Matthew 12:19 and 20 say, “He will not strive nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench until He brings forth justice unto victory.” In ancient times the Jews made flutes of reeds. When a reed was bruised, they broke it. Also, they made torches out of flax, which can burn oil. When the oil ran out, the flax smoked and they quenched it. Some of the Lord’s people are like a bruised reed, which cannot give a musical sound; others are like smoking flax, which cannot produce a shining light. Yet the Lord will not break the bruised ones or quench the smoking ones. Some of those who are as bruised reeds and smoking flax will be used by Christ to bring forth justice unto victory. If we think that no one is useful except ourself, we cannot carry out the Lord’s work. When we select co-workers, we may consider only how they appear outwardly, but they may not be that faithful. The Lord would select some bruised reeds and smoking flax. Then He would perfect them so that they could become useful in His hand to bring forth justice unto victory. We should use what the Lord has given us. If He gives us good ones, we should use the good ones. If He gives us bad ones, we should use the bad ones.
When the Lord saw the crowds, “He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and cast away like sheep not having a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). He did miracles to take care of the needy ones. He said, “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; and the dead are raised and the poor have the gospel announced to them” (11:5). This is the mercy exercised by the Lord as their Shepherd to take care of them. As a minister of the Lord, we should learn how to be concerned for the needy ones. The Lord also preached the gospel to the poor with words of grace proceeding out of His mouth (Luke 4:18-22). Sometimes we speak words of rebuking and condemnation instead of words of grace. We must learn to be one with the Lord to speak words of grace. Also, the Lord sympathized with the suffering and ignorant disciples, even unto weeping (John 11:35). Martha and Mary lost their brother Lazarus, but they still remained ignorant and that compelled the Lord to weep. The word weep here means “to weep silently.” The Lord told them that Lazarus would be resurrected, but He was frustrated by human opinions. Martha postponed the resurrection to the last day (v. 24). Thus, the Lord Jesus wept. Many Christians today are suffering, without knowing why or what they should do under that suffering. The Lord sympathizes with this situation.
The Lord did not have a place to lay His head, though the foxes have holes and the birds of heaven have roosts (Luke 9:58). We have to learn to suffer poverty in this way.
The Lord corrected His disciples to have a right spirit toward the rejecting ones. The Lord and His disciples passed a village which would not receive them. The two sons of thunder, James and John, asked, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” Then the Lord said, “You do not know of what kind of spirit you are” (Luke 9:53-56). This indicates that the Lord always treated people with a right spirit. I regretted that sometimes I had treated people with a wrong spirit. We must learn the lesson to correct our spirit in the way that we treat people. If we respond with a wrong spirit to people who do not receive us, we are not qualified to serve people. We cannot minister the word of God to people if we have a wrong spirit.
According to the New Testament, the church has only one local ground; there is only one church for one city. By practicing this we annul the standing of all the denominations. Because of this they would not receive or welcome us. Should we respond the way James and John did in Luke 9, with a wrong spirit? We must exercise to have a right spirit. The Lord is a real model of the God-man living.
The Lord suffered afflictions without avenging, leaving us a model so that we may follow in His steps (Isa. 53:3, 7; 1 Pet. 4:1; 2:21-23). He was suffering silently like a sheep before its shearers. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. Today we co-workers must learn of this model. If people revile us, we should not have any thought of avenging by reviling them in return.
The Greek word for model literally means “a writing copy, an underwriting, used by students to trace letters and thereby learn to draw them.” The Lord has set His suffering life before us so that we can copy it by tracing and following His steps. This does not refer to a mere imitation of Him and His life but to a reproduction of Him that comes from enjoying Him as grace in our sufferings, so that He Himself as the indwelling Spirit, with all the riches of His life, reproduces Himself in us. We become the reproduction of the original writing copy, not a mere imitation of Him produced by taking Him as our outward model.