by James Pate

Created on: June 14, 2008   Last Updated: June 16, 2008

At his trials before the priests and Pilate, Jesus did not say a word in his own defense (Matthew 27:12-13). He refused to answer his accusers. Was this good or bad?

Shouldn't Jesus have stood up for righteousness on that occasion? On some level, he did, at least in the Gospel of John. When Jesus was slapped for smarting off to the high priest (in his enemies' eyes), he replied, "If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong. But if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?" (John 18:23, NRSV). When Pilate was throwing his weight around and talking about all his authority, Jesus told him, "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." (John 19:11). Jesus did not totally roll over and play dead on those occasions, for he pointed out wrong practices and attitudes throughout the proceedings. (John doesn't present Jesus being silent at his trials as much as the synoptics do, but you do see something like that in John 19:9).

So why didn't Jesus take it a step further and demonstrate his accusers' factual errors? The answer, of course, is that he wanted to be convicted and sentenced, for his mission was to die for humanity.

But that makes Jesus' refusal to answer very context-specific. It says that, ordinarily, we should feel free to defend ourselves against our accusers in court, since that's part of what justice is about. But Jesus didn't do so because he had a specific mission to die.

In I Peter 2:18-23, however, Jesus' example is made into an ethical norm: "Slaves, accept the authority of your masters with all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle but also those who are harsh. For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God's approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. 'He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.' When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly."

Should we just roll over and let people walk all over us, as if God will work everything out? Should we defend ourselves at all? Or is total passivity the ideal Christian response?

Plus, what ramifications does

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