Matthew 9:12-13 … Mercy over sacrifice (03/18/17)
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but instead those who are ill. Go and learn what this means: I desire Mercy, not sacrifice — for I have come to call not the righteous but those who sin.” ~ Jesus (Matthew 9:12-13)
First & foremost, it is critical for those wishing to deeply understand this passage that Jesus is speaking not about sacrifice in general, but rather directly referencing the animal sacrifices still demanded by the barbaric religious customs of his day …
Jesus was a prophet of Love & Justice, and as such he knew that persecution of the innocent in the name of a supposedly Just & Merciful God (Luke 6:36 & Matthew 8:21-22 et al) was flagrantly hypocritical. And Jesus despised hypocrisy almost as much as he despised injustice (see Matthew 23). And so he preached against them both, and he did so by openly and flagrantly turning the Old Testament’s 613 laws (called mitzvoth) on their heads – making some more lenient (e.g. harshly constraining Exodus 21:23-24, Leviticus 24:19-20 & Deuteronomy 19:21 with Matthew 5:38-41, harshly constraining Leviticus 4:27, Numbers 5:7, & Leviticus 19:17 with Matthew 6:14-15, and harshly constraining Exodus 23:12 & Exodus 23:32 with Matthew 12:9-12 et al), … making others more strict (e.g. dramatically intensifying Exodus 20:13 & Deuteronomy 5:17 with Matthew 5:21-22a, dramatically intensifying Exodus 20:14, Deuteronomy 5:18, & Leviticus 18:20 with Matthew 5:27-28, and dramatically intensifying Exodus 23:19, Deuteronomy 18:4, & Deuteronomy 18:26 with Matthew 6:1-4 et al), … and even taking some of those laws and abolishing them completely (e.g. dismantling much of Leviticus 11 & Deuteronomy 14with Matthew 6:25-26 & Matthew 26:31-33, denouncing Leviticus 13:44-45 & Numbers 5:1-4 with Matthew 8:3, and discarding Numbers 28:3, Exodus 30:7-9, Exodus 12:6-10, & Exodus 13:2 with Matthew 9:12-13 & Matthew 12:7 et al).
Indeed, this explains why Hebrews 8:11-13 said what it said later in the New Testament (“And they shall not teach one another or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest — for I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. In speaking of ‘a new covenant’, he has made the first one obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old must soon disappear”), and this explains as well why it is actually a form of blasphemy for anyone professing to be a Christian to use any Old Testament verse or passage to attack or condemn or judge anyone else.
“But what about Matthew 5:17-18?” those Christians might ask – the passage that has Jesus saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.” Of course, what those Christian friends have obviously not yet been taught is that the Greek word commonly translated as “fulfill” in this passage (“pleroo” – Strong’s #4137) is far more accurately defined as “honed” or “perfected” or “brought to completion or fullness” – which is exactly what Jesus did throughout his ministry when he “cleaned house” by amending or abolishing almost every single one of the Old Testament laws in effect in his day!
As such, when we look to Matthew 9:12-13 again, we can clearly see that Jesus doesn’t desire for sinners to be shown mercy from above (a false, Paulinist belief), but rather desires that sinners atone for their misdeeds (and thereby rebirthe their True Selves – see John 3:1-8) by “repenting” therefrom (the Greek “metanoia” – Strong’s #3341); by giving mercy to their own enemies – by openly Caring for those who have sinned against them (Matthew 5:40-44 & Luke 10:29-37).
Amen … Let it be so.
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