Matthew 12:7 (CSB) – “If you had known what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent.”
Jesus spoke these words to religious leaders who knew their Bibles but had still missed the heart of God. They had many of the right rules and rituals, but they still didn’t understand God because they lacked mercy, and so they condemned the innocent.
The idea of mercy is simple enough to understand, but, unfortunately, its practice in the real world is complex and cumbersome. After all, like the Pharisees, we want to obey God. Take a moment to think about that: the Pharisees had noble intentions in that they wanted to obey God. They saw how Israel’s past disobedience had gone and were trying to obey God. But “how do we practice obedience in a fallen and broken world?” Ah! That’s where mercy comes into play. And that’s where the simple idea of mercy becomes very difficult to put into practice. We’re aren’t likely to always get mercy right as we strive to follow God with other broken and confused people, but we have to try!
Many Christians have become comfortable labeling, dividing, harshly cancelling, and building theological and/or political walls that mercy can’t cross. We elevate correctness over compassion. “Mercy” has become suspect to our ears — too soft, too liberal, too easily abused. But Jesus never said mercy would be easy, he just said it was essential. “I desire mercy,” he said— not merely obedience, not theological precision, not even righteous indignation. But mercy. That’s the kind of heart we must have if we’re going to understand God. And notice who Jesus defends in this passage: the innocent. Mercy doesn’t mean tolerating sin. All too often our cries for mercy or even justice come only to the defense of the guilty! Yet, mercy does mean refusing to crush the weak and broken. Yes, it does mean refusing to condemn those whom God himself is not condemning. It means seeing people through God’s eyes, not through our systems.
What would our churches look like if we practiced this kind of mercy instead of settling for technical correctness? What if Christians were known for their compassion rather than their criticism? What if our public voice wasn’t simply about what we’re against, but about carrying the burdens no one wants to see and lifting up the people no one wants to touch?
Let’s not make the same mistake the Pharisees did. Let’s go and learn what this means: God desires mercy, not sacrifice.
A Dedicated Faith 