Today’s reading Mark 7:24-37. One of the biggest questions that folks have asked over the years (centuries?) has to do with what’s sometimes called the “messianic secret.” After performing a healing, verse 30 notes that “Jesus ordered them to tell no one.” This happens numerous times in Mark (though, not always–see 5:19). Any thoughts out there as to why Jesus would not want others to know about what he’s up to?

One school of thought notes that because Jesus was breaking different templates of what a messiah “should” be, he didn’t want people to place particular kinds of expectations and pre-conceived notions on him.