Matthew 12:14 - Meaning and Application

As in Christ’s greatest suffering there were signs of his dignity, so in his greatest honors there were signs of his humility. Even when his mighty works gave him a chance to appear great, he showed that he emptied himself and took the lowest place.

Here we see, first, the bitter hatred of the Pharisees against Christ (Matthew 12:14). They were angered by the clear proof of his miracles, so they went out and held a meeting about how to destroy him. What upset them was not only that his miracles made their own honor look small, but also that his teaching stood against their pride, their hypocrisy, and their love of worldly gain. Still, they claimed to be offended because he broke the Sabbath, which the law treated as a capital crime (Exodus 35:2). It is nothing new to see wicked behavior covered by fine-sounding excuses.

Notice their planning. They took counsel together and worked out the best way to carry out their plan. They also took counsel in private, so they could stir one another up and help each other. Notice too their cruelty. They did not plan merely to imprison or send him away, but to destroy him, to kill the One who had come so that we might have life. What shame was laid on our Lord Jesus when they treated him like a criminal and a danger to the country, when he was in fact the greatest blessing of it, the Glory of his people Israel.

Second, we see Christ withdrawing at this time, choosing quietness rather than danger, not because he was done with his work, but because his hour had not yet come (Matthew 12:15). He could have protected himself by a miracle, but instead he chose the ordinary way of leaving and staying out of sight. In this, as in other things, he submitted to the harmless weaknesses of our human nature. He humbled himself by using the same kind of escape that helpless people often use.

This also gave an example of his own teaching: when they persecute you in one city, flee to another. Christ had already said and done enough to convince the Pharisees, if reason or miracles would have moved them. But instead of yielding, they became harder and more angry, so he left them as people beyond help (Jeremiah 51:9). He did not withdraw for comfort or to excuse himself from service. His private times were still filled with good work, and he kept doing good even while he was forced to flee.

In this way he set an example for his servants, to do what they can when they cannot do what they would, and to keep teaching even when they are pushed into hidden places. When the Pharisees, the leading teachers of the nation, drove Christ away, the common people still crowded after him. Great multitudes followed him and found him. Some would mock this and call him the leader of the crowd, but it was really an honor to him that all who were open-minded and not blinded by worldly show were so eager to follow him, even through danger.

It was also an honor to his grace that the poor heard the good news. When they received him, he received them and healed them all. Christ came into the world as a general Physician, like the sun to the lower world, bringing healing under his wings. Though the Pharisees persecuted him for doing good, he kept on doing it, and he did not let the people suffer because their rulers were wicked. If some are unkind to us, that should not make us unkind to others.

Christ also joined usefulness with privacy. He healed them all, yet charged them not to make him known (Matthew 12:16). This can be seen in three ways. First, it was wise. It was not so much the miracles themselves as the public talk about them that stirred the Pharisees up (Matthew 12:23-24). So Christ would still do good, but with as little noise as possible, to avoid provoking them and to protect himself. Good and wise people want to do good, but they do not crave attention for it. They seek God’s approval, not human praise.

Second, it was a fitting judgment on the Pharisees, who did not deserve to hear about any more miracles after treating the ones they had seen so lightly. By closing their eyes to the light, they lost the benefit of it. Third, it showed humility and self-denial. Christ’s miracles were meant to prove that he was the Messiah and to lead people to believe in him, so they often had to be known. Yet at times he told people to keep them quiet, teaching us not to advertise our own goodness or usefulness, or to want others to do it for us. Christ wanted his disciples to be the opposite of those who do all their works to be seen by people.

Third, we see the Scriptures being fulfilled in all of this (Matthew 12:17). Christ withdrew into privacy and obscurity, and though he was hidden, the word of God was fulfilled and honored, which was what he cared about most. The Scripture quoted here is Isaiah 42:1-4, and it is quoted more fully in Matthew 12:18-21. Its point is to show how gentle and quiet, yet how successful, our Lord Jesus would be in his work. We have seen both of those things in the verses just before this.

Notice, first, the Father’s delight in Christ (Matthew 12:18): “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased.” From this we learn that our Savior was God’s servant in the great work of our redemption. He submitted himself to the Father’s will (Hebrews 10:7) and set himself to serve the plan of God’s grace and the honor of God’s glory in repairing the damage caused by human rebellion. As a servant, he had a great task given to him and a great trust placed in him. This was part of his humiliation, that though he was equal with God, he took the form of a servant in the work of our salvation, accepted a command, and entered into obedience. Though he was a Son, he learned obedience (Hebrews 5:8). His motto is, “I serve.”

We also learn that Jesus Christ was chosen by God as the only fit person for the great work of our redemption. He is the servant God chose, fully equal to the task. No one else could do the work of the Redeemer, and no one else was fit to wear the Redeemer’s crown.

He was one chosen from among the people, chosen by infinite wisdom for a place of service and honor that no mere human or angel could fill. Only Christ could do it, so that in everything he would have first place (Psalm 89:19). Christ did not force himself into this work. He was properly appointed to it, and he is God’s Chosen One, the head of all election, the one in whom all the rest are chosen (Ephesians 1:4).

Jesus Christ is also God’s Beloved Son. As God, he had been in the Father’s embrace from eternity (John 1:18), and he was always the Father’s delight (Proverbs 8:30). Before time began, the Father and the Son shared an eternal and wonderful love, and so the Lord possessed him at the beginning of his way (Proverbs 8:22). As Mediator, meaning the one who stands between God and sinners, the Father also loved him, even when it pleased the Lord to crush him and he willingly submitted to it (John 10:17).

