ESOCS Devotional 14 October 2024 – Keep It Secret and Be Safe
MEMORY VERSE: “Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.”Luke 19:38
TEXT: LUKE 19:28-40
When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. 31 And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’ ”
32 So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. 33 But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?”
34 And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” 35 Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. 36 And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.
37 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, 38 saying:
“ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”
40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”
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All through the three years of His public ministry, Jesus kept His identity as the Son of God secret, as much as possible? When He cast out demons, Jesus commanded them to be silent because they knew who He really was. When he healed people, and even raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead, Jesus always said, “Don’t tell anyone what has happened.” At Caesarea Philippi, when Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” and then asked them, “And who do you say that I am?”, Peter gave that marvelous answer, “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” And Jesus immediately told them, “Don’t tell anyone.” After the transfiguration, when Peter, James and John had seen Jesus in all His glory, the command was the same: “Don’t tell anyone.” You may have been wondering, why all this secrecy? Why did Jesus want to keep His true identity secret from everybody except His closest disciples?
The first reason was because of the risk of rejection. You remember Jesus’s first sermon at Nazareth. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.” The crowd was preparing to throw Jesus off the cliff because they thought He was blaspheming. And at least twice when Jesus taught the people, when He said, “Before Abraham was, I am” and then, when He said, “I and the father are one,” at least twice the people picked up stones to stone Him for blasphemy. Jesus recognized that as soon as the secret of who He really was came out, very soon afterwards He would be dead.
But then there was a second reason for all the secrecy, which was the risk of misunderstanding. The Jews were expecting the Messiah to be a great military leader to set them free from the Roman occupation. After Jesus fed 5000 people with five loaves and two fishes, He had to hide away because all the people wanted to make Him King, by force, if necessary. But Jesus did not come as a military king or a political leader. It took three years to prepare the way before Jesus could reveal who He was without everybody misunderstanding. Only at the very end, in the last week of His life, did Jesus let the secret out. And even then, He did not do so in public statements and explicit claims but rather in two significant and symbolic actions and one powerful parable (Luke 19:35-40; Zech. 9:9).
- It is wrong to reveal your secrets because you can hardly tell who is your enemy.
- Lord, I have a weakness through finding it difficult to keep my secrets. Help in this matter, dear Lord, I pray you.
Further Reading: 2 Samuel 1:1-end; Job 5:6-end; 2 Corinthians 1:15-24
ESOCS Devotional 14 October 2024
