Matthew 9:`2-13 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.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Mercy can be a very difficult thing to hand out. When great offenses have taken place, like a cold blooded murder, mercy is almost the last thing that the grieving family has in mind. We want justice! Our hearts cry against the unfairness of crimes like this. The criminal is still alive while the loved one is dead.
We have had a number of deaths that fall into this category splashed across the front pages of our news feeds in recent years. It is almost never a gang related death, for which there is no excuse and too little public grief. The random violence that had gripped so many of our large cities has left its deadly generational grief.
What has been blown out of proportion, perhaps in order to cover up this real tragedy of young men killing other young men and innocent bystanders, is the occasional death at the hand of a police officer. By focusing on these police related deaths, no account has to be given by those in charge of those cities. They get a free pass. They get mercy.
But mercy of this kind isn’t justice. Ignoring the deaths of thousands at the hands of young men brings us no closer to justice for their victims. By silencing their grief, we suppress the truth of the indignity of the acts of violence. Life has become a throwaway commodity in the minds of these young killers. Life has lost its value.
Jesus words are easy to understand. They are hard to apply! We know sick people need the medical professionals. Healthy people a latte. The complaint by Jesus detractors is that He is spending time with tax collectors and sinners. Shouldn’t a holy man spend time with other holy men?
But Jesus puts this conventional wisdom on its heels. Holiness is not a commodity to be stored in a jar in a corner of your kitchen cabinets. Holiness is to be practiced out in public, having been developed by private times before the face of God and His Word. Holiness is to be seen by those who need to see it the most.
Holy people ought to be the ones showing the most mercy because they themselves have seen the mercy that the LORD has extended to them. They should be aware of their own faults and failings, having spent time in His presence. God’s holiness blinds us all. Our flickering wicks matter little in the presence of God’s blistering sun of holiness.
God’s desire is that those of us who recognize our own flickering wicks to show God’s holiness by extending mercy, the same mercy we ourselves have received. Unlike the religious leader of Jesus’ day who specialized in keeping the outward ceremonies of a holy life, Jesus challenges them to exercise mercy with the same fervor the have applied to keeping the Old Testament law.
I wonder what it would be like for us if we did the same. Having recognized the grace and mercy we ourselves had received, if we would extend mercy instead of condemnation and derision. Would that make a difference in our world, our politics, our work places, our families?
Jesus has the righteous already. He doesn’t need to reach them. He needs us to live such holy lives that those who don’t know Him will be drawn to His face. We don’t need any more street-placarded preachers screaming about the sins of the world. We need people willing to wash other people’s feet in service.
The Arnold Journey 