Matthew 12:15-21

Here's what I want to do.

We're going to be in Matthew, but I want to start in the book of Revelation.

Are you okay with that?

We're going to look at Revelation.

Revelation 19, verse 11.

Revelation 19:11

And so Revelation is the very last book in the Bible.

And Revelation is this vision that God gives to John the Apostle, not John the Baptist.

John the Apostle has this vision late in his life, probably around the year 96 A.D.

He's isolated, he's been basically punished by the Roman government and isolated on an island called Patmos, and he has this vision from Jesus of basically what's to transpire over the ages, basically, and the end times.

Like, how does the story end?

So we get in Genesis, we get the beginning of the story, but God gives this vision to John of what's going to happen in the future.

Now, Daniel in the Old Testament, he's already had some of these visions.

So it's not like this is the first time that God speaks of the last days and the end of the earth.

There are, um Jesus talks about it, and we're going to cover some of that in Matthew.

But John the Apostle gets a heavy dose of here's what's going to happen in the end.

And I want you to see this because I want to show you Jesus as the warrior king.

Okay?

I want to show you Jesus as the warrior king.

So let me read this to you.

This is Revelation chapter 19, verse 11.

Revelation 19:11

I'm going to read all the way down to verse 16.

Here's what it says.

Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse.

Its rider is called faithful and true.

And with justice he judges and he makes war.

His eyes, this is Jesus' eyes, he's riding on this horse.

His eyes are like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head.

He had a name written that no one knows except himself.

He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.

The armies that were in heaven followed him on white horses.

That's you.

Okay?

If you're a follower of Jesus, you've died, you've gone to heaven, you're with him, you come back with him.

When he's riding this horse, he comes back to the earth.

Okay, he's wearing pure, uh wearing, so the um the um the armies that were in heaven, starting back in verse 14, the armies that were in heaven follow him on white ro horses, wearing pure white linen.

A sharp sword came from his mouth so that he might strike the nations with it.

He will rule them with an iron rod.

He will also trample the wine press of the fierce anger of God the Almighty, and his name written on his robe and on his thigh is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

So that's Jesus, the victor at the end.

He's not messing around, right?

He's coming back to win the day.

Leading up to this point, there's rebellion, there's Satan at work in the world, there's humans rejecting God, there's a whole bunch of other scenes that transpire.

But I want you to see that Jesus, when he comes back the second time, he comes back to win.

But the way that he wins the first time, that's what we're going to look at this morning, he wins in a different way.

So let's turn our attention back over to Matthew.

Matthew chapter 12 is where we're at this morning.

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

And we see this idea of the gentle victory of the chosen servant.

The gentle victory of the chosen servant.

Let me read the text to you.

You'll recall, what's important to understand is that the verse right before this, verse 13, or this is the, I mean 14, this is the context.

I forgot I put it into my slide deck.

The Pharisees went out and they plotted against him how they might kill him.

So that sets the stage, okay?

We're going to be in 15 through 21, but that's what we ended with last week.

The Pharisees are making plans.

How do we get this guy?

So here's what it says.

Jesus was aware of this plots and planning, and he withdrew.

Large crowds followed him, and he healed them all.

He warned them not to make him known, so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.

Here is my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight.

I will put my spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.

He will not argue or shout, and no one will hear his voice in the streets.

He will not break a bruised reed, and he will not put out a smoldering wick until he has led justice to victory.

The nations will put their hope in his name.

So let's pray, and then we'll kind of work through the text piece by piece.

So, Lord, we thank you for just these set of verses.

We pray that you would teach us from your word, that you would open up our eyes to see wonderful things from your word.

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So the section where we're at, it all hinges, and um it's this basically Matthew's taken and gives us these different scenes based off the material from chapter 4 through chapter 8.

And in that material, we have Jesus preaching across the Galilee region from little town to little town.

He's teaching in the synagogues, he's healing a lot of people, and then we have people asking about what does it mean to be a follower of you?

And he's defining that.

He's teaching about the kingdom.

And now Matthew is giving us these different scenes, and one of the things that we're beginning to see is that the Pharisees are no longer just curious, but they're deeply offended by Jesus.

Their control is threatened, and they're making a plan to destroy Jesus.

And so Jesus, it says here, is aware of these plans, and the moment comes where there is a real threat.

Jesus, here in our text, he's in this moment of conflict and danger.

