Matthew 12:14-21

We are in Matthew chapter 12. We're resuming

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

our study in Matthew this morning last week.

We took a little detour and went over to Hebrews

6, but we're back in our study going through

this precious gospel. Our text this morning will

be found in verses 14. Going through verse 21.

Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against

him, that is Jesus, 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 is spoken

by Isaiah the prophet saying, and here he quotes

Isaiah 42. Behold my servant whom I have chosen,

my beloved in whom my soul was 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, until he

sends forth justice to victory. And in his name,

Gentiles will trust. Let's pray. Father, thank

you for your word. Lord, it is a rich food for

our hungry soul. Feed us with manna from heaven,

Lord. Show us Christ, we pray in his name. Amen.

When we think of people in power and authority,

most of us think of those men who are loud, brash.

Self -assertive. And we think that because that's

what we're used to seeing. It's the status quo.

We see this whether they're a titan of business

and industry or even our political leaders. Strong

men. Unflinching. And they seek to project strength

at all times. There's a false bravado. They want

to let you know they're in charge. So they pound

their chest. They flex muscles. They speak loudly,

seeking to drown out any other voices. They're

self -promoters, and they're rarely known for

their humility. But in our text this morning

in Matthew 12, we see an altogether different

picture of leadership. Here we see Jesus Christ.

He never raised his voice. He never showed any

violence. He did not come seeking to overthrow

Rome. And yet, even through all of his mild -manneredness,

he forever changed the world. Now what's ironic

is Jesus, who never did any of those things that

would cause a disturbance, was perceived as a

threat to the power brokers of his day. When

Jesus came on the scene, the status quo was upended,

especially for the religious leaders of that

day. Now we're in Matthew 12, and you have to

understand what had been taking place. Jesus

had healed a man on the Sabbath day. And the

Pharisees, because of that, they want him dead.

Now, it's not the healing that ultimately angered

them. Rather, they saw Jesus as a threat to their

influence. He was a threat to their power. We

might even say their brand was being threatened.

Pharisees were very jealous of him. Why? Because

people were abandoning the Pharisees and they

were flocking to Jesus. I mean, at this time,

Jesus is wildly popular. He's attracting massive

crowds. Thrones of people are following him in

Galilee wherever he went. The more popular Jesus

became, the more power the Pharisees lost. Now

Jesus, he knew what was going on. He knew the

Pharisees wanted him dead. So what did he do?

Now here's Jesus, the blessed son of God, having

all authority, all power in heaven and on earth.

What did he do? Did he respond in thunderous

judgment? Did he rain down sulfur and brimstone

on their heads of those hypocrites that day?

No. He simply left. He moved on. And Matthew

says, now this is what's interesting, Matthew

says Jesus not responding, but simply moving

on, is actually a fulfillment of an Isaiah prophecy

found in chapter 42. Now we can't just pick up

the context in verse 14. You have to go back

to verses 1 and 2 to understand what was really

happening. Why are the Pharisees so mad at Jesus

right now? Well, verses 1 and 2. At that time,

Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath.

It's an important point. And his disciples, they

were hungry, and they began to pluck some heads

of grain and eat it. Just pluck it off and eat

it right there. And the Pharisees saw that, and

they said to him, that is to Jesus, look, your

disciples are doing what is not lawful to do

on the Sabbath. Basically, they are saying, your

disciples are breaking the law of God. Well,

they were just hungry. They picked some grain,

they ate it, and it happened to be on Saturday,

the Sabbath. And the Pharisees did not like it,

and so they were trying to discredit Jesus, and

they're saying they're Sabbath breakers. Well,

Jesus, he takes them back to the Old Testament.

He took them back to the scriptures, and he showed

them a passage where David and his men had done

a similar thing. They ate some bread that was

only for the priest to eat, and yet God did not

hold them guilty. And Jesus is saying it's the

same principle here. Well, this created a tension.

You had tension between Jesus and the Pharisees.

Which one of these has the authority to properly

interpret the Torah? The law of God. See, up

until Jesus came, the Pharisees were always held

in high regard. It was just naturally assumed

they were the proper examples to follow. It was

assumed that the Pharisees correctly taught the

law of God. But Jesus, he arrived and he didn't

agree to the Pharisees' interpretation at all.

And he certainly didn't agree to any of their

added laws that they had made. And they were

outraged. Jesus is refusing to bow to their demands.

