Silence

Confession: I always thought that Jesus was silent during the Passion because He was in a sort of bubble of holy calm.

He was fully surrendered to God’s will, right? So He must have been buoyed by an ethereal grace, shielding him from anger, doubt, and despair.

Right?

I don’t think so.

Jesus was a man. A man of passionate love, passionate sorrow, passionate anger.

You know what it feels like to be falsely accused. Don’t you? Some of you know what it’s like to be stabbed in the back by a friend.

Jesus was human. He could not have gone through his Ordeal without experiencing the blackest emotions known to man.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

I think he was silent because He wanted to give them a chance. A chance to choose. A chance to believe. A chance to move in for the kill.

Maybe he was silent because He was so torn and angry He didn’t trust Himself to speak.

Maybe He was silent because He knew that if He held the screams of the world inside His chest, He could take them on Himself

instead of turning them back on us.