Hosea 6:6
How would God desiring mercy more than sacrifice fit into our world today?
Some leaders seem more concerned about the unborn than they do about those that are born in poverty.
Some leaders are concerned about handouts to the poor, but not about huge sums of money given to corporations.
What would Jesus say to that?
Jesus was shaking things up as he wandered around Israel teaching. The religious leaders of his day had a long history of following God, and they were God's chosen people after all. So who was this new young rabbi coming along doing things that went against tradition?
He healed on the sabbath. He and his disciples also gathered grain on the sabbath. The religious leaders took very seriously the sabbath. it had been ordered by God, and they were determined to keep it no matter what.
Rules were rules after all, and pretty soon you will have chaos if you don't have rules. Right?
Well that was the case until Jesus came along.
Twice in fairly short order, in Matthew 9 and again in Matthew 12, Jesus was in conflict with the religious leaders. In both instances he quoted the Prophet Hosea, 6:6, which says: "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings."
It is true the burn offerings were required, but throughout the Old Testament it is clear that God wants us to take care of each other, and that God desires mercy and justice more than details of rules to be followed.
In Matthew Chapter 9, Jesus forgives a man's sins. Well this was blasphemy of the highest order. They didn't know Jesus was God yet, and only God could forgive sins. He forgave a man who was paralized. When they objected, Jesus took it a step further by healing the guy. They didn't have anything to say to that.
But a bit later Jesus calls Matthew to be his disciple. This was no ordinary Matt. The text says he was a tax collector. What this meant was, he was a representative of the Romans who were taking tax money from people. These people were also nortorious for taking some extra for themselves. So if you owed $10, they may say you have to apy $15, and keep the extra.
Matthew believes and drops what he is doing and follows Jesus. Then he has jesus come home for dinner and also invites all his other tax collector buddies. The writer says "sinners" also, so there were some other nefarious characters around too.
Of course the pharisees had to question this. If Jesus was really a good rabbi, he wouldn't be hanging around with these people.
But Jesus response was to quote Hosea.
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’a For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Then again in Matthew 12, Jesus and his disciples again get into a row with the pharisees over the sabbath. They were walking through a field and were eating some of the grain. Of course this was a violation of their sabbath rules, but not a violation of any old testament scripture.
Again Jesus points them to Hosea, where it says God desires mercy and not sacrifice.
How would God desiring mercy more than sacrifice fit into our world today?Our religious leaders worry about bathrooms and gay marriage, but are not concerned about homeless people or people going without health care.
What would Jesus say to that?
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