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Why silence is commanded about healing
Why did Christ always command the people that he healed to not speak of the miracle and not spread it to others? Was it not through the miracles that He expected us to believe in Him? He said,
"If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”- John 10:37-38
The people that were healed always disobeyed Him.. therefore it went against His will. So was there something that God was intending for but through the disobedience of man(through free will) it did not happen?.. I am a bit confused. I thought miracles are performed for the glory of God, so I don't understand why He commands it to be a secret.
Then, in the man born blind: "1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him."- John 9:1-3
- He was born blind so Gods glory can be shown.. which brings me to another question (that is off topic): Why does God allow suffering to somebody for the sole reason of bringing Him glory?
Please keep me in your prayers
-sister in Christ
"If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”- John 10:37-38
The people that were healed always disobeyed Him.. therefore it went against His will. So was there something that God was intending for but through the disobedience of man(through free will) it did not happen?.. I am a bit confused. I thought miracles are performed for the glory of God, so I don't understand why He commands it to be a secret.
Then, in the man born blind: "1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him."- John 9:1-3
- He was born blind so Gods glory can be shown.. which brings me to another question (that is off topic): Why does God allow suffering to somebody for the sole reason of bringing Him glory?
Please keep me in your prayers
-sister in Christ
Comments
Indeed Glory be to God! First, this requires some theological reflection and I would like to point to a text by St Philoxenus of Mabbug, a 6th century Oriental Orthodox Syriac Father (‘The Ascetic Discourses’)
Here is one quote that I found helpful and you might too: (I think its from the second or third discourse)
Whosoever wishes to draw nigh in systematic order to the life and conduct of the discipleship of Christ before all things it is meet that he should within himself lay hold upon sure faith, which maketh certain that God is, and enquireth not; which holdeth His words to be sure; and seeketh not to investigate His nature; which hearkeneth to His words, and judgeth not His deeds and actions. For faith maketh [man] believe God in everything that He speaketh without requiring testimonies and proofs of the certainty of His word, the certain proof that it is God Who speaketh being sufficient for Him.
In revising why God created us in the first place it might help us see rationality in all this; God created us out of His love. He didn't need love and he didn't need us (implied by the Trinitarian Constitution of His Being), because in fact, we need Him. What i’m trying to establish here is the fact that God was in no need of man—not of our love, nor our servitude. He created us because in His infinite love He desired that that Eternal Love enjoyed between the His Three Persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) extend to creatures outside of His being also, us. Our service to Him adds nothing to Him; it only adds infinity to our nothingness. His creation of us was in no way self-serving, making His actions/ words in no way self serving. Only a wisdom we cannot comprehend because His ways are higher than our ways and His thinking is higher than our thinking. Keeping this in mind, what the Lord Jesus did and said on earth is all for our sake because He is the lover of our spirits.
Thank you so much for your answer, I expected an answer like that for the second portion of my post.. some things we just need to accept as is since we will never be able to completely comprehend God.
Anybody have any ideas for the earlier question of the post??
please pray for me
-sister in Christ
Hi perfectsinner,
I think ,I would look at the question this way. We have so many examples where Jesus commanded the people He healed not to tell anyone about their miraculous cure.There are also many verses in the Gospels where Jesus commanded his very own disciples not to spread the word that he was the true Messih. However, as far as I can tell, there are no records in the Gospels of Jesus commanding the people whom he forgave their sins not to tell anyone about it.The reason being,the Word incarnate came into the world to sacrifice Himself in order to forgive our sins and save us.He came to seek and restore the lost sheep.That was His sole purpose. He commanded silence about physical healings so as not to send the wrong message that he came only for healing of the body.Remember also the people wanted to crown Him king by force when they witnessed His powers and miracles. If news about his miraculous powers were to spread like bush fire, imagine the size of crowd that would flock to Him for the purpose of physical healing.The Gospels are filled with stories ,for example, where the gathering of the crowd in huge numbers impeded his movements from one place to another as this verse in Mark 1:45 attests that " Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter"
Imagine in terms of a famous celebrity who would like to keep low profile and goes about his way so that people would not recognize him or of a Saint like Pope Kyrillos with the gift of healing and God's grace who comes to town to pray and speak the word of God,but people travel from all over the places to only seek cure for their illness and not to hear or follow the teachings that grant eternal life.
I hope this makes sense to you.
That clears it up, I never thought of that perspective before. Thank you!
Please pray for me
-sister in Christ