He refuses to comply with their man -made traditions.

And yet everyone had always looked at this holy

body, supposedly, the Pharisees, as examples

of true piety, true godliness. And by the way,

the Pharisees loved every minute of that. They

loved being seen as holy. They loved being seen

as righteous. But Jesus exposed them as hypocrites.

And they hated him for it. They're really rabidly

jealous of Jesus. And their jealousy is going

to lead them to plot murder. You see, later in

that same day, so they had just been picking

some grain. Later that same day, the Pharisees

followed Jesus into a synagogue. And there was

a man present in the assembly who had a withered

hand, a deformed hand. And Jesus healed that

man. Because the Pharisees were daring him to

do so, basically. And then we read in verse 13,

Jesus said to the man, shut out your hand. And

he stretched it out and it was restored. It was

made whole as the other. Now notice the next

phrase. They saw the miracle. They went out and

they plotted against him how they might destroy

him. They had just been publicly embarrassed.

Jesus showed them up, if you will. And so they're

like, he needs to go. After seeing this miracle,

here's the thing. These Pharisees, they should

have fallen on their knees before the Lord Jesus

Christ and begged for forgiveness. Rather, they

decided, no, he needs to die. Why die? He's a

threat. He's a threat to their power and influence.

And notice what it says there. They plotted against

him. If you have a King James, it will say they

held counsel against him. Friends, this is legal

language. This is not some temporary emotional

outburst. It's not like, oh, they wanted to kill

him, and then their emotions subsided. No, this

is a planned, deliberate action. They actually

went into session. They held counsel, and they

determined that Jesus must die. Now, this not

only is ironic, it's incredibly hypocritical.

These same people who were supposedly so concerned

with the law being broken are now breaking that

law by plotting murder against an innocent man.

But as the old adage goes, power tends to corrupt

and absolute power corrupts absolutely. See,

as power and influence rises, so also the temptation

to moral corruption. And you just see that across

the board. It's absolutely true. Those who hold

extremely high influential positions, they usually

do not hold those positions with great humility.

And when their brand or their influence or their

power is being threatened, they tend to power

grab. They hold on to it at all costs. And we

see that. But I would tell us we need to check

our own egos. We need to look for blind spots

in our own lives where that may be true. Now

there's one interesting detail that Mark puts

in his gospel that Matthew omits. Same situation.

It's the same scenario. And Mark adds this in

chapter 3. Then the Pharisees went out and immediately

plotted with the Herodians how they might destroy

him. Now Matthew doesn't say that, but Mark does.

So you're like, well, who were the Herodians?

You can see the word Herod there, right? This

is a political group. This is not a religious

group like scribes and Pharisees or Pharisees

and Sadducees. These are people, these are men

who are supporters of the Herodian dynasty currently

held by Herod Antipas who ruled in Galilee. So

their concern, now these are Jews, but their

concern is not for the law of Moses, certainly

less for theology. Their concern is all about

political power. Now normally, the Pharisees

and the Herodians hated each other. Natural enemies.

But in this case, they both wanted Jesus gone.

For different reasons. But they both wanted to

protect their own power base. See, the Herodians

didn't like Jesus because what were the people

saying about Jesus? He's king of Israel. Well,

if he's king of Israel, that's a threat to Herod.

Keep in mind that Herod is reigning in Galilee.

Where is Jesus doing most of his miracles? In

Galilee, right where Herod reigned. So if people

were saying that Jesus is the king of Israel

and this king's arrived in Galilee, well, the

Roman government might get word of it and remove

Herod from his position since he didn't do anything

about it. Because if it's a threat to the political

power, it's ultimately a threat to Rome. Well,

the Herodians weren't going to risk that because

they would lose everything. They had vested interest

in that as well, so they're conspiring with their

enemies, in this case the Pharisees. Again, we

think of the old adage, the enemy of my enemy

is my friend. And that's exactly what you see

here. Now you can start to see something. The

Lord is attracting very powerful enemies. It's

a foreshadowing that trouble is probably coming

his way and sooner rather than later. Now if

you look closely though, If we would look closely

at why the Pharisees hated Jesus so much, it's

ultimately because he was good and they were

not. Jesus held true authority from God and his

true authority showed up their counterfeit authority.

Jesus was so good at exposing their hypocrisy.

