Matt 12

 In this chapter, Jesus repeats a phrase he used in Chapter 9 when he was confronted by the religious leaders.

Matt. 12:7And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

In Matthew 9:13, the context was the religious leaders’ criticism of Jesus for eating with sinners and tax collectors. Jesus instructed them to in that context was “go and learn what this means” In chapter 12 Jesus is being criticized for allowing his disciples to pick grain on the Sabbath because they were hungry (picking grain was considered work).  Jesus repeats the phrase “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,” but precedes that by saying “if you had learned what this means . . .” Evidently, they didn’t bother to go and learn what it meant. The phrase comes from Hosea 6:6 and the complete verse is as follows: “for I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, I desire the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”  

I suggest to you that the application Jesus is trying to communicate to these leaders is this:  God is more concerned with our heart for peoplethan with their mereobedience to the rules.  God cares deeply for his rules, but rules are for people, people were not created for the rules.  To desire the knowledge of God would inevitably result in caring for His people. But when our highest motive is rule-keeping and is void of concern for the people for whom God made the rules, we have completely missed the point.  

Now, please don’t misinterpret me, I am not saying that God’s commands are not important.  They are, but like the story in Matthew 12 where Jesus healed the man with the withered hand; The Sabbath restrictions of not working were not designed to stop acts of compassion for the hurting.  

What are Your thoughts?