Today’s Bible Reading:
Genesis 9-10; Matthew 9; Ezra 9; Acts 9: Proverbs 9
Matthew 9:13 presents a question to us. Actually it is something Jesus told the Pharisees they needed to find out, but I try to ask myself the questions that are posed to people in the Bible. The Pharisees were questioning Jesus disciples about why He was eating with tax collectors and sinners. Not something a Pharisee would ever be caught doing as they lived as if doing so would make them unclean. But here we see Jesus once again showing what it looks like to live out the gospel-He came as the Great Physician to heal those who were sick, and I think He was referring here to those who were spiritually sick rather than physical ailments- though He certainly healed al those who came to Him for their physical needs as well. (Matthew 9:10-12). Jesus says to the Pharisees, “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13, NASB
My Bible gives the cross reference of Hosea 6:6 for the passage Jesus is quoting here so I went and looked it up. I find it interesting that Jesus quotes Hosea here. The Pharisees were well acquainted with the fact that Hosea was the prophet who married a prostitute in obedience to what the Lord told him to do. His marriage was meant to serve as a picture of Israel’s relationship to God and the prostitute was Israel. How do you think the Pharisees felt about that? They were God’s chosen, holy people not some lowly sinner like a prostitute. They believed they merited God’s favor just because of who they were-Hosea reveals to them their true nature and the nature of God in choosing people who have no merit on their own-like the tax collectors and sinners that Jesus was eating with. Hosea is also a hard critique of Israel and in a preceding verse we read, “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? (Ephraim was the largest tribe in Israel and was often used when referring to Israel during this time when Israel was divided into two kingdoms.) What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud and like the dew which goes away early.” Hosea 6:4, ESV
So now, let’s look at Hosea 6:6. “For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in knowledge rather than burnt offerings.” This is how the NASB translates Hosea, with a note that the Septuagint (the early translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Koine Greek.) uses the word mercy instead of loyalty. I am going with mercy as the better translation here as it fits perfectly with what Jesus has said in Matthew. So what does this mean? The Pharisees delighted in the sacrifices their way of life required-that included avoiding tax collectors and sinners, but these self-imposed sacrifices came from a place of self-righteousness and made no room for compassion, for mercy. Yet Hosea shows very clearly, by his marriage to a prostitute what compassion, what mercy looks like. The sacrifices do not save them, only God’s mercy does that. The sacrifices do not make them righteous, only God’s mercy and grace do that, because no matter how well they keep the law and their man-made rules their loyalty to God will disappear like the morning dew. They need to see themselves as God sees them, sinners in need of a Savior. They need to see others as Jesus sees them, sinners in need of a Savior. I need to see this was well. God desires of me mercy and not sacrifice and knowledge rather than burnt offerings. I read Proverbs 9 this morning which included these verses, with one of them being a memory verse I focused on last year, “Reprove a wise man and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” -Proverbs 9:8b-10, NASB I want to be one who is wise, as the person described in Proverbs, who hears Gods reproving as I read through His Word this year and increases in learning, becoming wiser as I increase my knowledge of the Holy One. I do not want to be a Pharisee but rather learn what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Grace, peace, and mercy,
Debra
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