He disrupted all the good thing that they had

going on there. So they were starting to lose

esteem. They were starting to lose influence

among the people. And that's the one thing they

could not tolerate. Now what did Jesus do, knowing

both Pharisees and Herodians, they want him dead?

Verse 15. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew

from there, and great multitudes followed him,

and he healed them all. He left. Now he didn't

leave out of fear. Jesus is not afraid to die.

In fact, he knew he was born to die. From the

beginning, the Lord knew he had come to give

his life as a ransom for his sinful people. There's

not fear here. He left because his time had not

yet come. Jesus is being wise. He's not going

to provoke a premature confrontation. When the

Father tells him that his hour has come, when

his time has come, we read in the Gospels that

Jesus set his face like a flint. to head to Jerusalem,

knowing full well that once he arrived in Jerusalem,

death awaited him. But he set his face like a

flint. He's not afraid. Now, how do we know he's

not afraid? It's evident even in this verse,

because what did he continue to do? He continues

to minister to the people. He does not go into

hiding. In fact, it says great multitudes. Great

is the word megas. Mega amounts of people are

following Jesus, and he heals them all. He's

simply doing what he's been doing all along.

He's not going to be distracted from his mission.

He continues to minister to the people. He's

not shrinking back from opposition at all. In

fact, he's defeating hell one healed person at

a time. You can threaten him, but you're not

going to force him to quit what he had been sent

to do. You have to understand something. Jesus

is healing. But by healing the masses, he was

proving to everyone that the kingdom of God had

come. Now in verse 16, after he healed them,

we read, he warned them not to make him known.

Seems a little out of place or obscure. Why did

Jesus command those who had been healed to stay

silent? I think there's three reasons. First,

he did not want people following him simply for

the sake of miracles. I mean, he's not trying,

see, Jesus is not trying to be wildly popular.

He's not courting public opinion or favor. His

miracles were not done so that he gets all these

people following him. Rather, his miracles were

signs. And they were signs demonstrating the

kingdom of God had come. But people often mistook

the signs. For example, in John chapter 6, we

John 6 · chapter mention

know that Jesus fed the 5 ,000. Probably 15 ,000

to 20 ,000 women and children. He fed them with

what? Fish and bread. And it tells us in John

6 that many people sought him the next day. But

they sought him not because of the miracles or

not because of who he was, but because they ate

the food and they wanted more. They saw Jesus

as a great meal ticket. I mean, this guy can

keep us fed, and this is a time when there was

real food scarcity. It was not as readily available

as it is to us today. So in John 6, 26, we read

this. Jesus answered them and said, Most assuredly,

I say to you, you seek me. Yeah, you're coming

to me. But not because you saw the signs. But

because you ate of the loaves and you were filled.

You're coming to me because you got your bellies

full. And he did not want people following him

simply what they could get out of him. And by

the way, that's the way Jesus is promoted a lot

today. Particularly in a prosperity gospel. So

he didn't want them, yes, I can make your life

better. I can keep you full. I can keep you healthy.

I can always heal you. That's not why Jesus would

come. Secondly, he said, don't make him known.

to provoke a confrontation before his hour had

come. He knew the more miracles he did, the more

famous he became, or his word got out about his

ability to perform these mighty signs, people

are going to start being attracted to him more,

and they're going to want to make him king. They

didn't understand his mission. And we know that

because in John 6, that same chapter, when Jesus

perceived that they were about to come and take

him by force to do what? To make him king. He

departed again to the mountain by himself alone.

Jesus is on a timeline. But it's a timeline set

by his father, not by the people. But there's

a third reason, and we would not know this unless

Matthew had revealed it. Matthew gives it. Look

at verse 17. He said, Jesus, now notice the context.

He healed them and he said, be quiet. Don't make

me known. Why? That it might be fulfilled which

is spoken by Isaiah the prophet. Matthew is telling

us something here. And I want to be careful that

we don't miss it because this is the point of

this text. Jesus' humility, his desire not to

be made known, he said, is a fulfillment. From

a prophecy in Isaiah, specifically Isaiah 42.

Now there are four prophecies that come at the

latter part of the book of Isaiah that are known

as the Servant Songs. These Servant Songs describe

the humiliation, the suffering, and the exaltation

of God's chosen servant, the Messiah. And these

Servant Songs, they reveal the Messiah as a meek,

and gentle servant. The first one is our text

today. It's found in Isaiah 42. Let me give you

Isaiah 42, verses 1 through 4. God speaking about

Isaiah 42:1–4

his chosen servant. Behold my servant whom I

uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights.

