A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory

 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."

 - Matthew 12:15-21

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 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 points out that our Lord's refusal to fully disclose His identity as Messiah is foreseen by Isaiah (Isaiah 42:1-4).  The reasons for secrecy include:  (1)  the growing hostility of the Jewish leaders, as we read in yesterday's reading, above; (2) the people's conception of the Messiah as an earthly, political leader, which is a mistaken understanding; (3) Christ's desire to evoke a genuine faith that is not based solely on marvelous signs.   The Servant of Isaiah refers first to Christ, and by extension to all those who follow Him.  In these verses, Isaiah clearly foresees the mission to the Gentiles after Pentecost (see 42:4, Septuagint).

We've clearly reached a turning point in the Gospel story of Jesus' mission, and Jesus knows it.  The hostility of the leadership is setting the course for what is to happen.  His lament in Wednesday's reading, "Woe to you, Chorazin!  Woe to you, Bethsaida! . . . And you, Capernaum . . .," makes it clear what He is witnessing as these  have failed to grasp His message and to turn in repentance.  The mission will go to the Gentiles, as foreseen in Isaiah's prophecy.  We can't really imagine the disappointment in Jesus, but we can understand how His mind works:  His mission is the will of the Father.  He accepts what He needs to accept, even rejection by those He's come to in His mission of salvation.  Going forward, He knows that the leadership is plotting against Him.  While we can't put ourselves in the place of the Messiah, we can understand His example.  He doesn't work through coercion; this isn't a mission in which He will force the world to choose His way -- even if He knows they risk their own true loss for doing so.  But it seems to me that where He does set an incredible example for us is in acceptance.  The "Serenity Prayer" written by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, and now widely used in twelve-step programs, asks, "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."  I find that it is hard work to "accept the things I cannot change," and in this Jesus sets us His great example.  Prayer is certainly always the 'punctuation,' we might say, of His ministry.  It's His 'go to' place in which He seeks direction at every turn.  One cannot help but believe that prayer is also the means by which acceptance comes, in order to chart the course of life.  We observe Jesus:  He teaches, He tells the truth, He heals and helps those who come to Him.  He brings a Kingdom into the world for those who will accept it.  But even Jesus doesn't 'fix' people, unless they want His help.  And even then, there are those who turn away because they cannot accept, even with the best of intentions, what He has to teach them.  See, for example, the story of the rich young ruler, whom Jesus loved, as Mark's Gospel teaches.  It is Jesus' love that forms and shapes and helps to make us into the creatures we're created to be, made in God's image.  But we have to accept that love, and Jesus does not force anyone to do so.  He must accept rejection, and follow where the Father's injunctions lead Him in His mission of salvation.  In this, our lives would be best shaped by Him and His example, as part of His Way for us, as His disciples.  It is part of the way in which we each must bear our own crosses, like Him, and the wisdom that He reveals to us.  We, too, turn in prayer for the way beyond, and perhaps to a "new life" we're led toward that we could not expect, when we must accept the things we cannot change.  He is Servant, and so must we learn what that is for each of us.

Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times

 Now as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came.  And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You also were with Jesus of Nazareth."  But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are saying."   And he went out on the porch, and a rooster crowed.  And the servant girl saw him again, and began to say to those who stood by, "This is one of them."  But he denied it again.  And a little later those who stood by said to Peter again, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it."  Then he began to curse and swear, "I do not know this Man of whom you speak!"  A second time the rooster crowed.  Then Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him, "Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times."  And when he thought about it, he wept.

- Mark 14:66-72

Yesterday, we read that Jesus was led away to the high priest; and with him were assembled all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes.  But Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest.  And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.  Now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none.  For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree.  Then some rose up and bore false witness against Him, saying, "We heard Him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.'"  But not even then did their testimony agree.  And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, "Do You answer nothing?  What is it these men testify against You?"  But He kept silent and answered nothing.  Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, "Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"  Jesus said, "I am.  And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."  Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "What further need do we have of witnesses?  You have heard the blasphemy!  What do you think?"  And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.  Then some begin to spit on Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him, and to say to Him, "Prophesy!"  And the officers struck Him with the palms of their hands.

