"When Silence Speaks"
“The Son of Man will be handed over to people, and
they will kill him. After three days, he will rise from the dead.” Mark 9:31
Emma Gonzalez stood on
the stage before 80,000 people last Saturday on the Washington Mall. A Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School student, she has become one of the most prominent
voices in the #NeverAgain movement. The day was electric. But, not for the words,
nor the rhetoric, but for a stunning silence of nearly four minutes as she
stood grieving behind the microphones.
“Six minutes and about 20
seconds," she said. "In a little over 6 minutes, 17 of our friends
were taken from us, 15 were injured and everyone in the Douglas community was
forever altered."
"Everyone who was
there understands. Everyone who has been touched by the cold grip of gun
violence understands. For us, long, tearful, chaotic hours in the scorching
afternoon sun were spent not knowing. No one understood the extent of what had
happened."
She repeated the names of
the 17 students and faculty that had died and the things they would never do
again. Then, she stood silent. Tears rolled down her cheeks while the crowd
broke out in isolated chants. But, mostly there was silence.
The “moment of silence”
we often call for to respect the fallen usually lasts no more than 30 seconds.
But there, among a crowd that had come together to march for their lives, the
silence hovered like a cloud for over four minutes. The chants faded. The murmuring
of casual movement ceased. All that was left was the air between the sea of
humans and an 18-year-old girl bravely honoring her friends and crying to be
heard; a silence that must be heard.
After 4 minutes and 25
seconds, a timer went off. "Since the time that I came out here," she
said, "it has been 6 minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased
shooting and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they
escape and walk free for an hour before arrest."
On a Friday afternoon
outside Jerusalem another crowd had gathered. The man people called the Messiah
was being crucified. Strangely, he had stayed mostly silent during the mock
trial performed by the state and religious leaders. Jesus knew what was coming
and had made it clear to His disciples on more than one occasion.
“The Son of Man will be
handed over to the people, and they will kill him. After three days, he will
rise from the dead.” Then, silence. His followers had no idea what Jesus meant
and were afraid to ask him.
And I wonder if we
struggle with what He meant as well. We call this week “Holy”. We attend church
on Easter, wear new clothes, enjoy brunches and happily celebrate the Risen
King. But we cannot understand the resurrection of Christ apart from the agony
of Friday and the silence of the tomb.
Ms. Gonzalez and her
student friends have experienced the cycle of death and violence and now want
something to be done. What if Jesus’ death was an invitation for us to give up
that same cycle of violence and choose real life? What if these students are
echoing what Jesus did on the cross as they “March for our Lives”?
Pastor and writer Brian
Zahnd has said, "The cross is not where God inflicts violence on Jesus in
order to vent his wrath; the cross is where God in Christ endures human
inflicted violence and forgives it all." We who follow Jesus do well to remember
how He “triumphed”. We cannot celebrate Resurrection without understanding the
violence He willingly endured from humanity.
The cross with its
seeming humiliation and defeat was actually God’s way of overcoming our nasty addiction
to harm and violence. No warrior ever triumphed by being executed; but Jesus did.
The tomb with its seeming silence and death was actually God’s statement that a
new way was coming, and indeed, had already arrived.
When Jesus rose from the dead
He invited us to lay down our arms, to say “no” to harmful words and actions,
and to say “yes” to our lives, our new lives connected to Him. God refused to
drop the “Mother of all Bombs” on the human race. Instead He sent His Beloved
Son into enemy territory to absorb the hatred, violence and sin of us all, and
return it fully forgiven.
That is enough to shut my
own mouth for four minutes and consider: How shall I follow my Master’s way?