Jesus: Stop Evangelizing So Much

And the gospel really is about pie in the sky by and by.

A man suffering from a virulent skin-disease came to him and pleaded on his knees saying, “If you are willing, you can cleanse me.” Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said to him, 'I am willing. Be cleansed.' And at once the skin-disease left him and he was cleansed.

And at once Jesus sternly sent him away and said to him, “'Mind you tell no one anything, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your cleansing prescribed by Moses as evidence to them.”

The man went away, but then started freely proclaiming and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but stayed outside in deserted places. Even so, people from all around kept coming to him. (Mark 1:40-45, New Jerusalem Bible)

This week’s Gospel reading is said to be an example of what scholars call “the messianic secret.”  This healed leper is not the only healed person Jesus told, “Mind you, tell no one anything….”  Why would Jesus, who came to proclaim good news, tell healed people not to spread their personal good news that had come at the hands of Jesus?

The main scholarly response is that if they proclaimed their healing, his fame would spread and it would make his ministry more hectic.  Which it did. And/or, it would bring the attention of religious leaders, who would begin casting suspicious glances at him, fostering hostility prematurely.  Which it did. 

Perhaps and perhaps.  But I’m wondering if Jesus meant it plain and simple: Don’t go blabbing about the good things Jesus has done for you.  Don’t, as he put it elsewhere, cast your pearls before swine.  Instead, keep it to yourself and go about your duties, like visiting prisoners or feeding the poor. Or doing the dishes.  

This is certainly counterintuitive for those of an evangelical bent, both Protestant and Catholic (yes, there are evangelical Catholics).  Not only are such people taken with Jesus’ command to preach the gospel worldwide—the great commission,  Matthew 28—they have a personality that drives them to communicating: when something good happens to them, they just can’t help but share it. 

But here’s the caution: what happens when we do this?  Ironically, as much as we repeat that it is Jesus who gets the credit for the wonderful thing that happened, inevitably it is the recipient of the blessing who becomes the center of attention. 

One personal example:  In a sermon, I described some ugly behavior on my part, after which God bestowed his patience and mercy on me through the tender reaction of my wife.  You would think people would praise God or my wife. Instead, person after person came up to me to express their gratitude for me being vulnerable enough to share this story.  

This same phenomenon occurs in healing stories, especially as crafted for evangelical audiences.  The grim nature of the affliction is played up so that the healing appears that much more spectacular.  And though God is formally acknowledged as the author of this miracle, the healed person inadvertently becomes a celebrity and is invited to share his or her testimony here, there, and everywhere.  

In addition to our evangelistic penchant, we continue in this vein because we believe that God needs our PR efforts.  You know the logic: God has no voice except our voice, God has no hands except our hands.  And, from Paul, how will they hear if there is no preacher (Romans 10)? Perhaps, but this doesn’t mean God wants us to share everything good that has happened to us. Because often when we do, the glory subtly shifts to us and away from God. 

Of course, there is a time and a place for personal testimony, thank God.  But in a celebrity-driven culture like ours, things go awry pretty quickly.  I think we can trust God to manage his PR team.  He will make his power and glory known in his own ways in his own time, and sometimes through us.

And here’s another irony of this story.  What is the first thing the healed leper does after experiencing a blessed miracle?  You would think he would give himself as a disciple of the Healer and do anything Jesus told him to do.  Instead, the first thing he does is disobey a specific and concrete command of Jesus. 

So this is also a story about the sorry state of human nature: even after God does the most wonderful things for us, we’re just terrible at listening to him.  We can’t even obey the simplest commands.  

Being the recipient of divine healing is no guarantee that you’ll make a good disciple, which is what Jesus ultimately wants for each of us.  That, I suspect, is the ultimate reason for Jesus’ stern command to keep quiet.  Maybe before we grab a microphone to speak on his behalf, we need to learn how to obey him in the simplest things.

‘The Gospel Is About Going to Heaven When You Die’
I enjoyed this sassy take on “the gospel,” a term in much dispute among some Christians.  In particular, scholars are wont to cast the term in abstract theological terms that leaves the reader with a simple question: What is “the gospel”? 

N.T. Wright, whose writings I deeply admire, has an answer.  In an interview with Trevin Wax at The Gospel Coalition, he summarized his view:

When Paul talks about “the gospel,” he means “the good news that the crucified and risen Jesus is the Messiah of Israel and therefore the Lord of the world.” Now, that’s about as brief as you can do it.

Exactly!  But the average reader responds, “So what?”

At that point, the conversation gets convoluted with talk of personal ethics, social justice, the kingdom of God, the final resurrection, and so on and so forth.  Again, great! The gospel is a big thing. But most days, most people are looking for an answer to life’s most existential question: “Will I go to heaven when I die?” 

And the gospel offers a simple answer. 

Grace and peace,

Mark

Photo credit: jgroup

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