The Week That Changed The World Devotional March 26

Mark 11:7-8 | ⁷ Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. ⁸ Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields.

MARK 1:34, 42-44 | ³⁴ And he cured many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons, and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

⁴² Immediately the skin disease left him, and he was made clean. ⁴³ After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, ⁴⁴ saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them.”

How public are you about your faith? Jesus discouraged many people He healed from speaking about Him to others. These who knew His identity as king and Messiah were discouraged from      revealing it. Scholars call this the Messianic secret in Mark’s gospel. Now, Jesus did much open and public ministry that constituted a claim to be God’s chosen One, and even to have divine authority Himself. He forgave sin, He shifted traditional understandings of the Torah. But He used ambiguous titles like Son of man and Son of God, that had multiple meanings and He did not use miracles for public validation. He waited for the right time to make an explicit Messiah claim—He did so as He entered Jerusalem. Prior to that, such a claim would have short-circuited His ministry. He had much to do before there could be a final confrontation. When and how we share our Christian identity is a strategic decision.

Are you open and strategic about your identity as a disciple?

Gracious God,

May I never hesitate to be clear about my loyalty to You. But help me be strategic in the moments and ways I choose to share it.

Amen.