Mercy, Not Sacrifice (Part 1)

In my recent post What Does God Want?, I explained the contextual meaning of Hosea 6:6, a verse which Christ quoted in response to the Pharisees on two separate occasions. The first instance in which Jesus’ quotes Hosea 6:6 (which says “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,”) is found in Matthew 9:9-13. This story begins with Christ calling Matthew, who was a tax collector, to follow Him. The Pharisees wouldn’t have even touched a person like Matthew, and yet Jesus ate at Matthew’s house, along with other “tax collectors and ‘sinners.’” Considering their way of thinking, it’s no wonder that the Pharisees were taunting the disciples over this! When this got back around to Jesus, he said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

How was Christ using this verse? I believe that His meaning was two-fold. The primary purpose of His response was to justify the fact that He was eating with people who were generally regarded as unrighteous men. His claim is that He is there to help them as a doctor helps a sick person. Their sickness was their sin, which He desired them to repent of through His teaching and guidance. That’s always why He preached: so that people would repent and turn to God. When He quotes Hosea 6:6, He is mostly accentuating His love and compassion for these people (mercy), not simply following the letter of God’s law as the Pharisees did (sacrifice).

The secondary implication of His response was to point out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Note that He says “go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’ He was not complimenting the Pharisees here by distinguishing them as the “righteous” - it sounds more like a challenge! He was pointing out their pride for thinking that they were righteous. In reality, they were not doing what God wanted! God desired "mercy" from them through love and compassion towards these people that they were calling sinners, but they gave God only "sacrifice" through physical adherence to the law, disregarding unconditional love for others. After all, the commandment has always been "love your neighbor as yourself" - it has never been required that your neighbor be righteous by your own standards.