Jesus - Unique in Not Defending Himself

In this third post (see here and here) about Jesus as presented by Albert Nolan in Jesus Before Christianity, we look at His trial before His crucifixion. Nolan observes the following:

"The most remarkable thing about the trial itself, the one thing about which we can be absolutely certain and yet the one thing that is frequently overlooked, is that Jesus did not defend himself. Throughout all of the proceedings, no matter who accused him or what they accused him of, Jesus remained silent...

"The suffering servant in Isaiah 53:7 was silent before his accusers - like a lamb before its shearers... Remaining silent before his accusers is exactly what we might have expected Jesus to do. He had consistently refused to produce signs from heaven; he had never argued from authority; he had refused to answer questions about his own authority; and now he refused to defend or justify his behavior.

"In other words, Jesus stood there without a word, putting everyone else to the test. The truth of the matter is that it was not Jesus who was on trial. His betrayers and accusers were on trial before him. His silence puzzled, disturbed, questioned and tested them. Their words were turned back at them and they condemned themselves out of their own mouths..."

Breathe on us, dear Fire of Jesus, till we Your people are purged of all need to be understood or to defend ourselves and are nobly silent in the face of others' accusations, trusting our reputation into Your hands completely...