Countering accusations

 

Matthew 27:12

But when the leading priests and the elders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent.

As part of their campaign against Jesus, the chief priests and the elders of the Sanhedrin bound Him and took Him to Pilate, where they falsely accused Jesus of all manner of wrongdoing with the intention of getting Him sentenced to death. Jesus did answer Pilate when he wanted to confirm a truth and asked Him if He were King of the Jews. But whenever false accusations were thrown at Him by the priests, He kept silent.

This was in fulfilment of the prophecy made by Isaiah in Isa 53:7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth – yet another clue given by God to affirm that Jesus is the Messiah which the Jewish priests should have picked up on, seeing as they knew their Scriptures so well.

There are two other insights we could derive from this situation. The first is that Jesus Himself said that He only did what His Father told Him to do (John 5:30 I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will). Clearly Abba Father had not told Jesus to answer these accusations. We are promised that He will also tell us what words to say in the same circumstances (Mark 13:11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit).

And secondly, the life of Jesus and His works clearly show that He is the Messiah, He did not need to verbally confirm this fact. This is why Jesus did not answer the disciples of John the Baptist directly when they asked Him if He were the One they had been waiting for – He answered them indirectly by pointing out the works He had done – in Matthew 11:5 He told them to tell John in prison that the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”  Why would John instantly recognize Him for Who He is when he heard this? Because of the prophecies made by Isaiah about the works the Messiah would do: Isa 35:5-6 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unplug the ears of the deaf. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. And Isa 61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

Points to ponder: When we look at how we conduct our own lives, is it obvious to everyone that we are followers of Jesus? Do our deeds speak for us when necessary, or do we need to vehemently defend ourselves and our beliefs when confronted? And if falsely accused, is it clear to any fair judge that these accusations just cannot be true, so that they are obliged to wash their hands of the matter and declare us innocent?

Living for Jesus