Look at Him!

For the past few weeks we’ve been considering the theme of rest from Matthew chapter 11 and 12. Jesus promised rest to the heavy and burdened who came to him, and immediately Matthew showed us two controversies that happened between Jesus and the Pharisees on the Sabbath day, which was Israel’s day of rest. And we saw how Jesus’ burden really is easier and lighter than the regulations of the Pharisees.

A question we did not specifically ask last week is: what about the Sabbath for us today? Are Christians supposed to take a day off? Am I allowed to mow my grass or work on homework on Sunday? What about making food to bring to a potluck?

I’m not going to answer those questions today, but I’ll let you know that I did touch on those questions on a video I posted to our blog this week. You might not know that we have a blog on our website—you can always see the latest post right on the front page of the website or if you follow us on Facebook you’ll get the posts there as well. So if you want to explore the question of whether Christians need to take a day off or not, check out that post.

I also got a good question this week: if the Pharisees got in trouble for drawing lines in places the Bible doesn’t, then are we allowed to make decisions about anything the Bible doesn’t directly address? You can see that answer in the video as well.

Just a reminder that if you have questions at all about anything you hear in the sermon, you can go to the church center app or website, which you can find out about in the tear-off in your bulletin. Once you’re in the app or on that website, tap on “question box,” ask away, and I’ll do my best to answer those questions on the blog.

1. Strategic Withdrawal (v. 15)

Now, last week’s passage ended on a awful note—“But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.” The king has come, and the people supposed to be waiting for him want to kill him. And what does Jesus do?

He withdraws from there. He leaves.

This is not the first time in the gospel of Matthew that Jesus or others have “withdrawn” from somewhere to avoid the danger of those who wants to kill them.

Three times Matthew uses this same Greek word for the Magi and Joseph to describe them avoiding Herod and his son (Matthew 2:12, 13, 22). Jesus “withdraws” after John is arrested and later after He is beheaded (4:12, 14:13).

This is a pattern. And what we need to understand here is that these withdrawals are strategic withdrawals. They are not the movements of a cowardly man who is afraid of controversy. We saw that pretty clearly last week: Jesus is not afraid of offending the Pharisees when He needs to.

But the time has not yet come for him to die. He still has a ministry to fulfill. Things to teach to His disciples. People to heal. Places to preach. Righteousness to fulfill.

When the time comes for Him to lay down His life, He will go to Jerusalem and unload on the Pharisees without holding anything back. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). Matthew 23 is one long rebuke of the Pharisees and Jesus’ holy rage against that brood of vipers almost makes your ears blister. And how did they respond? They made plans to kill Him (Matthew 26:3-4), which they did within days.

So the issue is not Jesus being timid. The issue is timing. And so this tension between confronting the Pharisees in last week’s passage, and withdrawing from them in this passage, shows that Jesus knows He is on a divine mission. He knows He is headed towards His death in Jerusalem, but is perfectly timing the speed at which He arrives at that destination. He’s feathering the throttle, applying a little pressure to the brakes, carefully adjusting the speed so that He dies when the time is just right.

And it’s not right yet. So He withdraws from there.

2. Secret Miracles (vv. 15b-16)

But He doesn’t go alone. Verse 15 goes on to say that “many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known.”

Jesus is followed by a group of people who need healing. And like we’ve seen in Matthew’s gospel several ties before, He has compassion on the crowds and heals them (Matthew 4:23, 24; 8:16; 9:35). And, like we’ve seen before, He does this healing in secret. Or at least attempted secrecy. “He ordered them not to make Him known.”

Once again, this wasn’t because Jesus was shy or timid. Or, like so many modern fake healers, he could only “heal” pre-selected people in controlled environments. No, just a few verses before, He healed a man in the synagogue in front of everybody to prove a point!

Instead, Jesus heals in secret because he needs to carefully manage the enthusiasm of the crowds. The crowds weren’t quite as skeptical of Jesus as the Pharisees were. the more miracles they saw, the more they wanted to see. But like the Pharisees, most people in the crowds didn’t really understand what Jesus’ true identity and mission was.

They wanted a political Messiah who would kick out the Romans and give them their best life now. They think Jesus is it, and John’s gospel tells us that after one particular miracle, the crowds “were about to come and take him by force to make him king” (John 6:15).

And if that had happened, that would have completely derailed Jesus’ ministry. Even if that didn’t happen, the more popular Jesus got, the more the Pharisees grew in jealousy and wanted him dead. Which again is why Jesus times things carefully. He waits until close to the end of his ministry to raise Lazarus from the dead, because He knew what would happen next. “The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, ‘What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation’” (John 11:47–48).

