Mercy

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

MERCY

Matt 9:9-13

9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." 

NIV

It is interesting that Matthew, who is also referred to at Levi, does not record something about himself that Luke includes about this incident. We should also remember this is not a running account by Matthew as things are happening. He set this record to pen years after the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ. He penned this after having spent those years with Jesus learning what it meant to be his follower, what we would call, learning to be a Christian. Maybe we should say something about learning to be a Christian or follower of Jesus. Matthew says that when Jesus spoke to him, “Follow me”, he got up and followed him. Luke includes the fact Matthew left everything and followed him. Had Matthew said that about himself he would have been commending himself and that simply wasn’t the way a follower of Jesus would speak about himself. At the moment he got up and followed him, inviting him to eat dinner in his home, he might well of said that he left everything, lifting himself up in front of his fellow tax collectors. But after spending those years, listening, learning, Matthew changed his way of thinking, his mind was renewed, he had learned what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. This in itself could be a lesson for us. Sure, the moment we confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior we became a born again Christian. There are many people who call themselves Christian and we might compare them to the Pharisees, doing all the religious acts on the outside, but have not been born again on the inside. This is the point Jesus was making when he responded to their making accusations about him eating with sinners. He did not tell the Pharisees they were righteous and therefore did not need him. He was saying that they thought themselves righteous, doing the sacrifices, open acts of worship, but they were not showing mercy and compassion to those who were sinners in their eyes. This is why he quoted from Hosea.

Hos 6:6

6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

NIV

They would have known that saying well, and yet Jesus told them to go learn what it meant. It is not that God did not want sacrifices for he had commanded them to do so in preparation for the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus. But he was telling them there self-righteous acts of worship were empty, because they did not understand the heart of God who desires mercy toward the sinner, so much so he was going to have his Son die on the cross for sinners. So if we internalize this we should be careful not to just be a church attender, pretending to be righteous because we follow our lists of the do’s and don’ts. That is we do the good works thing, thinking how good a Christian we are because we are involved in some ministry at church, or that we support some external ministry with either our money or a bit of our time. Where are the sinners? Where are those who need to meet Jesus? Where are they eating and drinking? Where do they do their work, such as Matthew was collecting taxes? This is where we can show mercy rather than sacrifice, doing the righteous living thing. We can be out there with the sick, the sinners, those who are in need of the Great Physician. When Jesus called Matthew to follow him, he went to his home and sat eating and drinking with the likes of Matthew and other tax collectors, which certainly Matthew had invited them to meet Jesus. This eating together was consider an intimate social function. It was not like we would be consider eating with others in a restaurant just because we are in the same dining area. This was a close encounter of sitting or reclining around on pillows, talking, discussing, and sharing of personal moments in life. It was not a thirty minute meal wolfed down and then on with the day. This meal may have lasted for hours. This is where we learn that our lives need to be shared intimately with those who need to meet Jesus. We need to spend time with them, intimate time with them, sharing life with them, showing them mercy, rather than our righteous life. The Pharisees certainly had the “Us four and no more mentality”, and would never consider associating with the likes of tax collectors, sinners. But Jesus did, and so should we, if we are followers of Jesus. So let’s go eat, live among the sinners, sharing life with them so they too can meet Jesus. Let us show them mercy.