“…[A]nd as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

“Silence, everyone!”  You may hear something like this when an important person walks out on the stage at the beginning of an event or performance.  Silence can show respect.  It can also show things such as fear or confusion, as when a person doesn’t know what to say.  Or it can come when people are thinking or reflecting on an idea.

But none of these things was true when Jesus was silent.  He had walked into the most difficult job anyone was ever given — to pay for, and thus take away, the sins of the world (John 1:29).  If this job had been given to anyone else, would they have been silent?  Absolutely not!  Who among us would have died as the worst kind of criminal when he was completely innocent?  Imagine any man or woman who has been falsely accused, tried in an illegal trial without legal representation or character witnesses, mercilessly beaten more than once, mocked, cruelly whipped to the point of near death, and then marched out to face the most painful of agonizing deaths.  Anyone else would have been crying out, “Wait!  I’m innocent!  I did nothing wrong!  Can’t we talk about this?  Don’t make a hasty decision you’ll regret later!  I have my rights!  This is unjust and unlawful!”  Aren’t all of these statements likewise true of the Savior?  Of course, even more so than of us.  Why then was he silent?

The silence of Jesus at the most critical moment of history demonstrates his submission to his Father and the plan they cooperatively devised together with the Holy Spirit.  And that moment came when he reached the Garden of Gethsemane the night Judas betrayed him.

We find Jesus in the Garden asking three times, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matt. 26:39).  The talking was still going on, the conversation still engaged.  In this dialog we find the ever-present attitude of submission to the Father because he “always [did] those things that please[d] him” (John 8:29).  But the divine plan required Jesus to drink of this cup.  Everything was riding on this moment.  Ignorant of this instant when eternity stood still, as all angelic and demonic inhabitants of the universe watched, the disciples were too weary to even stay awake, let alone pray.  So they slept not a stone’s throw away from the struggling Savior.

Then suddenly the conversation between Father and Son stops.  It’s over.  No more talking.  When Judas shows up with his cohorts, Peter, being clueless of what had just transpired yards from where he slept, pulls a knife and cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant (Matt. 26:51).  Notice what Jesus says: “Put your sword back in its place…Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” (vs. 52-54).  In other words, he could call the angels.  He still could be talking, and he would be justified, personally speaking, in doing so.  But he didn’t; he became silent.  No self-defense, no appeals, no complaints about the torture he endured…for us.  No, he was silent!  Why?  So he could fulfill the Scriptures.  And to do that, he had to submit to the will of God.

Many movies portray tough guys who supposedly act like “action heroes.”  One such character said, “Give me your best shot!”  What this means is, “I can take your best hit and still beat you and win.”  The message in these movies is that we must win and punish the other guy when he loses.  But Jesus did not follow this ungodly thinking.  True, Jesus absorbed the blows from God (Isaiah. 53:4), but not so we would lose, but that the devil would lose.  Jesus didn’t fight back, he didn’t call for help and he didn’t complain.  He was silent.  And in his silence he won the biggest battle in history.  Not your typical action hero, but a hero nonetheless — the most amazing hero of all time.

His silence indicated his complete trust in the Father (1 Peter 2:22-23) so that we all could win; and we win by trusting him.  God’s will is win-win, not win-lose.  Everyone loses when we don’t trust him.  Are you still speaking out about circumstances?  Or are you following in his steps (1 Peter 2:21), quietly trusting him who was silent?