I. CHRIST PRESERVES SILENCE IS THE PRESENCE OF FALSE AND MALIGNANT ACCUSATIONS (Mat_27:12-14). But why? Not simply because He was sublimely conscious of innocence, for there may come times when it is the duty of the innocent to defend their reputation by every lawful means. But there was no necessity for answer. Neither the men who made the statements nor the people who heard them put any faith in them--nay, they knew them to be manufactured lies. The echo of their own voices, not His voice, should condemn them--the most powerful condemnation of all. The memory of that Prisoner’s calmness and quiet dignity would haunt the false accusers night and day like a perpetual shadow until death stilled the throbbing of their tortured brains and hearts. Does not something of the same kind mark the history of the past and Christ’s dealings with men? Since the days of His earthly life false charges have been made against Him and His gospel without number. His character has been maligned, His words perverted, His claims despised. Men who hate the grandeur and purity of His teachings, who fear lest their own pretensions should be despised, have sought, by every false and selfish means, to slander Christ and Christianity. Eager, impatient Christians have even prayed for some mighty display of power to put an end to the wicked accusations, though it might involve swift judgment on the enemies of the faith. But the heavens have been dumb, Christ has been silent, and His disciples have wondered why it should be so. But such silence has been best for the Church and for the foes of the faith, while it is most in harmony with the dignity and majesty of the Divine nature. Christ cannot answer every false accuser. There is the truth; let that be His vindication. And this silence has justified itself; for where to-day are the many charges that have been urged against our Lord? Have they not disappeared, or confuted one another? We have only to set one class of opponents of Christianity over against another, and their statements become mutually destructive.
II. CHRIST PRESERVES SILENCE IN THE PRESENCE OF UNWORTHY CURIOSITY. The scene which illustrates this point is recorded for us by Luke alone (Luk_23:9). Let any man treat religion as a thing to be speculated about, as a matter for purely intellectual pleasure, as a question for exciting controversy, as only one of many strange phenomena abounding in the world, and therefore to be accounted for, and there will be no response from the heavens. Christ will be silent to that man; he will never discover the truth. Religion belongs to our moral and spiritual nature; it has to do with our hearts sad their profoundest needs. Cur desire to ascertain its truth and its meaning must be accompanied by a resolve that if we discover it to be true we will apply it to our individual necessities, a resolve to reverence it with our whole natures, to obey its every command, to cling to it with an enthusiasm and love strong as life itself. Then Christ will speak, and testify to mind and heart concerning Himself. To other motives Christ will not deign a reply. His deathlike silence will be our greatest reproach.
III. CHRIST PRESERVES SILENCE IN THE PRESENCE OF RESISTED CONVICTION. Perhaps history does not present a more saddening picture than that of Pilate, the governor, in his judicial dealings with Jesus Christ. “Whence art Thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.” The man’s nature evidently quivers with anxiety--yet his question is met with absolute silence. Why is this? Here is a truly anxious inquirer. At first sight the conduct of Christ seems strange. But we must remember two things.
1. The man’s previous conduct. He had been convinced of Christ’s innocence, and yet had given way to the clamours of a mob. When men have despised the voices that have appealed to them, what right have they to expect further revelations?
2. Jesus Christ knew the man, knew his weakness, knew he would ask but with no desire to do, and the King of Truth was not to be trifled with. There are men who have trifled with truth and conscience, with all the interests of their souls, with every influence given to draw them heavenward, and yet they wonder they are not saved, that Christ does not answer their first prayer. Why, so far as right is concerned, they have forfeited it all by their contemptuous treatment of Divine influences. More than that, they have thus rendered themselves, in a measure, incapable of receiving further revelations from heaven. (W. Braden.)
The silences of Jesus
I. BEFORE CAIAPHAS AND FALSE WITNESSES (Mat_26:63; Mar_14:61). The Faithful and True Witness before liars and hypocrites.
II. BEFORE HEROD (Luk_23:9). The Holy One of God before the idle curiosity of a flagitious prince.
III. BEFORE THE ACCUSATIONS OF THE CHIEF PRIESTS AT PILATE’S BAR Mat_27:14). The Sinless One before charges the speakers knew were lies.
IV. BEFORE PILATE (Joh_19:9). The King of Truth before an insincereinquirer.
V. BEFORE THE SYRO-PHOENICIAN WOMAN (Mat_15:23). Incarnate love before a humble and earnest petitioner. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Christ’s silence
He was acting according to His own precept Mat_7:6).
Christ’s silence
This is very strange. Hitherto He had spoken freely and replied to questions; now He refused to speak any more.
I. THE REASON MUST BE SOUGHT IN THE STATE OF PILATE’S SOUL. He deserved no answer, and therefore got none. He had forfeited his title to any further revelation about his prisoner. He had been told plainly the nature of our Lord’s kingdom, and the purpose of His coming, and been obliged to confess publicly His innocence. And yet he had treated Him with flagrant injustice. He had, in short, sinned away his opportunities, forsaken his own mercies, and turned a deaf ear to the cries of his own conscience. Hence our Lord would have nothing more to do with him.
II. Here, as in many other cases, WE LEARN THAT GOD WILL NOT FORCE CONVICTION ON MEN, and will not compel obstinate unbelievers to believe, and will not always strive with men’s consciences. Most men, like Pilate, have a day of grace, and an open door put before them. If they refuse to enter in, and choose their own sinful way, the door is often shut, and never opened again. There is such a thing as a “day of visitation,” when Christ speaks to men. If they will not hear His voice they are often left to reap the fruit of their own sins. It was so with Pharaoh, Saul, and Ahab, and Pilate’s case was like theirs.
III. We must not forget that PILATE’S WICKED REFUSAL TO LISTEN to his own conscience, AND OUR LORD’S consequent REFUSAL TO SPEAK TO HIM ANY MORE, WERE ALL OVERRULED BY THE ETERNAL COUNSELS OF GOD to the carrying out of His purpose of redemption. If our Lord had revealed who He was, and forced Pilate to see it, the crucifixion might perhaps never have taken place, and the great sacrifice for a world’s sins might never have been offered. Our Lord’s silence was just and well merited. But it was also part of God’s counsels about man’s salvation.
IV. Note that THERE IS “A TIME TO BE SILENT,” as well as “a time to speak.” This is a matter in the social intercourse of daily life, about which we all need to pray for wisdom. To be always saying to everybody everything we know, is not the line of a wise follower of Christ.
V. Note that IF WE DO NOT MAKE A GOOD USE OF LIGHT AND OPPORTUNITIES,--and if we resist Christ speaking to our conscience,--A TIME MAY COME WHEN, LIKE PILATE, WE MAY SPEAK TO CHRIST, and ask things of Him, AND HE MAY GIVE US NO ANSWER (Pro_1:24-32). (Bp. Ryle.)
The tribute of Christ’s silence to His Deity
This silence was the most emphatic answer to all who had ears to hear it, was a reference to what He had said before (chap. 18:37), and so a witness to His Divine origin. Would any mere man, of true and upright character, have refused an answer to a question so put? Let the modern rationalist consider this. (Dean Alford.)
