MATTHEW 12:20 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.”
A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory. The bruised reed and smoldering wick are the images of fragile, barely-surviving humanity — those who are nearly broken and almost extinguished. The Servant who does not break or quench them is the one who healed the man with the withered hand, the one who receives the humble and lowly (Matthew 11:28–29). Justice brought to victory is the eschatological completion of the Servant's patient, gentle work.
Church Fathers on Matthew 12:20
The Pharisees are moved with jealousy at what had been done; because beholding the outward body of a man, they did not recognize the God in His works; 'The Pharisees sent out and sought counsel against him, how they ought destroy him.'
He says, 'went out' because their mind was alien from the Lord. They took counsel how they might destroy life, not how themselves might find life.
Knowing, that is, their designs against Him withdrew Himself, that He might remove from the Pharisees all opportunity of sin.
Read all 32 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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