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.
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 6th 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
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