The Pharisees reject Jesus; Jesus goes out among the rejected. The Pharisees seek to kill Him; He seeks out those who are dying to cure them. The forces of the world believe that death is the greatest power one can wield against another: that was the source of Rome’s might, and it was her power that the enemies of Jesus ultimate sought in order to be rid of Him. But Jesus shows us that the beautiful poetry of the Song of Songs is true: “…Love is as strong as Death,” (Song of Songs 8:6).
Though He walks in death’s shadow He goes about being a light for those who dwell in the same. He is tender to those who are broken so as not to break them further; He guards what little flame remains in a dim soul so that the precious spark does not go out, but rather with a breath of mercy it might be resurrected into a burning flame. “Many people followed him,” we read; are we surprised? Hardly, for the world is full of bruised reeds and smoldering wicks who long to receive some kindness, some reprieve from their suffering. He knew that He would one day die, one day suffer as they suffered, but He knew His hour had not yet come, and so He went about healing the wounded, giving them a sign of what was to come. For not only did His mission among the rejected fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy as stated in our Gospel, but His own Passion—His own embrace of our suffering—would fulfill another. He would become a bruised reed that we would break in the streets of Jerusalem; He would be the smoldering wick we would extinguish upon the Cross, yet “He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed, (Isaiah 53:5).