Lessons from Matthew 9: Mercy

It is not surprising to us that in the midst of such a holy union others are not quite so excited. In fact, we see that the opposition to Jesus and His ministry is only going to escalate until His death. And so, verse 11.

In verse 12 Jesus answered the question by responding, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Jesus was explaining to them that He was a doctor of the soul and that if He were to help those who were sick in the soul, He had to go where they were. And then Jesus continued by saying to these Pharisees, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

These Pharisees were, in fact, just as sick as those Jesus was dining with. But they refused to acknowledge their spiritual illness. And if they were truly as righteous and religious as they professed, they too would have been burdened not only by their own sin but by the sins of others.

Instead they imposed a sacrificial fasting beyond the legal requirement of the law. They went from once a year on the day of atonement, to twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays to give off a false impression of holiness.

Mercy, Not Sacrifice

Jesus challenged them to reexamine their actions by looking at Hosea 6:6. Hosea had been attacking false, formal religion of his day, saying that the people professed to follow God because they were going through the outward acts of religion, while actually their hearts were far from Him.

He quotes God as saying, “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.” Jesus was saying that if the leaders of the people were really right with God, they would show mercy to the lost and seek to call them to repentance and faith, as Jesus was.

Jesus used three word pictures to answer John’s disciples’ question about fasting. In verse 15, Jesus’s disciples did not need to fast because He, Jesus, was the Messiah and He was with them! Jesus did not condemn fasting, for He himself fasted. But rather, He emphasized that fasting must be done for the right reasons at the right time.

The arrival of the kingdom of heaven was like a wedding feast with Jesus as the bridegroom. His disciples, therefore, were filled with joy in His presence. There would come a time for mourning and fasting (the cross was getting closer), but the time was not right then while Jesus was with them.

New Wine

Next, Jesus used an illustration of wineskins. In Bible times, wine was not kept in glass bottles but in goatskins sewn around the edges to form watertight bags. New wine expanded as it fermented, thus stretching the wineskins. After the wine had aged, the stretched skin would burst if more new wine was poured into it. New wine, therefore, was always put into new wineskins.

Jesus was saying that He did not come to patch up the old religious system of Judaism with its rules and traditions. He did not come to correct His mistake; God doesn’t make mistakes. But rather, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to bring something new, though it had been prophesied for centuries.

This new message, the gospel, said that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, came to earth to offer all people forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. The gospel did not fit into the old rigid legalistic system of religion.

Jesus was and is and always will be the way the truth and the life.

And when we follow Christ, we too must be prepared for new ways to live, new ways to look at people, and new ways to serve.

Terri Hamman

Faith & Fitness Coach