I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring

forth justice to the Gentiles. He won't cry out,

nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be

heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not

break, and smoking flax he will not quench. He

will bring forth justice for truth. He will not

fail nor be discouraged till he has established

justice in the earth, and the coastlands shall

wait for his law. So Matthew says this prophecy

right here is fulfilled in Jesus Christ right

here in Matthew 12. Now there's something very

significant going on. These four prophecies reveal

the work and person of the Messiah. They tell

us what the Messiah will be, which is actually

a contradiction of what the people expected he

would be. If they would have read these prophecies,

they should have known. See, the people at that

time had come to expect a strong military -like

figure who's going to deliver the nation from

Roman occupation, which is why so many of them

failed to understand who Jesus really was. They

didn't want meek and gentle. They wanted forceful.

Now, let's look at the text as Matthew quotes

it. Matthew 12, verse 18. Behold. My servant

Matthew 12:18

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.

I want to notice a phrase here, my beloved in

whom my soul is well pleased. There are two times

in the Gospels when you hear God the Father's

voice being heard, and what he says, speaking

from heaven, he says, this is my son in whom

I'm well pleased. The first time he says that

is at Jesus' baptism. And at Jesus' baptism,

do you remember, the heavens are opened up, and

the Spirit of God descends like a dove. But what

did Isaiah 42? It says, I will put my Spirit

upon him. Why do you see Jesus' baptism? God

putting his Spirit upon him. And we see this

in Matthew 3. When he had been baptized, Jesus

came up immediately from the water, and behold,

the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the

Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting

upon him. And suddenly, a voice came from heaven

saying, this is my beloved son, and whom I'm

well pleased. It's Isaiah 42. And again, when

Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, remember

Peter wanted to build three tents? God said,

listen, leave Moses and Elijah alone. This is

my servant. It's Matthew 17, verse 5. While he

Matthew 17:5

was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed

them, and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud

saying, This one, Christ, Jesus, this is my beloved

Son, in whom I'm well pleased. Hear him or listen

to him. Now if we go to Matthew, put it together,

understand what he's doing here. He is showing

that Jesus is God's beloved Son, who is the chosen

servant. From Isaiah. And he will bring justice

to the world. But how does he do it? In the most

unlikely way. Verse 19. He will not quarrel or

cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the

streets. So here we see from the very beginning,

Jesus is not a revolutionary who is trying to

overthrow Rome and reestablish the Jewish state.

That's what they wanted, but that's not who he

was. Worldly kings, earthly kings I should say,

they rule by violence and force and threats.

But God's king is humble and meek. Now, I want

to park here for just a moment. Jesus was gentle.

Jesus was meek. Jesus was never weak. Never was

there weakness in Jesus. Now we look at anger,

but anger is often a sign of weakness. Which

is easier, to keep your cool or to blow up? It's

easy to blow up, but to show restraint, to show

self -control, that takes incredible strength

and fortitude. Look at our Lord. As Jesus was

being nailed to the cross, he could have called

legions of angels to help. and come to his defense,

come to his rescue. Instead, what do we find

Jesus doing? He's praying for the very men who

are crucifying him that the Father might forgive

them for they don't know what they're doing.

That's strength. That's a strength that you and

I know nothing of. Jesus was also not argumentative.

He was involved in lots of confrontations, but

he doesn't get heated. He always maintained a

calm composure. You're just like, well, what

about the time he cleared the temple and he knocked

over the tables of money? Yes, zeal for his father,

but not for his person. Even when Jesus was being

falsely accused before Pilate. I mean, he had

people coming and testifying before Pilate that

Jesus had said some things that he never said.

You never heard him yell. What's it say? As a

lamb headed to the slaughter, so he stayed silent.

Jesus doesn't yell. He doesn't raise his voice.

Like we are prone to do? My goodness, someone's

falsely accusing me. I'm going to be swinging.

Not Jesus. When do you ever see him get agitated?

You don't. Flustered? Never. I want you to contrast

his character with the Pharisees. They didn't

like what he did, so what are they going to do?

What are they going to do? Murder him. Over a

disagreement. Back in college, I read a book

by Stu Weber. It's called Tender Warrior. And

it really speaks of what a Christian man is supposed

to do and supposed to be. Tender Warrior, the

title says it all. So his premise is that the

Christian man is to be tough, physically and

emotionally. You need to be a warrior willing

to go to battle. But at the same time, the Christian

man is also called to be tender, not weak. Tender.

