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WHY WAS JESUS SILENT
Why when accused before Pilate, did Jesus keep silent? Could He not have mounted a defense? Could He not have answered those men who falsely accused Him? He was innocent of the charges and Pilate was seeking a way to escape sentencing Him. But the Scripture says of Jesus, “And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly,” (Matthew 27:12-14). Christ would have known precisely what words to say – what approach to take – to silence the lies of the Jews against Him. When the temple guards came to arrest Jesus in the garden He knew exactly what was going to happen to Him for John 18:4 says: “Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?” He was not surprised into silence, not knowing what to say. There was another reason: a very important one.
When in the garden Jesus prayed three times that the cup of suffering might pass from Him. He prayed, “...Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt,” (Matthew 26:39). Was He so fearful of physical pain that He could not face it? Was He a coward? In facing this time of suffering before going into the garden Jesus had said, “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour,” (John 12:27). Something happened in the garden. What was it? Luke tells us that Christ's agony in the garden was intense. He wrote, “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground,” (Luke 22:44).
Paul tells us exactly what happened in that garden. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 he wrote: “For he [God] hath made him [Jesus] to be sin for us, [He] who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” The sins of all the sinless Good Shepherd's sheep were laid upon Him that night. The reason that Christ made no defense before Pilate was this: He had no defense. He had become sin or the sin offering and had His people's sins upon Him. By imputation the sinless One was guilty!
This absence of Christ's defense was prophesied in Isaiah 53:7. There it was predicted: “He [Christ] was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” As Hebrews 9:28 says: “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many...” The great question is this: did He bear your sins?
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