All about bruised reeds and smouldering wicks

A bruised reed he will not break,

    and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. Matthew 12:20

My, we Christians can be a pretty quarrelsome lot, can’t we?

Look back over two thousand years of church history and what do you find? Answer: splits and splinters, arguments and wars (sometimes literal, sometimes theological), massive fallings-out, hatreds, even killings. True, there’s been a lot of wonderful stuff as well – let’s not be ashamed to highlight that fact - but there’s no doubt that divisions, factions and enmities are often what catch the eye. Oh dear! How alien this is to the spirit of Jesus.

Matthew 12:20 gives us a strange but rather beautiful description of his personality, and the way he went about his ministry. Matthew tells us that he wasn’t interested in “breaking bruised reeds” or “snuffing out smouldering wicks”. That’s a striking turn of phrase! What does it mean?

Matthew is in fact borrowing words from Isaiah 42:1-4, where the prophet speaks about the mysterious figure called “the servant of the Lord”, a figure whom the early church couldn’t help but identify with Jesus of Nazareth - once his first followers had witnessed him proclaiming the kingdom of God, healing the sick and even raising the dead, it became apparent to them that this was indeed the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy.

It’s worth quoting the Isaiah passage more fully, putting the part about reeds and wicks back where it belongs…

… Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill. He warned them not to tell others about him. This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

 

“Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
    the one I love, in whom I delight.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
    and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
He will not quarrel or cry out;
    no one will hear his voice in the streets.

A bruised reed he will not break,
    and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he has brought justice through to victory.

In his name the nations will put their hope.”

There’s a lot one could draw from that passage, but what strikes me is the way it spotlights Jesus’ quiet manner. He didn’t “quarrel” or “cry out” or “raise his voice in the streets”. He was no ranter or blusterer. In terms of our modern world, he wasn’t the kind of person to take to social media in order to fling out angry, ignorant or vicious opinions. (Might there be a word there for some of us?)

 

Certainly, there were times he could be quite ferociously outspoken; witness his disputes with the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23:13-36). But that was a blast against hypocrisy, which he detested, and could find no excuse for (might that too be a word for some of us?). The words of the old children’s hymn, “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild”, though perhaps rather sentimental, are still worth pondering.

 

Going back to the bruised reed and the smouldering wick, they are a clear reminder that not all Bible truth is literal truth. They are figures of speech, “metaphors”, like so much else in the Bible, and they serve to illustrate something far more important. After all, as I said earlier, Jesus had no particular interest in reeds, bruised or otherwise, or in wicks, smouldering or otherwise.

 

To me, the bruised reed is the broken person: the person who has suffered great pain or injustice, and who can’t imagine ever getting over it. Perhaps it’s because of marriage or other relationship hurts; perhaps injustice at work; perhaps a major disappointment; perhaps being let down by a once-friend; perhaps serious illness, whether physical or mental; perhaps some kind of addiction.

 

Whatever, you sometimes hear people say, “I felt as if I had been tossed on the scrap-heap”. In which case the message is good news: Whatever this big, brash, go-getting world may do to you, however much it may despise and dismiss you, Jesus never tosses anybody on the scrap-heap; he works to comfort, mend and heal. If I may put words into his mouth, he says, “I still value you; I still have a meaning and purpose for your life; I will never leave you or forsake you; I will never give up on you; trust in me”.

 

And the smouldering wick? I see this as the person who is, to use an in- phrase, “burnt out”. No energy, enthusiasm or motivation; just dragging him or herself from one wearisome duty to another: only half alive, if that.  A candle-flame guttering just before extinction is a perfect illustration of this kind of person. And to them is given the promise of Jesus: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). As if to say: I have come to patiently nurse that dying flame back to life.

 

If anyone reading this is in this kind of situation, all I can do is urge you: Remember the bruised reed… remember the smouldering wick… And turn your face to the gentle, quiet, loving face of Jesus!

 

Lord Jesus, thank you that you don’t cast us off when we are beaten by the pressures of life or even when we give way to sin. Thank you that you offer us forgiveness, new life, new hope, and never-failing love. Help me to live in the light of that love. Amen.