Ministry of Silence

“Though he was harshly treated, he submitted
and opened not his mouth;
like a lamb led to the slaughter
or a sheep before the shearers,
he was silent and opened not his mouth.”

Isaiah 53:7

After Our Lord had been arrested and sentenced, we do not hear much from Him. Rather He remains relatively silent. This is His passion. It is a passivity, but not an idle one. This part of His life and ministry was one that was passive, one that was about what He allowed others to do to Him. His passion was what He suffered, what He permitted to be inflicted upon Himself for the sake of the Father’s will. Jesus’ passion was a ministry of silence.

It was through this ministry of silence that Our Lord’s mission was brought to completion and perfection. It was in His silence that He spoke the loudest. It is no wonder that it is said that God comes to us in the silence. For it is in the silence of our hearts that God meets us and speaks to us. It was not in the earthquake or fire that Elijah experienced God’s presence, but rather it was in the small still voice. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, Jesus “was silent and opened not His mouth,” but allowed the soldiers to strip Him and nail Him to the Cross, because it was there, in His silence, that God was present. It was His silence that moved the centurion to faith. How can one endure such pain and suffering and yet remain silent and unforgiving? It was incomprehensible to the people, but it moved them to think about all that was said about Jesus, and for some it brought them to faith. It was in His silent suffering that people came to experience the presence of God. May we today, sit in the silence, and meet the God who comes to us.

Model of Service

“I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

John 13:15

In the final hours before Our Lord suffers His passion, He chooses to eat the Passover with His disciples. On one hand, showing His faithfulness to the Jewish customs in remembering God’s saving work in the lives of the ancestors and on the other hand, bringing it to fulfillment. The Passover meal foreshadows the Last Supper, the Institution of the Eucharist. Just as the blood of a year-old unblemished lamb on their doorposts signaled the Angel of the Death to pass over their door and spare the first born of those within the house, so too, in the fullness of time, the blood of the True Lamb, the Lamb of God shed on the wood of the Cross saved and continues to save the people from their sin and from death.

During dinner, Jesus, the Lamb of God did something that was unheard of. He, the Teacher and Master put a towel around His waist, bent down, and washed His disciples feet. By doing so, Jesus tells Peter that He will have inheritance with Him, the inheritance of the Father, the truth of being a beloved son of the Father. However, this inheritance is not one of silver or gold, but rather of mission and service. A mission to raise up the lowly and to share with them the gift of salvation. A mission that extends beyond of the walls of Jerusalem and the land of Israel. This inheritance is to go and live knowing that one has been loved from all eternity, and loved so much that God entered into human history, becoming man, suffering, and dying so that we might live. And if one truly embraces this, there is one thing one must do: share this with others. This is the model Our Lord left to His disciples then and leaves to us today: to serve as Christ served, to forgive as Christ forgave, to love as Christ loved, to sacrifice as Christ sacrificed, and to lay down one’s life as Christ laid down His life.

The Lord gives unto us today this model of service, how will we respond? He asks us to love and serve, will we? He implores us to stay close to Him by lowering ourselves to be with the lowly, are we willing? He teaches us to forgive as He forgave the one who betrayed Him, can we forgive those who hurt us? We are called to be Christ to all peoples, will we rise to the occasion?

Irony of the Handing Over

“One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,
went to the chief priests and said,
‘What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?’”

Matthew 26:14-15

Judas was one of the Twelve chosen, hand-picked by the Lord to walk with Him, be with Him, and witness all the works He would do and hear all the words He would speak. Jesus offered unto Judas a friendship, an intimate relationship, but that wasn’t enough for him. He wanted something else, something more tangible.

In exchange for this friend and relationship, Judas settled for 30 pieces of silver. Three years of walking together and journeying together was worth only 30 pieces of silver. The nature of this transaction was much more than just buying something from the store. Judas had to return to Jesus, acting like an informant, waiting for the perfect time to hand him over to the chief priests. I can just imagine a parent having to hand their child over to Child Services or to an orphanage. How can Judas do such a thing? And to do so with a gesture of love and intimacy: a kiss.

What was going on inside the mind of Judas? What drove him to the point where he would betray Jesus? Perhaps he had long ago left Jesus in his heart, but just went along. Brothers and sisters, our spiritual lives can be the same thing too if we do not invest time in talking with and listening to Jesus, and being with Him. If we do not tend to this most sacred relationship of ours, we will slowly drift away from the Lord, and maybe even to the point of handing Him over in our falling into temptation and sin.

Instead of going to Jesus to talk things out, Judas goes to the chief priests. Just like the prodigal son who after squandering all the money given to him by his father seeks employment with foreigner tending the swine, Judas instead of going to Jesus, to the One who has called him, goes to those who are in opposition to Jesus and he sells his Lord. But, the Father uses even this horrendous act of betrayal to bring about great good. While Judas delivers Jesus into the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver, Jesus delivers us from our sins with His own precious blood. Judas’ act of deliverance led to death but Jesus’ act of deliverance led to life, life that will never end.