Being Merciful

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

BEING MERCIFUL

Matt 12:1-8

12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."

3 He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread — which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." 

NIV

It is so easy for the Pharisees to be critical of others and overlook their own disobedience to the law. They may have thought they did everything right, but we know that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This included the Pharisees as well as us. So then we would have to also be very careful about spotting the faults of others, or we could say judging the lives of others and their activities or behaviors and while we overlook our own.  One of the major mistakes young pastors or preachers make is to preach about the problems in the church. That is, in some sense being critical of others, while standing as one who is holy about above others. Jesus would not stand for the criticism, although he did not slam the door in the face of the Pharisees either. He did not shoot them down but merely pointed out how the great king David, who was lifted up by the Jews, and how the priests, again among the holy servants of God within the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent. The Sabbath was a long-lasting law of God, in that sense that through the creation of all things, God took six days and rested on the seventh. This is why the Jews consider Saturday as the Sabbath, but the Pharisees have made it into more than God intended. It is a day of rest, but that does not mean the disciples could pick a few grains to eat. On a personal note, we remember a couple we knew years back that the husband insisted that Sunday was a day of rest, and He would do nothing, in fact, he would invite his friend over and they would listen to Christian tapes, while he insisted his wife cook diner for him and his friend, making her work on the same sabbath he would not. In some sense, we do much the same if we believe Sunday is a holy day and we should rest, while we go out after church to eat, causing others to work by serving us on our sabbath day. Jesus, it the Lord of the Sabbath and he would rather have us show mercy to people than bring sacrifices to him. Showing, therefore, having a heart of mercy, for we think it would be impossible to show mercy unless our heart is bend toward mercy, means we do not judge others, who, as we have, been declared by God to be holy and blameless in his since. Therefore, because we believers have been declared blameless by God, we are among the innocent. That means all our fellow believers are among the innocent, which means we cannot be critical of them, for there is nothing to criticize about an innocent person. Sure, we could judge the guilty, but then that would place us on the level with God, for He alone is qualified to judge all men. This would mean, mercy stands as the guidepost of our lives. Let us demonstrate the love of God in that because He showed mercy on us, we need to be merciful in our walk among others.