A leper had just been healed (Luke 5:12-13).  But Jesus wanted no credit, and certainly no advertising.  However, He instructed the man with new normal skin to go to the priest to certify that the disease had gone – the priests acted as the Public Health Officers of Israel using Leviticus 13:1-46 as their dermatology textbook - then to offer the sacrifices required under Moses' law to complete the ritual cleansing (Leviticus 14:1-32).  It was a ceremony of thanksgiving and consecration to God.  So, the leper’s need and the religious law were both satisfied by Jesus (Matthew 5:17-18).

News like that was just what ordinary people needed.  With no social security system, no health service and no income support for the family if illness struck, Jesus was seen as the only reliable answer to every need.  And so many more travelled to find Him begging Him to transform their lives.  But His mission was not primarily to heal but to announce God’s kingdom (Luke 4:42-43).  Although they listened to His preaching, what they really wanted was for their bodies to be healed.

Why did Jesus not want the healed leper to tell everybody about the miracle?  Healing bodies which would go on to die was not His mission.  He had come to announce salvation (Isaiah 61:1-4) and new life to all who would believe in Him (John 12:46).  His method was that His perfect body might be broken and His blood poured out, so that broken sinful hearts could be eternally healed and sinners reconciled to the Holy God (Isaiah 53:1-12).  

In part, advertising relies on a few excellent features to sell the whole product; and those good points must be presented in the best light.  Jesus did not need any of that.  Everything about Jesus was excellent; there was nothing wrong with anything He said or did.  No hype was necessary, nor were 'satisfied customers' asked to go round canvassing the support of others to His cause.  When God is at work, His work is perfect and wonderful in its timing and appropriateness. There should be a natural integrity of Jesus in His people today that attracts honest observers. Our best witness is not so much in our exaggerated claims of how prayer has been answered, as in the transparent transformation of our daily lives.  People who are at peace, because of Jesus, radiate their contentment despite terrible turmoil in their circumstances.  When needy people see that, they will seek out Jesus; and they will not be disappointed.