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But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Yet He warned them not to make Him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
"Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen,- Matthew 12:15-21
My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.
He will not quarrel nor cry out,
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.
A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench,
Till He sends forth justice to victory;
And in His name Gentiles will trust."
Yesterday, we read that Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" -- that they might accuse Him. Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.
But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. Yet He warned them not to make Him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "Behold! My servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory; and in His name Gentiles will trust." My study bible explains here that "Jesus' refusal to fully disclose His identity as Messiah is foreseen by Isaiah. The reasons for secrecy include: (1) the growing hostility of the Jewish leaders, (2) the people's misunderstanding of messiahship as political and earthly, and (3) Jesus' desire to evoke the response of faith -- He wants people to discover His identity for themselves. The Servant of God ("My Servant whom I have chosen") refers both to the Messiah and to all God's elect. Jesus also fulfills another prophecy of Isaiah, that of the Suffering Servant (see Is. 52:13-53:12). The mission to the Gentiles after Pentecost is also foreseen." The passages Jesus quotes from in today's reading are Isaiah 42:1-4 and 49:3.
Jesus not only understand His own identity, but that identity is fulfilled and manifested in the ways in which He leads His mission. He is prudent; He does what is necessary. He deals wisely with the leadership and does not take up direct challenges until it is time to do so -- in the meantime He sends out His message, His gospel, to as many as He is required to do so. I think my study bible's important note: "He wants people to discover His identity for themselves" is something we have to pay attention to. Because the concept of Messiah is fraught with so many expectations and understandings, and He is to be something quite different from what is expected (i.e. neither political nor earthly in terms of how He wields power), it's essential to get His message across properly. His message is Himself, and He Himself reveals the Father ("Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father" - John 14:9). His wisdom and prudence is precisely in the way in which He wages His campaign of ministry, so to speak -- how He chooses to go about spreading His gospel. We are reminded, in the words from Isaiah, of Jesus' own teaching to His disciples as He sent them out on their first mission just recently in these Gospel readings: they are to be "wise as serpents and gentle as doves." So Jesus gives the example, and the words from Isaiah confirm this character of the Messiah, the Expected One, the Servant of God. Jesus, as the words from Isaiah teach us, will accomplish His mission without fight, nor even the fanfare that accompanies a great conflagration or disturbance, but by practicing what He has taught His disciples to be like as they themselves were sent out. He is not a lordly commander of an army, but one who is gentle and lowly in heart, who gives rest to the weary souls, and whose yoke is easy and His burden is light. The campaign He wages isn't an earthly one of material power, but one that is fought for hearts and minds and souls, and that requires something quite different indeed. Let us recall to ourselves His wisdom and His love, His trueness of purpose, and also how He teaches by example. Everything will be accomplished in the way in which it must be, before His final confrontation, and in the surprising ways that are God's ways (of which Isaiah also speaks). Let us remember His prudence, and all that was accomplished as indicated by Isaiah in today's quotation, when we have difficult challenges set before us. Let us call upon His guidance in prayer so that we, too, may be like Him. We may call on His power and strength and wisdom to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves -- and to speak with the voice the Spirit teaches when it is time for us to do so.
