Silence in the face of injustice

Silence can be deafening. At times deadly. Sometimes it says more than the spoken word could ever say. And sometimes the consequences of silence are greater and far more reaching than we could ever imagine.

Before the high priest “Jesus remained silent.”  Before Herod “Jesus gave him no answer” 

I imagine, on that day, His silence was deafening as the Jewish scribes and Pharisees, had conspired against him to have him killed and now shouted before Pilate to have him “CRUCIFIED!”. Deafening as his followers, who had deserted him, looked on and his lips remained tightly sealed, watching … waiting. I wonder if the chaos and noise around them became a hazy blur. “Why isn’t he saying anything?” was, I’m sure, a question on the forefront of their minds. I wonder if they felt deafened by his silence.

With a prepared, persistent, passionate and united front the Jewish leaders were determined to have Jesus crucified. They shouted, until their shouts prevailed.

Injustice: condemning an innocent man.

I remember in 6^th form (year 12) being accused of plagiarism in English. The assignment had been to write a poem. I don’t remember the poem, don’t even know what it was about, but when I received it back from the teacher it wasn’t marked, it just had a note on it saying “See me”. So I did. I vividly remember the teacher asking me “Did you write this?” to which I replied “Yes”. From there she went on to ‘talk’ with me about plagiarism, the consequences of it, and again asked me if I wrote the poem. Frustration and anger stirred because I was being accused of something that I was completely innocent of. It’s fair to say I defended myself, and the conversation got a little heated. My voice, a wee bit louder and shrill as I maintained my innocence.

“I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“I’M INNOCENT”

Why wouldn’t I defend myself, with passion and fervour? Why would anyone stay silent and let injustice prevail?

Like Jesus did.

Jesus, completely innocent, doesn’t for a moment attempt to defend himself. He doesn’t fight for his own freedom, which he is entitled too. Why? He knew our freedom was at hand. He knew that through his silence, He would prevail.

At that time silence was required to accomplish a greater purpose. He would overcome, he would prevail over sin and death by remaining silent so that we could be free and inherit eternal life.

His deliberate silence resulted in His death.

Deafening silence: "A silence or lack of response that reveals something significant."

His silence that day didn’t just reveal something significant, it enabled something significant.

Something significant: Death is conquered.

Something significant: We are delivered.

His silence was deafening

His silence was deliberate

His silence was deadly

His silence defeated

His silence delivered

The time for silence in the face of injustice has passed. It’s consequences reached beyond what anyone hoped or imagined, conquering death, setting us free. Once, silence in the face of injustice was necessary, but not today.

The time for silence has passed. The tide has turned. Today we shout against injustice and we shout about the love and freedom he’s given us.

May our shouts be deafening

May our shouts be deliberate

May our shouts be deadly

May our shouts defeat

May our shouts deliver

SamME

SALT

I don’t know about you, but when I watch a programme like the current Master Chef series on at the moment, I’m inspired to try something new. If I’m honest though, the inspiration hardly ever makes it to the kitchen.

One thing I learnt early on in my marriage was that trying something new, when you’ve invited people over for dinner, is never a good idea. I remember sitting around the table thinking, “this is terrible”, while our guests struggled to find something positive to commend me on. Awkward. Our guests were nothing like the judges on Master Chef who hold nothing back when it comes to critiquing the food of contestants. When the judges are unimpressed words like unrefined, bland, ordinary are used to describe the dishes. When they are impressed they describe a dish as having “bold flavours” and “well seasoned”

Well Seasoned. Salt is one of the key seasonings we use when we cook. It has a distinct flavour and enhances that of others when added to food. A friend who is a chef told me that a pinch of salt added to any baking helps the other ingredients work together to improve the end product. Salt is also used in the preservation of food.

In what is perhaps the most famous sermon in history, known as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his followers “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Matthew 5:13 (NIV)

This statement is within a larger message about the Kingdom of God (his reign and his rule) that Jesus, came to establish on earth. Jesus is saying to those who follow him, “You are an essential ingredient and part of my Kingdom here on earth. One that will enhance and preserve my rule.”

He then goes on to make a pretty full on point. Salt that isn’t salty is good for nothing. If his followers aren’t doing the job of enhancing and preserving his kingdom, they aren’t fulfilling their purpose, or achieving what he’s called them too.

The Message paraphrase puts it like this: “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.”

So what does it look like?

In a world today that is saturated by consumerism, materialism, corruption, lack of integrity, power seeking, injustice, poverty … this list goes on, we have an opportunity to be salt; to make a difference, to be the difference. In the eyes of God we are considered a key ingredient in his plan of redemption and restoration, in his plan to see His kingdom established on earth as it is in heaven. We can be the ingredient that enhances, improves and develops the world for the better. A seasoning that brings out the good God flavours and preserves the kingdom Jesus came to establish on earth. A kingdom built upon purity, truth, faith, hope, justice and love.

Tastes pretty good to me.

SamMe

(originally published in the NZ WarCry 1 June 2013)