Listening to Silence
Most of us value the brief moments of silence we experience, whether it is a pause that happens at just the right moment in our favorite song, a great bit of comedic timing, or a moment to breathe in the middle of a busy day. Silence is even a common spiritual discipline, one where we intentionally stop the noise around us for a time. But silence is not always comfortable, especially when it lasts longer than we want – and perhaps especially when we do not decide when the silence ends.
In 1952, composer John Cage published a piece of music entitled 4’33.” The published score consists of three sections with the instruction tacet, which tells the performer to rest. Such sections are common in music, but this was the first piece of music to only contain such sections. In other words, 4’33” is a piece consisting entirely of silence.
Both at the time and since, many have dismissed Cage’s work as ridiculous. But he was intentionally inviting listeners to pay attention to the value of silence – even when it lasts longer than we expect and when we are not the ones who determine when it ends. Notably, Cage even gives performers the freedom to shorten or extend the duration, thus giving them more creative control – and taking it away from the listeners. But even at its original length of roughly four and a half minutes, the silence is long enough to make us most listeners uncomfortable.
But of course, it is also long enough to push us to notice things within that silence that we would likely not notice at all – if not for the silence. And that is what Cage was ultimately conveying through this piece.
Cage is not the first or the only creator to reflect on the significance of silence, especially prolonged silence. Japanese novelist Shusaku Endo published his book Silence in 1969. No, it is not a series of blank pages; it tells a fictionalized story set in sixteenth century Japan, when the religious persecution of Christians was overwhelming. Two of the central characters are Jesuit missionaries who venture into this reality, which they find to be even harsher and more horrible than they had imagined.
The novel has many themes and layers, one of which is how God speaks within what we perceive to be his silence. In the middle of the narrative, we see one of these missionaries wondering why God is not intervening, not speaking, not responding to his prayers and to the plight of his people. Why, he asks, is God silent?
By the end of the story, though, this same priest has a different view of silence.
Even now I am the last priest in this land. But Our Lord was not silent. Even if he had been silent, my life until this day would have spoken of him. [1]
In other words, Endo’s leading character has discovered the value of silence – which is that it is not really silence at all.
Scripture is full of moments when God appears to be silent, in much the same way as we see in the Endo’s story. But in all these moments, we can hear God communicating – both to those to whom he appears to be silent and to those of us reading along. The question is whether they – and we – are willing to listen to the silence and wrestle with what God wants to communicate in this other way of speaking.
In Gethsemane, Jesus listened to the silence. He poured out his pain into that silence. He surrendered to it. And then, as Isaiah prophesied, he became silent.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth. [2]
Jesus, in Gethsemane and in his submission to everything that happened in the 24 hours that followed, offers proof that silence can be more powerful than words. He remained silent as Pilate questioned him. He remained silent as soldiers, religious leaders, and everyday people mocked him. And after he died, he remained silent until it was time for him to rise – and speak again.
Those of us who live in the west inhabit cultures where speaking out and speaking up are highly valued. But the central narrative of the Gospel reminds us that this is not a universal principle of our faith, that there are also times when silence is needed.
Endo leans into this difference between east and west in the way he portrays his missionary characters. For them, and for most of us, the very idea of apostasy – or denying one’s faith – is the most egregious of acts. It violates everything about the European Christianity they had known and practiced throughout their lives. As missionaries, they were supposed to speak, not to be silent.
But as Father Rodrigues sinks deeper into the eastern culture of Japan, he begins to see apostasy differently. He realizes that God’s voice can speak even within and through his own failures. His silence reveals more than his own weakness. It also tells a story through which God speaks.
Again, we see this reflected in Scripture. Peter sat with Jesus in Gethsemane, but he did not pay attention to what was happening in that silence. He fell asleep three times, completely unaware of what God was communicating to Jesus and to him. Shortly after, Peter became the one he never thought he would be, the one who denied even knowing Jesus, again three times. And yet his apostasy, his silence, is a story through which God speaks to us about his great mercy, his great love, and our deep need for the acts that resulted from His own silence.
Lent offers us a special opportunity to lean into the power and value of silence. As you step into this season, I invite you to the following curated list of creative work and resources that focus and reflect on silence.
400 years – Sarah Sparks
A musical invitation into the 400 years of silence between the last prophets of Israel and the birth of Jesus
The Silence of God – Andrew Peterson
A musical reflection on the pain of hearing God’s silence and the power of realizing that Jesus experienced it, too
Hello Lord – Sara Groves
A musical prayer that expresses a longing to hear from God in his apparent silence
Listen – Collective Soul
A musical statement about our struggle to listen to what we do not want to hear
4’33” – John Cage
A musical invitation to sit in silence and notice what can be heard
God is the Friend of Silence – Paul Zach, Liz Vice
A musical reflection on how God embraces, uses, and responds to silence
Let There Be – Thomas Austin
A musical reflection on how God is working within our own silence
Silence – Shusako Endo
A novel about the silence of God, the silence of people, the nature of faith, and the power of God
Silence and Beauty – Makoto Fujimura
A commentary on the significance of Endo’s novel, the history of Christianity in Japan, and the beauty of silence
Footnotes
[1] This quote comes from the translation by William Johnston, 1969. Reprinted in 2016.
[2] Isaiah 53:7 NASB