I Desire Mercy, Not SacrificeLet us not demand sacrifice and austerity from anybody in the name of God, for it will not make them holy, nor is it holy of us to make such a demand.
Scripture ReadingMatthew 9:9-13, 18-26As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.”And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread throughout that district.Scripture ReflectionThe Law forbade Jesus to touch the unclean woman or the dead girl, but the touch of his Grace made clean the unclean and gave life to the dead. National pride despised the traitorous oppressor, Matthew, who collected taxes for the occupiers, but Christ’s universalist humility brought him under the protective wings of his nation’s mighty liberator. These are salvific miracles worth celebrating. Yet the self-appointed stewards of the religion which promised the coming of Jesus Christ, did not celebrate. The Pharasaical religious spirit calls for asceticism and austerity, sacrifice not mercy: “Do not touch, do not handle, do not associate.” Even the original meaning of “holy” is “set apart,” that is, exclusive — isolated, even. But Jesus rejects self-righteous, self-sheltering holiness. To hide away from the world is cowardice; to do so in an ivory tower is arrogance; all in the name of religion, it is hypocrisy. The Pharisees were guilty of all this, and Jesus is its antithesis. Jesus demonstrated such faith in God’s mercy that he embodied it: where he saw sin, he forgave it; where he saw uncleanness, he cleansed it; where he saw death, he gave life. He did not withdraw; he drew nearer. Jesus did not fear guilt by association, neither contamination nor infection; he trusted that the God of Life desires to give life to all, and he made himself life’s willing, open vessel of transmission without exception. We are the beneficiaries of Jesus’ faith, which saves us. We may furthermore also become its benefactors, and stewards of its living legacy, by the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. For the Spirit is the power that inspired Jesus’ faith. By this power, we come to trust God as Jesus did. When you trust and embody God’s will in this way, the world will say you are guilty, contaminated, infected — dead to the world. There is no room for “pride of place” because “birds have nests, foxes have holes, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Mt. 8:20). There is little opportunity for worldly approval in this path. But all who have left behind the world for Christ will gain from God more than the world ever could have offered (Mt. 19:29). “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Hos. 6:6) — the Holy Spirit did not blink when speaking these words through Hosea, the servant-prophet who longed, with all of faithful Israel, to be a son of God. These words were all the more weighty when the Spirit spoke them again through Jesus, the Son of God who humbled himself to servitude in the name of God’s mercy. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” These words are eternal; they grow weightier every time their invocation is required yet again. These words are a warning, and they are also Gospel: they condemn all those who would demand austerity and the sacrificial fracturing of human communion in the name of holier-than-thou-ness; they break the spell of such hypocrisy, revealing the liberating truth that God wants for his children the abundant joy that can only be found in loving communion. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” In the Eucharist, the bread is broken to show how the spirit of the world broke the body of Christ, and tears apart the bonds of His people; and yet this coming-apart of all things is precisely the means by which God’s love is revealed and enthroned in the world. For the Body of Christ is broken, yet it is also triumphantly immortal in the name of Divine Love because he was raised to be its sign and seal. Sacrifice is overshadowed by mercy; put another way, the darkness of sacrifice is blotted out by the light of love. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Let us not demand sacrifice and austerity from anybody in the name of God, for it will not make them holy, nor is it holy of us to make such a demand. That is not the Spirit of the Gospel. Like Christ, we should sooner sacrifice ourselves of our own accord, uncompelled, for others even to sin against us, rather than make such an unholy demand in the name of holiness. As bearers of God’s abundance, we are challenged to reveal his divine forbearance, patience, and mercy. As a minister of the Gospel, I can tell you confidently that God’s forgiveness extends to all your sins; who am I to tell you how to behave? Christ’s love does not compel us to holiness for God’s sake; it compels us to mercy for his children’s sake. He so loved them that he sent his only Son; let us join his Son as brothers and sisters, snapped out of the sleeping stupor of ignorance by the morning light of his love, living and doling out this love for a world in desperate need of it. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” The unclean woman does not need to become clean first to merit being washed; the traitor cannot merit mercy, for mercy is unmerited; the dead are powerless to raise themselves in order to win life from the dead. They cannot be expected to do this; it is absurd. This is why God is not our Debtor, but our Savior — because he is the fountain of infinite graces which we come to know without meriting our daily encounters with, and blessings by, them. Is God in debt to us? We did not earn the rain; we did not earn the sun. Far be it from us to demand a price for the higher, heavenly gifts that we may offer through the Spirit. Christ never did, nor should we. He only ever drew attention to the glory of his Father’s extravagant love by proclaiming and embodying it himself; may we do the same. Amen.
Song Meditation: “Whether We’re Awake or Asleep”
Inspiration has struck!This Holy Week I found myself writing and recording companion songs for the journey, from the Triumphal Entry to the Resurrection. You can find all these brand new songs here:
ICYMI: New Album “Hymns & Homilies” Out NowI invite you to download and listen to my album, out now: “Hymns & Homilies” — an eclectic collection of songs for worship and musical sermons. This is not your grandaddy’s Christian music. Name your price — your support for my work of music ministry is a blessing!
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