Matthew 9:10–13 (ESV)

¹⁰ And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹² But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus said, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” The Pharisees showed no emotion, empathy for sinners, but they were more concerned about legalistic outside show, cultural requirements. Look at their question, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” They have absolutely no mercy for the spiritually sick. Jesus profoundly said I desire mercy, not sacrifice. You know how big a statement is that?

Mercy is such an appealing attractive attribute of God, and I thank God every day for his mercy and compassion.

If he didn’t have that we’ll all be condemned. Jesus is essentially saying he wants the church to have mercy, and not sacrifice. What is sacrifice? In the context of what happened in that passage, sacrifice refers to not to eat with tax collectors and sinners trying to adhere mechanically to the Torah or the mosaic laws. But there is one overriding factor that overrides all the legalistic laws and legalism, and that is the mercy of God. When you look at the cross you see the mercy of God. You see the blood dripping down from the body of the son of God on the cross, you see the mercy of God for us.

That’s why when Jesus said I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, obviously that is such a phenomenal statement! Part of the reason that Christians are not evangelizing, reaching out to the lost, and missions is they lack of the mercy of God in their lives. They’re not seeing that as important, they do not seem to care after a while. They are kind of numbed by the brokenness in the world that they see daily including myself. I am guilty to that and part of the reason I struggle with is that, we lack the refreshing renewal of the knowledge of God and the impartation of the Spirit. When Jesus said to the Pharisees that he came to meet with Matthew, because he is broken like we all are, and by his grace, He chose Matthew. Pharisees said that he is made ‘dirty’ because he sits with the tax collectors. You see there are so many times the Pharisees are problematic.

On one Sabbath day Jesus healed a cripple, the Pharisees challenged Jesus and want to watch upon him see if he will heal a man on the Sabbath day. Jesus famously challenged them when you have your donkey or your horse dropped into a pit on the Sabbath day, would you not rescue your animal? And here it is the son of Abraham in sickness, and you won’t heal him? That’s the mercy of God!

We are so numbed by the things of the world that we are so incapacitated in some way to reach out to the sick, the spiritual sick

We are so numbed by the things of the world that we are so incapacitated in some way to reach out to the sick, the spiritual sick and physical sick because we feel a sense of helplessness. And the comfortable thing to do, therefore, as you feel so helpless is just to give up and move on in life.

And may I argue from the fact that we lack the mercy of God. That mercy of God’s will propel us to actions. I would also say that the reason we are showing a lack of mercy is because we feel we have a lack of ability to really help. That’s precisely the reason why so many Christians do not evangelize or share the gospel and outreach, that’s because of the fear of rejection, and our lack of success, and because realistically, the harvest is really not there, we may argue. But the reality is it is hard, the soul market so to speak.

That’s why we need all the more the mercy of God as a propellant inside our lives.

There’s something powerful and beautiful about the mercy of God. Because when you see the sick, the spiritual sick, needy brokenness and people in trouble and hardship, in tears, you feel compassion for them. You feel your heart is swelling up with mercy and that is from God. And that mercy will turn you into action. I would argue that one of the reasons churches are not praying enough for the sick, is because they are showing a lack of mercy of God. They rather do sacrifice, but no mercy. Not because there are not kind, but because their internal mindset has been numbed and also felt discouraged with unbelief. Let’s face it, healing doesn’t come easy, by any means. If you see somebody who is sick physically, do the churches pray for the sick today? They hardly do. I would certainly choose to pray for the sick every single Sunday, stretch your hands and believe by faith.

A lot of churches today are big on mercy ministry, in what is called the social justice

That is feeding the poor, helping the underprivileged youths etcetera. They are all good things to do but I’m arguing that that mercy is not extended enough towards those with physical sickness, which is the main pattern of Jesus ministry, and Paul’s. Those people who are physically sick coming to church, no one from the church is reaching out to them by praying for the sick. Or emotionally sick, depresssed, etc. They rather praying for the doctor to have wisdom to cure them. This is very alien to Jesus ministry or even Paul or Peter for that matter. And that’s why I will advocate strongly that churches today should administer healing and praying for the sick. In fact in James he says bringing the sick and lay hands on them put oil upon them. Laying hands on them to bring healing is a very biblical thing to do.

We need both.