A listener named Kathy asks Father Dave about a recent reading at Mass. “A question came to me on Sunday during the Gospel. In the very last line, Jesus says ‘don’t tell anybody who I am,’ and he says that a couple of times throughout the Gospels. I’m just curious as to why; one would think that he would want [the disciples] to tell people who he was, right?”
Father Dave begins, “This is something that we refer to in Scripture scholarship as the Messianic secret — as in Jesus is the Messiah, but please, for now, keep that a secret and don’t tell anybody…He says this phrase in Matthew chapter 16 and we see it more frequently in Mark’s Gospel.”
LISTEN: What is the Exact Timeline of Events in the Gospels?
“You’re right in that we have believed for all these 2000 years that Jesus would like us to tell everyone that he really is God,” Father Dave continues. “Later on in [Matthew’s Gospel] he says, ‘Now go forth and spread to all the world, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit.” He explains that at this point in Matthew chapter 16, Peter correctly states that Jesus is the Messiah, but it is too soon to tell others yet.
Father Dave explains reasons why by examining Mark’s Gospel. “Mark greatly features a lot of Jesus’ physical healings. Part of his rationale is that Jesus didn’t want to just become famous as a miracle worker or healer,” he says. “Jesus didn’t want people like him or believe in him for the wrong reasons. The way that Mark crafts the entire story is that we can only really, truly know who Jesus is — and really understand and believe what it means to say he’s the Messiah and the Son of God — after his death on the cross.”
“Prior to that, we’re going to be wrong about anything we think that the Messiah is, particularly for the people he was talking to at that time,” Father Dave continues. “They thought that the Messiah, the Savior, or the Anointed One was going to come and be a political geographical leader who would overthrow the oppressors and Israel would become a nation again, kind of like King David.”
LISTEN: Eyes Fixed on Jesus: Diving into the Gospels With Meg Hunter-Kilmer
Jesus waits until after his death and resurrection to send out the disciples in his name. “He appeared to them for 40 days, he sent the Holy Spirit,” Father Dave says. “Jesus essentially says, ‘You guys are going to be in charge.’ At that point, he says, now go into all the world, tell them the good news, and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit.”
“In other words, now you’re ready to explain what this is, and now you know what it is. Because before, when you thought you knew what the Messiah is, but you didn’t really know,” Father Dave concludes. “We have to wait until we see the end of the story to understand it.”
