A Bruised Reed Matthew12:17-21, NIV 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 leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope.” I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “A Bruised Reed” based on Matthew 12:17-21. Please repeat after me, “A Bruised Reed. A Bruised Reed.” Many people seek a god who can bless them and resolve their problems. It is said that there are 8 million gods in Japan. We need to find the true God among such a huge number of gods. The true God is the God who can resolve the problem of sin?the fundamental problem of humankind. Even though there have been many gods in history, there was no god who could resolve the problem of sin before the Lord Jesus came. Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth in the flesh and died on the Cross, taking away all our sins. Through His death on the Cross, He resolved the problem of sin once and for all. The door to salvation, miracles, and forgiveness was opened through the Cross. Whoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life. He will be freed from the problem of sin. He will be renewed. He can enjoy a victorious life. He will experience the joy and grace of God that he has never experienced before. What kind of person was Jesus Christ like who came to us? About 700 years before Jesus came to earth, Isaiah, the prophet, prophesied about the coming of Messiah. Today’s Scripture is what Jesus quoted from Isaiah 42:1-4, one of the prophecies of Isaiah. Let us think about who Jesus was through today’s Scripture. 1. A servant in whom God delights (Mt 12:18). First, the Jesus who came to us was a servant in whom God delights. Please repeat after me, “A servant in whom God delights. A servant in whom God delights.” Matthew 12:18 says, “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.” Jesus was the Son of God and, at the same time, He was the servant of God whom God had chosen. Before Jesus started His public ministry, He was baptized by John the Baptist. When He went up out of the water, the Spirit of God descended like a dove lighting on Him. And they heard a voice from heaven. Matthew 3:17 says, “And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’” When Jesus was transfigured on the Mountain of Transfiguration, there came a voice from heaven, too. Matthew 17:5 says, “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’” Jesus was the one God loved and delighted in the most. We must change into the ones whom God loves and takes delight in. Many times Isaiah spoke about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would come to earth and save all of humankind from sin. The Messiah whom he talked about was the servant whom God would choose and uphold. Isaiah 42:1 says, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.” God called Him the servant whom God upheld, “His chosen one.” This means that He was a faithful servant who was loved by His Master. The Lord Jesus is the Son of God whom God trusts and, at the same time, He was the servant God had chosen. As the chosen servant of God, the Lord Jesus always dwelled in God and accomplished the works that pleased Him. John 14:10 says, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” Jesus did the work of God, dwelling in the Father. Therefore, as the chosen people of God, we must also dwell in the love of God, doing the work that God takes delight in. How can we please God? As His children, we must understand the will of God through the Word, obeying and practicing it. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is?his good, pleasing and perfect will.” “Lord, we want to know Your will. Speak to us.” Listen to the voice of the Lord whenever you meditate on the Word. The Word will come to you with wonderful grace, power, miracles, and the blessings of God. We must obey the Word completely. The life of the Lord Jesus was a life of obedience. He was obedient to death to accomplish the will of the Father and for the glory of God. Philippians 2:7-8 says, “But made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death?even death on a cross!” Even if we want to obey the will of the Lord, we cannot do it because we are so weak. We need the help of the Lord. That is why we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us, as the children of God, we can do the will of the Lord more than sufficiently. The later part of Matthew 12:18 says, “I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.” God poured His Spirit on Jesus, and Jesus did the work that pleased God. The entire life of the Lord Jesus was accompanied by the Spirit. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to do the work of the Lord. Isaiah 61:1 says, “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” Jesus was conceived by the Spirit and lived His whole life with the Spirit. He was led by the Spirit when He was tempted in the desert. He performed miracles with the Holy Spirit. He was resurrected and ascended to heaven with the Holy Spirit. After the Ascension, He sent the Holy Spirit to us. When we walk with the Holy Spirit, wonderful things will take place. We will have the power of God in our lives. Acts 10:38 says, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” When we are filled with the Spirit, we will have wonderful power. God will perform miracles through us wherever we go. God will give hope to the hopeless, give joy to the sad, and free the oppressed. Therefore, as the servants in whom God delights, let us be filled with the Holy Spirit to achieve the precious work of the Lord. 2. A servant of gentleness and humility (Mt 12:19). Second, the Lord Jesus was a servant of gentleness and humility. Please repeat after me, “a servant of gentleness and humility.” Matthew 12:19 says, “He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.” Jesus was God’s servant of gentleness and humility. He has never quarreled or cried out, feeling emotional. Isaiah described the Lord Jesus as humble and gentle. Isaiah 53:2 says, “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” Isaiah 53:7 also says, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” The Lord Jesus endured all suffering silently and patiently. We are apt to complain over small problems. We are likely to blame others or yell at them. However, the Lord Jesus, the servant of gentleness and humility, silently endured all suffering. