20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. 21 In his name the nations will put their hope.
This quote from Isaiah 42:3-4 speaks of the character of Jesus, the promised Messiah. There is a great contrast here between one who is so gentle that a bruise is not fatal and one who leads to victory. These two don’t really seem to go together. The great military leaders of our day, and of days in the past, are not known for their gentleness. Our picture of someone who leads in battle is not one of gentleness. Usually we have the opposite image. I see a sad trend in our day toward ever more violent activities used for entertainment. Cage fighting is one of those trends. The crowd cheers as bones are broken and blood is spilt. The ancient Romans had nothing on us. Feeding your enemy to the lions in front of a cheering crowd for entertainment has nothing over the up close and personal of front row seats to a cage match. At least there was space between the lion and the people. We charge a premium to be up front, to get blood splashed on us, to smell the sweat. Jesus by contrast is just a powerful, but demonstrates that power through self-control. He gets the victory, but without crushing his opponents. This kind of contrast is such a paradox. How can you defeat your enemies and have them respect you in the end? During World War II the Germans wanted to be captured by the Americans rather than the Russians because they knew the Russians would treat them very poorly, while the Americans would treat them well. In today’s political climate, where the United States is so often blamed for the world’s ills, our history points to many instances of protecting those bruised reeds and smoldering wicks. We have not been perfect in our execution of justice, but history has proven we are better than most. That is why people push to come here. People are not trying to leave the U.S., they are trying to get in here. Unlike the former Soviet Union, our border fences are to keep people out, not keep them in. Justice executed well instills hope for the future.