The Pharisees are plotting against him, and his life and ministry would appear to be at risk.

Now, living in Baltimore, we know nothing about danger or risk or conflict.

So it's hard for us to relate.

But no, the um the scene is, and where it's easy to kind of relate, to that underlying anxiety or tension that you feel when there is a threat.

When there is, you know, I know when we um had uh Dave Philpot when he was killed just a few weeks ago, and then the video came out, and you saw that video, there was this underlying sense of like, wow, that could be me.

Now, not all of us are as frail as Dave was, but this idea that life is that fragile, that you could be pushed off of a curb and it could lead to your death, that that caused for many of us this sense of risk and threat and frustration and anger that that kind of thing could happen.

And so here Jesus is living, it says in verse 15, that he knows, he is aware of this threat, and he withdraws.

And so the question that I have for you and I this morning, as we just look at this text and kind of consider the moment, why does Jesus withdraw instead of fighting?

What kind of Messiah is this who avoids conflict?

Isn't the Messiah supposed to be strong and powerful?

Now, I just read to you from the book of Revelation, where Jesus is riding on a white horse and he's trampling the wine press of God's wrath.

He's got blood on his robes, he's got a sword coming out of his mouth.

It's not like Jesus is wimpy, nor is he afraid of conflict.

But yet at this moment, he is aware of the threat, and it says that he withdraws.

In our world, power is often seen as forceful, loud, and so what does it mean for Jesus to be a Messiah who withdraws and remains quiet?

When you are threatened, you may have even, based off your childhood, you may have learned some coping techniques when it comes to threats.

And yet, here we see the most competent warrior withdrawing, being quiet, and not responding.

It is a fascinating moment.

And so let's explore for just a moment the surprising nature of Jesus' response.

He doesn't fit the expectations of a political or a military leader.

Instead of seizing power, we see in verse 15 that he is healing the sick, and he is instructing those he heals not to make him known in verse 16.

So he withdraws, he continues to heal the sick, and he says, he says, do not make me known.

Again, if you're Jewish and you're interacting with Jesus, you have been trained to anticipate the Messiah.

You've been living nationally for 400 years as a minority people group that has lost its royal right to the throne.

You have been under, for the last 40 years, you have been under Roman rule.

And the most pressing issue of being under Roman occupation for a Jew was the incredible tax burden.

There was, you were limited from your financial freedom or the ability to really have a financial hope because of the heavy tax burden.

And so what you would see is that some people would align themselves with the Roman government.

There was these sellout Jews, basically, that would become corrupt and they would go and align themselves with the Roman government to enrich themselves.

Or you would have people like Matthew who would participate in this heavy taxation.

And then you had another disciple like Simon the Zealot who would try to be a like a political opposition, and they would try to be kind of like political terrorists to unseat the Roman, it would be to make it painful for the Roman government to occupy.

So you had all these different kinds of approaches to the very real pressing moment of Roman occupation, and then what you see is this Jewish hope for a Messiah.

And so if you're Jewish and you've and you're you're acquainted with your history of David who fought Goliath, or of Solomon who brought around this, brought about this like golden era of just wealth and building and opulence to Israel, and you're thinking there's gonna come a messiah, then it makes sense, it makes sense that your hope is in this strong political leader that when he's threatened, he's gonna push back twice as hard.

And we know sometimes in our political arena that those are the attractive leaders.

Somebody who's gonna, you know, you're gonna hit me, I'm gonna hit you back twice as hard.

And we see that, or we're able to sympathize with that sentiment and with the Jewish audience that Jesus is ministering to here.

And so he does something that is unexpected.

He steps back and he does not engage.

Instead, he withdraws.

Now, Matthew tells us this story, and he says, I want you, as the reader, I want you to understand what Jesus is doing in this moment in light of Isaiah 42.

I want you to understand Jesus the Messiah through the lens of this Old Testament prophet named Isaiah.

So Matthew says this.

So that was that what so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.

Now, I got a chance to read through Isaiah 42 this morning and um uh earlier this week as just kind of a refresher.

And Matthew's gonna quote it for us here, and that's what we're gonna read here in just a s uh just a second.

Yes, yeah, please.

Well, do you think uh is like a right lobby?

Yeah.

Yeah.

What do you think?

What do I think about it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I I think that God loves both the Palestinian people and he loves the Jewish people.

And any death that happens is a tragedy.

