The Lord Jesus often told those whom He had healed not to tell anyone what had happened to them, but this time He choses a different course of action. Sent from Galilee, He leaves a witness of His work behind Him. He commands the man who had been healed from the many demons to tell others how much God had done for him. And, as Luke has it, the man obeys the command given to him, except for one point of detail. Instead of telling others how much God had done for him, he tells them how much Jesus had done for him.

Now if, being conscious of the doctrines concerning the divine Sonship of Jesus as revealed in Scripture, we think that this is only a matter of minor significance, we may overlook what to Luke is a very significant point. To be sure, Luke does not pass any judgment on the man and his message, but very deliberately notes the change of subject in his preaching. Instead of speaking about God, the man speaks only about Jesus!

There was no doubt that the miracle involved had divine proportions. The man was a victim of many demons, and these had come back to him many times, cf. vs. 29, 30. He was a man who lived among the tombs, thus one who in every way signified the triumphant and ever-present power of death. Human chains and fetters could not bind him. But Jesus heals him in such a way that the demons descend to the pit, never to return again. Yet the Lord Jesus attracts no attention to Himself. He speaks as one sent, an Ambassador of God. Indeed, He speaks as an angel who says, “Give God the glory!”

Here we see reflected what the evangelist John also repeatedly reports concerning the words and wonders of the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 5, Jesus says that He did not come to bear witness to Himself, but to the fact that the Father had sent Him into the world, cf. vs. 30ff. So He did not come to honour Himself, but to honour the Father. As the Ambassador sent by God, He gives all honour and glory to the God who sent Him into the world. Indeed, at the climax of all His works, when He prays, “Father glorify Thy name,” the Father answers, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again,” John 12:28. The works of the Son resound to the glory of the Father.

Yet the Father also honours the Son in the works that He gives Him to do! Jesus says that “the Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honour the Son even as they honour the Father,” John 5:22, 23. As the Son honours the Father, so the Father honours the Son! In the unfolding course of all the signs and wonders during His sojourn on the earth, the Lord Jesus is steadily and increasingly honoured by the Father, just as He increasingly honours and glorifies the One who sent Him. And how does the Father glorify the Son? By showing Israel and the world that He is the one sent to save His people from their sins!

So it may seem to be a point of minor significance to us when Luke changes the subject of the healed man's preaching. Indeed, it represents a minor change. But what a story it tells! The man could not keep silent for he was as one delivered from the power of death. He was commanded to speak of God. But he cannot stop speaking about Jesus. It is as if the hand of providence is upon him so that he can only speak of Jesus. And indeed, the Father's hand leads all things in this proclamation so that the Son may be glorified!

So the Father ordains glory for the Son in His way and on His time. As the Son directs all honour and praise to the Father, the Father returns with greater honour and praise to the Son, because He continues daily as a faithful officebearer in the kingdom, and as One who daily obeys the special office and commission to Him.

Not only is this reflected in the change of subject, it is also reflected in the change of verb. Whereas Jesus instructed the man to tell others of what God had done for him, Luke notes that this man preached about Jesus to his countrymen. His message is a public one, the message of a herald! He preached Jesus as the one who delivers from the power of death! This was the message that the Father wanted all Galilee to hear. Here we see Pentecost proclamation anticipated! The good news of the cross is being prepared and given to the regions of the lands beyond Israel.

Yet the full message could only come when the work was completed, and the full deliverance effected. The power and authority over the demons called “Legion” was really effected in the death on the cross, when the evil one was disarmed and made a public example for all the world. Then Christ received the royal designation of divine Sonship, and was preached as the Son of God, who brought life and immortality to light through His work on the cross.

Today we know so much more than this man who was healed. The message is richer and fuller. We know of the eternal divine love of the Father for the Son, and the Son for the Father. Indeed, we know how all the Persons of the One Triune God serve each other in all their works, each adding glory and honour to the other, and each filling the other with honour and praise. We know of the full divine counsel for our salvation, and of the full victory over death and the powers of hell.

Should then not our voices here be filled with a fuller and deeper song, and a richer and more urgent message? Here was a man who had to speak, and could not but speak of Jesus! So we are sent, not to be with Jesus, but to speak and live the wonders of the glorious salvation work of the One Triune God all our days. For in all His works through and in us on earth, He ordains greater glory and praise to His holy Name!