Q. If God wants everyone to know about his Son, why does Jesus often hide his own identity and ask people to do the same, especially in the Gospel of Mark?
A. Sometimes in the Gospels there is a puzzling sense of mystery about Jesus—what many refer to as the “messianic secret.” This is especially true of Mark.
At times Jesus seems content to let things go unexplained, as when he speaks in enigmatic terms or in perplexing parables, and then instead of clarifying what he means, he simply asks his baffled disciples, “Do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:14-21) Again, on many occasions Jesus appears to conceal who he is by charging people not to tell others what they have seen, heard, and experienced. This happens over and over: “See that you say nothing to anyone” (Mark 1:44); “And he strictly ordered them not to make him known” (3:12); “And he strictly charged them that no one should know this” (5:43); “And he charged them to tell no one” (7:36); “And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him” (8:30); “And . . . he charged them to tell no one what they had seen” (9:9; cf. 1:25, 34; 8:26). (Ironically, Jesus’ command to silence often results in the opposite: “But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it” [7:36; cf. 1:45; 5:20; 7:24]).
Is Jesus simply being playfully cagey? Was he uncertain about his own identity or the nature of his mission and needed time to figure things out? Did Jesus not actually view himself as Israel’s Messiah, in which case all those messianic claims maintained by early Christians were simply a later concoction invented in their own imagination?
These proposals miss the mark (pun intended). It is more likely that Jesus wished to avoid confusion about his messianic identity and mission, which could be understood and proclaimed fully in their proper time and not before. According to Mark, our perceptions of who Jesus is and why he came must be configured to servanthood and suffering; they must be shaped by the Cross. Jesus cannot be properly and fully understood in terms of immediate liberation from physical or political oppression, nor even by his astounding teachings and miraculous deeds. Knowledge of Jesus by his wonders alone is not adequate. Grasping the truth about our Lord required the Cross, and it is there that the “messianic secret” is finally disclosed and his true identity fully recognized: “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (15:39)
Make no mistake, Mark is all about recognizing who Jesus is and proclaiming his gospel and Kingdom-building project (cf. 1:1, 14-15). But Jesus’ true identity as the Servant-Messiah would become clear only by way of his Passion. Minus the Cross, many of Jesus’ contemporaries (and many of ours!) remained confused about who he was: “What is this? A new teaching with authority!” (1:27) “Why does this man speak like this?” (2:7) “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?” (4:41) “Where did this man get all of this?” (6:2) “But who do you say that I am?” (8:29) “By what authority even wind and sea obey him?” (4:41) “Where did this man get all of this?” (6:2) “But who do you say that I am?” (8:29) “By what authority are you doing these things?” (11:28) “Are you the Messiah?” (14:61) Even firsthand testimony (“Look what he did for me”) is not sufficient. Without the Cross, it is not possible to grasp who Jesus is—or who God is—which means that premature proclamation runs the risk of misrepresenting Jesus’ message and mission. Hence, his charge to “tell no one”—that is, until you see me and my mission in light of the Cross.
By reflecting on Mark’s “messianic secret,” we can make at least two observations on the way our Lord wants to be perceived. First, since suffering and rejection and ultimately the Cross define his identity and mission most fully, it is clear that Jesus had not come principally as a political liberator from the yoke of Roman oppression or even primarily to relieve people from temporal hardship. He came to free us from Satan, sin, and the shackles of death. It follows that this is what defines the character and mission of Jesus’ disciples as well, whose calling is not merely to assist people in their quest for a better life here and now, but to bring them to the Cross of Jesus, where ultimate life is found.
Second, there is a striking patience evident in the way Jesus desires to be known. Some of these “secretive” passages in Mark suggest that Jesus might want to avoid being understood publicly too quickly, especially without the requisite implications of the Cross. It is entirely possible that Jesus used enigmatic sayings and cautioned against too-hasty public exposure as a way of piquing curiosity and allowing people to discover who he was and why he came only gradually, through a process of hearing and seeing—a key theme in Mark: hearing the words of the gospel and seeing it lived out in the lives of Jesus’ disciples. Spontaneously and impulsively announcing the gospel might not be the most effective strategy of evangelization. Verbal witness is important, but it looks best in visible dress. And that takes time—time for the cruciform moment when the witness of our lives matches the words on our lips.
This question was answered by Dr. Vern Steiner, president emeritus of the Emmaus Institute for Biblical Studies. For more information, visit www.emmausinstitute.net.
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