I had a bit of a breakthrough the other day. I finally understand the Messianic Secret! Some of you are probably thinking "what the heck is he talking about," so for those of you who have never heard of the Messianic Secret, I will do my best to explain.
Throughout the Gospel of Mark, there is a strange theme that shows up over and over again. In Mark's Gospel, Jesus will be shown performing a miracle (usually curing someone), and then after performing this miraculous deed, he will inform the party that he doesn't want them to tell anybody about what the miracle that was just performed. This does not happen just once, but over and over again Jesus tells those people that they should not tell anyone what he has done for them.
This seems like an outrageous idea.
I remember the first time I heard about the Messianic Secret, I was a freshman at Briercrest sitting in Gospels class with Dr. David Miller. When the topic came up, I was shocked to say the least. Being the good Evangelical Christian that I was, growing up in the Evangelical Mennonite Missions Conference, telling people about Jesus was one of the most pious acts I could think of. When I read these passages in Mark about Jesus healing people, then telling them not to tell anyone about himself, a part of my Christian worldview was shattered. If Jesus told people not to tell others about himself, did that mean I was supposed to do the same?
This idea has baffled me ever since. I have not wanted to ignore this idea, but at the same time, I did not know what to do with it.
The fact of the matter is, Jesus told others not to tell of his works because he did not want to be known solely as a miracle worker. Yes, it is indeed true that Jesus did many miracles, and that the Holy Spirit is still active today performing miracles. But this was not the sole reason for Christ coming down to earth. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and although miracles were a part of his ministry, the reality that we can have a personal relationship with our Lord and Creator is something much more meaningful that any earthly miracle that Jesus performed.
Christ wanted his followers to have a disinterested faith. Our decision to follow Christ and devote our lives to him should not be about the miracles that we are able to experience. For just as with eating food, we become satisfied for a short while, but in the end we get hungry again. So it is with miracles. We are satisfied with a miracle for a short while, but in the end, we will desire to see more miracles, thinking that the past miracles may not have been quite miraculous enough.
Christ wants us to dwell in him, and take part in his yoke. There is more to the Christ character than simply a magician or a miracle worker. He is God, who made himself manifest in order to establish relationship and covenant with his people. Our natural response to this act should be worship, solely because of who God is and the character he withholds, not because of any sort of miracle, not matter how big that sign is.
Ps. For those of you keeping track at home, just as in most of my blogs, this breakthrough came in Dr. Randy Holm's New Testament Theology class. You could say that he has been thoroughly shaping my theology throughout my last two years at Providence.
