He Said not a word!

Matt 27:11-26

• 11 ¶ And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou said.
• 12 And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
• 13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hear thou not how many things they witness against thee?
• 14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marveled greatly.
• 15 Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.
• 16 And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barnabas.
• 17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barnabas, or Jesus which is called Christ?
• 18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.
• 19 When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
• 20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barnabas, and destroy Jesus.
• 21 The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barnabas.
• 22 Pilate said unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
• 23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.
• 24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
• 25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
• 26 ¶ Then released he Barnabas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Jesus stood. So important to not run, not attack or not to retreat. Example of how to deal with the accuser of our lives. Paul described the spiritual armor as covering the front. None of the protection covers the back, so we must face the enemy in order to be safe. We overcome the accuser (Rev 12:11) by the word of our testimony, the blood of the Lamb, and that we love not our lives to the death. Revelation also indicates that the accuser is the Devil, and we infer that any who accuse us are inspired by the same. Jesus' testimony was who he was, in answer to the question,"Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus simply said, "You said it!" This is both a statement of Identity, and a challenge to Pilate, "Who do you day that I am?" If Pilate had replied "you are Lord," He would have made a confession unto salvation. When we identify ourselves in righteousness as being "in Jesus," The accuser has no hold on out hearts. The word of our testimony is that We are "in him," and his righteousness is ours. This removes the power of guilt from the accuser. It defang's the snake! We notice that the goal of the accuser is to impute guilt, for it is this guilt that controls our actions, attitudes and lives. Seems that the control itself is the principle thing.

The adroit manner in which Jesus shifts his response from person to person is so captivation to me. Responding to a sincere inquiry with a truthful if not confronting question from Pilate, Jesus answered the question with a question. But with the lawyers trying to trap him or at least indulge in a "tar-baby" fight; Jesus said nothing. Ignoring the emotion and vergence in the hearts of the priests and members of the Sanhedrian, Pilate inspects the face of the charges. Hoping that he might be able to determine innocence in the charges, thereby releasing Jesus from the mob, Pilate inquires of Jesus. With no answer this is like no court subject he has ever observed. How could someone be so comfortable within himself in the face this abuse, that he did not answer a single charge. So Pilate attempts a different angle. Let Jesus be the one released this year for the pardon and parole process. This would be a passover gift to the people from the governor. The crowd would have none of this, instead called for a notable "son of the Chief Priest of the Sanhedrian. " This "son of a preacher man" instead of following the example of the father, he "went bad." History reports that he personally murdered several in the course of attempting to rebel from the Roman rule. A zealot and leader of zealots his release would become an affront to the Roman government that Pilate represented.