THE SILENCE OF JESUS

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on February 23, 2022 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: February 23, 2022 from Luke 22:63-71

Theme: Our Lord kept silent before His accusers in order to lay down His life for you and me.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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We come to a passage in Luke’s Gospel that is very painful to read. It tells us of the treatment our precious Lord was subjected to by those who had arrested Him. After telling us about how Jesus was betrayed in the garden of Gethsemane, and after telling us the sad story of Peter’s denial, Luke wrote;

Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him. And having blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, “Prophesy! Who is the one who struck You?” And many other things they blasphemously spoke against Him.

As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led Him into their council, saying, “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will by no means believe. And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go. Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.” Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?” He said to them, “You rightly say that I am.” And they said, “What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth” (Luke 22:63-71).

When we compare this passage in Luke with the other Gospels, we find that the very first thing that happened—before the events we read of in Luke—was that He was brought before the father-in-law of the high priest Annas (John 18:13-14). We’re told that …

The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and His doctrine. Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said.” And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Do You answer the high priest like that?” Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?” (John 18:19-23).

Only then did Annas send Jesus to the high priest Caiaphas. But already we can see that His trial was taking shape as an evil and unjust one. And then, when we read of what Matthew wrote, we see that every effort was made to find a way to put Him to death. Matthew wrote;

Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’ ” And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” But Jesus kept silent (Matthew 26:59-63).

And now, in Luke’s account, we see how He restrained Himself as He was shamefully mocked; and how He refused to defend Himself as He was interrogated; and how He willingly testified of His identity only in such a way as to bring the condemnation of death upon Himself.

It’s amazing to read of the humiliation and mistreatment and injustice that our Lord silently and willingly submitted Himself to—especially knowing that, the whole time long, He was able to merely speak and the soldiers who came to arrest Him would fall over (John 18:6); or that at any point along the way, He could have prayed and His Father would have sent more than twelve legions of mighty angels to His rescue (Matthew 26:53). Why would He do this? He willingly restrained the exercise of His limitless power and authority, so that He could yield Himself to the Father’s will on behalf of you and me. As the prophet Isaiah wrote Him;

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,

And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth (Isaiah 53:7).

And this was because,

All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (v. 6).

As this painful passage in Luke shows us, our Lord kept silent before His accusers in order to lay down His life for you and me. Therefore, as painful as it is to read, we should rejoice in the love of Jesus for us that is shown in it.

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Note first …

1. HOW HE RESTRAINED HIMSELF AS HE WAS MOCKED (vv. 63-65).

Luke tells us in verse 63, “Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him.” There were many aspects of our Lord’s arrest and trial that were illegal; and this is one of them. And note that the men who were doing this—the Jewish men who “held” Jesus—were under the supervision and authority of the chief priests and spiritual leaders—that is to say, the religious rulers of the people. It’s a terrible mistake to think that the more ‘religious’ someone is, the more ‘righteous’ they must be. No one could have been more outwardly religious than the ones who arrested and abused our Lord. It was under their immediate authority that the Son of God was treated with such horrible contempt—while they themselves looked the other way.

Look at what these men did. It wasn’t enough that they unjustly arrested and mistreated Him. We’re told that they taunted our Lord in a mocking way. Verse 63 goes on to say, “And having blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, “Prophesy! Who is the one who struck You?” This appears to have been a sadistic kind of game that these evil men played among themselves. They knew who Jesus claimed to be. They had heard about the miracles He had brought about. They were aware of the things He taught. They knew the people considered Him to be a Prophet. And so they mocked Him by covering up His eyes, took turns punching Him in the face, and asking Him to determine who it was that had punched Him through ‘divine revelation’. Luke almost seems as if he couldn’t bring himself to say more about the things they did to Him; only summarizing by saying, “And many other things they blasphemously spoke against Him.” ‘Blasphemy’ would be the right word for it; because they were clearly mocking God in human flesh.

He was, In Isaiah’s words, “oppressed” and “afflicted”; and yet, the whole time long, He endured the suffering in order to pay the debt for our sin;

who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:23-24).

Notice second …

2. HOW HE REFUSED TO DEFEND HIMSELF AS HE WAS INTERROGATED (vv. 66-69).

It must have been that this horrible mistreatment He received went on for some time; because we’re told that His official trial didn’t even begin until morning. Luke tells us in verses 66-67, “As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led Him into their council, saying, ‘If You are the Christ, tell us.’”

Now; these were experts in the Scriptures. They wouldn’t really have needed for Him to tell them whether or not He was the Christ; because He had already proven Himself to have kept the promises of the Scriptures concerning the Messiah. But then, they weren’t asking in order to know the truth. They were asking in order to obtain testimony against Him on the basis of their mistaken views of the Messiah. They would have assumed that the Messiah would be a great military leader who would throw off the oppression of the Romans; and if Jesus could be made to say He was that promised ‘military leader’, then they would have grounds for accusing Him before the Roman government as a seditionist. That, in point of fact, was the very kind of accusation they brought against Him before Pilate; saying to the Roman governor,

“We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King” (Luke 23:2).

All that they needed was for Him to say that He was the Christ—the promised Messiah; and then, they could craft their case against Him by the words of His own mouth. And yet, even though He was the promised Christ, He refused to answer their question. In verses 62-68, we read, “But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will by no means believe. And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go.” And there was nothing they could do with that. He, as Isaiah would have put it, “opened not His mouth”.

There is a principle that seems to be involved in all this: When it comes to those who have no sincere desire for the truth about Jesus, they get no answer from Jesus. They prove themselves unworthy of an answer. He was once asked by His disciples why it was that He spoke to the multitudes in parables rather than in a plain manner. And He responded by saying;

“Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.’” (Matthew 13:11-15).

So; Jesus didn’t answer in the way they wanted; because they didn’t want the truth. Instead, however, He indicated that He knew what it was that He was about to suffer at their hands by saying in verse 69, “Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.” The name “Son of Man” is a Messianic title. It comes from Daniel 7:13; and it speaks of Jesus’ role as the Chief of all humanity—the Savior of all people. And the promise that He would sit at the right hand of the power of God was a way of saying that He would shortly thereafter die on the cross, be raised from the dead, ascend to the Father, and reign, and return as the Judge of all.

He spoke a true testimony to these religious leaders—but not in the way that they wanted.

But notice finally …

3. WHAT THE TESTIMONY WAS THAT RESULTED IN HIS CONDEMNATION (vv. 70-71).

They then seized on what He said. Verse 70 tells us, “Then they all said, ‘Are You then the Son of God?’ He said to them, ‘You rightly say that I am.’” In the original language, our Lord said, “You say that I am.” And His meaning may strange and obscure to our ears; but it was absolutely plain to the chief priests and leaders of the Jewish people. We’re told in verse 71, “And they said, ‘What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.’” He had just said to them that He was God in human flesh.

So then; our Lord gave them what they really wanted. They could now charge Him with the capital crime of blasphemy. Although, only unjustly so. The charge of blasphemy would have been just if He had not truly been who He said He was. And yet, as it turned out, they were charging the Son of God with blasphemously saying that He was the Son of God.

And He willingly did so. As Isaiah would put it, He was “led to the slaughter” for us.

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This is a painful passage to read, because it describes the suffering and mistreatment of Someone we love. But it’s also good for us to read, because it describes how He silently and willingly suffered all these things for us. Truly, “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

AE