The Silence of God as Exgesis
For all I know, you may be sick to death of Wilfrid Stinissen, but on two pages I have found material enough for discursive meditation time for a month or more. I'll share one today and one tomorrow so I don't overload. But if you can afford to do so, you would do well to get this book, published by Liguori.
from Nourished by the Word Wifrid StinissenWe can, for example, ponder why Jesus is silent when the high priest (Caiaphas) asks him: "Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?" (Mt 26:62) His silence is a direct exeges from God.
When humans will force God to speak, when they will manipulate him or seize him, he becomes silent. To our dumb, egoistic questions, God replies with silence. He does not solve our problems with detailed explanations. For those who have the fortitude to last out God's silence, it will eventually give all necessary replies.If God always gave direct replies, we would never cease to pose irrelevant questions.God's silence will get us to see that much of this questioning and wondering is meaningless, because it means lack of confidence and forgiveness.
Bring this particular revelation into contact with Shusaku Endo's magnificent novel Silence and suddenly even more worlds open up for us within the novel. God's silence as exegesis is one of those mind-boggling Chestertonian paradoxes that for some reason feels exactly right, perfectly situated. Now, to listen to the exegesis, must I find myself in a wadi among the Ravens?
