For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the
knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)
In addressing the implications of biblical MERCY[1],
we should first breach the subject of GRACE. Grace is not the nullification of
the Law, but a substitution of the one for whom the penalty of disobedience is
legally justified. Jesus did that for us. The Law was not set aside, but
enforced thoroughly upon the Lord Jesus Christ as our substitute. He paid the
penalty for us, and only One who is innocent can pay the penalty for another;
else, he would suffer for himself that penalty. Mercy is the mother of Grace.
Unconditional Grace is granted to those who are the Elect of God through the
agency of unconditional MERCY - Mercy RESULTS in Grace. While it is true that
God is love: “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love”
(1 John 4:8); God is also totally just. He will allow no sin to go unpunished
by the terms of the Law. The terms of the Law were satisfied wholly in Jesus
Christ at Calvary. His blood was sufficient to cover every sin of those who
believe.
Last winter, there was a church near my home which had this statement, written
in red, upon its marquee: “WE ONLY WANT TRUE CHRISTIANS!” I am sure every
church would like to have all become “True Christians;” but what were you and I
before we became “True Christians?” What were the preacher of that church, and
every member of it, before they became “True Christians?” To post such a
dreadful sign is tantamount to a hospital posting “We want only healthy people
here.” Where will true Christians be found if the sinner is not admitted to
church to hear the Word? I believe, as a final act of mercy, that the last
sense a person loses at death is that of the sense of hearing. Many dying
mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives have revived momentarily at the anguished
mourning of their loved ones. Those medical personnel who officiate at the
final moments of a patient’s life say that it would be easier for the patient
to ‘turn loose’ if their loved ones were not heard weeping. But, I believe it
is also an evidence of God’s final mercy. Some may believe seconds before
death. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
(Romans 10:17)
God is merciful in ways that are beyond our means of comprehension. He leaves
the Door open until the last moment.
We have had the Great Physician attend our bedsides of sin, and He has granted
a cure. While we were lost and dying, He spoke life into our souls as a result
of His unfailing Mercy and Compassion. Jesus once told the very legalistic and
unbelieving Pharisees, when they condemned His apostles for eating grain on the
Sabbath: “They that are whole need not a
physician, but they that are sick. But
go ye and learn what that meanest, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I
am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matt
9:12-13) We have
many religions of sacrifice, and another of mercy. The only true religion is
one of Mercy which Christ taught us. The religion that Christ brought was one
of mercy through His own sacrifice – for God would require no man (even Abraham)
to sacrifice his own child for the sins of others. He sent His own beloved Son
as a sacrifice out of an incomprehensible sense of mercy and compassion for us.
That is, the one rather than the other.
"Sacrifice," the chief part of the ceremonial law, is here put for a
religion of literal adherence to mere rules; while "mercy" expresses
such compassion for the fallen as seeks to lift them up. The duty of keeping
aloof from the polluted, in the sense of "having no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness," is obvious enough; but to understand this as
prohibiting such intercourse with them as is necessary to their recovery, is to
abuse it. This was what these pharisaical religionists did, and this is what
our Lord here exposes.
Note whom Jesus came to heal: “for I am not
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” There are two classes of people – those who
CONSIDER themselves righteous; and those who are self-confessed sinners. The
latter Jesus can offer salvation – the other is beyond the voice of conscience.
They consider themselves already righteous and not needful of salvation. The
Pharisees were self-righteous and not accessible to the Word of Mercy. "The
righteous" are the whole; "sinners," the sick. When Christ
"called" the latter, as He did Matthew, and probably some of those
publicans and sinners whom he had invited to meet Him, it was to heal them of
their spiritual maladies, or save their souls: "The righteous," like
those miserable self-satisfied Pharisees, "He sent empty away.” Had
they understood the great principle of all religion, which the Scripture
everywhere recognizes -- that ceremonial observances must give way before moral
duties, and particularly the necessities of nature -- they would have refrained
from these captious complaints against men who in this matter are blameless.
