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Jesus’ Strange Silence

Posted by Dave Miller in Bible & Theology

Am I the only one who has ever been confused by the words and actions of Jesus?  He did some strange things and spoke some confusing words.  Jesus’ reaction to his arrest, trial and crucifixion was not normal; before the Sanhedrin, before Herod, before Pilate, while he was convicted in an illegal trial by lying witnesses on trumped up charges.  Through it all, Jesus never spoke a word in his own defense.  Not one.

When he was arrested, Peter drew a sword to fight the injustice.  Now, that I understand.  Stand up for your rights. Fight back. Don’t take this laying down.  I understand Peter.  But Jesus?  He stepped forward and announced, “I am he.”  When the religious leaders broke their own laws to hold a secret trial at night, he never complained.  When they paid people to lie about him, he never railed at the injustice.  That is not the way most of us act.  We defend ourselves and proclaim our innocence, even when we know we are guilty.  When I feel I have been treated unjustly or falsely accused, I want to shout my innocence from the highest mountain.  How strange that Jesus did not.

How strange that when he stood before Pilate, he refused to answer the charges.  Pilate seemed predisposed to believe Jesus, but he spoke not a word of defense.  He challenged Pilate’s assertion that he held the power of life and death over Jesus, but he never defended himself.

When soldiers lashed him with diabolical whips, he said nothing.  When he was beaten and his beard pulled out, when he was mocked and ridiculed, he stood silent.  When men spit in his face – when they looked the Lord of Glory in the face and spat on him, still he refused to fight back.  The creator of the world let the spit of wicked men roll down his face without a word.  Jesus, who created the Pharisees who tried him, who made the Romans who beat him, who created Pilate who washed his hands of him, who created the crowds who clamored for his blood; he took the injustice in silence.

The Reason for the Silence

Why?  Why did Jesus endure all this without answering back?  First, we know that Jesus operated on God’s agenda, and it was His time to die.  The plan, devised in the Godhead’s heart in eternity past was now being carried out.  But there was another reason, a deeper reason.  Jesus was there that day in my place, in yours.  He was there to bear the sins of the world.

I should have been there that day.  I should have been tried and arrested.  My sins deserved it.  The stripes on his back, I deserved them.  The nails in his hands and feet should have been in my hands and feet.  The hell he suffered that day was my hell.

Why did Jesus offer no justification, no excuse.  Because for my sin there is no justification and no excuse.  I am guilty beyond defense, deserving of every pain, every torture Jesus received.

This, my friends, is the offense of the gospel that Paul talked about.  This is the ugly truth of the cross that no one likes to admit.  Oh, just about everyone will admit imperfection.  We take great comfort in knowing that our failings are common to man.  We all admit that we are sinners.  What no one wants to face is the extent of our offense against a holy God.  You will never become popular proclaiming this truth, but it is truth nonetheless.  The Bible says there is none righteous, not even one.  It warns us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  It reminds us that the wages of sin is death.

So, here it is, my friends; the cold, hard, unpalatable truth.  My sins, and yours, nailed Jesus to the cross.  My sins, and yours, are so serious in the eyes of God that to save me, Jesus had to suffer hell.  Because of my sins, and yours, Jesus allowed the spit of man to run down his face.  It was because of me, my sins, and yours.

I’m the one to blame, I caused all the pain.
He gave himself, the day he wore my crown.

Why did Jesus not answer the Pharisees, or Pilate?  Because he was there that day bearing my sins, and yours.  We were the reason he stayed silent.  He was there that day bearing our sins, and for our sins there is no excuse, no defense.

May I be very direct?  If you, or anyone else, refuses the grace of Christ and the salvation he offers, one day you will stand before a great, white throne; a throne of judgment.  On that day, as Jesus on the day of his death, you will offer no excuse for your sins.  For our sins, there is no excuse.  For our sins, there is only one cure – the blood of Christ.  Our sins are so serious that to save us, Jesus had to suffer hell for us.

When Isaiah saw the Lord, he was broken.  “Woe is me,” he cried.  “I am unclean.”  When we look at the cross of Jesus, our reaction must be the same.  “Woe is me.  My sin is so serious in the eyes of God that Jesus had to suffer all of this in silence.”

The Result of the Silence

But this is the greatest irony in God’s universe.  It is only when you recognize the full weight of your sin that you experience the full depth of God’s love.

My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!

A famous theologian was asked to share the most profound truth he had learned in his studies.  He thought for a moment and replied, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

A man ran into a burning house to save his child.  To the world, the father’s scars were grotesque and disfiguring.  To the child saved by them, they were emblems of a father’s love.

I have some very dear friends; people I love very much.  But there is not one for whom I would sacrifice one of my children.  That is the extent of our Heavenly Father’s love.  While you were still a sinner, rebellious and vile in sin, God sacrificed His Son for you.  At the cross, God exchanged the life of His son for your eternal soul.  Jesus ran into the fires of hell to rescue you.

You are loved.  There is nothing more that God can do to demonstrate His love for you than He did at the cross.  If the cross shows the depths of our sins, it shows more clearly the extent, the beauty, the glory of Jesus’ love.

He did not have to die.  He could have called 10.000 angels and been immediately rescued.  But it was not the nails that held him to the cross.  It was his love for us that held him there.

They scourged Jesus, shredding his back with a cruel whip and he endured every lash for your salvation.  They beat him, pulled out his beard, drove a crown of thorns into his brow, but he loved you enough to endure that.  Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus endured the scorn and shame of the cross for the joy set before him.  What was that joy?  Redeeming us.  Saving us.

When the crowds chanted “Crucify Him,” when soldiers cast lots for his clothes, when passers-by jeered, the joy of saving you motivated him.  His love for you – in spite of your sin – that is why he endured this shame.  When they drove nails through his hands and feet and hoisted him in the air, love held him.

Do you remember Jesus’ first words on the cross?  He looked at the crowds that laughed, and the soldiers that divided his garments, even on the religious leaders who hated him.  He struggled up, sending shudders of pain coursing through his body, and he gathered a breath.  He looked down and he spoke.

I know what I would have said.  “Father, blast these people to the hell they deserve.”  Not Jesus.  Thank God that Jesus was not like me.  He said, “Father, forgive them.  They do not know what they are doing.”  Love overflowed, even to those who caused his pain.

O how he loves you and me
O how he loves you and me.
He gave his life, what more could he give?
O how he loves you
O how he love me.
O how he loves you and me.

Only when you come face to face with the horrors of your sin can you fully understand the glory of that love!