And I think from our perspective, when we're looking at it, there's all there's a fragmentation of the story.

And the story is super sad.

And I think that um the Palestinian leadership has um misled its people many times, and they've had opportunities to flourish.

And I think that Israel and how they've worked with the Palestinian people at times has been harsh.

And I think the path towards peace is very difficult.

And I think that um if we go back to Genesis chapter 4, was the first time, so in Genesis 3, we have um Adam and Eve and the fall in the garden.

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

And the first thing that happens, as soon as there's sin and human rebellion, we have brothers that are at war.

And so what we're seeing in the Middle East between the Palestinians and uh the Jews, but really it's kind of a national war because there's Arab Israelis as well.

It's a fight between, it's a family fight.

And I don't, I know that my hope is that politically there'll be the ability to bring about some kind of peaceful coexistence so that humans can flourish.

And I think that there's been opportunities for that, but it's very difficult.

And it's it's um so that you know, I I don't I'm not qualified to have a strong opinion about the strategy of Israel right now.

Should they have gone in and just you know blown up all of Hamas or Gaza in an attempt to destroy Hamas?

You know, some people say it's heavy-handed.

I know if you know 4% of America got killed, I would be pretty upset.

So I don't I have a hard time judging it in the immediate presence.

But I think, yeah, yeah, yeah, because only it's just innocent people who killed.

So sad.

Yeah.

From both sides.

Yeah, yeah.

And I also know government is the government did not know anything.

Yeah.

You know, the Python government.

Yeah.

It is not uh equality.

Yeah.

You have to say that no, I even just called it Alpha American citizen.

I have a teacher here in the teacher.

You have to say government the wrong way.

Yeah.

No, do not try to have it the right way.

Because why you took the learn from the long time, why did you learn?

Yeah.

If you took my learning, if you took my husband, you have to get it.

Yeah, yeah.

Why do you think that it was the only that they learn?

Because they took a man in that from people.

Yeah, yeah.

You're from Morocco?

Yeah.

We have uh three Jewish community.

Yeah.

I have a lot of friends in Catalan in local.

They are very friends.

We eat together.

They are very good people, but the government, the Assyrian government, and the native state government, they are not uh Yeah, that's that was the other thing that I was gonna say is that for us as Americans as we look at it, we need to put um we need to pressure, like through our means, like our political means and putting pressure on our government to not um try to monetize war.

And so we want the we want to make sure that the our political engagement and our um what's it called?

When we um are our ambassador and what's that called?

Diplomacy.

Diplomacy, yeah.

We want to make sure that our diplomacy is fair and that we are not intervening in some something, it's it's gotta get worked out by the people that are there.

Yeah, there's so much history there, and there's so much conflict.

Thank you for that question though.

Yeah, and I and I the reason I took time on it is because a few different people have asked me, and it is so complex, and there is so much um there's so much history that is there, and we're obviously we're looking at um Isaiah 42, and Isaiah as a Jew, he's gonna sit there in the land, he's gonna talk to the Jewish people, and he's gonna say, Look, God gifted you this land as the promised land, but you've disobeyed God, and now because of your rebellion, you don't get to have this land for a time.

You're gonna be taken into exile.

And you really your hope is for a Messiah.

So, so our focus is not so much land, because and what is Jesus?

Is Jesus, when Jesus comes on the scene in Israel, he's not engaging in the current political conversation, right?

Because for in Jewish's day, in Jesus' day, like a Mustafa would come up to him and say, What do you think about the Roman, what do you think about the Roman government, right?

What do you think?

Do you think we should fight against the Romans?

Should we try to make an alliance with the Romans?

And Jesus is just like, no, it's about my kingdom.

My kingdom has come in, and then his kingdom is this strange subversive kingdom where Jesus doesn't fight against Rome.

And I'm going to give away my kind of secret at the end, but Jesus' most subversive act is that he submits to the cross.

So in the midst of this political tension over land, and who's the government and who should have authority and where should that where should the you know where should the um how should this be figured out jesus is operating off of this whole idea of I'm the king of kings I'm the Lord of lords and I'm welcoming you into my kingdom and there's an internal work that then works its way out so remember with I know I'm kind of getting off track and I'll try to be careful with my time but remember God's work with the nation of Israel was outside in in this sense that they're a people and he says I'm gonna put I'm gonna make you a nation I'm gonna put you in the land so um you're gonna be in the land and then I'm gonna give you a set of laws and they're outside and it needs to work its way into your heart right and was um Israel obedient as a nation to that no the Jewish people rebelled and so when Jesus came he talked about no I'm gonna make a law that's written in your hearts now we're gonna start inside and it's gonna work its way out and so that transforms the way that I see my neighbor now I love my neighbor and I care for my neighbor.

