“And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known.”
But he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him — the Messianic Secret command is repeated in summary form: Jesus silences the demonic testimony throughout his Galilean ministry. The strict orders (polly epetima, he rebuked them strongly) communicate the intensity of the prohibition. The demons' testimony, though accurate, is unwanted: it would short-circuit the narrative of revelation that must unfold through Jesus' teaching, death, and resurrection. The full disclosure of Jesus' identity cannot come from demons in Galilee; it must come from the cross in Jerusalem, confirmed by the empty tomb. Every premature proclamation, however accurate, is premature.
Church Fathers on Mark 3:12
The Pharisees, thinking it a crime that at the word of the Lord the hand which was diseased was restored to a sound state, agreed to make a pretext of the words spoken by our Saviour.
But the soldiers of Herod the king are called Herodians, because a certain new heresy had sprung up, which asserted that Herod was the Christ. For the prophecy of Jacob intimated that when the princes of Judah failed then Christ should come; because therefore in the time of Herod none of the Jewish princes remained, and he, an alien, was the sole ruler, some thought that he was the Christ, and set on foot this heresy. These, therefore, were with the Pharisees trying to kill…
Read all 8 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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