Matthew 12:20

“A bruised reed he will he not break, and smoking flax he will not quench.”

John was not a reed shaken with the wind (Matthew 11:7), although a slightly bending one (Matthew 11:2), but there would be many such, reeds that were bruised and battered, and out in the wilderness. And Jesus would patiently tend and restore them, whether their affliction be through disease (Matthew 8:17), or through being on the afflicted way (Matthew 7:13), and He would bring them to His rest (Matthew 11:28). The ‘smoking flax' would be the wick of a lamp which was smoking either through shortage of oil or because it was nearly spent. Normally it would be tossed away and replaced. But Jesus would not take the kind of person represented by this wick and toss them away. Rather He would tend and care for them until His flame shone brightly through them once again (Matthew 5:14). This gentle restoration of men and women will continue on through the Gospel, and will include the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21, the children in Matthew 19:13, and all who were physically suffering (Matthew 14:35; Matthew 15:29). Indeed it will very much include His disciples who will have to be tenderly cared for on the way to the cross.

“Until he send forth (thrust forth) judgment (righteous truth) unto victory.”

For the Servant the victory is assured. He will send forth His righteous truth until He is finally triumphant. Nothing will be able to prevent His success, for God is with Him and His all-prevailing Spirit is upon Him. For some the righteous truth will result in eternal life, for others it will result in everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46). There may here be a connection to a reading of Isaiah 25:8, as cited by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:54, where ‘death is swallowed up in victory'. That will be the final triumph. For His greatest act of thrusting forth judgment unto victory would be the cross, where justice was satisfied, the Enemy was defeated (Colossians 2:15) and true righteousness became available to men (2 Corinthians 5:21).

In Matthew 9:38 the disciples were to pray that labourers be ‘thrust forth' into the harvest fields. Perhaps they are to be seen as involved in His ‘thrusting forth' of righteous truth here.