Mercy, Not Sacrifice
The contrast between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day could not have been greater. From the disciples they chose to teach, to their interactions with known sinners, women, lepers, and other outcasts and misfits. Even their teaching styles differed. The crowds were amazed at the teaching of Jesus. He teaches with authority, they said. The scribes and Pharisees, on the other hand, quoted the writings of other scholars, basing their authority on secondary sources. But the most significant difference between Jesus and the religious leaders was in how they related to God. Jesus summed it up when he quoted the prophet Hosea – I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
It’s a lot easier to perform religious duties than it is to love people, especially those people who are different or even antagonistic to us. This is the challenge of discipleship. It’s the acid test of a pure heart and a faith anchored, not in religious performance, but in God’s transforming power both in our lives and the lives of others. But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. (Luke 6:32, NKJV)
Among the many challenges of the twenty-first-century church, I believe the greatest is to demonstrate God’s mercy and love to those with whom we differ ideologically, politically, morally, and in other ways. Jesus did. He dined with tax collectors who, by the very nature of their business, were excommunicated from the synagogues. He even chose a tax collector to be one of the twelve. Jesus allowed women to sit at his feet, receiving his teaching. Most Rabbis would avoid any contact or conversation with women in public, some even their wives! Reaching out to lepers and other unclean persons was a recurring event in the life of Christ. In this way, he was constantly unclean according to the Law. But Jesus understood that these acts of compassion were at the very heart of the Scriptures. This is why he instructed us saying, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12, NKJV)
This kind of discipleship is far more difficult than mere religious observance. It’s one thing to study our Bibles, do our daily devotions, and give our money and time to the local church, but engaging in a labor of love to those whose lives are so radically different from our own, well, that’s a different story. Given the current activism of the church against certain lifestyles, it would appear that it is hard enough to avoid publicly ostracizing and condemning such people, much less openly loving and respecting them as human beings created in the image of God.
This raises another unavoidable issue. How will those disciples who take seriously Jesus’ words that mercy is better than sacrifice be viewed by others in the church? The religious leaders labeled Jesus a friend of sinners. They accused him of the sins of hedonism - gluttony and drunkenness. “He dines with sinners” was paramount to saying that Jesus condoned the sin of those with whom he spent time. When our Lord warned his disciples, saying, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you, he wasn’t talking about the sinners; he was talking about the religious leaders!
Following Jesus means that we must be willing to endure criticism from unbelievers, as well as those in the church. But for those willing to follow the example of Christ, the joy of mercy practiced will deliver us from self-righteousness and make sacrifice the means, not the end of our faith.
In Christ,
Dan
Check out my podcasts from Church on the Edge and my books on Kindle.
You can listen to my weekly messages at Embrace Church, High Point.