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Lesson 18 Matthew 2020
Verses | Matthew 12:1-21
Key verse | Matthew 12:20
A Bruised Reed He will not break

"A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory."

Jesus is a good shepherd. He heals the man with a shriveled hand on the Sabbath. This threatens his life. Jesus does not break the bruised reed or snuff out the smoldering wick. He gives hope to those who are bruised and smoldering. As people who have experienced how abundant God's grace is, I pray that we will learn Jesus by enduring the weak and damaged people until the end.

First, God desires mercy rather than sacrifice (1-8). At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” Jesus defended by saying, "Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?" David entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. And the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent. Jesus is greater than the temple. See verses 7,8. "7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." Jesus pointed out the wrongs of the Pharisees by quoting Hosea 6:6. The reason why Jesus is great is that He wants and gives mercy rather than sacrifice. The Pharisees had dedicated religious life but could not read God's mind. They offered numerous sacrifices, but there was no mercy in their hearts that God was pleased with. When there was no love of God in their hearts, they did hypocrisy. They made their religious life worthless through hypocrisy. They were people who studied, interpreted, and taught the law. At first, they gained respect, but as time went by, their religious life became formalized and hardened. The law is given to practice love. God is merciful. ‘Mercy' is to pity and help people in need. It is to free the people who are tied up. God is happy to help those in need. He wants to give freedom to those who are bound by sin and burdened by the heavy burdens of life, so that they can have true rest. Therefore, God established a Sabbath. We should know the true meaning of this Sabbath and enjoy true freedom and peace by spending the weekend in Jesus. It does not mean to do nothing on Sunday, but actively work on doing good and saving lives. We must learn and teach God's words and serve and love those who need help. We should know God's heart of wanting mercy rather than sacrifice, and spend the weekend giving mercy to those in need.

Second, Jesus heals the man with a shriveled hand (9-14). Going on from that place, Jesus went into their synagogue. There was a man with a shriveled hand. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” They stole a march on Jesus because they knew that Jesus will heal that man. Jesus asks them back. "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." They regulated of not to carry heavy loads on the Sabbath, but when the sheep fell into the pit, they lift it out. How much strength should be needed to lift a sheep? But they took sheep out of the pit without hesitation to save their own benefit and their lives. It is because sheep was a great property to them.

However, in the synagogue they watch over people by saying it is illegal to fix a person with a shriveled hand on the Sabbath. A person is much more valuable than a sheep. Therefore, it is right to do good on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with a shriveled hand. "Stretch out your hand." It's not easy to stretch out the shriveled hand in front of many people. Who wants to expose one’s disgrace to the people? The stronger self-consciousness and inferiority the person has, the more difficult it is to reveal it. If a person has a healthy mind, there are no problems. However, the man might have been teased a lot and have scars due to his shriveled hand. His heart would have shrunk and any wish or passion would have dried up. If Jesus cares about the feelings of this man, wouldn't it be right to secretly heal him? Why did Jesus say to stretch out his hand in front of many people? Jesus wanted to restore his self-determination in his heart. He also wanted the man to have a strong wish of being healed in his heart and wanted to cure his heart. His heart came to life when he heard Jesus' benevolent face and his words. He gained courage. He gained faith of wanting Jesus to heal him. He looked only at Jesus and reached out his hand. Something amazing happened when he believed in Jesus' love and power and reached out his shriveled hand. "So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other." For a person, anyone has at least one shriveled hand. There is a disgrace hidden deep inside the heart where other people cannot know it. If you hide it forever, you won't be able to get it fixed. You should give to the Lord your sick hand, your sick heart by faith. If the dark part is revealed in the light, the Lord clearly fixes it. When we repent, the Lord gives us forgiveness and freedom. Every time we reveal our sick places, we get healed and our healthy and beautiful appearance get restored.

The Pharisees saw the scene of miracles with their own eyes. But they didn't accept Jesus' actions. Look at verse 14. "But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus." They should repent, but they discussed how to kill Jesus to protect their vested rights. Jesus knew their minds and left that place. Many people who witnessed the love of a good shepherd followed him. Jesus healed all who were ill and warned them not to tell others about Him. Jesus worked quietly without revealing Himself. He wasn't interested in the popularity or glory of people. He only cared about how to achieve God's will.

Jesus' method of ministry was to fulfill Isaiah's word (Isaiah 42:1-4). See verses 18-21.


18 “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.
19 He will not quarrel or cry out;
    no one will hear his voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed he will not break,
    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he has brought justice through to victory.
21    In his name the nations will put their hope.”
How is the Messiah that Isaiah predicted like?
First, He was glad to do God's will. God called Jesus, "the one I love, in whom I delight" When Jesus was baptized by John and came up on the water, He said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (3:17), He said the same thing when He climbed the mountain with his best disciples (17:5). Jesus was absolutely loved by God and was the one who pleased God. This is because Jesus loved God absolutely and was pleased to obey God’s will. Jesus did not do anything at random. In the time of God, He worked according to God's will.

