who were oppressed by all and to have pity on the temple that had been profaned by ungodly men and to have mercy on the city . . . and to remember also the lawless destruction of the innocent babies and the blasphemies committed against his name.” The account describes the events that occurred mostly between 167 BC (when the Maccabean revolt began) and 164 BC.
Cf. John 6:69; Acts 3:14. See also 1 John 2:20.
E.g., Mark 1:45; 2:1–2; 3:7–12, 20; 6:31–33, 53–56; 7:24–25.

This article is by Hans F. Bayer and is adapted from the ESV Expository Commentary: Matthew–Luke (Volume 8).

Hans F. Bayer

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