Day 5 - "Trial"

Day Five - "Trial"

“The high priest stood up and said to Him, ‘Do you not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?’ But Jesus kept silent.” —Matthew 26:62-63

Jesus didn’t defend Himself when He was arrested. Instead of putting up a fight or trying to prove His innocence, He silently gave up His life. Even God didn’t strike anyone with lightning for condemning His Son. Instead, He died like a slaughtered lamb.

Was Jesus being passive? Was He simply submitting to a crazy belief that God wanted Him to die as a heroic martyr? To have done that would have been selfish.

Jesus explains in John 10:17-18, “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it up again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” 

In His silence, Jesus wasn’t being passive or playing the victim—He was acting purposefully. The Father never forced Jesus to live in such a way that would get Him killed, but commanded that Jesus freely choose when and how much to give of Himself. He chose to fully embody self-sacrificing love. 

If Jesus acted purposefully, what did His silence communicate about God’s heart during His arrest, trial, and torture?

Perhaps Jesus suffered the hell of His persecutors so that He might taste their internal suffering. Can you imagine the sickness of soul it would take to torture and execute an innocent man? Perhaps Jesus was silent because He was listening—so we, too, might know that God goes through everything with us, even our deepest torment and grief.

Have you ever been so angry or sad that all you wanted was for someone to listen and understand? Have you ever felt like God was silent or absent in a painful moment? Have you cried out to Him, poured out your heart, and felt like there was no response? 

Maybe it’s because He’s there with you—in the middle of the chaotic swirl, the bitter rage, the tearing grief—soaking it all in. He takes your whole life seriously, especially the suffering, to understand your heart and experience. And when He does speak, His words don’t feel like fluff. They have weight. They have flesh. In acknowledging our pain and God’s presence within it, we begin to experience the true healing of His love.

Reflection:

• -Take some time alone and recognize a place where God has felt silent or absent. You have permission to release every thought and emotion. Picture Jesus standing before the religious leaders, bound with rope—giving you His full attention. What would you say to Him? What do you need Him to know? See that He isn’t going anywhere. 
• -After you’ve released your heart and situation to Him, invite Him to respond. What does He do? What does He say? 
• -What specifically about His presence brings you comfort and peace? Hold onto that comfort. Stay with Him there.