Second, Jesus worked on the strength of the Holy Spirit. During the public life, Jesus healed many sick people and made the demon-possessed people perfect. He raised the spiritually dead people by the word of God. But these things were not done by Jesus himself. Jesus is a complete God, but He was also a complete human, so He could not do this without the power of Holy Spirit. He did only through the power of Holy Spirit. Apostle Paul, who was well aware of this, did not work with his persuasive wisdom when preaching the gospel, but with the appearance and ability of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:4). The same goes for us. If we are to be servants of a capable God, we must be full of Holy Spirit. To be a man full of Holy Spirit, we must be holy, and wish to do anything to make God glorious. Then, with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can do the work of the Lord.
Third, Jesus worked without quarreling and without making a noise. “He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. (19).” Jesus did not quarrel with people just because they hurt His feelings. He did not act according to His feelings. He worked quietly before God. He fought against his enemies for the sake of the gospel, but he did not quarrel for the other reason. Jesus did not reveal Himself to receive people's recognition and praise. In any case, he wanted to hide Himself, but reveal the glory of God. There is vanity in the corrupted heart of man. If people do something a little, they have a desire to reveal themselves. But we need to learn Jesus who worked quietly, Jesus who did not quarrel or cried out. Then, we, the useless servants, can be glorified to God and receive the Lord's reward.

Fourth, Jesus did not break even the bruised reed. “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.” (20) “Reed” is a pronoun of weakness. Pascal said, "Man is a reed that thinks." Shakespeare said, "Woman, your name is reed." Today there are many weak brothers like reeds. Reeds sway back and forth even if the wind blows a little. When the strong wind blows, it breaks. What about the frailty of the bruised reed? Sometimes it’s convenient to break the bruised reed. Today, globalization and capitalism has become a world of great competition. There are many people like the bruised reeds who have lost from the competition. Almost everyone is a bruised reed because the numbers of people who win the competition are few as they go up, and most people lose from the competition. In particular, humans have become bruised reed because of sin. People get hurt by the joke, negative comments, and the words of politicians. Sometimes people get hurt by the words of a loved one. Then they lose their motivation and become lethargic. They lose their wish to do something and become useless. There is no hope because it cannot be restored by their strength.

Mathew’s life was broke like the bruised reed. It was crushed by self-criticism, shame, and people’s criticism and abuse. He lived a life of collapse and trampling. His spirit was dying losing the hope of life. Jesus accepted him as a disciple and made him a Saint Matthew. He made Matthew as a lantern to light the humanity.

‘Smoldering wick’ can no longer produce light due to lack of fuel. It smells of sooty soot that does not play its’ role anymore. So, people want to quickly turn off the wick. The wick goes out when there is no oil, or when the wick hardens that prevents the oil to rise. There is no oil in person’s inner self that will sustain and illuminate their life. Moreover, after lighting the fire form the long time, their thoughts become stiff and their minds get exhausted and hardens. Here even the wind of trial blows. When this happens, the soul lights out and goes into the darkness. But how does Jesus help these people? He does not blow it off because there is no hope in it. He blocks the wind. And pours and oil of Holy Spirit. The oil of Holy Spirit gives reasons to live, motivation, and strength. He breaks the harden thoughts and minds making them soft. He gives new heart to handle the changed world. He gives us a tender heart to accept the word of God and accept the work of the Holy Spirit. He works on to let those to obey the Word through suffering. Then he again becomes the person whose soul shines and burns brightly to light others.

If there is anyone who makes me have a lot of patience and prayer, he is a grateful being that makes me really great. And it's very likely that he's a great man, whose great talent mature late.  The most difficult man to bear will be my cross, my pride, and my crown. Therefore, I pray that we will not only be grateful for those who have changed quickly, but also for those who are slowly changing. I pray that we can be more patient in memory of the Lord who has served and changed us. When we thin and learn from Jesus, we will achieve the strength to be patience.

Jesus raises hope in every one of us who has no hope, like a broken reed. In any case, He never loses hope from us. If there is a small flame of hope, He will save it. At the Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian entered a room. The fire was burning in the fireplace, and in front of it a man was pouring water to extinguish it. Nevertheless, the fire did not go out and burned hotter. Strangely Christian went to the back of the wall. There was a man who was holding oil barrels and pouring oil to keep the fire out. It was Satan who was pouring water to extinguish the fire, and Jesus was pouring oil so that the fire will not go out. Satan wants to extinguish the fire of the Holy Spirit by constantly planting distrust and skepticism in each person's heart. He tries to turn off their spiritual hopes. However, Jesus never loses hope, and continued to pour the oil on the Holy Spirit. That is why He makes people who have no hope come to life and become useful. One shepherd held and served a hopeless sheep for 10 years. At that time, his sheep became alive and was used preciously in the work of God.

See verse 21. “In his name the nations will put their hope.” Because Jesus does not break the bruised reed and does not snuff out the smoldering wick, gentiles who were abandoned by God and lived miserable lives came to hear the Words of Jesus. Those who were unable to have hope have been healed and became faithful workers of the Lord through Jesus. . Above all, I was like a bruised reed and a smoldering wick, but with the help of the Lord, I became healthy and lived a shepherd's life to save people. Even if we can't have hope in the world, everyone can have hope in Jesus. This is why Jesus is the true hope for everyone.

In conclusion, we were like a bruised reed and a smoldering wick. We were hurt and had no hope due to the burden and sin of life. But through Jesus, we gained life and survived. I live as a shepherd who gains strength, builds himself, pioneers, and helps others. I pray that we, who have received this grace, will learn more about Jesus and live as powerful disciples. We're having a video meeting because of Corona 19. The important thing at this time is the content. There is an infinite amount of content in God's word. We pray that as king-like priests who have the word of God, we will be used in the history of saving lives by studying and digesting the Words.