“I will put my spirit upon him that he will declare justice the Gentiles.”
In this gospel reading St Matthew has Isaiah in mind when he endeavours to explain why the Lord warned the multitudes not to make his Ministry known.
What Matthew endeavoured to do was to declare Christ as the suffering servant. In chapter 53 of Isaiah we are introduced to the man of sorrows, one acquainted with grief, one from whom men hide their faces and one who was despised by all.
Over 2000 years ago our Lord entered human history in the most extra ordinary way. He chose to enter as a baby whilst remaining God. He grew in his human nature whilst always maintaining his Divinity. He came into the world not as a conquering emperor but as a defenceless baby in a manger. In short, Christ emptied himself, took the form of a servant, and humbled himself. He did this in order to express his love for all of us.
Christ refuses to use His power as He seeks to save the world. He became a man of sorrows. In the temptation story recorded in Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus refuses to establish His Kingdom here on earth through the use of power. Instead, His Kingdom will come, not in a triumphalistic imposition of His will on the nations, but through sacrificial love expressed in His death by dying on the cross. While He is hanging on Calvary’s tree, Jesus’ enemies taunt Him and shout, “Show us your power and come down from the cross, and then we will believe in you” (Matthew 27:39-42). But His way is not to use power and coerce humanity, but to draw humanity unto Himself through sacrificial love. It is in this way that he will not break a bruised reed or quench a smouldering wick to make the kingdom present.
The kingdom belongs to Gentiles for the Jews rejected him. Christ does not seek victory only, but Justice in victory. Christ wishes us all to follow true Christian justice, which can only be based in love, and after all the greatest love given to us was by Christ through his incarnation. Let us reflect upon that during this Christmas period.