Are You Silent When Accused?

For the vast majority of us, when accused of wrong doing, we are quick to voice our defense.  Even when we know we are wrong we are wont to profess our innocence.  It seems to be something about human nature that leaves us unable to not respond.  Few, if any of us, will stand before our accusers and remain silent.

I learned a very valuable lesson years ago.  And that is, you cannot defend your own honor.  I was caught in a situation where a member of a church had been involved in a horrific accident and died.  The Pastor of the church was away at the time.  The nature of the tragedy was such that it caught the attention of the local news, who ended up reporting on the death and the horrible events that had befallen the immediate family for several nights (it was over a weekend as I recall).  The news stories prompted an outpouring of support for the surviving family members from the local community.  But no one knew where to send their gifts, that is until word got out that the family attended the same church that I did.  People began to send their gifts to the church.  The church treasurer, who had not encountered any similar situation in the past, took the monetary gifts, carefully logged them, and then deposited them into the church’s general funds.

When the pastor returned from his trip the local news station stopped by for an interview with him.  Questions began to arise as to the disposition of the donated funds.  The pastor accurately reported the state of the funds, however, you may imagine how it sounded in the press when they relayed that the gifts had gone into the churches general bank account.  The pastor came under great scrutiny and there were many negative articles in the press.  The more the pastor tried to explain the situation, the more outrageous the nightly news became.  It was as if his explanations were falling on deaf ears.

Finally, to get out from underneath the firestorm of the press, the church opened a charitable fund in the name of the family who had suffered the tragedy, placed all previously donated money into that fund, made a rather generous contribution to the fund itself, and then had a moderator (a third-party individual with nothing to gain or lose) hold a press conference and announce the fund, publically release the ledger of current donations, and request that all future donations go to that fund.

No longer was the story a hot topic on the nightly news, and the pastor of the church was no longer under the spotlight.  I remember he came to me shortly thereafter and told me, “Paul, you cannot defend your own honor.”  And he was right.  When you try to defend your own honor it rings hollow in the ears of your accusers.  Yet we all seem to rush to do it anyway.

However, today, I’d like to consider one who did not jump to their own defense.  So much so, that the magistrate who presided over the case was left in awe of the individual.  The story is found in Matthew 27:11-14 and goes like this:

Matthew 27:11-14King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.  ¹² And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.  ¹³ Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?  ¹⁴ And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.

One might wonder why Jesus stood silent before his accusers.  Indeed most people approach this passage with regard to what Jesus did, as can be found here.  I’d like people to consider this passage from another perspective.  And that is from the point of view of all the people who said nothing on Jesus’ behalf.

Consider the great silence in the hall of justice as Jesus stood facing his accusers.  It was so great that Pilate was in awe (he marveled greatly).  Jesus said nothing in his own defense, but neither did anyone else.

Where were the Disciples who had followed him all throughout the land for three years?  Where were the multitudes of people he had healed over that time?  Where were the lame, whom He had made to walk, the blind whom He had made to see, the sick whom He had healed?  Where was the woman, who caught in the very act of adultery, when brought before him heard the words “Neither do I condemn you.  Go and sin no more.”?  Where were all of the people who could have come to the defense of Jesus and testified on his behalf of the proof that they had been given that he was indeed the Son of the Living God?

You see, I believe that Jesus stood silent before his accusers not only because he was obedient to the Father and was headed to the Cross, but also because he was waiting to see who would step forward to proclaim him Lord.

And I believe he is doing the same thing today.  Jesus is silently sitting in Heaven at the Right Hand of the Father, waiting to see if you, and I, and others around us will come to his defense.

And just like that court some two thousand years ago, the silence today is deafening.  We might as well stand in just as much awe and wonder of the silence as Pilate did when Jesus stood before him.

Yes, Jesus could walk the Earth today and proclaim that he is indeed the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  But He would be met by skepticism and ridicule.  However, if those of us who have had our lives touched by Him step forward, one-by-one, and give witness as to how He has healed, how He has forgiven, and how He has saved, that builds a very powerful defense indeed.

Will you?  Will you join me and give witness to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Christ, Jesus, the Son of the Living God, today?  I believe he is silently waiting for us to do so.