Tender with those who are weaker. Tender with

those who are under his care. A Christian man

is to use his strength to bless and never hurt.

Jesus is the ultimate tender warrior. He's a

warrior. He's not afraid to confront powerful

men and powerful systems over their sin and hypocrisy.

He calls them out like no one else. Yet you don't

ever find him being a coward. He's never cowering

in fear before anyone at any time. He is the

strongest man. But then as we look at him in

the Gospels, we see that he was tender, especially

with hurting people. Look at Jesus' interaction

with women or children. He picked them up in

his arms. He blessed them. Women and children

were often treated very poorly at this time.

Children were not treated well. They were the

lowest on the totem pole. Look at the compassion

he showed to the unclean, like lepers. No one

wanted to go near a leper. You would never do

that. You're going to be ostracized. Jesus didn't

speak those miracles. What did he do? He touched

them. Look at his heart for broken people in

their sin, like tax collectors and prostitutes,

the most despised people at that time. Jesus

made them part of his kingdom. So we find Jesus

protecting the weak, protecting the vulnerable,

never exploiting them. And then verse 20, we

read this. A bruised reed he will not break.

A smoking flax he will not quench until he sends

forth justice to victory. Isaiah uses two metaphors.

One of a bruised reed, the other smoking flax.

You have to understand something about the ancient

world here. Reeds, at that time, were used to

make many things, even instruments at times.

See, people would go out and they would gather

a bunch of reeds. They were very common. But

if a reed was damaged or bruised or slightly

wasn't perfect, they would just snap it in two

and throw it away. Why? Why waste your time?

I mean, they're so common. They're so cheap.

You're not going to waste your time trying to

mend a broken reed or a damaged reed. But this

was not the way of Jesus. He doesn't break bruised

reeds. He heals them. They're mended reeds. The

world's method was to discard the broken and

the damaged. Not Jesus. And these bruised reeds

were their metaphor for bruised and broken people.

He doesn't discard the broken one. He redeems

them. And he restores them. And he makes them

on his team, if you will. He brings them into

his kingdom. And this is what Isaiah was prophesying

of. That the Messiah, the chosen servant of God,

would be gentle. He's going to be compassionate.

He will not use his power, and he has all power,

to destroy or hurt, but rather to save and heal.

So if you look at how does the world see broken

people? They're expendable. Cast them out and

move on. Jesus, our Lord, sees broken people

as redeemable. Save them. Restore them. And we

are the bruised reeds. We're the damaged ones,

the broken ones. We are the ones that our Lord

restores. But there's another metaphor. It's

a smoking flax. In the ancient world, again,

flax was a fibrous plant, and they used it to

make a wick for lamps. Sometimes that flax would

be damaged or not be perfect, and so it really

wouldn't burn. They would light it, and it would

kind of just smolder. It would start to smoke,

and when it did, it put off this foul smell.

So they would go over and just pinch it. They

would extinguish it. Let's find another flax

to make a good wick. The smoking flax is the

person whose faith is shaky. It's faltering.

The fire's almost out, and it's just smoke. And

what Isaiah said, this is the Messiah, he will

not extinguish the struggling flame of those

who need him. Rather, he fans that flame until

it burns brightly once again. You know what this

means, church? You can bring your questions.

Young people, you have questions about the Bible,

about Christianity, about faith. He's not afraid

of your questions. You can bring them. Senior

saint, middle -aged saint. We can bring our doubts

to the Lord. We're hurt. We don't understand.

No, he's not going to snuff you out. He's not

going to extinguish you. The message of Matthew,

which is the message of Isaiah, which is the

message sent from God, is that Jesus Christ,

the Messiah, runs to hurting, broken, wounded,

sinful, and doubting people. One author said

this. A smoking, smoldering wick is in a precarious

position. It's weak. The embers are about to

lose whatever heat and light they had and be

darkened forever. He says there are many people

in a similar state. They've been wounded emotionally,

spiritually, or physically. They're weak and

they're about to lose all hope. But then God

steps in. Jesus doesn't quench the smoking flax.

I love this message. Because it means he's not

afraid of messy, broken, hurting people. They're

the ones he came for. Do you know that Jesus

does not come to the aid of those who have it

all together? But he runs with aid to those who

know they need him. Believer, your weakness is

not a problem for Jesus. But your strength is.