Now I'm uh turning the other cheek I'm not I'm not fighting for territory or my rights instead here we have Jesus saying I'm gonna withdraw I'm going to heal I'm gonna ultimately lay my life down so that the world can be redeemed can I read to you Isaiah 42 through the lens of Jesus here's what uh Jesus or here's what Matthew quotes this is through the lens of Matthew rather he's quoting from Isaiah 42 and it says this here is my servant whom I have chosen my beloved in whom I delight I'll put my spirit on him and he will proclaim justice to the nations he will not argue or shout and no one will hear his voice in the streets he will not break a bruised reed and he will not put out a smoldering wick until he has led justice to victory.

The nations will put their hope in his name there's three things here there's three things in the text the first is that Jesus is chosen and beloved so Isaiah prophesies about this servant he doesn't say this is the Messiah he calls Jesus the servant so it's the way that prophecy worked in the Old Testament and in the new is um it eludes but it's indirect.

In all of the details and so here he's called the Lord's servant and it says of him that he is chosen and that he is beloved.

That's the first thing the second thing that we see is that he is a spirit-filled servant.

His power comes from the Spirit of God not from military might so when you look at this prophecy out of Isaiah 42 Matthew wants to hold this up for you to see to show you like look when Jesus is facing when he is facing a moment of conflict this is who he is he's the one loved by God filled with the Spirit and he is proclaiming justice to the nations or you can put in here he's proclaiming justice to the Gentiles we've talked about it here on Sunday morning sometimes is like why is Jesus so focused on the Jews?

Like why where do I fit in?

Because very few of us in this room are actually Jewish.

Most of us are Gentiles well here Matthew is saying this is this is what Jesus is about he's proclaiming justice to the nations.

Jesus did not just come for the Jews he came to his mission extends beyond Israel to the Gentiles offering hope to the nations but again he doesn't accomplish this through loud public declarations some people call this a subversive approach it's subversive it's it's it is um not a direct approach it's not in your face it and what does it do?

Within 350 years the Roman Empire becomes a Christian nation.

Constantine says we are going to be a Christian nation now there are a lot of that that was bad and political but you take this teachings of Jesus the follower of Jesus followers of Jesus go from being this minority sect that are persecuted and martyred within 300 years to becoming the official religion of the government it shows you that Jesus's approach was not a bad approach.

It had it was led by the Spirit now let's talk a little bit about this idea of disclosing and revealing here this whole idea why Jesus did this the nature we'll talk about the nature of true justice and power in verses 19 through 20 he says he will not argue or shout and no one will hear his voice in the streets he will not break a bruised reed and he will not put out a smoldering wick until it has led justice to victory.

Have you ever had a set of chopsticks and just kind of snapped it in half or a pencil and snapped it in half that's about the diameter of a reed.

A reed though it's filled it's almost like it's got foam on the inside of it and it can just so easily just snap.

And the prophet Isaiah he says that this servant this servant is so gentle that he's not going to take and just he's not gonna um break that bruised reed.

A bruised reed is the one that's kind of already kind of it's it's already tilted over a little bit and the gentleness of Jesus is he doesn't come along and just like rip it up.

And then the smoldering wick is the idea that the the candle's almost gone out.

There's just an ember there and it's not like Jesus is going along and just pinching out wicks.

Now sometimes you may feel like you are that bruised reed or that smoldering flag and you're like I don't know if I'm gonna make it and Isaiah the prophet says this is the servant Messiah.

This is the one who's come who is going to be victorious but not like other leaders.

He's the one who doesn't need to go shouting out in the middle of the street or arguing or shouting in the streets and he's not breaking off bruise reeds or putting out smoldering wicks until he has led justice to victory.

Do you remember Revelation?

He comes on his white horse and he's talking about justice.

Like there are things that have happened in your life that where the scales are not fair.

Where you can look and you're like this is not right this is not fair and you're powerless to change it.

I think that it's misguided.

