Healing, obedience, and proclamation

Have you ever wondered why Jesus, especially in Mark's gospel, did works of healing and told the healed person not to tell? Most of us who have thought about it have probably settled on an answer or two. J.D. Hatfield suggests one lesson I'd never really considered:

Sometimes, when Jesus helps and heals us, it is not yet time to tell the whole world about it. Rather, it is time to be obedient, and get back into those things that are expected of whole people. Just because Jesus breaks the patterns of sin doesn’t mean we are free to break the patterns of life. You need to let your life show that you have been healed, and its purpose, being obedient, rather than just trying to go and tell everyone about it, without the obedience. If we want to be mature, we won’t let our zeal make our announcements premature. When we are healed the first place to go is not the public square, but into the secret place, for the sacred giving of thanks.

Good points.