THE SILENCE OF JESUS 

By Mrs Jessie Penn-Lewis.

“He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth” (Isaiah 53 v7).

“Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2 v6).

"I will live with them and walk among them” (2 Cor. 6 v16) is the promise of God, and only as this promise is fulfilled in the believer can the “Silence of Jesus” be known in the daily life. As we trace the pattern of the walk of Christ on earth, that we may “follow His steps”, let us remember that it is not that we may copy Him but rather that we have before us the pattern of the way that “the life of Jesus” may be manifested in our mortal body as He “walks” in us and we intelligently yield ourselves to Him to work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. 

Let us first note in the pattern of His life:-

His Silence over His blessing of others.

“Jesus sent him home saying, ‘Don’t go and tell anyone in the village” (Mark 8 v26).

“Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone” (Mark 7 v36). 

Was it that He wanted to be hidden and silently to bless and help souls and then pass on? “He will not quarrel or cry out, no-one will hear His voice in the streets” (Matt. 12 v19) said the prophet Isaiah of the promised Messiah. The Master’s work was modest, and done with as little noise as possible. It is said of some whom He charged to be silent over what He had done for them that they spoke about it to everyone, so that His fame went abroad and He was given much trouble dealing with the multitudes. The lesson for us as to the “silence of Jesus” in this respect is that we should not “publish abroad” the instrument God uses in blessing us, but rather tell what the Lord has done, and allow His servants to pass on in quiet unobtrusiveness to do His work.

Another lesson in the silence of Jesus we see in:- 

His Silence in sensitive difficulties.

“The Pharisees had heard that Jesus was gaining and baptising more disciples than John . . . He left Judea ” (John 4 v1-3).

The Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard . . . Reports came to Him and He took trouble to answer these reports by wise action. He could not allow even supposed rivalry between His great forerunner, John the Baptist, and Himself in the eyes of the religious world, so He simply and quietly withdrew. The trouble was met by His silence and His self-effacing action. So must it be with us, to “give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully”. Let there be wise action in similar circumstances and silence so that others are not hurt, “In honour preferring one another”.

His Silence over the glory of the Mount of Transfiguration. 

“He was transfigured before them . . . As they were coming down from the mountain Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen . . . ” (Mark 9 v2-9).

Whilst the Lord Jesus walked on earth as Man, only the three disciples knew of that glory on the Mount. The world did not know, neither did the majority of the followers of Jesus, for we are told the chosen three “kept the matter to themselves”.

There is a good lesson for us in this “Silence of Jesus” regarding His sacred hours on the Transfiguration Mount. Paul had learnt it when he wrote to the Corinthians concerning the abundance of the revelations given to him by God, that “no-one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say” (2 Cor. 12 v6). The reticence of the Bible is very wonderful. The veil is lifted off the things of God, only just enough to give a glimpse into the unspeakable glory for those who are admitted within the veil. Detailed accounts of God’s deepest and most sacred dealings with His children are not wise, lest, as Paul said, we “glory in men” and account them to be above what they really are. Again there is also the danger of the “natural man”, being unable to receive the things of the Spirit, turning away saying “This is a hard saying”, and walking no more with the Lord. The “Silence of Jesus” over the glory of the Mount is a message to all those who know something of the Mount of Transfiguration, to keep God’s secrets until God’s time comes to make the hidden things manifest to the world.

His Silence over the path of the Cross.

“You will drink the cup l drink and be baptised with baptism I am baptised with” (Mark 10 v39). 

This was all that He said to the men who asked to share His throne. He did not describe in detail what “drinking the cup” would mean. It would be time enough when they came to it, because they could not as yet bear it. He told them of the Cross and that it would mean some cost, but of that path through the valley of deep darkness He was silent. Let us then co-operate with His restraining hand upon us, when He keeps us from exposing too fully the path of the Cross, as well as the Mount of Glory. The glory would overpower the babe, and so would the way of Calvary. God will lead us all on as we are able to bear it. 

His Silence over the traitor disciple.

“I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray Me. His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which one of them He meant" (John 13 v21-22).

