"I want you to be merciful"

While in a worship gathering recently, I felt led to read from Matt 9. The second section (v9-13) of this chapter is the story of Matthew the tax collector's call to follow Jesus. Here it is:

As Jesus was going down the road, he saw Matthew sitting at his tax-collection booth. "Come, be my disciple," Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.
That night Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. The Pharisees were indignant. "Why does your teacher eat with such scum?" they asked his disciples.
When he heard this, Jesus replied, "Healthy people don't need a doctor - sick people do." Then he added, "Now go and the learn the meaning of this scripture: 'I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices.' For I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough. (NLT)

I'd heard and read this passage many times, and there are lots of things I could say about it, but in the environment of a worship gathering, one section took on a different meaning to me. The particular verse I was struck by was Jesus suggestion to go and learn what Hosea 6:6 says 'I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices.'

Hosea 6 in the New Living Translation is entitled 'A call to repentance'. It is a description of God's despair and loving judgement of a nation (Israel) who has totally abandoned her God and is chasing after others, but continue to make sacrifices to God in spite of that. v6 in full says 'I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices. I want you to know God; that's more important than burnt offerings'.

As I sat surrounded by people with their hands in the air singing their praises to God and offering their 'burnt offerings' I felt convicted.

Am I just going through the motions? Am I just hiding behind the usual 'burnt offerings' of sung worship? Do I know God? Am I just playing lip service while putting other things before him?

The other question I had was;

What does it mean to be merciful?

Wikipedia's definition of mercy is;

'Mercy is a term used to describe the leniency or compassion shown by one person to another, or a request from one person to another to be shown such leniency or unwarranted compassion for a crime or wrongdoing.'

God offers us mercy by showing us leniency and compassion where we don't deserve it. The penalty for sin is death, yet God has shown us mercy by sending Jesus to take our place.

Ok, so how do I become merciful? Firstly, what does compassion mean?

'Compassion is a profound human emotion prompted by the pain of others. More vigorous than empathy, the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering.'

Another definition is 'shared suffering'. 'Com' meaning to share and 'passion' to suffer.

So to be merciful, I need to be someone who is willing to forgive those who in the eyes of the world don't deserve to be and even share in their suffering! This sounds quite extreme! Yet, this is what it means to know God and to love him.

What Jesus is saying to these Pharisees is that to know God is not just to offer him sacrifices. It's not just about turning up on a set day at a set time and giving God our attention then going home. It's more than a ritual or service. To know God is to know the people he loves. Jesus revealed that he came for the sick and those in need. His life was devoted to those that needed him.

There are people all around us today that need to know God's mercy. They need to know a doctor. They need to know that no matter what they have done, they can find forgiveness. This is the Gospel ('Good news') and this is what we've been asked to share, both in word and action, to a world that is hurting and dieing.

Who are we to decide who hears this? Who are we to judge? We, as believers, are no better than they are. We do not not deserve Jesus any more than they do. We have been shown mercy, so let's show it to others. Let's be prepared to join in their suffering, just as Jesus did. We have to realise that we must 'Go' into ALL the World. It's part of our mandate in the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20). We haven't been saved from the world, but have been called into it to be salt and light. The church was never meant to be a safe place to hide, but a dynmaic group of people who represented the risen Jesus on the earth. The body of Christ.

Jesus was addressing the area of pride in the Pharisees hearts and as I sat in the audotorium, I knew he was doing the same to me. I had stopped wanting to know God more and had settled for what I already knew. I had begun to make a god I was comfortable with and knew, and this was His way of reminding me that He can never be worked out, but as the prophet Hosea said at the end of 6:6;

'I want you to know God; that's more important than burnt offerings.'

As we search after God, it will be the revelation of who He is that will lead us to right worship and will move us out into the hurting, smelly, sinful World around us that often we try to avoid. Offering love and sharing in the suffering with those to whom the World has given up on.

This is what it means to be merciful.