Jesus Christ is the one in whom the Father is fully pleased. That means the highest possible approval and delight. God declared from heaven that Jesus was his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased. He is pleased with him because Jesus gladly took on the great work that was so dear to God’s heart, and he is pleased with us in him, since he has made us accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6). All the favor fallen humanity can ever have with God rests on God’s good pleasure in Jesus Christ, because no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6).

The Father also promised two things to him. First, he would be fully equipped for his work. “I will put my Spirit upon him,” meaning the Spirit would give him wisdom and counsel, as Isaiah says (Isaiah 11:2-3). When God calls anyone to service, he also equips that person for it, and that proves he truly called them, as he did with Moses (Exodus 4:12). Christ, as God, was equal with the Father in power and glory. As Mediator, he received power and glory from the Father, and he received them in order to give them. Everything the Father gave him to prepare him for his mission is summed up in this, “I will put my Spirit upon him.” This was the oil of gladness with which he was anointed above his companions (Hebrews 1:9). He received the Spirit without limit, not in part but in full (John 3:34).

Whoever God chooses and loves, he will also put his Spirit on. Wherever he gives his love, he also gives some likeness to himself.

Second, the Father promised that Christ would succeed fully in his work. Those whom God sends, he will surely honor. It had long been promised to our Lord Jesus that the Lord’s good plan would prosper in his hand (Isaiah 53:10). Here we are told what that prospering would look like. He would show judgment to the Gentiles. Christ, in his own person, preached to people near the regions of the nations, and through his apostles he showed his gospel, called here his judgment, to the Gentile world (Mark 3:6-8). The way of salvation, the judgment entrusted to the Son, was not only carried out by him as our great High Priest, but also shown and published by him as our great Prophet.

The gospel, as a rule for life that works to change hearts and lives, would be shown to the Gentiles. God’s judgments had once been given especially to the Jews (Psalm 147:19), but the Old Testament prophets had often said they would also be shown to the Gentiles. So this should not have surprised the unbelieving Jews, much less upset them. In his name the Gentiles will trust (Matthew 12:21). He would show judgment to them in such a way that they would pay attention to it, be shaped by it, and learn to depend on him, give themselves to him, and live by his rule.

The great aim of the gospel is to bring people to trust in the name of Jesus Christ. His name means Savior, a precious name, and also Lord our Righteousness. The evangelist here follows the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, though it may also be that later copies of the Septuagint followed the evangelist. The Hebrew text says, “The isles shall wait for his law” (Isaiah 42:4). The islands of the Gentiles are spoken of in Genesis 10:5, as settled by the sons of Japheth, of whom it was said, “God shall persuade Japheth to dwell in the tents of Shem” (Genesis 9:27). That was now being fulfilled when the islands, meaning the Gentiles, would wait for his law and trust in his name. Compare these phrases and notice that only those who wait for Christ’s law, with a settled resolve to obey it, can trust his name with confidence. Also notice that the law we wait for is the law of faith, the law of trusting in his name. This is now his great commandment, that we believe in Christ (1 John 3:23).

The prophecy also describes his gentle and quiet way of carrying out his mission. It is mainly for that reason that it is quoted here, because Christ had been withdrawing from notice. He would not carry on his work with noise or boasting. He will not quarrel or shout. Christ and his kingdom do not come with outward show (Luke 17:20-21). When the Firstborn was brought into the world, it was not with royal display. He made no grand public entrance and had no heralds announcing him as king. He was in the world, and the world did not know him. Those who expected a showy Savior were mistaken.

His voice was not heard in the streets with cries like, “Look, here is Christ,” or, “Look, there he is.” He spoke in a quiet, gentle way that invited all and frightened none. He did not seek to make a scene, but came down quietly like dew. What he said and did was marked by deep humility and self-denial. His kingdom is spiritual, so it is not advanced by force, violence, or proud claims. The kingdom of God is not about words only, but about power.

He would also carry out his work without harshness or severity (Matthew 12:20). A bruised reed he will not break. Some understand this as patience toward the wicked. He could have broken these Pharisees as easily as a bruised reed, and snuffed them out as quickly as smoking flax, but he will not do that until the day of judgment, when all his enemies will be made his footstool. Others think it refers instead to his power and grace in supporting the weak. In general, the gospel sets out a way of salvation that welcomes sincerity, even where there is much weakness. It does not demand sinless obedience, but accepts an upright and willing heart. As for those who follow Christ with meekness, reverence, and much trembling, their case is described here as a bruised reed and smoking flax.

Young believers are weak, like a bruised reed. Their weakness is also offensive, like smoking flax. They have some life in them, but it is only a little, like a reed that has been crushed. They have some warmth too, but only like a wick that smokes after the flame has gone out. Christ’s disciples were still weak at this point, and many in his family are weak in the same way.

What, then, is our Lord Jesus’ attitude toward them? He will not discourage them, much less reject them or cast them aside. The bruised reed will not be broken and trampled down. Instead, it will be supported and made strong, like a cedar or a thriving palm tree. The candle that has just been lit, though it only smokes and does not yet burn brightly, will not be blown out, but stirred into flame. The day of small things is still a day of precious things, so he does not despise it, but makes it a day of great things (Zechariah 4:10). Our Lord Jesus deals very gently with those who truly have grace, even when their grace is weak (Isaiah 40:11; Hebrews 5:2). He remembers not only that we are dust, but that we are flesh.

The good result of this is hinted at in the words, till he send forth judgment unto victory. The judgment he showed to the Gentiles, that is, to the nations, will be victorious. He will go on conquering until he has fully conquered (Revelation 6:2). Both the preaching of the gospel in the world and the power of the gospel in the heart will succeed. Grace will gain the upper hand over sin and corruption, and in the end it will be completed in glory. Christ’s judgment will be brought to victory, because when he judges, he will overcome. He will bring forth judgment unto truth (Isaiah 42:3). Truth and victory are much the same, because truth is great and will prevail.