Dont Speak.

 "He answered him to never a word."

              -- Matthew 27:14

Is not patient silence the best reply to a gainsaying world? 

Silence as a tool is a difficult thing to master. We have grown accustomed to a natural flow of conversation, a consistent transition from one topic to another.

My prevailing stasis tends to be one of silence.  That's not always intentional. Actually, most of the time it causes me greater discomfort than it does peace. My roomate told me twice this weekend of his both need and desire to throughly "process" information, which for him, is first digesting, and then assembling, those bits of information into something rational, and then applicable.

We tend to place great value on those in our society who are quickly able to to digest and respond to information. Though, seemingly less so on those who digest and consider, analyze and evaluate to a larger scope.

We have almost come to a point where immediate response is conditioned. In the riles of conflict, it is expected that we say something. Say anything! If you remain silent, it clearly trends towards carelessness or indifference. Silence his now regarded as a message of tacit approval. If you do not render a response, either approval or repudiation, you are merely a bystander,  an observer, and possibly complicit, depending on the nature of the presentation.

This is purely societal, an adaption of ideals and mores, and a departure from bibilical truths. In fact, as Spurgeon writes,

"Evidently our Lord, by his silence, furnished a remarkable fulfilment of prophecy. A long defence of himself would have been contrary to Isaiah's prediction (Isaiah 53:7). "He is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." By his quiet he conclusively proved himself to be the true Lamb of God."

Isaiah is speaking to the silence of Jesus exhibited as he departed for cavalry. Was there much that Jesus could have imparted to those around him on the way there? Doubtless. However, Jesus silence painted the gravity of what was to come about, and the weight of sin that he must bear. Was this singular silence the index of his perfect self- sacrifice?

"Was this silence a type of the defencelessness of sin? Nothing can be said in palliation or excuse of human guilt; and, therefore, he who bore its whole weight stood speechless before his judge. Calm endurance answers some questions infinitely more conclusively than the loftiest eloquence."

We try to conjure well-laid prose and utterances that we can somehow assuage the pain and reality of the sinfulness that we engage our souls in. Nothing said from one man to another could ever remove this guilt, or provide any permanent healing to it's ends. That only comes with the surrender of all to a king.

However, it is my experience that our tongues become less sharp under the iron of grace, and rarely are teeth gnashing when the word of God is passing though one's lips.

My challenge and prayer is that perhaps, we start to condition ourselves to look at silent expression and response no longer as a indicator of indifference, or apathy, rather, as a careful consideration of the weight of words and moments, and how they relate and connect to grander things.