Northern Plains Anglican

And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you
no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” But he
remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you
the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the
Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of
heaven.” And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further
witnesses do we need?” (Mark 14:60-63, Palm Sunday 2024)

Jesus just shut up.

Jesus refused to engage all of the accusations and arguments hurled at him, until the High Priest asked the one thing that mattered: “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed (e.g. G_d, not spoken of with irreverent familiarity in Judaism) ?”

Jesus was preparing his followers to imitate him by “shutting up” until an apt moment to bear witness to him: And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. (Mark 13:10-11)

The Apostle Paul, never short of words to share, nevertheless discovers a spirituality of shutting up about anything short of proclaiming Jesus:

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—  that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:8-11)

Paul would apply this to the mission of the whole church:

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:5-6)

The American election madness is in full force now. Our heads and mouths are filled with talking points to scream over the other side’s concurrent noise. Plenty of preachers and churches join in, invoking Jesus as a symbol of their cause or candidate.

Might we join Jesus, standing silent before the cacaphony of his accusers, shutting up until the moment comes to proclaim him the way, the truth and the life who overcomes all of the misdirection, falsehood and death?