  Now as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came.  And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You also were with Jesus of Nazareth."  But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are saying."   And he went out on the porch, and a rooster crowed.   For today's reading, we must go back to the time before Jesus' arrest, when Peter swore to Jesus, "Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be."  At that time, Jesus told him, "Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times."   (See All of you will be made to stumble because of Me.)  Peter's response to Jesus was to say more vehemently, "If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!"  But in today's reading, we see that when confronted by a servant girl, he denies that he has any idea what she is talking about.

And the servant girl saw him again, and began to say to those who stood by, "This is one of them."  But he denied it again.  And a little later those who stood by said to Peter again, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it."  Then he began to curse and swear, "I do not know this Man of whom you speak!"  A second time the rooster crowed.  Then Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him, "Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times."   My study bible says that "of all the remaining faithful disciples, Peter and John (see John 18:15-16) alone have the courage to follow Jesus.  Peter denies the Lord, but at least he is there to do so.  His intentions are commendable, but his strength fails."

And when he thought about it, he wept.  A note here tells us:  "All of us fail; Peter bursts into tears of repentance over his denial (for his restoration by Christ, see 16:7 and John 21:15-17).

Acceptance can be a great blessing.  Too often it seems that we focus on what we can change, what we can achieve, what we want, what our goals in life are, without taking into account that there are things with which we contend in the world -- or in ourselves -- which we cannot change.  Here, Peter expresses his weakness; weakness, that is, without the help of God in his life.  He can't rely on his own strength to be the person that he wishes he were.  Faith is a powerful energy, a source of incredible strength, but it is not ours to make or build alone and isolated within ourselves.  It is a "work" that happens through the power of God at work in us, along with our "yes" to it.  And that is also where acceptance comes in.  In programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, and other Twelve Step programs which have come about through it, the first step is to accept one's powerlessness over something.  It leads to a reliance on God, or a "higher power" as we understand it.  In this case, the first step for Peter, in his tears of bitter repentance, is an acceptance of his own weakness, despite his resolution that he would die for Christ.  Acceptance isn't just about surrendering to one's weaknesses in life, but rather it is about facing courageously what is, especially the things that we cannot change.  So often in life we will find our own plans thwarted, or ourselves in disappointment, through things we cannot change.  We cannot change other people upon whom we may have depended who have let us down.  We can't change the decisions others may make for our harm.  We may find ourselves powerless -- by ourselves -- over the weaknesses we all face as human beings, just as we are powerless often times over physical weakness in ourselves and others, the frailty and susceptibility to illness of any kind.  Acceptance in all of these circumstances becomes a powerful "first step" in reminding ourselves of our need for faith, and more particularly in our need for God at every step of our lives.  We may not have all the answers, we don't see things in God's perspective, we don't know the outcome of every situation.  But we do have the answer to what we don't know, and that is faith.  Faith and acceptance are the tools that come to us in order to cope with and face our true reality, to escape from our delusions about ourselves or anything or anyone else, and to restore us to right-relatedness -- to the place in which we need to be with God and with neighbor.  Peter's response to burst into tears is a good one, it is a sign of acceptance, so that he can, in fact, be strengthened in faith, and return to Christ.   As a powerful apostle, he will, in fact, eventually do as he swore he would, he will die for Christ -- with Christ -- and for the Gospel.  It is faith - through acceptance -- that will allow and help him to do so.  Acceptance also assures us of the way to faith, because accepting our own weaknesses or lack of control over life also teaches us to accept God's help in leading us forward.  Peter's example shines in the Gospel, in this sad or almost pathetic story of weakness before a servant girl (not a flattering light!) so that we may know he, too, has been there with us.  He will go on to lead the apostles and the Church.  Let us remember the humility and acceptance in that, the powerful story that is here for us as example, in this man who will go on to become a great saint.