Matthew 9:9-13 I desire mercy, not sacrifice!

Throughout the school year, one student showed allegiance to the teachers in opposition to the other students. Any activities the other students were engaged in were reported back to the teacher. Some of these reports were taxing to the teacher, but the student was tolerated for the times when a student did something against the rules. There were other times when the activities of other students were inflated, just to get them into trouble. The other students described this student as the teacher’s pet. Summer was looking lonely for this student, until there was a knock at the front door of the student’s home.

As we grow up, we invite fear into our home more often than friends. Anytime we invite someone to our home whether a new acquaintance, old friend or any number of family members, our thoughts quickly depart from cherishing the opportunity to reconnect, refresh, relax, release our sorrows and rejoice in our blessings to how the house looks. We stop thinking about people and start listing off the projects we need to finish before the guests arrive. In fact, we sometimes overthink the dinner party or long weekend visit so much that we do not have guests over at all.

Moses was caught in a moment where fear threatened to overtake his time with a friend. In our Old Testament reading from Exodus 3, the LORD appeared to Moses in a bush as flames of fire that did not burn up the bush telling Moses that he had heard the cries of the Israelites under the oppression of Egypt and that he was sending him to deliver them. Moses did not think himself worthy to go, likely because he murdered an Egyptian and after running away had been living as a shepherd for forty years, although there were some other excuses. In response to his fear, the LORD assured him that he would go with him and when Moses explained to the Israelites that God was with him, he was to share this name of God as recorded in Exodus 3, 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.” Although he was looking at a bush on fire that did not burn up and hearing the voice of the LORD God Almighty, Moses questioned God’s choice to work through him to deliver the Israelites from Egypt. Over time, Moses learned how great God’s mercy is and later this blessed description is recorded in Exodus 33, 11 The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.

Around 1,500 years after Moses, Jesus showed mercy to a man named Matthew. We know far more about Moses than Matthew, but the little we do know reveals a man just as unlikely as a murdered to be one of Jesus’ disciples. Matthew also known as Levi was a Jew, which sounds like a good start for first line on a résumé for one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. It was a good start, but his current occupation was a major red flag. Matthew was a tax collector, meaning he worked for the Roman Empire collecting taxes from the people of his country. He also had multiple interactions with Gentiles each day making him unclean and unable to go to the Temple. Plus, the tax collectors were infamous for greed, dishonesty and extortion. Matthew would have been labeled a traitor and even more despised than a teacher’s pet in school. Yet, we read in our Gospel reading from Matthew 9, 9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” We might agree with the Pharisees question as face value, but their intent was not to learn about Jesus’ mercy. Instead, they believed they were better than Jesus and the sinful company he kept. Their question was meant to insult, discredit and condemn Jesus, while highlighting their supposed goodness and righteousness. The sad irony was their list of rules as the morality police if properly applied to their own hearts would expose them as greedy, dishonest, extortionists and soon to be murderers of the Messiah, Jesus.

We cannot buy friendship with God. In response to the Pharisees’ question in Matthew 9, we read, 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” The Pharisees believed they were heading for heaven spiritually healthy for their many sacrifices and other commands, laws and rules they kept some of which were part of the Old Testament ceremonial laws, others were developed by human tradition. Though God had delivered the Israelites from Egypt some 1,500 years earlier, the Pharisees were living in denial. Unlike the self-righteous Pharisees, Matthew and the other sinners lived hopeless and ironically confident God was not pleased with them. We fall into both camps. On the one hand, we diagnose our sins meticulously charting how often we have done, said or thought selfish, cruel, wicked, greedy, dishonest, hateful, evil, sinful, etc. things that we make our guilt and shame more powerful than God’s mercy. On the other hand, we sit in arrogant judgment on the terrible people we know or see on our screens and even strangers who ought to be living their lives like us good people. We cannot buy friendship with God with sacrifices of false humility or pharisaic pride. Both are focused on us, and both miss the mercy of God.

Summer was looking lonely for the student labeled ‘the teacher’s pet’, until there was a knock at the front door. A classmate stood there in his swimsuit and told the student to follow him to the pool party, and the former teacher’s pet was welcomed as a friend. Moses a murderer and outcast was shown mercy by God. Matthew, a despised tax collector was shown mercy by Jesus who called him to be his disciple. For all our sins and self-serving sacrifices, Jesus showed us mercy. Again, we hear Jesus’ words in Matthew 9, 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” As any good doctor would, Jesus tells us how we are sick and treats us with life giving medicine. Scripture convicts us of sin not to drive us to hopeless despair or show us a way to make ourselves better, but to bring us to the cross. Our sins had to be put to death for us to be forgiven and live with God in heaven. In his mercy, God transplanted our sins into Jesus when he was crucified. God desires mercy, not sacrifice, so he sacrificed himself to show us mercy freeing us from trying to earn his favor and to live in peace. Paul records how great God’s mercy is in our New Testament reading from 1 Timothy 1, 15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. God has given you the gift of eternal life through Jesus. There are no taxes and no conditions, only mercy from our God.

Matthew invited Jesus to dinner at his home with other sinners after he was called to follow him. We have no spoken words from Matthew recorded in Scripture, but in the Gospel of Matthew God inspired him to write down the accounts of many who learned what Jesus meant when he said, 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Jesus exposed and healed sin. He has done that for us through his Word, and he has called us to follow him in that work. Those caught in pride over their own sacrifices need to have their sins revealed and hear the law. Those who are crushed by their sins need to hear about Jesus’ mercy for them. We may avoid showing mercy to others out of fear, but our friend Jesus is with us always. With him we can even enter the home of someone we have been avoiding and learn the power and patience of Jesus’ mercy to change the hearts of even the worst sinners like Paul, Moses, Matthew and us.

Summer was looking lonely for the student everyone called ‘the teacher’s pet’, until there was a knock at the front door of the student’s home. A classmate stood there in his swimsuit and told the student to follow him to the pool party, and the former teacher’s pet was welcomed as a friend. Matthew, a despised tax collector, Moses, a murderer and outcast, and Paul, the worst of sinners were shown mercy by God and called to share his mercy with others. Jesus showed mercy to us for all our sins and self-serving sacrifices suffering in our place on the cross. Everyone in our lives is sick with sin and needs healing. Be the one who shows up at dinner, who knocks at the door, who brings healing, who goes to the person you or I have been avoiding, who shares Jesus, the One who desires mercy, not sacrifice. Amen.

        

Gunnar Ledermann, Pastor Divine Peace Church