This Singular Quiet Moment

John 19:31-42

The people who were there talk about the silence that fell on Manhattan that day. There was no traffic. No crowded streets. Just dust in the air… and people walking in shock. And in the middle of all that confusion, and in the middle of all the grief that followed after, the city of New York went quiet.

Something happens when we brush up against tragedy like that. After the shock… after the noise… there’s just quiet.

Maybe you’ve felt that. After the death of someone you love. After news you weren’t ready for. After a relationship ends.

There’s this moment where everything just feels still. Like the world knows something irreversible has happened.

This is where we find ourselves in the Bible tonight, in this very moment, right here. Jesus has just given up His spirit, He’s just died. And everything just ……goes silent.

31-37

It’s interesting that John doesn’t record any dialogue here. He literally let’s Scripture do all the talking.

Sometimes God will use the silence that follows sadness to speak the truth of His Word into our lives the loudest.

And let’s pay attention here

That on this day of days, they’re getting ready to celebrate Passover. And they’re saying, God!! Today we CELEBRATE!!!

That we are no longer SLAVES!!

And that DEATH has passed OVER us!!!

And God is shouting back, YES!!! But deeper, broader....more astounding…more magnificent than you can believe….

See, you’re not slaves to Egypt anymore…..but I’ve made it to where you don’t have to be slaves to SIN anymore….

See, the death angel passed you over, but I’ve removed the curse, and the pain, and the STING of death from you……..

In this Singular Quiet Moment, God has hushed the crowds. There’s no one crying crucify Him anymore….there’s no jeering from the guards, there’s no mocking from the criminals….the Son of God has been slain…..the work has been finished……there is silence….there is quiet….And into this silence…..Scripture is playing out in front of us……

And what is Scripture saying - it was saying that Jesus was the perfect Passover lamb - Ex 12:46 and Ps. 34:20.

And Scripture was saying that the people would look on He who washed them of their sins - Zech 12:10 says they will look on him whom they have pierced, but in that same thought, in that same space of prophecy, in Zech 13:1 it says on that day there will be a fountain opened for the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them of sin and uncleanness.

God is saying - You’re waiting for a Passover Lamb……I’ve provided One that won’t cover your sins - He will wash them away.

When silence falls, God is speaking.

in other words, when heartache, not if, when heartache, NOT IF…..WHEN heartache comes….there will be this onrush of voices….and then there will be silence……and in that moment. You have the choice. Whose voice am I going to listen to? Whose words am I going to seek out?

I guarantee you this…..in those moments….when hope is lost, when silence has fallen….in the silence that always happens after heartache…..I bet my life on this……if you seek God, you will find Him in His Word. And if you need help seeking Him, come find someone who can help you….but I stake my claim on this, I bet my life on this……When silence falls, God is speaking.

Sometimes God will use the silence that follows sadness to move us to faithfulness and obedience.

38 - 42

This was a time of profound sadness for these men. They’d watched someone upon whom they’d pinned their hopes and dreams be murdered in front of them. For them it was one of, if not, the darkest days in their lives. But God was using this moment to draw them into obedience, to draw them into following Him. Life has this way of lulling us to sleep - idk if you’ve noticed this, but we are creatures who LIKE a predictable rhythm. We get up, we go to school, or work, or a little bit of both. We eat lunch, we go home, we chill out, we eat dinner, we get ready for bed, and then we sleep. And if we’re not careful, we can be lulled into these rhythms in life, and God comes along and wants to disrupt those rhythms, He wants to inhabit these places in our lives, He wants to rewrite these rhythms and make Himself the focal point……and we resist that, sometimes without even knowing it……And sometimes, not all the time…..but sometimes, God shakes us awake with a crisis, with a valley, with a moment of intense heartache…..

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world" - CS Lewis

See, Nicodemus, Joseph….they were very comfortable in their following after Christ. It was pleasant. It was NOT costly. But God used this moment, this moment of heartache, of horrible, terrible loss…..to transfer them from HERE….to HERE!!!

See, that’s the opposite of what we think naturally, right?! I don’t know about you, but i’ve heard people say, “God, if you will give me this, if you will bless me like this, if you will come through for me in this, THEN!!!! I will follow you in this.”

What that means is, God if you make me happy….God if you make me more comfortable…God if you will bring something good into my life……God if you will BLESS ME!!!!

And sometimes that happens….but more often than that, God brings us to a place of obedience and submission to His Lordship during a dark night of the soul when all hope seems lost.

What if the ashes of your hopes and dreams is the soil in which your faith was meant to grow?

What if that pain you’ve been avoiding is how God intends to grow you? To strengthen you? To validate you?

See, I don’t know about you, but sometimes this life feels like a fight!! It feels like a war!! It feels like the ramp is coming down, and I’m storming the beach, and attacks are flying all over, right past my ears, it feels like I’m in the thick of it, and when I’m in that fight?! I doin’t want someone beside me who looks just as scared as I do, I want someone beside me who says, I’ve been here before. And yea, this is going to hurt, but YES you’re going to come through this too.

More than that, I want YOUR faith to be able to guide you through dark times, and rough waters. And the ONLY way for us to have that type of faith, isn’t by staying in places where our comfort is protected and our faith is harbored - the only way for our faith to grow is when it’s been TESTED!!

A ship that never faces storms never shows the quality of its craftsmanship - a faith that’s never tested never shows itself to be genuine.

What if the pain you’re running from is the refiner’s fire that has been sent to test your faith, and show it’s worth, and to STRENGTHEN you, for guess what, the next trial that’s coming your way?!

What if…..this next step of faith that you need to take….isn’t precipitated by some great spiritual victory. What if it happens in the aftermath of tragedy. Of loss.

If God had design in His Son’s death, you can rest assured that He has purpose for your pain.

Takeaway

Even in the midst of our heartache, we can trust that God is speaking, and God is working.