GOD'S CURRENCY: MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE

GOSPEL READING: Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

9As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
12On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

18While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." 19Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
20Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed."
22Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment.
23When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. 25After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26News of this spread through all that region.

NOTES: Jesus leads with deeds, and responds to empty religious criticism with deeply religious words. "Mercy, not sacrifice!" That's how Jesus quotes the prophet Hosea; a pithy summary of Jesus' teaching and reorientation toward God's Law in this "Jewish" Gospel of Matthew, written to show continuity and fulfillment of Moses - laws of love, not loveless laws. How are we tempted to hide behind policy, or put programs before people, in our life? "Mercy, not sacrifice" echoes from Hosea, from Jesus, to our ears and wrenches us back into life of faith/words based on God's currency, currency of the heart. This is Good News for those feeling bereft of "sacrifice" materials, or even smaller congregations bereft of big program resources: anyone, any church, can be rich in mercy, compassion, faith, and love.