Selections from The Cross He Bore, Chapter 5Matthew 26:62-63
“And the high priest stood up and said, ‘Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?’
But Jesus remained silent....”
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All too often Christ’s silence has been given a dangerous one-sidedness, as his passive obedience is stressed almost, if not altogether, to the exclusion of his active obedience. Christ’s silence was deliberate, emphatic and authoritative: it was his deed. The passivity of his suffering was real, but so was the activity of his obedience. Led as a lamb to the slaughter and like a sheep dumb before the shearers, he was active right up to and on the cross. He went as a king to die.
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Christ was quick to speak when his Messiahship was challenged (Matthew 26:64). But he never spoke in obedience to man, always in obedience to his Father and in keeping with his mission.
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By a single word Christ might have freed himself from his enemies. But our silent Priest continued majestically to his death. O blessed silence that lay at the heart of our redemption!
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Just as the first temple was erected without sound of hammer, or any iron tool (1 Kings 6:7), so this temple of Christ’s body will be restored in a silence that nothing can profane.
~ Frederick S. Leahy
More reflections from Chapter 5
