“He answered him not one word” (Matthew 27:14)  

Christ’s speech and logic were perfect in every situation where His Father ordained He should speak. Every place He went and every word He spoke to every person He met was all according to His Father’s will. “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak” (John 12:49). Whenever He spoke, the Father’s will was accomplished. In this case the Father’s will was the fulfillment of prophesy: “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). 

 His Word cast out demons, healed lepers, made the blind to see. A few days before, the temple guards “sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come” (John 7:30). When the guards came back without Him, they said, “No man ever spoke like this Man!" (John 7:46). But now, it was the Father’s will that He not speak. 

 Christ set an example which would be followed by Christian martyrs for two thousand years. The Christian knows when he’s taken; the Holy Spirit may give him special words.  "Do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you” (Matthew 10:19-20). 

 Christ teaches us to not add to the sin of persecutors with futile words. The ambiguous and the false, the unworthy and mean, will contradict themselves, and reveal their hypocrisy without your help. Unless the Holy Spirit gives you a specific word, your best defense is a quiet confidence in knowing God’s will is being done, even if it means the next word you speak will be in heaven. 

 “A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness” (Proverbs 15:1-2).