So once again, Jesus is feathering the throttle. He’s carefully timing everything, doing these miracles in secret in order to manage the enthusiasm of the crowds.

And we should be amazed by this. Because what do we see here? We see a Jesus who cares for people and wants to relive their suffering because they matter to Him, not just to get famous.

Isn’t this so different from how people work? Don’t we have to fight the feeling that doing a good work in secret is kind of a waste? Pics or it didn’t happen. And this isn’t just a modern problem. Remember the Sermon on the Mount? “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 6:1).

The Pharisees sounded trumpets when they gave and prayed on the street corners, loving to be seen by others. And it’s easy to criticize them, but if we had power like Jesus did, how many of us would have gotten ourselves killed because we couldn’t resist the limelight? We couldn’t resist the cheering crowds? We couldn’t resist the allure of fame and seeing people line up for hours to see us?

And how many famous Christians have gotten themselves killed—not by angry enemies, but by their own sin as the fame got to their head and ruined them. Everyone is so surprised when famous Christians fall, but maybe the fame itself has something to do with it.

And just look at Jesus, with literally all the power in the world, stepping away from the public stage to spend time with sick people in secret. Doing jaw-dropping miracles, and telling people to keep it quiet. This is amazing.

3. Fulfilled Words (v. 17)

And it’s no surprise that Matthew wants us to see this and be amazed by this. In fact, in this quiet humility of Jesus Matthew sees a fulfillment of prophecy, which he points us towards in verse 17: “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah.” And so begins Matthew’s longest Old Testament quotation in his whole book. That’s quite something, because Matthew has quoted the Old Testament a lot. And He spends the most words to point out, not Jesus’ power, but His humility.

These words are drawn from Isaiah chapter 42, which comes in a larger section of Isaiah filled with hopeful promises of God coming to save His people. And Isaiah 42 contains the first of four “Servant Songs” which speak about the “Servant of the Lord” and His role in bringing God’s salvation to the nations.

And what’s interesting is that this “Servant of the Lord” at first sounds like it’s the whole nation of Israel. Isaiah 41 actually says “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, ‘You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off’” (Isaiah 41:8–9).

The servant is Israel. But as we progress through the four servant songs, more and more the servant sounds like an individual within Israel. And by the time we get to the final servant song, in Isaiah 53, we see quite clearly this is a person who will save Israel by bearing Israel’s sin.

But back here in Isaiah 42 it’s a little unclear. It sounds here like the servant is the nation of Israel. So is Matthew being accurate to apply these words to Jesus?

The answer is yes, and here’s why: throughout Matthew’s gospel, Jesus has been presented as the New Israel. Just like Jesus is the second Adam, so Jesus is the New Israel. Earlier in Matthew, we saw Jesus re-live the history of Israel as he went to Israel and back, passed through the water, and spent 40 days being tested in the wilderness. Every time Jesus responded to Satan he quoted from passages in Deuteronomy which described Israel’s time in the wilderness.

Those are just some of the ways we see Jesus embody Israel’s identity and history and mission in Himself. If any of this sounds confusing, there’s a sermon on our website from Matthew 2 called “Jesus, the New Israel” which explains some of this some more.

The big idea for us today is that when we look at Isaiah 42, and ask “Is this about Israel or the Messiah?” the answer is “yes,” because in Jesus both of these things are true.

And with that question answered, let’s consider what this prophecy actually says. What’s going on in these words?

a. The Lord’s Delight (18a)

The first reality we find in these verses is the Lord’s delight. Verse 18: “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” (Matthew 12:18). Can you feel the love of the Father for His son in these words?

Look at my servant! That’s my beloved. My soul is well-pleased with Him.

We’ve heard words like this before in Matthew’s gospel. Right after Jesus was baptized, “a voice from heaven said, ’This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Those words pointed to Isaiah 42 and echo the Father’s sheer delight in His son. He loves Him. He is pleased by Him. He wants people to see Him and notice him.

This servant is not just an employee. Yes, He serves the Lord, but He serves as a Son. And the Father is full of joy in His son.

Dads in the room, can you feel this? Do you know the pleasure of seeing one of your children and thinking, “That’s my child!” I had several moments just this week where I looked at each one of my children and thought, “Wow, this person is amazing. I’m so pleased with them.”

How much greater must be the delight of the eternal Heavenly Father in His perfectly faithful and humble son? Boundless love delighting with boundless strength in ultimate perfection. These few words here can barely contain the reservoirs of infinite joy that the Father has in His Servant and His Son.

