Mercy and not Sacrifice
Mercy and not Sacrifice
We live in the days of pc where political correctness rules and where many have the form of godliness but deny the power of God. People say things that mean nothing. Empty tombs with outward beautiful decorations but filled with dry bones inside. Where outward appearance is more important than the real person inside.
There is nothing new under the sun. There were pc people in Christ's days. They were the religious leaders and Pharisees. They were more interested in show business than God's business of redemption. They loved the rules and made many rules that stopped and hindered people from having a relationship with God and people.
Are our religious church activities stopping you and me from serving and seeing people for who they really are? People made in the image of God who are very valuable to God. We are all good at dismissing people who do not fall within our preconceived molds. Jesus is confronting us today with his truth and saying stop. See people with the eyes of mercy as I see them because they need help to see Christ. Jesus is Lord of all and Lord of the Sabbath. He is the Sabbath rest people need and are looking for.
Jesus said. ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ Matthew 12:7.
Some of us spend Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the church building and yet we do not know the name of our next-door neighbor.
Can we go beyond the ceremonial sacrifices of religious church activities and go to the people who need healing of hearts and hurts for whom Christ died for? May God help us to follow Jesus out of love and not out of legal rules so we can love others for Christ. Amen
Let's not be the modern-day Pharisees and religious people. Let's make sure we have relationship with God instead of religion. If we have relationship with Christ, his mercy will flow through us to others who need him. Can we be real for a change? Let's learn from Christ’s encounter with the Pharisees. Please read the following scripture to see how he handles questions about Sabbath keeping and the religious rules.
Scripture for Today’s Reading and Study Matthew 12:1-21:
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”
3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. 7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’[a] you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even[b] of the Sabbath.”
Healing on the Sabbath
9 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.
11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. 14 Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.
Behold, My Servant
15 But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes[c] followed Him, and He healed them all. 16 Yet He warned them not to make Him known, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
18 “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen,
My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.
19 He will not quarrel nor cry out,
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench,
Till He sends forth justice to victory;
21 And in His name Gentiles will trust.”[d]
We live in the days of pc where political correctness rules and where many have the form of godliness but deny the power of God. People say things that mean nothing. Empty tombs with outward beautiful decorations but filled with dry bones inside. Where outward appearance is more important than the real person inside.
There is nothing new under the sun. There were pc people in Christ's days. They were the religious leaders and Pharisees. They were more interested in show business than God's business of redemption. They loved the rules and made many rules that stopped and hindered people from having a relationship with God and people.
Are our religious church activities stopping you and me from serving and seeing people for who they really are? People made in the image of God who are very valuable to God. We are all good at dismissing people who do not fall within our preconceived molds. Jesus is confronting us today with his truth and saying stop. See people with the eyes of mercy as I see them because they need help to see Christ. Jesus is Lord of all and Lord of the Sabbath. He is the Sabbath rest people need and are looking for.
Jesus said. ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ Matthew 12:7.
Some of us spend Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the church building and yet we do not know the name of our next-door neighbor.
Can we go beyond the ceremonial sacrifices of religious church activities and go to the people who need healing of hearts and hurts for whom Christ died for? May God help us to follow Jesus out of love and not out of legal rules so we can love others for Christ. Amen
Let's not be the modern-day Pharisees and religious people. Let's make sure we have relationship with God instead of religion. If we have relationship with Christ, his mercy will flow through us to others who need him. Can we be real for a change? Let's learn from Christ’s encounter with the Pharisees. Please read the following scripture to see how he handles questions about Sabbath keeping and the religious rules.
Scripture for Today’s Reading and Study Matthew 12:1-21:
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”
3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. 7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’[a] you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even[b] of the Sabbath.”
Healing on the Sabbath
9 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.
11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. 14 Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.
Behold, My Servant
15 But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes[c] followed Him, and He healed them all. 16 Yet He warned them not to make Him known, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
18 “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen,
My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.
19 He will not quarrel nor cry out,
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench,
Till He sends forth justice to victory;
21 And in His name Gentiles will trust.”[d]
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