mercy::Matthew 9
Date: Jan 26th, 2007 8:04:12 am - Subscribe
current reading:: Generous Orthodoxy::Brian McLaren
this week i get to preach again. the focus of my message is on loving others and putting them before us. so it seems fitting, that since that is what i've been thinking about that for a while that, i would come across something in my daily readings. Xp gives this statement, which at first seems a bit confusing. the statement is this "i desire mercy, not sacrifice."
the confusing part, for me at least, came when i think about how Xp has called each of us to give up our lives to follow Him. that would seem to be a sacrifice. however, when we unpack it and get deep down into it we see that the context of this statement sheds a new light on it.
in this passage Xp has just called Matthew to follow Him. He goes to eat at Matthew's home where there were other "sinners" present and the pharisees get mad at Him. what Xp was doing was pointing out that He wants mercy and love over sacrifices. these sacrifices are in the sense of what the jews used to do at the temple. see the Pharisees that they were good to go because they kept so many of the laws and did their sacrifices. but what they didn't do was have the proper attitude. for them it was more of a checklist to get into heaven. they lacked the heart and mercy that Xp was calling for. so He tells them that He would rather they be merciful than sacrifice. the motives are what Xp was after. were they sacrificing and living by the law to honor and love God or were they merely doing it too look good to others? that is what Xp was intending with His statement. that our hearts are right, not just our actions.
(NOTE::we are still to follow the commands of Xp, this doesn't allow us to just be merciful and live how we want.)
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