Yet He Opened Not His Mouth

Isaiah wrote this of the future Messiah: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth” (Mosiah 14:7). Twice in this verse the prophet highlighted that the Savior did not open His mouth. I have written before how the Savior chose not to open His mouth to revile the revilers or respond to the accusers. As I read this statement today, I realized that there is another way we could also understand this statement. When Peter cut off the ear of Malchus, the Savior said to His chief apostle, “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:52-53) The Savior affirmed that He had the power to deliver Himself from His oppressors and from the dead—He just needed to say the words to the Father to send down twelve legions of angels. But He didn’t. He did not open His mouth to call down the powers of heaven to save Himself. As He hung on the cross, the chief priests, scribes, and elders mocked Him with these words: “He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God” (Matthew 27:42-43). But again, He did not open His mouth to save Himself. Throughout His mortal ministry He had spoken many words that had brought miracles—including raising the dead, cleansing the leper, giving sight to the blind, and healing the sick—all through the words of His mouth. In this final hour He could have surely just spoken the words and another miracle would have come. Instead, as Isaiah had prophesied, “He opened not his mouth.”

            John began his gospel with these famous words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3). He was the Word and when He had spoken in the premortal realm the worlds were created. So powerful were the words He spoke that He was known as the Word. Mormon elaborated on the power of His voice further in this passage in the Book of Mormon: “Yea, behold at his voice do the hills and the mountains tremble and quake. And by the power of his voice they are broken up, and become smooth, yea, even like unto a valley. Yea, by the power of his voice doth the whole earth shake; Yea, by the power of his voice, do the foundations rock, even to the very center. Yea, and if he say unto the earth—Move—it is moved. Yea, if he say unto the earth—Thou shalt go back, that it lengthen out the day for many hours—it is done” (Helaman 12:9-14). Whatever the Savior says, it is done. He has power to speak and cause the hills to tremble, the mountains to quake, the earth to shake, the foundations to rock. And yet, with that unimaginable power from just His words, He chose not to use that voice to save Himself in His greatest agony. He “opened not His mouth” to move mountains or shake the earth or deliver Himself from the cross. He stayed silent and suffered what He could have avoided, all because of His great love for His Father and for us. As Isaiah said, He bore our griefs, carried our sorrows, was wounded for our transgressions, was stricken for the transgressions of His people, and bore our iniquities. And He did it all like a “sheep before her shearers is dumb,” choosing not to open His mouth to save Himself