Hope of the Nations
Day 17 - Wicks and reeds and the coming of Jesus
“Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill. He warned them not to tell others about him. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
“Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope.” -Matthew 12:15-21
(Photo by Andres F. Uran on Unsplash)
Advent is about remembering the coming of Jesus as a baby, when God the Son took on human form and voluntarily embraced weakness and dependance. Advent is also about looking forward to Jesus’ second coming, when He will return as King and will fully usher in God’s Kingdom and establish a new heaven and new earth. What kind of King will He be? How will He rule and what will it look like? Our passage today gives some important insight into that question and, as is often the case, the larger context is important. Jesus has just had an encounter where Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath and the Pharisees are so upset about it that they discuss plans about how to kill Jesus. In response to this threat on His life Jesus moves on to another place for safety however the stories of Jesus’ power to heal have spread rapidly and the people find out where He has gone and a crowd forms, wanting to be healed.
Matthew writes that in spite of the potential danger to His own life, Jesus continues to heal all who came to him. Michael Card comments that Jesus almost “cannot help himself” as He is confronted by the needs of broken people. It is this aspect of Jesus that causes Matthew to quote a prophecy from Isaiah 42 about the promised ‘servant of the Lord’, who would treat people with profound gentleness and compassion. “A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out”.
It is precisely this expression of mercy toward broken people that God the Father proclaims His love and delight over. We see this beautiful manifestation of the heart of Jesus that is moved to heal and redeem in spite of the risks to Himself and His ministry and it reveals to us the heart of our coming King. Jesus will come again and fulfill His ministry to ‘proclaim justice to the nations’ and it will be so compelling that “in his name the nations will put their hope”.
Advent is a time for us to embrace the hope of Jesus coming again to establish true and lasting justice among individuals, families, communities and nations. He will bring ‘justice through to victory’ and He will do so with the very same mercy and compassion that He demonstrated when He healed all those who came to Him.
Therefore, we confess together, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”