"The Servant who conquers not by quarreling, but by redeeming" Wednesday of Trinity 13 2025

17. September 2025
Wednesday of Trinity 13
Matthew 12:14-21

In the holy name of Jesus. Amen.

Matthew tells us: “The Pharisees went out and conspired against Jesus, how to destroy Him. Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed Him, and He healed them all, and ordered them not to make Him known” (Matt. 12:14–16).

It is striking, isn’t it? When opposed, when plotted against, when threatened with destruction, our Lord does not rally His disciples for debate or retaliation. He does not argue in the public square, nor raise His voice above theirs. Instead, He withdraws. He heals. He hushes the crowds.

Why? Matthew explains: “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah” (Matt. 12:17).

And then comes the most extended Old Testament quotation in Matthew’s Gospel: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon Him, and He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not quench, until He brings justice to victory; and in His name the Gentiles will hope” (Isa. 42:1–4).

This is Jesus: the Spirit-anointed Servant, chosen and beloved of the Father, who does not conquer by shouting, does not redeem by politicking, does not establish His kingdom by power plays. He redeems by mercy. He conquers by weakness. He saves by suffering.

This silence is not cowardice. Elsewhere, Jesus does confront the Pharisees—calling them a brood of vipers (Matt. 12:34), warning of the yeast of their teaching (Matt. 16:6), exposing their greed and hypocrisy (Luke 11:39). He overturns tables in the temple (Matt. 21:12). He speaks the truth boldly.

However, in Matthew 12, He remains silent. Because it is not yet the hour, he knows that His true confrontation is not with Pharisees or Sadducees, not with Rome or Herod, but—as Paul says—“against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).

And that confrontation will come in Holy Week: In Gethsemane, when He submits to arrest. Before Caiaphas, when false witnesses accuse Him. Before Pilate, when He gives no answer (Matt. 27:14). Upon the cross, where He bears sin and shame, praying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”(Luke 23:34).

His silence here is not surrender, but patience. He entrusts Himself to the Father, as Peter says: “When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly” (1 Pet. 2:23).

Isaiah’s image is tender: “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not quench” (Isa. 42:3). That is you. Bruised, bent, nearly broken. Smoldering, faint, almost extinguished. And what does Christ do? Not cast you aside. Not demand you prove your worth. Not shout louder to force your loyalty. No—He upholds you. He breathes His Spirit upon you. He restores and rekindles.

This is what He does for all the bruised reeds in the Gospels: The woman at the well, worn out by shame (John 4); The woman caught in adultery, dragged into public disgrace (John 8); The tax collector despised by his neighbors (Luke 19); The thief crucified beside Him, guilty as charged (Luke 23); He does not break them. He forgives. He restores. He saves.

But we do not live this way, do we? We prefer the Jesus who argues, who wins the debate, who “owns” His opponents. We live in what some call an “age of outrage,” where every slight must be avenged, every insult magnified online, every disagreement weaponized for public shame.

It is easy to baptize this as boldness or steadfastness. But is it the Spirit of Christ? Paul warns: “The works of the flesh are evident: enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions” (Gal. 5:19–20). But “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23).

To confess Christ boldly is not to out-shout the world. It is to bear the cross. It is to endure scorn with patience. It is to bless when cursed, to pray for enemies, to entrust all judgment to the Lord. “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing” (1 Pet. 3:9).

Jesus does not justify Himself before the Pharisees here. He doesn’t need to, for the Father Himself will justify Him. How? By the resurrection. On Easter morning, the stone rolls away, and the Father declares His Servant righteous—publicly, forever, for the world. As Paul says: “He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).

His vindication is yours. His victory is yours. His resurrection is your hope.

So you need not win every argument. You need not fight every slight. You need not raise your voice to prove yourself right. Your justification is already secure in Christ. Your vindication is already declared in His empty tomb.

Isaiah concludes: “In His name the Gentiles will hope” (Isa. 42:4). That is us—outsiders made heirs, enemies made children, sinners made saints.

So let us live as people of hope. Hope that does not quarrel or cry aloud, but prays. Hope that does not break bruised reeds, but binds them up. Hope that does not quench smoldering wicks, but fans them into flame. Hope that looks not to the noise of the world, but to the quiet mercy of Christ. For in His name, you have forgiveness. In His name, you have peace. In His name, you have life everlasting.

Beloved, the Servant has come. He has borne your griefs and carried your sorrows (Isa. 53:4). He has entered your silence and filled it with His Word of life. He has faced the true enemy—sin, death, and the devil—and has triumphed by cross and resurrection.

So entrust yourself to Him. Be still, and know that He is God (Ps. 46:10). And let your life reflect the Jesus of this Gospel text—the Servant who conquers not by quarreling, but by redeeming; not by shouting, but by dying and rising for the world.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
St. John Ev. Lutheran Church & School - Sherman Center
Random Lake, Wisconsin