He Answered Nothing
"He answered nothing" (Mark 15:3).
There is no spectacle in all the Bible so sublime
as the silent Savior answering not a word to the
men who were maligning Him, and whom He could
have laid prostrate at His feet by one look of
Divine power, or one word of fiery rebuke. But He
let them say and do their worst, and He stood in
THE POWER OF STILLNESS--God's holy silent Lamb.
There is a stillness that lets God work for us,
and holds our peace; the stillness that ceases
from its contriving and its self-vindication, and
its expedients of wisdom and forethought, and
lets God provide and answer the cruel blow, in
His own unfailing, faithful love.
How often we lose God's interposition by taking
up our own cause, and striking for our defense.
God give to us this silent power, this conquered
spirit! And after the heat and strife of earth
are over, men will remember us as we remember the
morning dew, the gentle light and sunshine, the
evening breeze, the Lamb of Calvary, and the
gentle, holy heavenly Dove. --A. B. Simpson
The day when Jesus stood alone
And felt the hearts of men like stone,
And knew He came but to atone
That day "He held His peace."
They witnessed falsely to His word,
They bound Him with a cruel cord,
And mockingly proclaimed Him Lord;
"But Jesus held His peace."
They spat upon Him in the face,
They dragged Him on from place to place,
They heaped upon Him all disgrace;
"But Jesus held His peace."
My friend, have you for far much less,
With rage, which you called righteousness,
Resented slights with great distress?
Your Saviour "held His peace."
--L. S. P.
I remember once hearing Bishop Whipple, of
Minnesota, so well known as "The Apostle of the
Indians," utter these beautiful words: "For
thirty years I have tried to see the face of
Christ in those with whom I differed." When this
spirit actuates us we shall be preserved at once
from a narrow bigotry and an easy-going
tolerance, from passionate vindictiveness and
everything that would mar or injure our testimony
for Him who came not to destroy men's lives, but
to save them. --W. H. Griffith Thomas