Jesus told them not to be afraid to tell others of their faith in him.

Luke 12:4-12

4 “My friends, listen carefully. Do not be afraid of people who are able to kill you, but after they kill you, there is nothing more that they can do to hurt you. 5 But I will warn you about the one that you should truly be afraid of. You should be afraid of God, because he not only has the power to cause people to die, he has the power to throw them into hell afterward! Yes, he is truly the one that you should be afraid of! 6 Think about the sparrows. They are worth so little that you can [RHQ] buy five of them for only two small coins. But not one of them is ever forgotten by God {God never forgets one of them}! 7 You are worth more to God than many sparrows. So do not be afraid of what people can do to you! God even knows how many hairs there are on each of your heads, so that if you(sg) lose one hair, he knows about it. So nothing bad can happen to you without his knowing it.

8 I want to tell you also that if people, without being afraid, are willing to tell others that they are my disciples, I, the one who came from heaven, will acknowledge before God that they are my disciples. I will do that while God’s angels listen. 9 But if people are afraid to say in front of others that they are my disciples, I will say, while God’s angels listen, that they are not my disciples. 10 I will tell you also that God is willing to forgive people who say bad things about me, the one who came from heaven, but he will not forgive anyone who says evil things about what the Holy Spirit does. 11 So when people ask you in Jewish worship houses and in the presence of rulers and other authorities about your trusting in me, do not worry about how you will answer them when they accuse you. Do not worry about what you should say, 12 because the Holy Spirit will tell you at that very time what you should say.”