Mercy and Not Sacrifice
Text: Matthew 9:9-13
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
One of the most common complaints people make about the Church—and that’s any church, whether it’s the capital C Church, or a denomination, or a local congregation—is that it’s full of sinners. You’ve heard it before: “They’re all just a bunch of hypocrites.” “I thought they’d be better.” “They’re not nice enough.” So on and so forth. This is not new. Those who make such complaints are simply repeating the complaints of the Pharisees, who thought that Jesus’ followers should be better, shinier, more impressive, more like them. “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” the Pharisees asked Jesus’ disciples. The underlying assumption by those who make such complaints, whether then or now, is that they are the ones who are truly worthy of having God with them, in their company, on their side.
And yet, it has always pleased God to not be won over by those self-assured of their own righteousness, or the most impressive, or the most numerous, or the most powerful. For that would be akin to a doctor only taking patients who are already in perfect health, or who at least believe they are. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick,” Jesus says to His critics. Those who are strong have no need of a champion to fight for them. Those who are perfect have no need for forgiveness. Or those who think that they are any of these things have no need for a Savior who would provide it for them.
No, our Lord’s power is made perfect in weakness. So He calls Moses, who had fled from Egypt in shame and terror, to go back, even though he wasn’t gifted as a public speaker and was frightened to lead. The Lord calls Jonah, reluctant prophet who even runs away from the God who sends him to Nineveh. God calls David, the least of his brothers, to become the king of Israel, in spite of his flaws and failings. Jesus calls St. Paul, who had persecuted the Church and been responsible for the arrest and presumably the deaths of believers in those nightmarish prison cells, to become the Lord’s servant to plant far more churches than he damaged. And today we give thanks that our merciful Lord called St. Matthew to be His Apostle, former tax collector turned into a chosen instrument to deliver the Gospel of sins forgiven by Jesus, of sinners called to repentance and salvation.
Tax collectors were the worst of the worst in New Testament Israel. They took money from their fellow children of Abraham, blood brothers and sisters, to send to the pagan Roman Caesar. And they weren’t even paid well for it. In fact, they committed this treason for so cheap that they had to overcharge their fellow Israelites just to skim off the top to make themselves more comfortable. And yet, it is the Lord’s glory to lift even these sinners out of the pit of lies and greed, to bring them back to Him. He set them free from those dishonest and treasonous ways. He forgave them and brought them into fellowship with Him. He even chose one of them, Matthew, to be one of His twelve closest, an Apostle, and entrusted to him the task of recording His redeeming life, death, and resurrection in the first book of the New Testament.
“Go and learn what this means,” Jesus says, “‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” And we would do well to do exactly what Jesus says here. “Go and learn.” So let us learn what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” This passage is from the book of the prophet Hosea, spoken at a time centuries before when Israel was going through the motions, making sure that they kept the letter of the every rule and code and protocol that they could, but neglecting what those actions were supposed to be connected to: mercy, grace, forgiveness. They were certain they were doing enough to make themselves righteous. So the Lord asks through Hosea, “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early…For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
It is faith that the Lord desires—knowledge of God that flows from the trust and love that dwells in the heart. Thus He calls back His rebellious treasonous people of old. He calls Matthew, tax collector and sinner. He calls you. For you have need of forgiveness. You confessed as much already in the service this morning, “We confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.” Do not stand outside with the Pharisees, thinking that others are worse, that you don’t need as much forgiveness as they do. If there’s a scrap of your life—your works, your thoughts, your own righteousness—that you think is just fine without Jesus covering it in grace and forgiveness, go back and learn what this means: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” Tell the little Pharisee that would live in your heart that Jesus’ blood and righteousness covers every part of your life—and that’s a good thing. His life, His perfect holiness, His good deeds, His death, His resurrection—that’s what matters. That’s what counts as your righteousness.
St. Matthew, forgiven sinner, went on to pen the book, the gospel, we hear from so often. How many have come to faith, or had their knowledge of God strengthened by what this forgiven tax collector was granted to do by His Lord? The same forgiving Lord will work through you as your life is covered by His mercy, His blood of the covenant, His forgiveness and grace, His resurrection. For that new resurrected life is yours by faith, not by your own sacrifice or self-assured righteousness. Jesus’ risen life is yours by grace, for as the prophet Hosea says in the same section we heard from this morning: “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.” Jesus’ life, His resurrection, His grace, His forgiveness, His holiness, His mercy, is yours. He calls you to it now. In the name of Jesus, who came to call sinners. Amen.
