But in the second half of Isaiah, there is a focus on an individual who is never named and is simply called ‘the servant of the Lord’. And ‘the’ is extremely important because although there are many references to ‘a’ servant, there is one particular servant who is highlighted in 4 specific passages that are known as the Servant Songs. These passages are: 42: 1-9; 49: 1-6; 50: 4-11 and 52:13-53:12. Over the next 3 weeks, we are going to look at these songs and tonight we look at the first in Isaiah 42. [Read Isaiah 42: 1-9]

[Fanfare –loud!! Wake them up out of the pews!!] ‘Here is my servant’!
The passage opens with God’s bold declaration – he wants everyone to see and to know whom he’s introducing. Can you think of an event in your life when you have just wanted everyone to sit up and take notice? When Julie and I learned we were going to become parents, we just couldn’t wait to get on the phone to all our friends, especially to New Zealand to tell my parents, and my mother in turn couldn’t wait to get to the Pumpkin Patch store to start buying girls clothes (first grand-daughter).

God just wants everyone to sit up and take notice that He is doing something new in the world as He says in verse 9: See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.

So God is announcing His servant and not only that, but God tells us as verse 1 says that he delights in this servant; that He will uphold his servant; and that He will anoint him with His Spirit. But why does this servant delight God? Why does this servant need upholding? Why does this servant need God’s anointing? - Because as the passage goes on to say, he’s got a pretty tough job to do. And that’s really the heart of this passage – the servant’s job description, but before we look at that, note something else that God says about him. In verse 4 we read: he will not falter or be discouraged. Unlike all God’s servants who have come before, this servant will not falter or be discouraged.
Even if we take the greatest figures in Jewish history up until this point - Abraham, Moses and David – even these great servants got things wrong – they faltered – they got discouraged. For example, in Psalm 13: 1-2, David cries out to God saying:

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

But this servant will be different in the job that God has given him to do. He will persevere whatever the situation. So let’s have a look at his job description!

Now, one of the key things we notice is in verse 3 which says, A bruised reed He will not break, and a smouldering wick He will not snuff out. But why the images of a bruised reed and a smouldering wick? If we take the image of a bruised reed first:

If one were to go back in time to Isaiah’s time, one could have found the Hebrew children often playing down at the riverside. This was where the reeds grew and in great abundance. Now, one of the things these reeds were really useful for was for making good flutes. The children would cut them down, hollow them out and make flutes out of them. But not all were suitable for making flutes - many of them were less than perfect. Thus, if they came across one that was cracked or bruised, they would break it in half and toss it away, because such reeds were useless and worthless and eventually of course, they would have been trampled all over.

But here we are told that the God’s servant will not trample on those whose lives feel like bruised reeds.

And in case one didn’t quite grasp the connection between reeds and the job description of the servant, Isaiah uses another image – the image of a smouldering wick. We have to remember that Hebrew homes back then, of course, didn't have electricity – hence they didn’t have light bulbs. They had to light their homes with lamps that were filled with oil and contained a wick, made of flax or linen. As long as the wick would stay moist with the oil, it would burn. Occasionally when the oil would burn out, the wick would smoulder and burn and give off smoke. At this point, the thing to do was to extinguish it and toss it away and get some new flax, which like reeds was in plentiful supply.

At the beginning of this talk, you might have noticed that I lit a candle. At the moment of course, it’s bright and burning well – doing what it’s meant to. But if I blow it out [blow] we have just a burning ember with a wisp of smoke, and if I then bring what my daughter calls the ‘snuffer snuffer’ and do this [snuff], the candle is completely extinguished or snuffed out. But God’s servant will not do this to those whose lives feel like that burning ember and wispy smoke.

In fact, not only will he not break the bruised reed or smouldering wick, but he will actively work to bring justice – a justice that is more than simply getting fair treatment in a legal situation (which is how we tend to think of justice these days). Because the justice that God’s servant brings is about rightness of living and wholeness in every part of life. It’s a justice that applies not just to 1 or 2 isolated individuals – it’s not even a justice that only applies to Israel – because it’s a justice that applies to the whole world. As verse 4 says, he will keep going until he has brought justice to the earth and the islands have put their hope in him.

Now, there’s so much more we could say about the servant’s job description in this passage, however, one important question we still need to ask is why does this passage matter today? Well, it matters today because we recognise that Jesus is this servant – this is his job description and he is the only one who is able to fulfil every part of the servant’s role as we see it described in this passage and will come to see in the other servant songs. And in case we miss this fulfilment, Matthew lays it down quite clearly in his Gospel in chapter 12:17-21 (p977) when he quotes directly from this passage saying:

This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no-one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope.

As Jesus himself said a few verses earlier in chapter 11:28-30: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Those who feel like broken reeds or smouldering wicks have Jesus’ promise that He can given them rest, and that he will not trample on them or snuff them out. And we see this at work throughout Jesus’ life as people came to him, in need and went away changed and restored people. Let me give you one example:

In John 8:2-11, we read about the woman caught in adultery. Here we have a bruised reed or a dimly burning wick to use the images of Isaiah 42. When Jesus encountered her, she was about to be stoned by the men who were quick to judge. In contrast, Jesus saw a person in need and instead of condemning her, forgives and restores.

And so, what this passage speaks about is God's grace and mercy. In these powerful images, it gives us insight into the very heart of God. It tells us something of the depth and breadth of the love that God has for all of humanity to see us all restored – to see the bruised reed mended – to see the smouldering wick burning brightly again. And what was true then, remains true today. Jesus sees us as we are – he knows there are times in our lives when we feel like bruised reeds or smouldering wicks, and his promise is that he will never break the bruised reed – he will never snuff out the smouldering wick.

Tonight, let me ask you a question: do you feel like a bruised reed – do you feel like a smouldering wick? Because Jesus, God’s servant is here right now to bring restoration – to bring his rest and his promise that his love for you is unchanging. He wants to enable you to burn brightly again, just like this candle.

Remember God never gives up on us. As one writer said: He is the reed-repairer and the flax-restorer. He is the One who can take a bruised reed and work with it until it plays beautiful music. He can take that smouldering, smelly wick that is disturbing to others and make it burn brightly again.

As you leave tonight, please feel free to take a Tea Light with you – to remind you that regardless of where you are at with God, his desire is to enable you to burn brightly for him and that he will restore you when you feel broken.