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Many people followed him, and he cured them all,
but he warned them not to make him known.
Jesus knew that the Pharisees took counsel against him to put him to death. He could have taken direct action against them, called forth legions of angels, and destroyed them. Or he could have felt obliged to be in their faces about the truth he came to bring. But this would be to let them set the terms of the discussion and ultimately the circumstances of his death.
Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved in whom I delight;
I shall place my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
Jesus was secure enough in his identity as the Son of the Father that he didn't need to prove himself to the Pharisees. He didn't even feel the need to enter into the competition that they imagined they had with him. One reason Jesus was able to keep his own peace was that he didn't need his cures to be broadcast broadly in order to experience his own worth. His left hand could care less about what his right was doing. It was enough for him that the Father's will be accomplished. A normal human, especially one in our own time, would probably be thinking about scaling up the ministry, and using each healing as an opportunity for advertising, to bring the Kingdom as quickly and efficiently as possible. We can learn from Jesus that 'quickly' and 'efficiently' aren't primary criteria that matter to the Kingdom.
He will not contend or cry out,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
a smoldering wick he will not quench,
The patient approach of Jesus is precisely the approach the made his message available to the bruised and the smoldering. The loud, the efficient, and the overwhelming would impatiently pass by hearts like these. It would say, 'Get on board or get out of the way.' But the tender heart of Jesus was able to be entirely available to the people who needed him most.
He that holds not out his hand to a sinner, nor bears his brother’s burden, he breaks a bruised reed; and he who despises a weak spark of faith in a little one, he quenches a smoking flax.
- Saint JeromeJesus was patient. The patience of God is not indefinite. It is not simply ignoring the problem. It is oriented toward mercy and healing. The bruised reed can again be made whole. The smoldering wick can again blaze with the fire of the Spirit.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (see Second Peter 3:9).
The victory of the LORD already began at his resurrection when he healed our bruised and smoldering human nature in his own flesh. Now that justice is being brought to victory in the world by his Church. The time of the Church is still a time of mercy, still a time of healing, still a time for hope in his name. However, just as the time came for Jesus to make himself known to the world by his death and resurrection so too is a day appointed when Jesus himself will return to judge the living and the dead (see Acts 17:31). Let us receive his healing while it is a time for healing so that we may we be found worthy of that day.
The unsettling reality that we might not avail ourselves of mercy in time should make us earnest, but not impatient. It should make us active but still sharing the meekness of Christ. Otherwise, if we do too little, or too much apart from Christ, the words of the prophet Micah might come to pass for us.
Our ruin is complete,
our fields are portioned out among our captors,
The fields of my people are measured out,
and no one can get them back!
Clearly our LORD does not want this fate for us. When we wish he'd push harder and be more clear and direct we can take solace in the fact that this too is part of his mercy. The apparent slowness of God to respond to what we perceive as so immediate and so urgent is a part of his mercy. He desires to see us healed. And healed hearts ought to have this same desire for our neighbors.
You do see, for you behold misery and sorrow,
taking them in your hands.
On you the unfortunate man depends;
of the fatherless you are the helper.
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