⁶³But Jesus kept silent.

We have been following the words of our Lord leading up to His death on the cross. But communication can take place when no words are uttered. A look can do it, or just a poignant silence at times when an answer might otherwise seem appropriate. Our Lord’s muteness speaks loudly.

When the charge was laid against Him before the high priest that Jesus had said, “I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days,” Jesus did not respond (see Matt. 26:61-62). The accusation was essentially accurate (see John 2:19) and needed no defense. The council members abused Him with spit, fists and slaps, and then taunted him, “Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?” This did not provoke a response from our Lord.

His self-proclaimed most faithful follower, denied the Lord repeatedly, the one for whom he left everything to follow. We read, “The Lord turned and looked at Peter.” No words were necessary—Peter “went out and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:61-62). When the chief priests and elders laid out the accusations before the governor, Pilate was astonished at Jesus’ lack of self-defense:

 Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed. (Matt. 27:13–14)

When the Roman cohort stripped Him, rammed on His head a mock-crown composed of thorny branches, taunted Him with pretentious worship, spit on and beat Him, Jesus tolerated these indignities silently (Matt. 27-32). When they nailed Him to the cross and affixed the death-charge, “This is Jesus the King of the Jews,” He did not refute the title. When a man’s life is on the line, he will deny a false accusation to his last breath, but Jesus’ silence indicates He accepted the charges. (Matt. 27:37).

The chief priests, scribes and elders went to witness Jesus’ execution and hurled sneering insults at the One they had condemned to death. The first, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself,” was ironically a true statement (Matt. 27: 42a). Jesus could not save Himself because of His commitment to a higher cause, that is, dying for the world, including the very people who were crucifying Him. He remained silent during this inadvertent praise.

They continued mocking, “He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him” (Matt. 27:42b). That sounds much like Satan’s temptation in the wilderness at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The tempter told Jesus to throw Himself down from the temple pinnacle so that the world would see the angels rescuing Him (Matt. 4:6). Jesus had already told the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, that even if someone comes back from the dead people who refuse to submit to God’s word won’t believe (Luke 16:30-31). To the mocking at Calvary, Jesus responed with silence again.

When His detractors distorted and misapplied Psalm 2:8, “Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him,” Jesus did not immediately respond to the fact that they ignored the context of that psalm, particularly the previous verse: “All who see me sneer at me; they separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying … (Ps 22:7). Again, they were using the well-worn approach of the tempter in twisting Scripture to their nefarious purposes. Jesus did not answer them.

The final silence came when our Lord breathed His last … He entered the silence of death, until God the Father spoke and declared Him to be “the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:4).

Lord, thank You for teaching through Your silence, as well as Your spoken and written word. The more I realize how great a price You paid for my redemption, the more amazed I am by how much You love me! This gives me an ever-increasing desire to praise and worship You.