Monday, September 22, 2025

I Desire Mercy not Sacrifice

Preached at Christ church, Billericay on 21 September 2025 at 10:30

Recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLIwZDI2kAI from 30:00 to 42:06

Reading Matthew 9:9-13

Prayer

Father God, Thank You for calling us, as You called Matthew, not with judgment but with grace. Teach us to extend that same mercy to others, seeing them through Your eyes of compassion.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction

Jesus has just healed the paralytic. He said “Get up, pick up your mat and go home”. The man did, and Jesus got in trouble with the scribes for blasphemy, as he had started the conversation with the paralytic by saying “your sins are forgiven”. Only God can forgive sins. Now He’s being watched!

Calling Matthew

Jesus has moved on, and comes to a tax booth. These were probably small, open-air stalls or tables positioned by the side of a busy road, near a city gate, a marketplace, or a port—anywhere goods and travellers passed frequently. They would collect any tax they thought they could, because the tax collectors were under contract by the Romans. They would be seen as traitors, and most definitely as ‘sinners’. It’s a very public place.
Jesus says, “Follow me”.
Imagine you were standing in Billericay High Street, perhaps manning a charity stall, and Jesus comes by and says “Follow me”. What do you do?
That’s a much easier situation than Matthew faced, but he didn’t hesitate, he just got up and went with Jesus. Did he take the money he had collected? What about the records? Or did he leave everything behind? We don’t know.
Either way, this scene would have had a major impact on the people who watched it. The man who obviously had God’s approval, as he had just healed a paralytic, is now inviting traitors to join him. And Matthew, breaking his employment contract, just leaves his very lucrative job and moves on.

Feast

We know it was a lucrative job, because the next thing he does is hold a celebration for Jesus at his house. It’s in Luke 5:29:
29Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Jesus at his house.
Levi and Matthew are the same person, it is thought that it was relatively common to have a Jewish and a Greek name.

Pharisees

Matthew’s friends – other tax collectors, and Jesus’s friends – his disciples are all mixed together enjoying the feast. The Pharisees see what’s going on and question the disciples. Jesus responds on their behalf.
Now, to get a better feel of the environment, imagine there were half a dozen bishops in the congregation this morning. They were asking me questions, and I told them, go and learn what scripture really means.
Jesus says:

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Well, He seems to have put an end to their argument, but what does He mean by “I desire Mercy, not sacrifice”?

Sacrifice

Sacrifices were offered for all sorts of things in the Old Testament, not just for the forgiveness of sins, but for any agreement or covenant with God, and at many of the festivals celebrating with God. Sacrifices did not always require an animal, there were grain offerings, drink offerings, and even sweat of the brow offerings. When they did offer an animal, it had to be a farmed animal, so something that had value to the person offering the sacrifice. The meat would usually be used at the celebration, or maybe used to feed the priests. Only occasionally was it totally consumed by fire.
The sacrifice offered had a cost to the person who offered it.
Today, we see our sacrifices as the time and money that we give to support our church and the wider Christian community.

Mercy

Jesus, though, says that more than sacrifice He desires mercy. What He is saying is consistent with the Old Testament message. We see in Micah 6:8 it says:
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Mercy is a kindness that allows you to forgive someone – usually someone that you have some sort of authority or power over. So that they are not punished for their actions.
Here are a couple of examples:

The Gallows Pardon – Iran

Samereh Alinejad’s teenage son was murdered in a street fight. Under Iranian law, she had the right to oversee the execution of the killer. Moments before the sentence was carried out, she stepped forward and removed the noose from his neck. Her act of mercy—choosing life over vengeance—was inspired by a dream in which her son asked her not to take revenge.

Mayor La Guardia’s Night Court Mercy

In 1935, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia visited a night court in one of the city's poorest districts. He took over the bench and heard the case of an elderly woman who had stolen bread to feed her grandchildren. She broke the law so, La Guardia fined her, but then paid the fine himself and added a donation for the woman. His acted justly, and showed his love or mercy.

My Example

Of course, all acts of mercy are not that dramatic. Mercy can also be shown for much smaller things.
Many years ago I worked supporting a Mainframe computer – you’ve heard of them I’m sure, they fitted into a very large room, and had about the same processing power as your phone. The whole of the back office of the bank relied on it to work. About mid-morning, in trying to solve a problem, I had it shut down and restarted, when I really didn’t need to. The restart took over 45 minutes. All my manager said was “You know what you’ve done don’t you!?” I did. He could easily have disciplined me, and put it on my personnel record, but he didn’t.
That was an act of mercy that I’m still grateful for.

Your mercy

When was the last time, or the most memorable time, when you were shown mercy?
How did it make you feel? Relieved, happy, grateful, thankful?

Today’s World

In a world where there is, it seems, increasing hate, and a greater desire for revenge rather than justice, a small act of mercy can go a long way to changing someone's attitude. Maybe we can turn the tide, not for everyone, but for the few we meet, if we can truly appreciate that God does not want our sacrifices, but wants us to show mercy, as he shows His mercy to us all.

Amen.