Smoldering Wicks
Read Matthew 12:1-21.
Watch as it just barely hangs on. The candle has been extinguished, but a bit of life remains in it. There is still smoke rising, and as I learned around a Boy Scout campfire, "where there's smoke, there's fire." There's still a bit of fire in that candle, even after it's been "put out." The wick is still smoldering. With a small amount of encouragement, it might even burn brightly again. But most of the time (because only YOU can prevent forest fires), we either watch to make sure the smoke stops or we take additional action to make sure the fire is out.
And there are people who do that with other people, too. Their energy is almost gone, their enthusiasm is low, and rather than offer encouragement, there are folks who seem to specialize in making sure the smoldering wick is fully put out. When a person's "wick" is smoldering, there are two choices: put it out or give it encouragement. What kind of a person are you in those situations?
Matthew, in observing the actions of Jesus in this first part of chapter 12, remembers a passage in Isaiah 42, a passage that describes what some have come to call the "Suffering Servant." Most agree today that, in Isaiah's day, those passages were meant not to describe an individual but rather they were to give the shape to Israel's life. Israel was God's child, God's servant. They were to be the light to the nations, blessed to be a blessing. Yet, when Israel chose another direction, the Gospel writers saw that, ultimately, those passages came to be fulfilled in Jesus. He became what Israel could not be—the suffering servant, the Son of God.
And so Matthew tells how Jesus tenderly dealt with matters of the Sabbath, with a man who had a shriveled hand, and with many others who needed healing, he recalls the way Isaiah describes the servant: as a person who would not break a bruised reed or extinguish a smoldering wick. He would deal with people as people, not as projects. He would tenderly care for people in such a way that their woundedness is not made worse. He would bring healing, hope, encouragement, life. And he stands in contrast to every way the world normally deals with people. He deals with the broken in such a way as to bring strength.
Not so the world. Not so even the church. Those who are in the way we move over. Those who are hurting we push aside. Those who are recalcitrant in their sin we write off. But that's the difference between Jesus and us, and that's why, according to both Isaiah and Matthew, the nations put their hope in his name and not ours. Because he knows how to deal with smoldering wicks.
Watch as it just barely hangs on. The candle has been extinguished, but a bit of life remains in it. There is still smoke rising, and as I learned around a Boy Scout campfire, "where there's smoke, there's fire." There's still a bit of fire in that candle, even after it's been "put out." The wick is still smoldering. With a small amount of encouragement, it might even burn brightly again. But most of the time (because only YOU can prevent forest fires), we either watch to make sure the smoke stops or we take additional action to make sure the fire is out.
And there are people who do that with other people, too. Their energy is almost gone, their enthusiasm is low, and rather than offer encouragement, there are folks who seem to specialize in making sure the smoldering wick is fully put out. When a person's "wick" is smoldering, there are two choices: put it out or give it encouragement. What kind of a person are you in those situations?
Matthew, in observing the actions of Jesus in this first part of chapter 12, remembers a passage in Isaiah 42, a passage that describes what some have come to call the "Suffering Servant." Most agree today that, in Isaiah's day, those passages were meant not to describe an individual but rather they were to give the shape to Israel's life. Israel was God's child, God's servant. They were to be the light to the nations, blessed to be a blessing. Yet, when Israel chose another direction, the Gospel writers saw that, ultimately, those passages came to be fulfilled in Jesus. He became what Israel could not be—the suffering servant, the Son of God.
And so Matthew tells how Jesus tenderly dealt with matters of the Sabbath, with a man who had a shriveled hand, and with many others who needed healing, he recalls the way Isaiah describes the servant: as a person who would not break a bruised reed or extinguish a smoldering wick. He would deal with people as people, not as projects. He would tenderly care for people in such a way that their woundedness is not made worse. He would bring healing, hope, encouragement, life. And he stands in contrast to every way the world normally deals with people. He deals with the broken in such a way as to bring strength.
Not so the world. Not so even the church. Those who are in the way we move over. Those who are hurting we push aside. Those who are recalcitrant in their sin we write off. But that's the difference between Jesus and us, and that's why, according to both Isaiah and Matthew, the nations put their hope in his name and not ours. Because he knows how to deal with smoldering wicks.
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