“... and they came to Him from every direction.” Mark 1:45

Jesus was becoming famous without having a personal marketing manager, website or TV sponsor.  He had no newspapers or billboards to display His stuff… just people who could not contain themselves.  Jesus told them not to tell but how could they not?!

He comes on to the public scene as an unknown after living a fairly quiet, unobserved life, gets baptized by John and then it all begins.  There was a report that after He was baptized, the sky parted and something like a dove landed on Him.  Some people even claimed that the voice of God was heard to be telling Him how pleased He was with His ‘Son’. (Mark 1:10-11)  No one saw Him for over a month (Mark 1:12-13) and then there were reports of Him teaching in the synagogues and preaching that the kingdom of God was at hand. (Mark 1:14-15) He started to gather a group of men to work with Him (Mark 1:16-20) and people were being healed and set free from demons. Everywhere He went, He preached and spoke with an astounding authority. (Mark 1:21-28) Everywhere He went, people were looking for Him.  His fame had spread widely throughout the region of Galilee. (Mark 1:28, 37)

It was God’s Time! Jesus was out of the box and out of the shoot  (rodeo shoot, race track gate).  He had finally come forward knowing that it was the right time to do so, but surprisingly (to others) nothing was happening quietly or without provoking a response.  He had a job to do and declared it openly.