Matthew 12:15-21 (2)

Genesis 3: 8 “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

Revelation 22:1-4 “Then he showed me the river of living water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the broad street of the city. The tree of life was on both sides of the river, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His slaves will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.”

These bookends of God’s Word remind us that most of history is the account of humans hiding from God. Whatever the cause, hiding has been the go-to response for most people.

It didn’t take long for the Pharisees to determine that Jesus threatened their very understanding of what God was doing in the world. Rather than try and discern what God might be up to, the religious authorities chose to hide. This time they would hide in wide open spaces by eliminating Jesus - putting Him to death (Matt 12:14)

Jesus was fully aware of the schemes and plans of the religious establishment. His withdrawal was not rooted in fear. Instead, He withdrew because He wasn’t finished yet. God still had work for Jesus to do.

Reading through the all of gospels we learn that the crowds followed Jesus primarily because of what He as doing for them, not because they really understood who He was.

Matthew wanted his readers to understand that Jesus was indeed a healer - as vs 16 tells us, “He healed them all.”

Yet there is much more to who Jesus is. By taking a moment to recall a prophecy spoken some 700 years prior to the life of Jesus, Matthew helps us recognize that only Jesus is worthy of our hopes, only Jesus can lead us to the kind of relationship with God from which most of the world has been hiding!

Jesus: The Chosen One

Isaiah, some 700 years prior to the life of Jesus was drawing on centuries of God’s promises. In Abraham, whose story is recorded in Genesis we hear God promising to bless all the peoples on earth through he and his descendants.

Centuries later we hear God speak to a king named David that his kingdom, his reign and rule would be eternal.

In Isaiah, years and years after David continues to press the claims of God’s blessing - through Israel as a nation and through One whom would finally fulfill all God’s promises - the Chosen. Beloved Servant.

This is not the first time Matthew has shared with us God’s assessment of Jesus. Earlier, in Matthew 3, we overhear a conversation at Jesus’ baptism:

Matthew 3:17 “And there came a voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!”

This Chosen and Beloved One is the One in whom justice will be fully revealed.

He is the One in whom all nations will be able to place their hopes.

These two themes - justice and hope - have been the basis of much human effort over the millennia.

Justice as promised and proclaimed by both John the Baptist and Jesus was a powerful motivating factor in first century Jewish life. For the Jews, life under Roman occupation was the opposite of justice. When a Roman soldier could on a whim order imprisonment or death, justice seemed out of reach.

Hope in the NT is defined as the expectation of the future, the ability to trust God’s hand in guiding toward that future, and the ability to wait for God to act.

Jesus, the Chosen, Beloved One is the hope of the nations. In Him we see the possibility and promise of forgiveness of sin, in Him we are given a vision of a future that will be radically different than the present, and we have the strength of His presence to wait as God continues to work.

Jesus: The Anointed One

Abraham, David, and the multitude of prophets and preachers through the centuries were led by and prompted by the Holy Spirit.

Only Jesus, the Chosen and Beloved One, was One with the Spirit of God.

Later in this chapter we will watch Jesus confront one made blind and mute by the adversary (Matt 12: 22-ff).

As Jesus restores the man’s ability to see and speak, the Pharisees accuse Jesus of being in league with the devil himself.

Jesus’ reply - Matthew 12:28 “If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.” reminds us that He has a power unlike that of those who stood by unable to help the blind and mute man.

The Spirit of God is clearly seen in the way Jesus confronts disease and discomfort. Drawing on a power only available through God’s Holy Spirit Jesus confronts demons, dismisses diseases, and restores those whom the enemy has sought to destroy.

Jesus: The Lowly and Gentle in Heart

In Matthew 11 we heard Jesus call people to Himself with these words:

Matthew 11:28-30 ““Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.””

Though using different language Isaiah draws a similar picture - Matt 12:19-20 “He will not argue or shout, and no one will hear His voice in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed, and He will not put out a smoldering wick, until He has led justice to victory.”

Obviously Jesus was not ‘silent.’ What Isaiah pictures for us is a Messiah who draws people not by the power of argument but by the spirit of humility.

Bruised reeds and smoldering wicks were viewed as items that needed to be discarded, items that were no longer of value.

The Chosen One, because of His humility and gentleness doesn’t discard damaged or exhausted people. Rather, Jesus restores and refreshes the damaged and exhausted.

The invitation to ‘rest’ is offered by Jesus because in the world around us damaged people, exhausted people are often overlooked and tossed aside.

The ultimate objective of God’s Chosen One, who through humility draws men and women to Himself is justice - the knowledge and assurance that all is right between an individual and God.

Much of the unsettled nature of our era, much of the fear and anxiety that are creating such distrust and division has to do with our nature - bruised, near extinguished flames. The circumstances under which we are living are brutal. The barrage of news, the overwhelming flood of information constantly bruise us, threatening the very source of our lives.

And in this context, Jesus offers us a promise of rest, of renewed strength, of rekindled energy.

He offers these by inviting us to come to Him - in the same way the crowds gathered around Him 2,000 years ago. Where Jesus is present, He offers Himself -

as the One who suffered death for us, in our place

as the One in whom life is granted - life from death, life that is, according to His own promise abundant and free from the weight and pain of guilt

as the One in whom all God’s purposes and promises are fully realized and available

CONCLUSION

So, why would we not flock to Jesus? He is The One in whom healing is possible; He is the One in whom our bruised and weary natures can be restored to the kind of life God Himself promised?

Though Matthew tells us that Jesus ‘withdrew’ from the conflict with the Pharisees, He was still available, He was still findable. Crowds continued to flock to Him, they continued to bring their wounded, their hurting, their diseased, their distressed selves to Him

He is still present wherever His people come together. Even via Facebook or whatever media you are watching and listening…because God’s people are gathered, Jesus is present.

He is present as

God’s Chosen One, God’s Anointed One, The gentle and humble One in whom we find life.

Let me close with these words from a recent book:

“The fall in Genesis 3 not only sent us into condemnation and exile. The fall also entrenched in our minds dark thoughts of God, thoughts that are only dug out after multiple exposures to the gospel…Perhaps Satan’s greatest victory in your life today is not the sin in which you regularly indulge but the dark thoughts of God’s heart that cause you to go there in the first place and keeps you cool toward him in the wake of it.”

Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, (Wheaton, ILL: Crossway, 2020), 151-152.

Today, as damaged and exhausted as we are, we can come to Jesus and He will heal!

Come to Jesus - for the first time acknowledging Him as your Savior and Lord;

Come to Him in obedience to follow in baptism

Come to Him and share your life with ours as we participate together in the unveiling of the Kingdom of God

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