Midweek Lent Service 2006 April 5, 2006

Luke 23:4-12

“Jesus Was Silent Before Herod So He Won’t Be Silent to You Forever”

4 Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.” 5 But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here. 6 On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. 7 When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. 9 He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. 11 Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. 12 That day Herod and Pilate became friends – before this they had been enemies.

(Silence) Silence is an interesting sound, isn’t it? We aren’t used to hearing it very often. In our world of hustle and bustle, in our world of tight schedules and traffic jams, in our world of noise and activity, silence is as uncommon as snow in central Texas.

Silence can be a wonderful sound when you are locked into a book. Silence is something you appreciate when you are praying privately; silence is refreshing when you are enjoying a peaceful evening with your family. But silence doesn’t always calm you down. Sometimes silence makes you uncomfortable. It can be uncomfortable when you expect someone to speak and all you hear is silence. Silence is especially un-refreshing when someone you love gives you the silent treatment. We’ve all been in the vehicles when, following an argument, the driver is silently staring ahead and the passenger is silently staring out the window. Those are not fun car rides for anyone. That’s the kind of silence we could all do without.

The Scripture says in Ecclesiastes, “There is a time to be silent and a time to speak.” My problem is mixing those two up. But Jesus never had that problem. He was never silent when he should have been speaking; he never spoke when he should have stayed silent. In our Scripture verses tonight, we get to watch as the King of Love himself, Jesus Christ, stays perfectly silent before King Herod. Listen to what happened when Jesus was on trial before Herod; and see if you can understand why the silent response was the loving response. (read text)

Jesus had been on trial before the Sanhedrin, where Caiaphas ripped his robes and said, “Blasphemy! He’s guilty of death!” Then they paraded over to Pilate’s chamber to gain the proper permission to put him to death. Pilate found no basis for a charge against Jesus; he wanted to let Jesus go. But the persistent leaders would not raise the white flag. They lied and said, ““He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.” Now when Pilate heard them say, “Galilee” that was music to his ears. “This is my out!” he thought to himself. Galilee was the province north of Jerusalem. Galilee was outside of Pilate’s direct jurisdiction. Herod was the one in charge there. And how convenient! Herod, the one in charge of Galilee, happened to be in Pilate’s backyard at this very moment. Herod had come to Jerusalem because of the Passover.

And so Pontius Pilate sent Jesus a couple blocks down the street to the place where Herod was staying for the Passover festival. There are two reasons Herod was happy to see Jesus. First his personal pride made him happy. Let me explain that. He didn’t think, “Pilate is dumping this thing on me because it is bound to cause him trouble.” He was too full of himself to think that. Instead he thought, “Pilate thinks I am important enough to interview the celebrity of the day. Praise for me! Glory to me!” So that is one reason why Herod was happy to see Jesus – because having Jesus there fed his monstrous ego. And there’s more. Herod also was happy to see Jesus because he wanted to see Jesus do a miracle. He wanted to see some fireworks. Some pizzazz! C’mon, Jesus, get into the holiday spirit! It’s Passover time! Show me whatcha got!

Jesus responded to Herod’s desire for pizzazz with (silence). Herod tried again and again, asking him plenty of questions in lots of different ways. Jesus responded again and again with (silence). Stubborn silence. Can you see why giving the silent treatment here was the loving thing for Jesus to do? Herod was an arrogant man trying to use Jesus for his own sinful enjoyment. If Jesus had consented to become the juggler doing his tricks, he would have started doing something he was not there to do. Jesus was not on trial before Herod to do miracles, so that Herod could have some personal fireworks show. Jesus was not in Jerusalem to be the all-star celebrity. Jesus was not there to entertain. Jesus had come to die. He had come to give up his own lifeblood, his own lungs and breath. If Jesus had broken his silence, what would he have said? With just one omnipotent word, he could have struck Herod dead with lightning from above. No problem. But in speaking, he would have hindered his ability to willingly lay down his life.

Herod was a rebellious, darkened unbeliever. Here he had the King of Kings before his very eyes, the one who dangles the keys to eternal life in his hands. Yet all Herod could do was mock him and use Jesus for selfish purposes. Instead of asking, “What is the way to eternal life?” Herod asked, “Will you show me a magic trick?”

But what if Herod wouldn’t have been like that? What if Herod would have been repentant? Would Jesus have still remained silent? If Herod approached Jesus like the paralytic being lowered through the roof, or like Zaccheus, or like the thief on the cross – then Jesus would have had plenty to say. What did Jesus tell those people? Jesus told the repentant paralytic, “Son, your sins are sent away.” He told repentant Zaccheus, “Salvation has come to your house today!” He told the repentant thief, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” But Herod was NOT approaching Jesus in repentance. And so Jesus had nothing to say to him.

It is disappointing for us to watch people like Herod spiral downward in their unbelief. Herod was so close and yet so far. Here he was, one of only a handful of people in all the world who had a personal audience with the Son of God standing before him. Yet his stony heart was unbelieving and unrepentant. There was no relationship with God and there was nothing to say. Just silence. And silence is the worst possible thing for God to say to you, because that silence lasts forever. Imagine that – on Judgment Day, when you are standing before the holy God Almighty and your eternal future is being determined. All you hear is deafening silence; and all you see is God’s finger pointing you directly to hell.

But here’s the thought for us to take home tonight. Jesus was silent before Herod so that he won’t have to be silent to us on Judgment Day. Jesus was silent then, so that when we stand before God with our eternal future hanging in the balance, Jesus will not give us the silent treatment. Jesus will not give us the cold shoulder. Instead Jesus will have lots to tell us. He’ll say, “Welcome to Paradise. I’ve been waiting for you. My dear child, I love you so much. You are absolutely perfect.” And you know what? We’ll have lots to say to him too. We’ll have an entire eternity to praise him for winning us a trip to heaven.

Isn’t it wonderful that Jesus was silent before Herod so that he won’t have to be silent to us forever? Let’s spend the rest of our lives thanking him for this. Amen.