December 2016 Communion Meditation

ANOTHER SILENT NIGHT

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.” (Isa. 53:7)

At this time of year, we find ourselves repeatedly humming and singing along to familiar and beloved carols such as “Silent Night.” And these serve to warm our hearts and affections toward Christ as we meditate upon His coming to this earth for the purpose of saving sinners like you and me. Similarly, as we prepare to feast at the Lord’s Table this Sunday, I simply want to remind us of another silent night, namely, the one in which our Lord was betrayed, arrested, and tried. Here, we read of Jesus’ silence before what was a mockery of a trial, which was in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and in submission to the Father’s will: “But Jesus kept silent” (Matthew 26:63).

Lie upon lie, perjury upon perjury, false charge upon false charge had been made against Jesus, and all within His hearing. But Jesus did not defend Himself, refusing to respond to these fabricated accusations. And why was this, we ask? Jesus allowed the slander to go unchallenged because He knew His destiny. He knew that He must suffer and die according to the predetermined plan of God, and He knew that God would ultimately vindicate Him on that resurrection morn. What a sovereign and submissive silence this was. No one in the history of the world has had more justification to complain than Jesus did. But instead of protesting when “He was oppressed,” He humbled Himself and “did not open His mouth.”

When they came to arrest Jesus, He could have called on the Father to send legions of angels to destroy the mob, yet Jesus kept silent. When deceitful lies were brought against Him during His many trials, Jesus kept quiet. Even in the final hours of His life upon this earth, Jesus suffered silently. From the first pounding of the nails to His final breath, the Son of God spoke but a few, yet powerfully profound, words. Though He did not speak often, what we discover in these dying words of Christ is a perfect example of how we are to live.

One of the many agonies of crucifixion was to experience great difficulty and labor in one’s breathing, which often times led to death by asphyxiation. Such anguish is what our Lord Jesus Christ experienced as He Himself hung on Calvary’s cross—every breath being an impossibility. As Jesus writhed in agony upon the cross, literally battling for every breath, He prayed quietly, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). At a moment when most would scream out with cursing, Jesus pronounced blessing. He did not threaten His tormentors. He did not lash out at those who were crucifying Him. Nor did He speak condemnation upon these enemies. Rather, Jesus practiced what He preached, “I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).

Can you hear the mob jeering? Can you hear the religious leaders taunting Him? Can you see the Roman soldiers mocking Him? Yet, Christ did not return evil for evil, or insult for insult, but gave blessing instead (1 Pet. 3:9). He benevolently prayed for them, and, in the broadest sense, for all who would ever put their trust in Him. What demonstration of love, which does not take into account a wrong suffered but bears all things, even endures all things (1 Cor. 13:5-7).

May these dying words of our Lord serve to inform, excite, and empower us to live the message of the cross. May they teach us not only how He died, but also how we may live. May we, as those “chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion…forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you” (Col. 3:12-13). May we see that Jesus suffered in silence to atone for all the times when we should have kept quiet but did not—our cursing, our shouting, our careless words, our disrespectful speech, our gossip, our slander, our rash talk. His forgiveness grants us grace, that we too may keep quiet. And may we more fully contemplate the reality that Jesus, the Omnipotent Infant and Suffering Servant, willingly and silently laid down His life as an offering for sin, that those who had lost the image of God may be restored to the righteous image of God by His grace in His righteous Son.

S.D.G.

Keith