April 2, Morning

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"He answered him to never a word." — Matthew 27:14 · KJV

He had never been slow of speech when He could bless the sons of men, but He would not say a single word for Himself. "Never man spake like this Man," and never man was silent like Him. Was this remarkable silence the sign of His perfect self-sacrifice? Did it show that He would not utter a word to stay the slaughter of His sacred person, which He had dedicated as an offering for us? Had He so entirely surrendered Himself that He would not interfere in His own behalf, even in the smallest degree, but be bound and slain, an unstruggling, uncomplaining victim? Was this silence a picture of the defenselessness of sin? Nothing can be said to lessen or excuse human guilt; and therefore He who bore its whole weight stood speechless before His judge. Is not patient silence the best reply to a contradicting world? Calm endurance answers some questions far more conclusively than the loftiest eloquence. The best defenders of Christianity in the early days were its martyrs. The anvil breaks a host of hammers by quietly bearing their blows. Did not the silent Lamb of God furnish us a grand example of wisdom? Where every word would be occasion for new blasphemy, it was the path of duty to give no fuel to the flame of sin. The ambiguous and the false, the unworthy and the mean, will before long overthrow and confute themselves; and therefore the true can afford to be quiet, and finds silence to be its wisdom. Evidently our Lord, by His silence, furnished a remarkable fulfillment of prophecy. A long defense of Himself would have been contrary to Isaiah's prediction: "He is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." By His quiet He conclusively proved Himself to be the true Lamb of God. As such we salute Him this morning. Be with us, Jesus, and in the silence of our heart let us hear the voice of Your love.