Why did Jesus command people not to tell others about the miracles he performed?
Answer:
There are a number of possible reasons for the instances where Jesus commands people (and demons) not to tell others about Him. Some of these are related to why He sometimes withdrew Himself from various situations. Not all these reasons may have directly applied to every instance, but all of them are correct.
1. Jesus was telling the demons to keep quiet as He did not need or want their testimony. (Mark 3:11-12)
“Jesus did not seek vain glory and popular applause, nor did he need the testimony of men or devils; and especially did not choose the latter, lest his enemies should traduce him, as having familiarity with them.” – John Gills Commentary on Mark 3:12
2. To avoid persecution from his enemies before His appointed time. (Matt 12:14-15)
“But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all.”
3. To prevent his supporters from making him a political king by force
John 6:15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
As the son of David, and the promised Messiah, Jesus has been promised a kingdom that will never end (Isaiah 9:7) — Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
But Jesus came to first die as a suffering servant. His reign as a ruling king would only be established in his second coming when He returns to judge the world. But at His first coming, it was never the Jesus’ intention to become a political king but to die as a suffering servant rejected by the people (Luke 7:25) as an atonement for their sins. Yet the Jews, did not understand this and wanted to make him a political king to escape from the rule of the Romans they were under.
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