"9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” " -Matthew 9:9-13, NIV
Ever sit and wonder "God, what makes you happy? What are you looking for?" My guess is that most of us have, at least a time or two. Most of us want to please God, and to do that:
-We go to church
-We read our Bibles a few minutes every other day
-We try not to cuss or get too drunk
-We try to put limits on how much physical contact we have with a significant other (don't wanna cross the line!)
God wants us to be morally good, right? Yes, and no. Absolutely yes, in the sense that doing the opposite of good is bad, and bad is called sin, and that is rebellion to God. So, yes, God wants us to be morally upright. However, the issue lies in what your focus for being upright is.
The Pharisees were some high-up religious pros in the Jewish system back in Jesus's Earth-walking days. They were some of the most religious and moral people that have ever walked the earth. Yet, Jesus instead chose to hang out and party it up (yes, Jesus was known to have some rowdy parties! He was not a boring house guest!) with traitors, hookers and lawbreakers, homeless and dirty. These people were not your moral folks! So, what was Jesus looking for?
He tells the Pharisees in v.13, and again in Matthew 12:7, to go learn what "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" meant. In this, He was quoting Hosea 6:6, and alluding to Micah 6:6-8, which says:
"6 With what shall I come before the LORD
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly[a] with your God." -Micah 6:6-8, NIV
God is not looking for your sacrifices and religious practices! Sure, they are good and necessary, but what does this say is REQUIRED by God? To be just, love mercy, and walk humbly. Treat people right, love on them and give forgiveness easily, and be humble. That, my friends, is what God wants most from you. It all comes back to Matthew 22:29, which says to love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus came to love on the world, especially the broken, beaten and unloved. Will you do the same, or keep trying to burn your sacrifices, by trying to earn God's happiness with your religious practices?
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