Wrong Time, Wrong Place, Wrong Messenger, or Wrong Message?

To wrap up this mini-series on Mark 1:14-45, let’s ask one more question, after first setting the stage with a couple of examples.

In verses 23-25 (covered in an earlier article), a bad spirit who was afflicting a particular man had correctly identified Jesus as “the Holy One of God” verse 24, yet Jesus told the spirit to “Be quiet”. (Jesus also cast out the spirit, healing the man who was dealing with it.)

In addition, after Jesus healed a man with leprosy, Jesus told him not to tell anyone. And, this doesn’t seem to have been a passing comment: it sounds like Jesus was pretty clear about this.

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

Mark 1:43-44 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/mrk.1.43-44.NIV

Here’s the question: Why did Jesus sometimes not want others to spread news about Him?

Once you’ve thought of your own answers, I propose four possible reasons (which ended up becoming the title of this article)

It was not the right time
It was not the right place
It was not the right messenger
It was not the right message

Let’s look at some more verses in this chapter to see if we can learn more.

In verse 34, if the demons knew who Jesus was, it seems like this was not the right time, not the right place, and/or not the right messenger. There may also have been a risk of the people misunderstanding the message, or for the demons to corrupt the message.
In verses 36-37, we find out what happened when lots of people found out about Jesus: They sought Him out. Now, I think that everyone should seek Jesus; however, when He walked this earth in the first century, He allowed Himself to be confined to time and space as a human being, so He couldn’t be everywhere at once. As a result, there were some physical limitations on His ministry, leading us to the next passage…
In verses 38-39: Jesus let His disciples know that He needed to preach, and – in those verses – that it was time to preach elsewhere. If He only spoke to those in one place, after all, others would miss out. So, limiting the news about Jesus to one location, while not necessarily limiting the spread of His message in that location, may have been necessary to allow Jesus to travel and tell others about the Kingdom of God.
This is further confirmed in verse 45, when the man healed from leprosy (mentioned above) disobeyed Jesus’ instructions to not tell anyone, and the result was that Jesus’ movements were constrained. Can you imagine Jesus wanting to just sleep peacefully in a room in the city, or eat at his favorite diner, but He was too sought-after to do so? Being divine, Jesus was compassionate and generous, but He was also human. In addition, people in the cities needed to hear Jesus’ message, too. Now, though, apparently only those who made the trip to “lonely places” could hear Him teach.

I also suspect (as others have suggested) that those seeking Jesus out weren’t all trying to learn how to believe and repent, as Jesus was proclaiming in verse 15. Some probably wanted healing, and others may have wanted to make Jesus a political or military ruler to overthrow the Roman Empire.

Jesus did heal many, and He is the King of Kings, but miracles were a means to something more important. Furthermore, although He has authority over everything, God’s plan included letting the Romans rule in the Mediterranean region for a while longer. It’s not that Jesus wasn’t compassionate about those who were sick or oppressed. Rather, there was something far more important than earthly complications that He needed to take care of. Once humankind’s sin problem was addressed, we could live more like God’s ideal, and look forward to when sickness and slavery to sin won’t be a problem anymore.

If you are also a follower of Jesus Christ, may we seek God’s insight as to the right time, the right place, and the right message for us to share with others. When a non-believing friend has just totaled their car, and you’re giving them a ride home while they worry about how they will get to work and buy groceries, that’s probably not the right time to remind them that they are a sinner (even if you correctly point out that you sinned, too). On the other hand, there are good messages (and good actions) that we can offer to someone in that situation, and there may be other times and places where you can share the good news of Jesus with them.

This is not an excuse to delay words or actions when God calls us to step up. However, there are times when He has prepared someone else to speak good news to a lost person who may not be ready to hear it from you or from me.

From Sunday School lesson prepared for September 7, 2025

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