As the Father sees Jesus step back and use His power in humble love for broken people, He overflows with joy and delight and pleasure in His perfect Servant.

b. Empowered Mission (18b)

Isaiah’s prophecy next points to the servant’s empowered mission. As verse 18 goes on to say, “I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.” The very Spirit of God will rest upon this servant—something we saw at Jesus’ baptism when the dove from heaven descended and rested on Him. And being so empowered, He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

The Hebrew word and idea for “justice” here is a lot bigger than just the English word. It points to a restoration of the entire order of creation that’s been in chaos ever since Adam sinned in the garden. The Lord’s servant, empowered by the Spirit, is going to bring divine order back—and not just to Israel, but to the Gentiles. In other words, to the whole world.

Isn’t this a fulfillment of what we’ve been looking at in Sunday school? God’s promise to bless the nations through Abraham’s offspring? That offspring is this servant, this Son, who is about the business of making all things new.

c. Humble Power (19)

And yet, this mission and power is a quiet and humble power, as we see in verse 19: “He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;” (Matthew 12:19).

The servant, empowered for a global mission, is not out to attract attention to Himself. Even as He proclaims justice, He’s content to be away from the limelight. He’s content to be humble and quiet. He knows how to back away from a fight, how to keep His voice down. He’s not a troublemaker.

This is perhaps the key verse in this passage that Matthew sees reflected in Jesus’ quiet withdrawal from the public sphere. An absolutely powerful Jesus who could have whipped the crowds into a frenzy, who only has three years of ministry, patiently practices quietness for a time. Be amazed by this.

d. Gentle Touch (20a)

Not only is he humble, but He’s also gentle. Verse 20: “a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench.” These words point to the gentleness of Jesus.

A reed is a tall hollow grassy plant that grows in wetlands. It’s already a fragile plant, and when part of it has been bruised or crushed, how hard is it to break it all the way? It’s not hard at all. In fact, it’s hard not to break it. And why wouldn’t you? A bruised reed has no value for anything. But that’s the point. Jesus is gentle with those who are weak and worthless in the eyes of the world.

Similarly, think of a smouldering wick. This doesn’t mean a candle, but the small oil lamps that were used in the ancient world. When the oil ran out, the flaxen wick began to burn and apparently it smelled terrible. The natural thing is to snuff it out, but Jesus doesn’t do that. He’s patient with those who are burnt out with nothing left.

These words, and the actions that they speak of, help flesh out what Jesus meant when He said He was gentle and lowly. And they also show that Jesus really cares for the sick and the weak. By healing in secret, he shows that He’s not using sick people merely as a platform to get famous. He cares for the fragile and the burnt out because that’s who He is. The broken and the weak are safe with Him.

e. Fulfilled Mission (20b-21)

And this gentleness with the weak isn’t something He does once and a while. It’s in His nature, and He will be this way until His mission is fulfilled. Until He brings justice to victory, as verse 20 goes on to say—in other words, until He’s won.

Time and time again Scripture pictures the triumph of the Messiah as the victory of justice over all the world. Isaiah 11 says that the endgame of the Messiah’s mission is that “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious” (Isaiah 11:9–10).

And Philippians 2:10-11 says that one day, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10–11).

Jesus will lead justice all the way to global, even cosmic victory, judging the wicked, and saving those who repent. Verse 21 says that “in his name the Gentiles will hope.” God promised Abraham that His offspring would bring blessing to the nations—the same word as used here for Gentiles. Israel was supposed to fulfill this mission, but they failed time and time again. Didn’t we see that over the summer in the book of Judges?

So Jesus the Messiah comes and takes up Israel’s mission and this time He will fulfill it. He’s fulfilling it now as His people make disciples of all nations, and one day this mission will be complete as people from every tribe and language and people and nation worship around His throne.

Though the leaders of Israel might reject Him, they can’t stop him. His word spreads and His glory abounds until justice is brought to victory, finally, forever.

Conclusion

And that is where Matthew concludes his quotation from Isaiah. Jesus is the fulfillment of these ancient words, the perfectly humble yet completely powerful servant of the Lord who cares for the broken and triumphs over His rebellious enemies.

And at this point in the message it’s common for us to ask, “What are we supposed to do with this? How are you and I supposed to respond to this passage?”

And there could be a few ways of answering that question. We could talk about the importance of following Jesus’ example of humility—not getting swept up with success and popularity. We could talk about his example gentleness, and how we need to be people who don’t snap bruised reeds or snuff out smoking wicks. Our church should be a safe place for tired and broken and burnt-out people who know that they will hear the truth but always in love.

We could talk about the part that we play in the victory of Jesus. Right now, Jesus is blessing the nations through His church as we fulfill the Great Commission. The Gentiles hope in him to the extent that we tell them about Him.

And none of that would be inappropriate, which is why I’ve mentioned it here. But I don’t think either of these really gets at the big idea in this passage in terms of how God is specifically calling us to respond.