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” When He entered Jerusalem, he rode on a donkey, on a colt in the humblest form. Matthew 21:5 says, “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” The Lord Jesus never quarreled or cried out to show off. Let us follow His example and become servants of gentleness and humility. I pray that you will never quarrel, cry out, or hurt others in order to show off. No one can conquer those who are gentle and humble. I urge you to manifest the Lord Jesus in your lives by your gentleness and humility. Micah exhorted in Micah 6:8, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Walk humbly with your God. Hallelujah! I pray that you will accomplish the will of the Lord with humility. Apostle Paul had many things that he could be proud of. He used to boast about his family background, his deep knowledge, his social background, and his capability. Nonetheless, after meeting the Lord Jesus, he gave up all the things he had been proud of. In 1 Corinthians 15:31, he confessed, “I die every day?I mean that, brothers?just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I die every day! He was confessing that he broke himself every day before the Lord. If we die, the Lord lives. On the contrary, if we live, the Lord does not show himself in our lives. Therefore, we must die every day, saying, “Lord, I am nothing. I want You?only You?to receive glory through my life.” When the Lord receives glory from our lives, the wonderful work of the Lord will take place in our lives. We will begin to change into the likeness of the Lord Jesus. When we spread the love of the Lord, it will inspire and change many people, bringing them to the Lord. I once read the following story. A missionary went into a jungle and worked there for a long time. However, there was no good fruit for him to eat in the jungle. So he brought some pineapple saplings that could grow well there. He cultivated the land and planted the saplings. He paid the natives to grow and take care of the trees. A year passed. Another year passed. It was the third year. The pineapple tree was going to bear pineapples. He was excited because he was going to eat fresh pineapples from the tree that he himself had planted. One late evening he said to his wife, “Honey, the pineapples are almost ripe. Let us go to the field and see them.” They went to the pineapple field to see the fruit but do you know what happened? The natives had picked all the pineapples already! He paid them to take care of the trees, but they picked the fruit before they were fully ripe. He was angry. He came and bestowed a big favor upon them. But instead of repaying him for his love and favor, they stole the fruit that he had been waiting for?for three years. He used to operate a free medical clinic there. But he closed it out of his anger toward the natives. Then many natives became sick, and he had a bigger problem. So he reopened the clinic and persuaded the natives, saying, “I am going to bring new saplings. I am going to give you half the field. Half is yours, but do not take anything from my half.” They planted the saplings and grew the trees for another three years. However, the natives picked all the pineapples again, even before they were fully ripe. The missionary became furious but made a deal with them. The natives used to admire the missionary’s big knife, which was very useful in the jungle. So he gave the knife to them and made them promise not to pick the pineapples again. Now that they had made a deal and the natives had taken the knife, the missionary thought that they would never pick his pineapples again. He planted pineapple saplings again, but the natives picked the fruit. Out of fury, he brought a fierce German shepherd to guard the field. It kept the natives away from the field, but the dog bit and killed all the dogs in the village. He was very troubled and did not know what to do. He went to a missionary conference during his sabbatical year and received God’s grace while he was listening to a lecture. The lecturer said, “All we have is the Lord’s. We must give all things back to the Lord.” He thought, That is right. I thought this was mine, managing what belonged to me. That is why I have this problem. He came back and planted pineapple saplings again but never rebuked the natives for stealing them. He did not even try to find out who had done it. He left all things in their hands. One day the natives came to him and said, “Missionary, you are a real Christian now. Let us give glory to God. You are changed. You used to be angry when we picked the pineapples but not anymore.” The missionary said, “I have given this field to somebody.” “To whom?” they asked. He said, “To God.” Then they went to their village, talking among themselves, “We have stolen from God. Since we took things that belonged to God, our kids are sick, things are messed up, and our fishing is not going well.” No one picked the pineapples after that. When the pineapples were fully ripe, the missionary picked them, worshipped God for a good pineapple harvest, and shared them with the villagers. When the missionary changed, all the villagers changed. No one stole anything from others. When each and every one of us changes, our homes, our neighbors, our communities, and the whole country will change. The gentleness and humility of the Lord Jesus Christ brings about these changes. Since the Lord Jesus has brought salvation to all humankind, if each and every one of us changes, the whole world will change. The miracles of the Lord will take place. Therefore, let us offer ourselves to the Lord as servants of gentleness and humility before Him. 3. A servant of love and mercy (Mt 12:20). Third, the Lord Jesus was a servant of love and mercy. Please repeat after me, “A servant of love and mercy. A servant of love and mercy.” Matthew 12:20 says, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory.” The Lord Jesus is the God