The servant whom God has chosen
在今天的福音中，我們看到法利塞人商討陷害耶穌，祂知道了便離開。我們清楚看到耶穌不會到處跟人對質，祂更加不會為自己製造麻煩。祂不會去攻擊他人，亦不想受攻擊。祂沒有刻意為自己製造痛苦和死亡。祂見到人想謀害祂，便離開到別處去。
瑪竇在福音中突顯出耶穌的行為跟舊約的一篇預言不謀而合。那預言是由先知依撒意亞所寫的(依撒意亞 42:1-4)，他的描寫顯示耶穌充滿天主聖神，為各處的人謀求公義。祂是上主所選定的僕人，是「我的愛子，我所喜悅的」。他不像那些在電視向人大聲說話的野心家。「他不爭辯，也不喧嚷，在街市上沒有人聽到他的聲音」祂悄悄的到處去，容忍、明白弱小的人。祂的作風被形容為「已壓破的蘆葦，他不折斷；將熄滅的燈心，他不吹滅」。
我們也一樣被召叫去宣講和活出福音，要不帶半點傲慢和欺凌，而是以耐心和同情心看待那些未準備好回應耶穌召叫的人。
Jesus was fully aware of the Pharisees plotting against Him and so He disappeared from sight for a while. We should be clear that Jesus did not go out of his way to confront and attack people. Still less was his behaviour deliberately designed to create trouble for himself. He did not want to attack or be attacked by certain people. He did not deliberately engineer his own sufferings and death; quite the contrary. So now, as things get hot for him, he withdraws for a while.
At this point, Matthew, shows how Jesus' behaviour corresponds to a prophecy in the Old Testament. The passage is from the prophet Isaiah (42:1-4) and it shows Jesus as full of the Spirit of God campaigning for justice for peoples everywhere. He is the servant whom God has chosen, “my beloved in whom I delight”. He is no demagogue shouting from a soapbox. “He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.” He moves around quietly and, at the same time, is tolerant and understanding of the weak. His behaviour is described beautifully as, “The bruised reed he will not crush; the smouldering wick he will not quench.”
We, too, are called to live and proclaim the Gospel without compromise but to do so without any taint of arrogance or bullying and, at the same time, with patience and understanding for those who are not yet ready to answer Jesus' call.