Fr Paul reads from Matthew’s Gospel (12: 14-21) in which Jesus, through his example, fulfils the words of the prophet Isaiah, ‘here is my servant whom I have chosen… he will proclaim the truth faith to the nations’.

Fr Paul says this past week we’ve heard how Matthew has stressed for us the authority of Jesus and he now gives us a bigger picture of Jesus through the long quotation from the Old Testament from Isaiah.

Matthew often draws on the Old Testament to explain the person and the mission of Jesus. The quotation we hear today concentrates on three things… Firstly, the beloved servant is especially close to God; the servant’s mission is a gentle mission of healing; and thirdly, the mission is not only to the Jews but to the Gentiles as well. And so we remind ourselves of these three things.

For our reflection today, Fr Paul says, we might remind ourselves, as is in the conclusion of the Gospel, that Jesus is our hope.