Because this passage has a command for us. It tells us to do something. Not many things. Just one thing.

Do you see it? Do you see the command for us in this passage?

It’s right there in verse 18: “Behold!” Look! Look at my servant! Just look at him!

This is what God wants us to do. He wants us to see Jesus. Jesus is humble, stepping back from the spotlight. But the Father wants us to see even this. He wants us to see His Servant and His Son and be amazed by Him.

This word “behold” is used so often in the Bible that I wonder how often we miss it. It’s used 187 times in the New Testament, 57 of them in Matthew.

And it means “look.” It’s the same word the Pharisees used in the last chapter in a negative way. “Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard” (Matthew 11:19). It’s the word the Pharisees used to tell Jesus about His disciple’s supposed law-breaking. “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:2).

But way more often, this word is used to tell us to look at something in the right way. Look! An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream (Matthew 1:20). Look! The star that they had seen went before them (Matthew 2:9). Look! The heavens were opened and the Spirit of God descended on him. Look! A voice from heaven said “This is my beloved son.” (Matthew 3:16-17). Look! A leper came to him and knelt before him (Matthew 8:2).

Look! There arose a great storm on the sea (8:24). Look! Many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus (Matthew 9:10).

Are we so used to these stories, are we so used to Jesus, that we’ve gotten bored of looking? Are our eyes distracted by so many other spectacles that we’ve missed the glory that shines out in every paragraph before us? Look at this. Look at Jesus. Behold my servant.

Brothers and sisters, we can barely overstate the importance of looking at Jesus. It’s by looking away from ourselves to Jesus that we found salvation in the first place. “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified” wrote Paul in Galatians 3:1. Just like the serpent lifted up in the wilderness, we look to Jesus on the cross in faith and are saved. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

It’s as we look at His glory in the gospel that we are transformed to be more like Him. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

It’s as we look to Jesus that we find the endurance to press on in faith and holiness. “…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus” (Hebrews 12:1–2).

If you spend your Christian life looking at yourself or even looking at other people around you you’re going to get discouraged. Look to Christ!

And looking to Jesus isn’t just a means to an end. Looking to Jesus is not only the way that we are saved and press on in salvation but it is the ultimate goal of our salvation. As Jesus prayed the night before He was crucified, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).

That’s going to be heaven, folks—seeing Jesus in all of His glory. And not just seeing Him, but loving Him with the very love that the Father has had for Him from all time. This is how Jesus finished that prayer that night: “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them’” (John 17:26).

That’s the goal of our salvation, folks. The very love that the Father has for His Son, being in us. The love that spills over in passages like the one before us today. “Behold my beloved with whom my soul is well-pleased!” That very love in us, as we are transformed to be able to eternally love Jesus with the infinite exuberance of the Father.

We cannot imagine any greater experience because there is no greater experience in heaven or earth, time or eternity. There is nothing more perfect and worthy of love than Jesus, and there is no one who loves Him more than His Heavenly Father, and there is no greater love than the love of the infinite and eternal God.

This is so different from us. Our sight is so weak and our love is so fickle. We can be swept up in the heights of passion one moment and brought down to distracted disinterest the next. One of our greatest struggles as humans is sustaining focus on that which is truly lovely, and being able to sustain love for that which is truly lovely without wavering.

There is truly no greater gift we could ever be given then to be saved and transformed and brought to heaven where we will be able to eternally, undistractingly see Jesus for all that He is and eternally, untiringly love Him with the very eternal love of God Himself.

And that is what Jesus came to invite us into. He lived and died and rose again so that we could see Him and love Him. The invitation in this passage—“behold my servant whom I have chosen”—is an invitation to an eternal life of unending, unmeasurable joy.

And brothers and sisters, the good news is that we don’t have to wait until then. Though we long to be rid of our flesh and our weakness and to enter into the fullness of joy, today we’ve been shown a glimpse of the glory of Jesus in His humble and gentle power. This is is why we gather Sunday by Sunday—not to perform a religious duty, but to see Jesus together. This is our prayer each day when we crack open our eyes and crack open our Bibles—“Lord, we would see Jesus.” This is why we fight for unity and love among one another, even when that’s a struggle—because we want the world to see Christ reflected in His body. This is our message to the unbelievers and nations—“look at him and live.”

So, brothers and sisters, look at Jesus today. Look at this servant with whom the Father is well pleased. See Him, full of the spirit, proclaiming justice to the nations. See His humble love, giving safety to weak and broken people, including you. See His victory. See Him as the hope of the nations. See Him here in His word. See Him in the bread and the cup, bloodied and broken for you, bringing you home with Him to see Him forever.

Look at Him! Look and live, now and forever.