“[Whenever] the people who had evil spirits in them saw him,
they would fall down before him and scream, ‘You are the Son of God!’
Jesus sternly ordered the evil spirits not to tell anyone who he was” (Mark 3:11-12, GNB).
This scene reminds me of a true story told by my colleague. There was a
booth set by religious club in campus with a sign: ‘Jesus is a Muslim.’ When a very concern student when to the booth,
she was bombarded with many twisted-quotations and doubtful-questions to refute
her confession of faith about Jesus of the Bible. Thanks God she was aware of
what was going on and reported it to the campus authority. Frankly, it was a
religious agenda to convert Christian students to become Muslims (we must speak
the truth!) in campus by claiming that Jesus is not who He is – the Son of God.
But in contrast, the evil spirits “fall down before him”
and tell the truth (for they were in the presence of the Holy One) and “scream” publicly that “You [Jesus] are the Son of God!” Isn’t that the same
testimony as the Book of Mark reminds
us earlier that “Jesus [is] the Son of God”
(Mark 1:1)? It is the truth, isn’t it? So, why Jesus told them “not to tell anyone who he was”? Why not the evil spirits
just tell lies such as “You are the Son
of the Devil!” or “You are not the
Son of God!”? Why the command to silent?
If you understand the way Jesus (or rather, God of the Bible) wins
people to Himself, He doesn’t force or manipulate people to confess that He is
Lord and Savior. He never once told
people that “If you refuse to follow Me,
I’ll kill you!” He gives clues – sufficient evidences – either by His
miracles and healings, the virgin birth and the cross, the transfiguration and
the ascension, the empty tomb and the resurrection, the Scripture and the
guidance of the Holy Spirit, the universe and our conscious, all of these may
lead us to conclude for ourselves that He is Lord and Savior, “the Son of God.” Jesus don’t need demoniac testimony to
His Person even though such testimony would have been irrefutable (so shut up
you evil spirits!) for He had others in mind for that task – the apostles (Mark
3:13-19) and now to us, His followers (Mark 16:15).
Again, I repeat: Jesus doesn’t need the evil spirits or religious clubs to
make Himself known. He wants people (including you and me) to find out who He
is by listening to God’s Word – the Bible – and by observing His deeds in the
gospel stories. He desires the church to spread the truth about Him. He desires
our witnesses to tell others about God’s salvation. He desires our personal
lives to make the difference in people’s lives. He wants us, living and
redeemed people of God, to “Go throughout the
whole world and preach the gospel to all people” (Mark 16:15, GNB). This
is God’s desire.
THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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