四月二日

耶穌仍不回答，連一句話也不說……（太27:14）

當他能祝福人們的時候，他毫不遲緩，但是為自己卻是緘默無語。“從來沒有像他這樣說話的”，也從來沒有像他這樣沉默的。這一次的緘默是表示他的舍己嗎?這是表示他既已為我們當作祭物獻上，就不發一語任令他人殺害自己嗎?他這樣完全地奉獻，就是在最關緊要的時候自己也毫不伸訴而作一個不掙扎、不抱怨的犧牲品，任人捆綁並殺害嗎?這一種緘默是表示罪是無可寬恕的嗎?人類的罪是無可逭、無可恕的，所以，他擔著整個的重量默然站在審判他的人面前。耐心的沉默不是給好辯駁的世人一個最好的答案嗎?安靜忍耐比喋喋不休更能徹底回答一些問題。古時基督教最好的辯護人就是那些殉道者。鐵砧不知破壞了多少錘頭，就是因為它耐心忍受錘頭的打擊。神安靜的羔羊不是給我們一個很好的智慧的榜樣嗎?每次若聽到什麼褻瀆的話，不要說什麼，免得給那種罪火上加油。似是而非和虛偽的，毫無價值和卑賤的，若不予理會終必自行推翻和駁倒，因此有真理的人儘管安靜，必會知道緘口不語是一件智慧事。同時，我們的主，因為他的沉默，也應驗了先知的話。若他聲辯抗訴必與以賽亞的預言有違。“他像羊羔被牽到宰殺之地，又像羊在剪毛的人手下無聲，他也是這樣不開口。”因為他的緘默，證明他真是神的羔羊。為此，我們今晨當向他致敬。耶穌!願你與我們同在，在我們心中安靜的時候，願我們聽到你愛的聲音。

April 2

"He answered him to never a word." --Matthew 27:14

He had never been slow of speech when He could bless the sons of men, but He would not say a single word for Himself. "Never man spake like this Man," and never man was silent like Him. Was this singular silence the index of His perfect self-sacrifice? Did it show that He would not utter a word to stay the slaughter of His sacred person, which He had dedicated as an offering for us? Had He so entirely surrendered Himself that He would not interfere in His own behalf, even in the minutest degree, but be bound and slain an unstruggling, uncomplaining victim? Was this silence a type of the defenselessness 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. Is not patient silence the best reply to a gainsaying world? Calm endurance answers some questions infinitely more conclusively than the loftiest eloquence. The best apologists for Christianity in the early days were its martyrs. The anvil breaks a host of hammers by quietly bearing their blows. Did not the silent Lamb of God furnish us with a grand example of wisdom? Where every word was occasion for new blasphemy, it was the line of duty to afford no fuel for the flame of sin. The ambiguous and the false, the unworthy and mean, will ere long overthrow and confute themselves, and therefore the true can afford to be quiet, and finds silence to be its wisdom. Evidently our Lord, by His silence, furnished a remarkable fulfillment of prophecy. A long defence of Himself would have been contrary to Isaiah's prediction. "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. As such we salute Him this morning. Be with us, Jesus, and in the silence of our heart, let us hear the voice of Thy love.