He Will Not Cry Aloud

Day 17: Matthew 12:1-21

“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.” - Matthew 12:19-21 ESV

Have you ever been in an environment where the person who was the loudest received the most attention? Whether it is at home or church, or work, all of us have unfortunately experienced this. Then the more self-controlled individual ends up being ignored.

Have you also noticed that Jesus often would tell people upon whom His miracles fell not to let anyone know who healed them? Ever wondered why? In our Scripture for today, we see part of the answer to that question. He was fulfilling, yet again, the Messianic prophecy from Isaiah 42:1-3. Nothing Jesus did was unintentional.

Also, I think Jesus was showing us that we don't have to increase the volume of our voices to be heard. Try to wrap your mind around the fact of how many "Gentiles" (non-Jewish people) will be worshiping Jesus this coming Sunday morning. Literally, on every point of the globe, you'll see someone eating bread and drinking wine to remember what Jesus did on the cross.

Think Jesus needed to raise His voice in the streets to have eternal influence? Apparently not. Neither do we.

"From this text Matthew reminds his readers that Jesus was not a political or warrior messiah for the present time; he humbled himself as a suffering servant until the time when he would lead ‘justice to victory’ (12:20)." - Keener, C. S. (2009). The Gospel of Matthew (p. 361)