But Jesus remained silent

 ‘But Jesus was silent…..’ (Matthew 26:63)

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Matthew 26:57-68: 7:11-14 (Year A: Good Friday 14^rd April 2017)

First, Jesus was brought before Caiaphas the High Priest, ‘in whose house the scribes and the elders had gathered’. He was put through a gruelling and hostile questioning from the High Priest. Here was a self-styled ‘High Priest’ talking to the real ‘High Priest’.  Here was a case in which God was being put on trial for crimes against religion. Here was the mob fuelled up as if they had been absorbing their ‘news’ from 1^st century social media. Here were many false witnesses ready to testify against Jesus on whatever pretext or manipulation of the truth.

‘But Jesus was silent’

He remained silent on the particular question posed by the High Priest, Caiaphas.  Caiaphas along with the scribes and elders gathered in that place knew their theology thoroughly. Their theology was a fierce one –

• logical (so to speak);
• literal (when it suited them); and
• ruthless (as long as it applied to others).

Jesus answered a different question but remained silent on the specific one posed by Caiaphas.  Then, Jesus was brought before the Governor.  The Governor represented the Roman Imperium. He would have been anxious to avoid disturbances in Jerusalem and beyond. At the same time, he would have been anxious not to fall foul of his Emperor or other seniors in Rome and across the Empire. He was confronted with what seemed like a silly argument about local Jewish theology and claims to authority.  The best approach in these situations, according to the manual of keeping the natives pacified and ruthlessly stamping out any whiff of challenges to Roman authority, is to make a very public and clear demonstration of the consequences of such perceived impudence. The plan, as we know, backfired. Jesus and his community after his death and resurrection would turn the world upside down and inside out.  But how were Caiaphas and Pilate to know? At least Pilate become world famous ever afterwards since Christians recite the Creed every Sunday:

….He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate ….

Pilate puts a key question to Jesus: ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’. Jesus avoids the question by saying ‘You say so’ (or simply ‘I am not going to answer your question’).  Accusations followed, again, from the ‘chief priests and elders’.   Accusation after accusation followed but Jesus remained silent and gave no response ‘even to a single charge’. Matthew tells us that the Governor ‘was greatly amazed’. He was probably amazed and furious.  The episode from Matthew’s Passion narrative reveals a mind game and at the same time a power game.  The Governor had all the power to kill, forgive, release, detain or torture Jesus as he wished.  He played on this power to evade responsibility for Jesus’s death by appearing to put the ‘chief priests and elders’ in charge of the situation.  He presented choices to them and they called for the release of prisoner Barrabas instead of Jesus.  A well crafted case had been prepared by the enemies of Jesus to convict, punish and kill him. Yet, here was the real power of Love standing in front of a bunch of power-hungry, religiously obsessed and insecure people from Governor to chief priest to elders to the fickle mob who followed the Tabloid Press of the 1^st century: ‘Let him be crucified!’.

If this was the fate of Jesus then we should recognise two things:

1. Our unacknowledged part in judging and convicting others even possibly in the name of Jesus or religion.
2. Our role as disciples and human beings in taking the brunt of the anger of others – justified or not.

When accusations fly:

Jesus remains silent.

When others seek to exclude us:

Jesus remains silent.

When others ignore us:

Jesus remains silent.

When others misinterpret what we say or do or not say or not do:

Jesus remains silent.

When others twist the evidence or the truth:

Jesus remains silent.

When others speak ill of us and put us down in front of others or behind our back:

Jesus remains silent.

When others seek to control, blame or undermine us:

Jesus remains silent.

But, silence is not necessarily an act of surrender. Silence does not have to mean complicity in the wrong-doing of others. In particular situations, silence is power. Silence is love. Silence is peace because the Prince of Peace who gave his life for us on this Good Friday walked our individual paths before us and still walks those paths as we gaze on the Silent One.

With the prophet Isaiah (50:7-9) we can take a quiet confidence and say:

The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty? All of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.

The lesson of Jesus for me today is:

• to be rooted in quiet confidence of the here and now;
• not give way to, or respond to, aggression from others;
• not to judge anyone;
• to remain at all times kind, positive, hopeful and forwarding looking.