So silent had He been, so lovingly had He treated Judas as one of the rest, that they had no idea who He meant. Never by word or look had He shown them the traitor. How displeased the ten were with the two disciples who asked for the Throne (Mark 10 v41), so how could the Lord Jesus expose Judas, or arouse their partiality and produce division amongst His little band? Let us be silent in similar circumstances and not arouse partiality in those who care for us when God is leading us to Calvary through a Judas. Let us never speak, if we can avoid it, of the human instruments in the pathway of the Cross, nor omit the stooping to wash their feet. To bless those who “persecute you” (Matt. 5 v44) is just what Jesus did.

His Silence over the deep things of God. 

“I have told you this . . . I have much more to say to you, more than you can bear now” (John 16 v4-12).

Jesus “spoke the Word to them, as much as they could understand” (Mark 4 v33-34).

The power and the need of silence in the spiritual life must have grown upon us as we have followed from point to point the example of the Lord. Silence over the glory, silence over the suffering, and now silence over the things of God which are beyond the stage of growth of others who look to us for help. The apostle Paul also learnt his lesson, “I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it”, he writes to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 3 v2). To confess Christ is quite a different thing to our forcing “strong meat” on babes.

His Silence over questions.

“But, Lord, why?” - “In that day you will no longer ask Me” (John 14 v22 and 16 v23).

The Lord knew that nothing but the teaching of the Holy Spirit could unfold to these disciples all they wanted to know. How full of questions we are. “Why?” - “How?” - “When?”  We want spiritual things made clear and plain to our minds, forgetting that God wants to do for us exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think. How wisely the Lord dealt with His questioning disciples. The “silence of Jesus” here is indeed a need for all who are in the position of teaching others. He only answered the question with the words,  “You shall know by and by”. The Holy Spirit will teach you, wait. Let us leave our own questions with God, and lead other questioning hearts to do the same, knowing that in God’s time we shall know all He thinks it good for us to know.

His Silence in false accusation.

“The chief priests accused Him of many things. So again Pilate asked Him, ‘Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of’. But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed" (Mark 15 v3-5).

Peter wrote years afterwards of this wonderful silence of the God-Man, “When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered He made no threats”. His silence was Divine. No merely human being could have been dumb in this way, and being innocent and guiltless allow himself to be led as a lamb to the slaughter, to be as a sheep dumb in the hand of the shearers. This silence before Pilate and then the silence on the Cross in the midst of untold agony, silence only broken seven times with brief words of wonderful meaning, this silence of Jesus was the climax to a life of God-like silence in circumstances when men usually speak. A life of silent waiting until thirty years of age before He entered on public ministry and made His lamb-like way to the Cross; a life of silence over glory unspeakable with His Father, and suffering untold at the hands of men; of tender silence over blessing to others, and over Judas’ traitor path. This is the pattern for all who would follow His steps. The pattern for the one who would walk as He walked, by His walking again in them. This can only be as we accept the calling (1 Peter 1 v15) and take His Cross as our Cross, accepting that we having died in Him and with Him. 

This is the only way we can live for God and the silence of Jesus can be known in reality. We shall be:

Silent in our lowly service among others, not seeking to be seen of men.

Silent over the glory of the hours on the Mount, lest others think too highly of us.

Silent over the depths of the Calvary pathway that led us to God.

Silent over the human instruments permitted of God to hand us over to the judgment hall, and the forsaking of our nearest and dearest.

Silent whilst we stand to serve the very ones who have betrayed us.

Silent over the deep things of God revealed in the secret place of the Most High, things “impossible to utter”. 

Silent over questions only to be answered by God the Holy Spirit, when the day dawns for the glorious revelation of Him Who is the answer to all our need.

Silent when forced by others to some position where apparent rivalry with another much-used servant of God seems imminent.

Silent in the ‘judgment hall’ when criticized and falsely accused.

O anointed Christ, Lamb of God, You alone can live this life of silent self-effacement in a world of self-assertion and self-love. Live this life in me.

“They follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Rev. 14 v4).

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