Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, "Who do people say I am?"

"Well," they replied, "some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets." 

Then he asked them, "But who do you say I am?"

Peter replied, "You are the Messiah." But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. –Mark 8:27-33

 "What do you do when you have good news?" Mr. Peter Fitzroy, Student Life Coordinator and Biblical Studies Faculty, asked this question as he began his Chapel address Wednesday morning. "You share it!" Mr. Fitzroy then directed his audience's attention to the book of Mark, which begins, "This is the Good News about Jesus Christ the Messiah." Mark 1:14 tells us that Jesus himself began to proclaim that Good News. Yet just a little while later, Jesus begins asking that his identity remain a secret.

Continuing on through the book of Mark, Mr. Fitzroy gave examples:

Mark 1:23-25: Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!" But Jesus reprimanded him. "Be quiet! Come out of the man," he ordered.

Mark 1:34: So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.

After the healing of a leper in verse 44: "Don't tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you."

The list goes on. Mark 3 tells of Jesus sternly commanding evil spirits not to reveal who he was. Chapter 5 relates the healing of Jairus' daughter, after which Jesus gave "strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened." Following the healing of a deaf man in chapter 7, Jesus told the crowd not to tell anyone about it. Jesus healed a blind man in chapter 8 and told him not even to go back into the village! A few verses later in chapter 8, Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah; this time, Jesus warned the disciples not to tell anyone about him.

 "Why was Jesus so concerned with keeping His Messianic identity a secret?" Mr. Fitzroy asked. "Isn't that the Good News?" He went on to explain that Jesus knew one of two things would happen if the Israelite nation recognized too soon that he was the Messiah. He would either be killed, or the people would misunderstand his message and try to make him king, thinking he would free them from Roman rule.

Mark helps us understand by relating, in chapter 5, the healing of a demon-possessed man who had been living among tombs. This miracle took place in Gentile territory, and instead of telling this man to keep quiet, Jesus said, "Go tell your family everything the Lord has done for you!" At the end of his book, Mark wrote that when the Roman officer – a Gentile – who stood facing Jesus as he hung on the cross saw how he had died, the officer exclaimed, "This man truly was the Son of God!" The Gentiles had neither preconceived ideas about the Messiah nor any expectations of deliverance from Roman rule. Their hearts were open to the Good News.

"The Messianic Secret is not about whether or not the good news should go out, but it is concerned with who is ready to hear," Mr. Fitzroy said. "The theme of the Messianic Secret is a warning to us all. Would Jesus tell our community the Good News about him, or would he command that it be kept a secret?" Mr. Fitzroy closed by challenging each person to examine his or her own heart, asking, "Are you like the religious leaders of Jesus' day, who would not open their hearts, or are you like the man at the tombs? Are you like the nation of Israel, or like the Roman soldier? I would ask you," he continued, "the same question Mr. Guerra asked at the end of the first Chapel message: 'Will you enter Jesus' story?' "