Consider the context. You have a withered man.

A man with a withered hand. And you had the Pharisees.

What happened? Jesus had compassion. He healed

the man with the withered hand. And he condemned

the self -righteous Pharisees. Why? This disabled

man, he knows he's weak. It's obvious to all.

He can't work. He's probably a social outcast.

No doubt he's poor. Probably had been reduced

to a life of begging. But then the Pharisees

over there, they're falsely assuming they are

strong and knowledgeable. Your perceived strength

will keep you from running to Jesus. You don't

have it all together and you're not sufficient

on your own. And Matthew, he's painting this

beautiful picture of the Messiah. He's come to

redeem, he's come to restore and heal that which

was broken. Ironically, it is the gentleness

of Jesus that is God's method of bringing justice

and establishing true righteousness on the earth.

Now we would think it's the force. Nope. Gentleness.

God's king is gentle. He's not forceful. Look

at verse 20. Until he sins for justice to victory.

So that means that the Lord right now, this saving

day of grace, the Lord is saving broken, hurting,

doubting, sinful people until the time of final

judgment comes. Until justice comes in victory.

And I love verse 21. And in his name. Gentiles

will trust. It's not just for Israel. God is

making a people for himself from every nation,

every ethnicity, every language group on planet

earth. That means God's kingdom. God's kingdom

is multinational. It is multicultural. It is

multiracial. It is multilinguistic. It's all

going to be represented there. Diversity is wonderful

in the kingdom of God. Revelation 5. For you

were slain. And you have redeemed us to God by

your blood. Amen. Out of every tribe and tongue

and people and nation. That's beautiful. Now

what? You're here on this 15th day of February.

Now what? I want you to see the contrast today.

You have the Pharisees. They wanted to protect

their power. You see Jesus. He wanted to protect

the weak. That's really good news. That is really

good news. Because that means if you are weak,

if you are wounded, maybe today you're barely

hanging on. May I say to you with all authority,

Jesus is the one you need. Your weakness will

never, ever, ever cause him to reject you. God

mends broken reeds. But what about the believers,

Christians? If you're a Christian, you're called

to follow. In the footsteps of this meek and

gentle Savior. That means brash, aggressive,

forceful behavior is not the way that the kingdom

of God will be advanced in this world. God's

kingdom is antithetical to man's kingdom, friends.

It's not the way you do it. An argumentative

spirit will not change the culture. So stop.

You must reject the need to shout, and argue

with those who oppose you. Instead, what's the

message? Let us, by the power of the Spirit,

be servants who bring justice through our compassion

and quiet faithfulness, just as Jesus did. May

God himself help us to walk in the footsteps

and the path of his blessed Son. All glory be

to Christ. Let's pray. Father, thank you, Lord,

for your word. Lord, I'm so very grateful for

the message that Jesus is gentle and meek. Lord,

we're not afraid because, Lord God, we see the

character of our Lord. Our weakness is not a

hindrance to his help, but our strength is. God,

help us to admit the truth that we are all weak

people. Lord, wherever we find ourselves, none

of us have our act all together. Lord, none of

us. Lord, we're all weak. We would even say pitiful.

Certainly sinful. Helpless, Lord, apart from

you. You are the one. Lord, our weakness highlights

your great strength. You are the one who has

it all together. You are perfect in all your

ways. Lord, there is no slight nor stain, no

blight in you at all, Lord. You are altogether

wondrously perfect. We are not. But Father, you

don't despise us. Lord, you don't cast away broken

reeds. Lord, we're thankful for grace this morning.

Lord, I pray that you continue, Lord, to fan

the smoldering flax into a bright flame that

will burn for your glory, Lord. I pray for those

who bring their doubts this morning or those

who are hurting, Lord, or those who are lost,

Lord. There may be some in this, even this particular

sanctuary right now today, Lord, who are away

from you, Lord. God, would you work in them,

open their eyes to behold the beauty and the

glory of your beloved Son. the one in whom you're

well pleased. May they see him as the Messiah,

confess their sin, repent over it, and come to

him in faith, bringing nothing. Lord, we trust

Jesus now. Lord, we come to the table of our

Lord, and we want to, Lord, fellowship and commune

with our risen, ascended, powerful, yet gentle

and meek Savior. For it's in his name we pray.

Amen.