A question about Luke

[sillymayonnaise]

Hello! I’m trying to read the Bible for the first time and I have a question, that is maybe sort of stupid, but I’m having trouble understanding it, so I thought I’d ask.

In Luke 8, verses 26-39, Jesus heals a man with demons, and then tells him to go back to his town to tell them what God has done for him. In the very next section, verses 40-56, he woke an official’s daughter who had just died, and Jesus commanded the parents not to tell anyone what had happened.

Why did Jesus want some miracles to be relayed to the public, and others kept secret?

Thank you so much in advance!

 

[Light_Seeker]

Why did Jesus want some miracles to be relayed to the public, and others kept secret?

Not a stupid question at all!
Here’s what the Church fathers have to say:

Augustine on Luke 8:39:

But that he, now that he is healed, desires to be with Christ, and it is said to him, Return to your house, and tell what great things God has done for you, implies that each should understand, that after the remission of his sins he should return to a good conscience as to his home, and obey the Gospel for the salvation of others, in order that there he may rest with Christ, lest by too. early wishing to he with Christ he neglect the ministry of preaching necessary for this redemption of his brethren.

Theophyl on Luke 8:56:

But some also, by habits of sin, bury themselves, as it were, and become corrupt; and to raise these also the grace of the Savior is not wanting; to intimate which He raised from the dead Lazarus, who had been four days in the grave. But the deeper the death of the soul, so much the more intense should be the fervor of penitence. Hence He raises with a gentle voice the maid who lay dead in the room, the youth who was carried out He strengthens with many words, but to raise him who had been dead four days, He groaned in His spirit, He poured forth tears, and cried with a loud voice. But here also we must observe, that a public calamity needs a public remedy. Slight offenses seek to be blotted out by secret penitence. The maid lying in the house rises again with few witnesses; the youth without the house is raised in the presence of a great crowd who accompanied him. Lazarus summoned from the tomb was known to many nations.

The woman He rose from the dead had few witnesses. This shows His humility. The demons He drove out, and shepherds told the entire city & country, & they came to Him - it was a very public event.

 

[jcrichton]

Hello! I’m trying to read the Bible for the first time and I have a question, that is maybe sort of stupid, but I’m having trouble understanding it, so I thought I’d ask.

In Luke 8, verses 26-39, Jesus heals a man with demons, and then tells him to go back to his town to tell them what God has done for him. In the very next section, verses 40-56, he woke an official’s daughter who had just died, and Jesus commanded the parents not to tell anyone what had happened.

Why did Jesus want some miracles to be relayed to the public, and others kept secret?

Thank you so much in advance!

I think that there are shades of miracles… on the first case the man is healed (spiritual healing) from the possession of demons; on the second, the girl was brought back from the dead (there’s no spiritual healing).

Another explanation could be that, as with the bread and fishes, people responding to a physical gain would be mostly concerned with getting something from Jesus rather than being Saved by Jesus.

Finally, Jesus could be attempting to control mass hysteria as His miracles would have the unwanted effect of an increasing mass appeal–remember that He often spoke about a determined time when the ‘Son of Man would be betraid, taken to the foreigners, and put to death…’ Jesus did not want to accelerate or retard the appointed time.

Maran atha!

Angel