Matthew 9:9–13

“As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, 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 Jesus 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 not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

— Matthew 9:9–13 (NRSV)

“Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” Jesus’ words in verse 13 of this passage prompt us to reflect on the significance of this statement in relation to his embracing of tax collectors and ‘sinners’. It is actually a quotation of Hosea 6:6, whose broader context is as follows:

 Hosea 6:4–6

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?

What shall I do with you, O Judah?

Your love is like a morning cloud,

​like the dew that goes away early.

Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;

​I have killed them by the words of my mouth,

​and my judgment goes forth as the light.

For I desire steadfast love (Hebrew hesed) and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

In the Hosea passage, Ephraim/Judah is confronted over their superficiality in approaching God—their “love is like a morning cloud,” like dew that disappears by late morning as if it were never there. This brings the sharp rebuke of God through the prophets, a rebuke that is described so strikingly in violent terms in order to convey how powerful divine words are. Perhaps nothing less than this can shake the people out of their complacency. It is here that we get the statement quoted by Jesus: “For I desire hesed and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. The Hebrew word hesed (translated “mercy” in Matthew through the Greek) is not “mercy” in the sense of pity, but is closer to what in English we would call “loyalty” or “lovingkindness.” The key distinction is that it is not a momentary emotion, but involves a commitment on the part of the one showing it—the exact opposite of superficiality. No amount of “going through the motions” (represented here by sacrifices and burnt offerings) can take the place of the faithful, steadfast commitment that God demands from his people (because he first expressed, and continues to express, that commitment to them).

In Matthew 9, then, Jesus simultaneously confronts the Pharisees regarding their misunderstanding of the heart of God—God’s desire to seek after those who are lost—and their supposing that formal adherence to religious customs is sufficient to please God. Here, the Pharisees aren’t so much wrong as much as they are missing the point. They are so focused on what rules Jesus might be breaking by eating with the wrong people that they couldn’t see what God was actually doing—bringing these misfits back into the fold, providing healing to the spiritually sick. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” is not only a statement of what we should do; it’s a declaration of what God already does.

What examples of God’s hesed-loyalty-love have we seen in our lives? And what would it mean for us to live in a way that reflects this same love?