Jesus:Majestically Silent

After being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was taken to a hastily arranged meeting of the Jerusalem, or Great, Sanhedrin. The word Sanhedrin means "gathering" and as the governing body in Judea under Roman rule, the Chief Priest, a Sadducee, had called together the 70 other members of this body to both illegally and unjustly confront Jesus.

On many occasions, Jesus had condemned these men as "white washed sepulchers" and as "evil leaders of an evil people."  The stings of His jabs at them had brought them to this point of condemning Him and calling for His death.

Caiaphas' arranged and paid for so-called witnesses were quickly shown to be unreliable and the hour was drawing close to daylight, so he challenged Jesus to answer the charges.  Sometimes, silence can be deafening and this night presented itself to be just such a time.  Majestically standing before his accusers, Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 53:7, "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter; and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth."

Dr. John MacArthur wrote, "It was the silence of innocence, the silence of dignity, the silence of integrity, the silence of infinite trust in His heavenly Father.  It was a silence in which the lying words against Him reverberated in the ears of the guilty judges and of the false witnesses they had bribed. Goaded by that silence, which accentuated the travesty of justice over which he presided, the enraged high priest continued to badger Jesus, saying, 'I adjure You by the living God, that you tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.'"

Seeking to induce Jesus into self-incrimination, Caiaphas appealed to the most sacred oath a Jew could offer demanding that Jesus either affirm or deny His messiahship and deity.  He was saying, in effect, "Answer my question truthfully, on the basis that You are standing before the living God, who knows all things."

None of these men believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but what they were seeking was a statement from this man which would incriminate Himself.  As recorded in Leviticus 24:16, God told Moses, "Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death."

At this question, Jesus breaks His silence and says, "You have said it yourself."  Mark's account is even more explicit when he wrote of Jesus' response: "I am!" (14:62).  These are the same words Yahweh spoke to Moses from the burning bush and Jesus previously had said, "Before Abraham was, I am."  (John 8:58). What He was saying is, "I am the everlasting One."

To the high priest and the rest of the Sanhedrin present, this was enough to convict Jesus.  Caiaphas tore his robe and they pronounced a sentence of death against Jesus.  They convicted Him of blasphemy, when in reality they were the ones who were blaspheming the name of the Son of God who stood before them.  They had sealed their doom to face Him at the end of time as their Judge and Executioner. The accused would then become the accuser, and the judges would become the judged.

Condemned by the hatred in their hearts, they took Him to Pilate for the judgment they sought: "Crucify Him!"  Following His death and resurrection, Jesus proved Himself to be the everlasting One, the One in whom men must choose to either follow as Lord and Savior, or to reject to their own condemnation.  Victory is ours when we choose to confess our sins...our failures...and receive Him into our lives.