Why did Jesus not announce that he was the Messiah?

[filmmaker]

It keeps saying in the Bible that Jesus tells various people that he is Messiah, then gives those people strict instructions not to tell anyone. If Jesus wanted the word spread that he was the Messiah, why didn’t he want his disciples telling people?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

During his public ministry, Jesus told particular individuals he wanted to know that he was the Messiah, but told those individuals to keep the information secret. While we can only speculate as to Christ’s reasons, it is likely that a public announcement of his messianic identity would have incited the people either to try to make him the political king commonly expected of the Messiah (cf. John 6:14-15) or to kill him before the appointed hour for his sacrificial death had arrived (cf. Luke 4:28-30).