But our Lord added a specific application of this great principle to the law of
the sabbath, preserved only in Mark: "And he said unto them, the sabbath
was made for man, and not man for the sabbath". A glorious and
far-reaching maxim, alike for the permanent establishment of the sabbath and
the true freedom of its observance.— JFB
Commentary
Many, many years ago, there was a hardened criminal who lay behind the stone
walls of a prison. He was a man of no redeeming values whatsoever – a
cutthroat, murderer, and a man of profane and vulgar disposition. No man would
have trusted this man around his family or his business. This criminal had been
sentenced to death and was fearfully awaiting the execution of that sentence.
There was no avenue of appeal. The law, too, afforded no provision for mercy
for the law is blind to mercy. On the morning of his execution – and it was a
terrible means of execution he faced being nailed to a wooden cross – he
watched in dread as the iron-barred door to his prison was opened and his name
called. He was belligerent and sullen as the guards dragged him to the outside
gate of the prison.
There was a crowd of on-lookers there who were much worked
up, and seemed disinterested in his coming execution. In fact, they were
screaming for the crucifixion of another man named Jesus. The morning sunrise,
bursting over the Judean Hills into the eyes of Barabbas, made it difficult to
discern the image of this man who, amazingly, was wearing a crown of thorns. “Gives
us Barabbas,” they yelled, and “Crucify this Jesus who claims to be the Son of
God.” Barabbas wondered what all of this meant. He heard the Roman Prefect
exclaim, “But why? I find nothing wrong in this man, Jesus!” But the crowd grew
even more vociferous in calling for Barabbas to be set free, and for Jesus to
be crucified. “Crucify Him (Jesus) the crowd screamed – His blood be upon us
and upon our children!” What a terrible and ominous thing to say! It is far
better to have our sins remitted UNDER His blood than to be guilty of that
blood. But, to be sure, we all are guilty of the shedding of that blood. Had we
not been sinners from birth, He would not have had to suffer and die in our
stead.
Barabbas could not make sense of this affair. He KNEW of the
magnitude of his own guilt; and he had heard the Prefect pronounce Jesus
innocent. So why would the crowd prefer a hardened criminal be set free than an
innocent man? Good question, is it not? Barabbas could not comprehend the great
mercy being shown him anymore than you and I can comprehend why Jesus would die
for us. Before you condemn Barabbas for being set free, and Jesus (the
righteous) being crucified, had you not better know that YOU and ME are that
Barabbas. Jesus died in our stead and for OUR sins – not His own. We were set
free and Jesus went to the cross. That, my friend, is MERCY!
Jesus never raised His voice in anger toward a sinner, but
He did do so toward the self righteous Pharisees and religious leaders of the
day. This reminds me of the gravity of answering the call to minister. The
minister, above all others, must guard against false pride, self-righteousness,
and a judgmental condemnation of those to whom the Lord has sent him. Jesus washed
the feet of the apostles. Are we too good to sweep the church floor after
fellowship? Is our time too demanding to visit the poor and sick? I know a
certain minister at one of our churches who washes the dishes after fellowship
when needed. THAT is the spirit of humility that we all should manifest. We are
under-shepherds of the Great and Good Shepherd. He loves the sheep – the little
lambs are the “apple of His eye.” If we mistreat His lambs, or sheep, how do
you suppose He will feel about that? If we fail to feed them with the wholesome
Bread of Life that He has given to us, what reckoning will we face on that last
day?
Jesus ALWAYS showed compassion on the poor sinner. He knew
their burdens bowed their shoulders down with grief and shame; but He told
them: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of
me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt
11:28-30) He gave
up the Ghost, later, suspended between Heaven and earth (because He was wholly
God, and wholly Man), for those same sinners – for you and me. That is mercy!
He ALWAYS showed compassion on the lame, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, and
even those who suffered the sleep of death. You and I, too, have suffered the
sleep of death before we came to know this magnanimous Lord of Glory, for every
man who does not know the redeeming blood of Christ is yet dead in trespasses
and sin while he yet walks. (Ephesians 2:1-10) It is one thing to KNOW of that
sacrifice that our Lord made at Calvary, and altogether another thing to TRUST
in that blood as a remission of your sins. He came in love, and all that he did
was mercy and grace for us! If that mercy and grace of His are rejected, there
is no other place to acquire it!
[1] mercy - 1.
compassion
or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or
harm.
