Jesus Took His Own Medicine
“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (Isa. 53:7, NASB).
Isaiah does not mean that Jesus literally said no words during His crucifixion ordeal. Jesus famously would not answer Herod (Luke 23:9), but He did respond to Pontius Pilate (John 18:28-38), and He did respond to the high priest (John 18:19-24; though, by virtue of their illegal assembly and unjust interrogation, He was under no obligation to do so). The silence of which Isaiah speaks is the same of which Peter, reflecting many years afterward, wrote:
While being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously (1 Pet. 2:23).
What sort of man stands by and allows other men to abuse him, much less put him to death unjustly, without a fight, or any word of retaliation? But Jesus was no mere man, and His death on a Roman cross was not by the solitary agency of “godless men” (Acts 2:23b). Rather, Jesus was under “the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23a), and in full compliance therewith (John 10:18).
Jesus was not to defend Himself to His accusers, fight the illegality of His trial, or retaliate against His abusers – all of which He was within His right to do – because He was under Heaven’s orders not to do so.
At the River Jordan, Jesus persuaded John to submit to Heaven’s will no matter how perplexing it seemed (Matt. 3:15). At Calvary, Jesus took His own medicine. Jesus allowed this unjust abuse because He was determined to obey His Father “…to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Php. 2:8).
Jesus was economical. He spoke only when He had something to say, not merely when He felt like saying something. On the cross, His humanity may have desired to retaliate-in-kind, to boast of His innocence, to flex His inconceivable power, but He did not do it. Rather than elevate Himself, He trusted that His Father would “highly [exalt] Him, and [bestow] on Him the name which is above every name” (Php. 2:9).
Jesus mastered the discipline of saying “no” to Himself. He was willing to be misunderstood, misrepresented, and mistreated to the greatest possible degree now, in order to be rewarded later by His Father. He trusted that God would give Him both vindication and reward, in due time.
As His disciples, we must develop the same discipline – to choose God over self, there over here, then over now. Like our Lord Jesus, “in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Gal. 6:9).
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