I Desire Mercy, Not Sacrifice: A Call to Love Like Jesus
“Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” ~ Jn 20:28
On YouTube, there’s a conversation between Ben Shapiro and Matt Fradd. Ben is a popular devout Jew and Matt is a conservative Catholic. At some point in the conversation, Matt asked Ben why don’t Jews evangelize given that they believe salvation is through the one true God.
Interestingly, Ben’s response was a version of “we don’t mind either way”. In Ben’s eyes, they believe to be the chosen people of God and that life is better following Him but don’t feel strongly as to whether other people should join Judaism or not. All that matters is that they believe in God.
It seems Jews decided to mind their business and let others be. You can check the full clip of Ben’s answer here because I am certainly not doing to justice to Ben.
The altercation between Jesus and the Pharisees in today’s Gospel reminded me of Ben’s response. I find it curious that throughout the Gospels, we only hear about the Pharisees preaching to their people and no one else.
The questioning is an attack to the honor of Jesus. How could someone who claims to be God be hanging out with the lowlifes?
Jesus response is a direct challenge to their hypocrisy and misunderstanding of scripture.
Jesus asks the judges to reflect on Hosea 6:6, “For it is mercy that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Some translations use loyalty or love instead of mercy).
At this point, one fall in the either/or mentality and think that Jesus is saying sacrifice and following God’s law isn’t important. Recall Jesus said, “I did not come to abolish the them (law and prophets) but to fulfill them.” ~Mt 5:17
The Pharisees missed the intent of scripture and got caught up in checking the boxes.
I think Jesus is reminding us to be careful not to forget that mercy and love are the foundation of God’s commandments.
May we receive the graces to flavor everything we do today with love and mercy.
In peace,
~Juan