We live in a city that is addicted to victimhood in the sense that sitting in your place of victimhood and looking to the government to actually change that and to take away injustice is a not a failed path but it is rarely successful.

But if you anchor your life in Jesus he is the one who is bringing about justice he's the one who he is he is your deliverer he is the he is the narrative that you want your life to be grafted into and man the the faster Baltimore City can be delivered from dependency and victimhood and it can begin to take personal responsibility and then step from personal responsibility maturity into I'm gonna love my neighbor as myself this city would change.

And so the way that the gospel message the way that Jesus changes Baltimore is by being its messiah and saying look you don't need to keep waiting for the next election cycle the next mayor the next city council the next president the next governor those are not your messiah Jesus is your messiah he at the end of days he puts the pieces together and he invites you into a into a subversive kingdom where you can live as one who withdraws and lives as a proclaimer of peace, of reconciliation you can be wronged and still win because you are in Jesus' kingdom.

Jesus' way of bringing justice is through gentleness and mercy not through coercion or violence.

He doesn't trample on the weak or overpower the oppressed instead he nurtures the broken and he lifts up the weak.

The bruised reed he will not break the image highlights Jesus's care for the vulnerable and those whom the world might discard as too weak to be useful.

When it talks about a smoldering wick he will not quench he doesn't snuff out even the faintest hope instead he gently nurtures it back to life it closes out with this this verse verse 21 the nations will put hope put their hope in his name jesus embodies a different kind of victory one that is rooted in compassion healing and justice for the oppressed you're you all are living examples of that a lot of us our fellowship is around this idea of compassion and we actually have a building named the Compassion Center right this idea of being generous and radical with food and just radically giving away thousands and thousands of dollars worth of like high quality groceries every week and then volunteering and caring and being in that ecosystem is in of itself it is disruptive it is it is infecting people's lives because it is um both upsetting individuals as they encounter their own greed and their relationship with food and then they are given opportunity to give that food away to others I think what we were talking about this morning of just like taking the food that we're giving and then making turning it into peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for other people right y'all are taking the food I give you and giving it away to somebody else there is this beautiful thing that is happening as we participate in this in the Jesus way.

Here's the gospel reality this passage I may have this by in slides this is the good news Jesus embodies a different kind of victory one rooted in compassion healing and justice for the oppressed his kingdom is for those who feel broken, weak and overlooked his victory isn't loud or forceful but it is enduring and filled with hope.

Embrace Jesus' way of gentleness in a world where power and loudness seem to rule Christians are called to follow Jesus' example of humility service and quiet strength so these are some questions I want you to consider this week how do we how do we respond to conflict?

Do we seek to overpower or to heal in our interactions with the weak and the vulnerable do we reflect the gentleness of Jesus there is this term that we use around the Compassion Center for programs.

It's this word this old kind of King James word called bulwark a bulwark is this protective force against against violence and against conflict my prayer and hope for us as a church is that we are a bulwark for individuals as we serve and care for people in our church that we're a bulwark.

One final cool thing our church is named Haven City Church.

A haven is a place where ships go when the storms are coming in historically Fells Point was the choice anchoring point in this Patapsco River area because of the depth of the water it was a safe place rather than going inland to where the inner harbor is at docking right here as a boat was a safe, secure place it was a choice place to put your boat and and my prayer from the beginning as with that name for the church is that our church would be this place where people are anchored in Jesus and they're finding refuge they're finding a haven for their own life so let's follow Jesus He's the suffering servant He's the one that leads the way He's the one who provides us with peace in our life and then we get to take that idea to theround us into our neighborhoods to our families to our workplaces Let's pray.

Lord we thank you for being the suffering servant the one who was anointed by you to have the power to bring about justice the protection for others Lord we pray that we would be a church that speaks up on behalf of the vulnerable that calls people to personal responsibility and to just root themselves into your kingdom.

Lord we pray that you would bring about peace like Mustafa was asking earlier Lord we're looking at just this horrendous the death of so many innocent people and we long for the day when you'll come back on a white horse and you'll bring about peace and it won't be about Gentiles or Jews or Arabs or Palestinians but it'll be Jesus for the nations.

We long for you Jesus to be the king the one who brings about peace and that you would be that Prince of peace that you would bring about a blessing over the nations.

Lord as we sing this song and take communion we pray that just that theme of blessing and peace we'd be reminded of that this morning.

We pray this in Jesus' name Amen.