May 10, 2011
Silence Before the Shearer
In last Sunday’s newspaper a letter writer took pot shots at me in my position as an elected official. The writer said that I was, ‘devoid of experience, should be sent packing and that my service was a sham.’ [Not exactly what I wanted to read on Mother’s Day.] As I contemplated whether or not to respond to the writer the verse that came to me was, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7 NIV) It’s remarkable how Jesus could take the abuse and yet remain silent. I decided that in my situation I did indeed need to respond to the letter writer and I found a way to remain silent, yet still speak the truth.
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Gail;
-----For three years Jesus wasn’t silent before the Scribes and Pharisees. He had ways with words that silenced the most knifing criticism while amazing those who overheard. And He was certainly not silent with the moneychangers in the Temple. But when He was brought to Caiaphas, His simple, irrefutable logic went missing. It wasn’t that His mind froze in terror. With only a few words He could have frozen the chief priests and elders in their tracks and dumbfounded the raucous crowd in front of Pilate. But this was His time for humble resignation to the different purpose of His Father. Before, it was to teach the kingdom of heaven. Now, the teaching was over. Empowering the kingdom was at hand.
-----Given enough rope, evil will hang itself. But given too much rope, it will hang everything else in the process. With Christ gone, His followers faced this same evil which yet held plenty of rope. Jesus found them cowering behind closed doors, giving evil even more rope. But that was not to be for long. Christ left and the Comforter came. Then once again evil was confronted by the words of God now being spoken through His followers. Although Jesus was silent, it was in a particular moment for a particular purpose. On the day of Pentecost, the voice of His Spirit rang out again and three thousand were saved in that moment from evil’s hangings. And so it remains today. In many ways at many times, speaking has its place. Yet in other places there is a time to remain silent. Notice that it is still His Spirit in us developing an attitude for knowing the difference.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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