Mercy

1 Samuel 25-26; Psalms 63; Matthew 9 

“On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’…When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them…”

Matthew 9:12, 13, 36

In the story of Hosea, God’s cry for his wayward bride is echoed by Jesus as he calls religious leaders to the love and intimacy of relationship with God and others, rather than to the sacrificial duties of a master-servant relationship. It was mercy and compassion that moved the heart of Jesus.

What motivates our worship, witness, and work?

Are we willing to have our heart’s capacity for compassion and mercy expanded so that we, too, love the ‘sick’, the ‘sinners’, and the ‘religious’?

We, too, are invited to both learn and be transformed by the mercy and love of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. The Hebrew definition of knowledge and learning always involved obedience. To learn to be merciful requires us to practice mercy in the way to which Jesus calls us.

“Lord Jesus, you are my source of mercy and my example, for your glory. Thank you.”