We do not know what exactly they were commanded not to tell. It could not have been the fact that the man was healed, because that would have become clear sooner or later. It might have been the method of the healing or the Hebrew or Aramaic word that Jesus uttered, “Ephphatha”.1
Jesus did not seek attention and fame, but because of who he was, he received it. Ironically, the people who are commanded to keep silent, are doing exactly what receivers of Mark’s Gospel are supposed to do—bear witness to the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God
.2
At this point in his ministry, Jesus did not want the people to think of him as a miracle worker who only went around and healed people. This kind of knowledge of him—solely as a miracle worker—is inadequate.3 That is why he commanded the witnesses of the miracle to remain silent. True knowledge of Jesus—the knowledge that should be preached—could not be understood until after the passion and resurrection
.4 The suffering and the cross revealed the full knowledge of Christ.5
The tension between this account and the previous time Jesus visited the Decapolis (Mark 5:1–20) is interesting. After restoring the demoniac, Jesus commanded him to tell his people what had happened (Mark 5:19–20). One explanation for the tension might be that Jesus’ ministry has now developed to such an extent that even in Gentile territory there is danger in too much publicity
.6 Or another explanation is that the area of the Decapolis, where this specific incident took place, had a more significant Jewish population.
36 And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.