of love and compassion. He will not break a bruised reed. He will not snuff out a smoldering wick, either. We are like a bruised reed, which is very weak, always blown and shaken by the wind, and easily hurt. Pascal, a French philosopher, described man as a thinking reed. Mrs. Pearl Buck described man as a living reed. When we think about a reed, we picture how weak and feeble it is. Moreover, the Scripture uses a term “a bruised reed”, which symbolizes the man who is not only weak but also hopeless, unable to do anything by himself. We are covered with scars and wounds. We are living with sickened bodies and hearts. There is no one who has not been hurt or ill. We see many patients in many hospitals, filling ICUs, emergency rooms, and inpatient rooms. However, in reality, there are more patients outside the hospitals who suffer from emotional diseases in their heart and mind. We are like a reed which is easily broken by the lightest wind of suffering. However, the Lord Jesus loved us and had compassion on us so much that He sacrificed himself for us. He had mercy on the sick and healed every disease and sickness. Matthew 9:35 says, “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” The following story happened in Brazil. A family of three?a father, a mother, and a daughter?were living in the countryside in Brazil. The father became ill. They sold all their possessions to treat him, but he died from the illness. They were so poverty-stricken that the mother had to work many hours. The daughter was a good girl, and they were happy. The mother’s name was Maria, and the daughter’s name was Christina. When Christina became a teenager, however, she began to have bad friends. On weekends, she went to a big city with her friends. Sometimes she spent the night in the city. Worried, Maria said to Christina, “My dear, there are bad people in the city. You need to be careful. Stay home. Do not associate with bad friends.” Even though her mother wholeheartedly appealed to Christina, she left home while her mother was at work. She went to the big city with her friends. In search of her daughter, Maria went to Rio de Janeiro, a city of pleasure, thinking that Christina must have gone there. She searched for Christina, checking all the hotels, night clubs, bars, and gambling places. Before she left for Rio, Maria enlarged her own photo and made hundreds of posters from it. On the back of the poster, she wrote, “My dear, I do not care what you have done or what situation you are in. Please come back home.” She pasted the posters in public bathrooms, phone booths, even next to the posters of wanted criminals. She pasted her posters in all the places that her daughter might go. She continued her search until she ran out of money. Since she had no money left, she had to come back to the country. A few weeks later, Christina was dancing at a night club all night and saw a familiar picture on a wall beside the stairs. She found out that it was her mother. Surprised to see her mother’s picture in such a bad neighborhood, she removed it immediately. The posters of people were usually posted when they were wanted for something. She took the poster and looked around. There was nobody watching her. She turned the poster over and read the writing in small letters, “My dear, I do not care what you have done or what situation you are in. Please come back home.” Maria did not want people to know that her daughter had run away. She did not want people to think Christina was a bad girl. She did not want to hurt her daughter. That is why she made posters of her own photo?not Christina’s. She covered her daughter’s shame with her picture, protecting her daughter with her love, wanting Christina to come back home. Impressed by the great love of her mother, Christina went back home with tears and repentance. This symbolizes God’s love for us. He saves sinners like us, covering our shame and sin-stained faces. God has endless mercy upon us. Since we were sinners, we could not dare to stand up before Him. However, we now can boldly stand before God as His precious children, being forgiven and justified by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus has mercy on us even now. Matthew 9:36 says, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus has mercy on us even now. As the mother had mercy on her daughter and posted her photo instead of her daughter’s, God has mercy on us and changes us by covering our hurts with the love and the blood of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus will never break a bruised reed. Instead, He heals the sick and covers and comforts the broken-hearted with His love. He cries with those who cry and comforts those who are in pain. When we break ourselves with humility like a bruised reed, His grace will be upon us. Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” The Lord comes to us when we are weak, blessing us with His wonderful work and grace. 2 Corinthians 12:10 says, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Our Lord Jesus never gives up on us. He does not break a bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering wick. Moreover, He tends the bruised reed and the smoldering wick so that the reed may become healthy again and the wick may be burning with hope again. The Lord will recover and heal us, making us into precious tools for His glory. The Lord is upholding us. He stays with us. He will never forsake or leave us throughout our lives. Let us be like Jesus whom God loves and delights in. As His precious children, let us march forward with faith, clothing ourselves with gentleness and humility, practicing the love and mercy of the Lord. This is my earnest prayer for you in the Lord. Let us pray. Our Father of infinite love, grace, and mercy, we give thanks to You. We are weak and easily shaken or hurt like a bruised reed. We thank You for healing, forgiving, changing, and adopting us through the love of Jesus Christ. We want to be Your servants whom You love and delight in throughout our lives, being clothed in gentleness and humility, practicing love and mercy. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.