Knowing God through His Word … Day by Day

John Piper on Matthew 12:20:

The Expansive Gentleness of Jesus 

The spirit of the ministry of Jesus is the spirit of tenderness with people who are broken and weak. Verse 20 is a beautiful stroke in the portrait of our Lord: “He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick.” Picture an amaryllis bulb—the kind that grows about an inch a day and has a huge beautiful flower on top. Then imagine a toddler coming along and pulling the tablecloth so that the plant turns over and the stem is bent. You try to stand it upright but it flops down every time as though it had a hinge. The flower may be pretty now but it is really done for. So we break off the stem and hope for another.

But not Jesus. He does not break a bruised reed. Not that he doesn’t ever do some painful pruning in our lives (John 15). He does. But when life has dealt us a devastating blow and we are deeply bruised in spirit and our head is on the ground with desperation, Jesus does not come along and say, “O well, too bad for this one.” Clip! I’ve talked with some bruised reeds in our congregation recently. And I have been so glad to be able to read Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is near to the broken-hearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.” The Spirit is upon Jesus gentle for now. The servant of the Lord uses splints and props and soft bandages. He does not kick you when you are down. He does not trample the oppressed. He does not break a bruised reed.

“Nor quench a smoldering wick” (v. 20). My guess is that this morning some of you feel like your spiritual lamp has almost gone out. For some the flame is burning very low. For others all that’s left is a smoldering wick. The word of the Lord for you this morning is that Jesus does not quench the little spark of spiritual life left in you. The Spirit of the Lord is upon him gentle for now. As long as this life lasts the atmosphere of Jesus is all oxygen. The faintest spark of spiritual life will glow and grow when it comes into contact with Jesus. “God sent not the Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved.” Jesus did not come to snuff out your struggling flicker but to fan it carefully into a torch for his glory.

Jesus’ Different Tone with the Unrepentant 

These are comforting words from God’s Word. But for whom? Who should be comforted by them? Jesus did not speak tenderly to everybody. The bruised reed and the smoldering wick are the penitent sinners who are crushed by circumstances or by their own failures. They are despairing of their own wisdom and resources to make anything worthwhile out of life. They are the poor in spirit who mourn (Matthew 5:3, 4). They are the publican who cries out “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” For these there is great tenderness, forgiveness, healing, comfort.

But the tone of our Lord is very different toward the unrepentant. There are a lot of people today who feel just as miserable as a bruised reed and a smoldering wick but who have no intention of forsaking their sin. When Jesus told the rich young man, “Sell what you possess and give to the poor,” the man turned away sorrowful (Matthew 19:22). He hung his head like a broken Amaryllis. He was like a bruised reed, but he would not submit to Jesus’ command. There are many such people and these words of Isaiah in Matthew 12 are not intended to comfort them in their rebellion. It is not a loving thing to comfort unrepentant sinners in their sin. Loving words for the unrepentant are words of warning, not words of comfort: “Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:23). But for the poor in spirit, who humble themselves and cry out for mercy and turn from their sin, Jesus is a tender healer and life-giver. “He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick.”

To read or listen to the rest of this sermon, “The Spirit Is upon Him Gentle for Now”, click here: