What does Matthew 12:16 Mean?

Context Summary

A reed is not of much account. You may see hundreds of them encircling a stagnant pond and bending before the breeze. A bruised reed is still more worthless to the eye of the world. Yet the Master does not despise a bruised or broken reed. No, He bends over it and tries to restore its shape. He makes out of it a reed-organ for music, or the paper manufacturers weave it into paper on which are printed His messages.

Flax does not burn readily. It only smolders. The spark runs feebly up the fibers; and anything like a flame is impossible. Such is our poor love. It sometimes seems but a spark. Yet Jesus does not despise it. So far from quenching it, He breathes on it, places it in the oxygen of His love, and screens it from the wind that would extinguish it.

How gentle, quiet and unobtrusive is our Master's behavior! He is so frugal of His resources, so careful that nothing be wasted, so eager to make the most of us. And it is out of such materials that He makes His ever-victorious army. [source]

Chapter Summary: Matthew 12

¹  Jesus reproves the blindness of the Pharisees concerning the Sabbath,
³  by scripture,
⁹  by reason,
¹³  and by a miracle
²²  He heals a man possessed that was blind and mute;
²⁴  and confronting the absurd charge of casting out demons by Beelzebub,
³²  he shows that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall never be forgiven
³⁶  Account shall be made of idle words
³⁸  He rebukes the unfaithful, who seek after a sign,
⁴⁶  and shows who is his brother, sister, and mother