Matthew 27:1-14 “Strength in Silence”
You have surely seen the letters around town, the WWJD letters. They mean “What would Jesus Do?” I find it interesting when I see these letters proudly displayed on bumper stickers on cars that I know I would never purchase. I start to wonder to myself, “Would Jesus actually buy that car?” Then, that same car with the WWJD is seen tailgating the driver in front of him. Would Jesus tailgate? Would Jesus even drive? Would Jesus take the bus? Would he walk everywhere like he did two thousand years ago?
With all of these questions I came to the personal conclusion that I was not so concerned with what would Jesus do, but I was preoccupied with what I thought Jesus would not do. In stead of the WWJD, I had started thinking in terms of WWJND, what would Jesus not do?
Our Scripture for this morning addresses this too. In the text we see that Jesus has already been betrayed by Judas. He is being accused by the Sanhedrin. He is confronted by Pilate. And, Jesus does nothing. He says nothing. He is silent. Even Pilate asks him about this: “Do you not hear all the accusations against you, Jesus?”
This seems to be what Jesus will not do then. . . .he will not waste his breath on the chief priests. He knows that nothing will come of it anyway. We know this, too. We know this because Judas goes to them and asks for some kind of forgiveness before God. That is what a chief priest is supposed to do, by the way, help people reconcile with God. However, these chief priests just say to Judas, “You are on your own!” They are not in a listening mode! Judas would have done better if he had simply been silent before them!
No, Jesus is not going to waste his breath on them. They have no integrity. They will not listen. This is something that Jesus will not do. Jesus will listen to the demoniac, the adultress, the woman at the well, his disciples, you name it! He will not waste his time on Satan! Remember the forty days in the wilderness when Jesus was being tempted, he did not listen to Satan.
This reminds of the child who is constantly teased in grammar school. That child learns very quickly that trying to respond to their tormentors is a waste of time and only makes things worse. Haven’t we all learned our lesson at some point that often times the best thing we can do is just keep our mouths shut and bear through the situation.
This is the sincere question for us today as Christians: “When do we speak up, and when to we hush up?” The answer may be answered as we see Jesus before Pilate simply by stating that we should not waste our breath on Satan. Yes, seek truth and justice in all things—but know when Satan is involved there will be no truth coming from his domain. Satan cannot accept the truth. Don’t waste your breath.
Jesus himself instructs his disciples in this as he sends them out on their first mission trip. Turn to Luke 10:10 and read this with me: “If you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go into the streets and say: ‘Even the dust of street that clings to our shoes, we wipe off in protest against you.’” In other words, have no part in them. Their time will come when they shall be judged as Sodom was in the former days.
[And, as an aside as this pertains to Judas, Jesus gives the warning in this chapter of Luke to not carry a purse or take any money with you. When Judas takes the thirty pieces of silver in that purse from the Sanhedrin, he is already breaking a strict commandment from the Lord!]
Sometimes we are to remain silent for Jesus because there is a kind of strength in silence. You know, different kinds of silence exist. Or, perhaps better put, silence can have different kinds of qualities to it. You can be silent out of fear. You can be silent out of deep love or respect for another person. However, when I think about Jesus standing before the governor Pilate, I see that as a silence of strength! It is knowing so thoroughly that God is on your side that you don’t even have to react. The strength of God on your side just holds the mouth shut.
Recently the refrigerator at parsonage had a strange little issue—the compressor would never shut off. I knew that there was something wrong with the fridge because the compressor noise is supposed to shut off when the temperature inside the fridge is reached. Then, it can click on again from time to time to keep the temperature frozen. So, I noticed that the noise was just always going on and on. I knew that there was a major issue. When someone is always just constantly talking and talking, then I get the sense that there is an issue with that person, too. Their compressor is busted.
Well, of course, the next thing to note about the fridge was that the food was not keeping cool. Our ice water was more like Revelation 3:16 (look it up). The ice cubes in the freezer were actually getting smaller. Finally, there were no more ice cubes, just a tray of water. And yes, the compressor continued to spin full blast, but the refrigerator was loosing its cool. We had the fridge repair guy come out and say that it was time for a new refrigerator—one that could keep its cool.
We got the new fridge on Tuesday of this last week. We plugged it in. The compressor whirred and the anti-frost fan blew. It was working. But then, something amazing happened, when it was totally cool as it was supposed to be, the compressor click off and there was silence.
I put it to you today that if you are cool with God, there will be incredible moments of silence in your life. These times of silence means that everything is working as it should. If you do not have any silence in your life, then your compressor is working too hard and you are not cool with God. There is strength in silence. Amen to that.
Some of you may have noticed that there is a line of admonishment at the top opening page of the bulletin in this church. What does it say? It says to be quiet! It says it in a very nice way of course—but in essence it says to “hush up.” Get ready to listen. When Lee sings the opening number to prepare our hearts for worship, he starts with the words “a holy hush” descends upon us.
Margaret Guenther in her book Holy
Listening writes: In Silence we embrace ambiguity and darkness. . . .
people often want answers, want even to be told what to do, but if they
persevere, they discover that the darkness and silence increase rather than
decrease. In seeking answers, the
questions usually proliferate.
What this means is that in silence, we get the questions that we need to have answered in our lives. Silence first. I have to say that I am really pleased when people have commented after the sermon that they have had some of their questions answered through what I have shared in my understanding of the Gospel. I appreciate those remarks because I know that those same people have spent many hours in silence pondering these same questions of faith that I struggle with in my preaching on Sunday mornings. Those people have probably spent just as much time in silence trying to hear the Word of God as I have. I just have to affirm them in their quest. Amen to you who have these questions. You would not have these questions if you were not diligently trying to hear God’s message for your lives!
As a Christian then, it is perfectly okay to seek out times of silence. There is strength in this. You know, recently cell phones have been downloaded with a new kind of ring tone that adults are unable to hear. It is at a high pitch that as the ear gets older it is no longer able to perceive. All of the youngsters think that this is really cool that they can get a ring on their phone and the adults around them cannot hear it. I agree, that is cool. Now, I want those same kids to put their obnoxious car stereos on that same pitch so that I don’t have to hear it anymore. Then, they can put their disrespectful language on that same pitch.
I will share with you the secret that the cell phone companies actually did not invent this idea. Look at 1 Kings 19:11-13 and on: He said, “go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And, after the fire, a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard the sheer silence therein came a voice to him. . . .” This was the voice of God coming in the silence.
In our reading for today, the last line tells us that Pilate was “amazed.” This is better translated as “impressed” (ethauvasen). Pilate was impressed and astonished by Christ’s silence. Too often as Christians we think that we have to talk and talk to get people to see the glory of Christ. However, if we share a moment of silence with a non-believer that may impress all the more. If we can share a moment of silence in the strength of God’s love, they will know that love. If we can share that silence so that they might have a moment to come up with their own questions that we might then be able to answer with the help of the Spirit, then Amen to that!
Just like Jesus before Pilate, let us know the strength of God in our lives!
Amen.