Reading… and Thinking

Now these people were real scholars. Without question they knew the passage he was referring to, and they could have quoted the commentaries of the rabbis. But Jesus was suggesting that they had not yet truly discerned the prophet’s meaning. No doubt some of those listening simply dismissed this upstart rabbi (he had no rabbinical training!), but Jesus gave a scholar’s clue to a group of scholars, hoping that some at least would think about it, and perhaps have their minds enlarged as a result.

From our perspective, knowing all the teaching of the New Testament, we can discern the point of Hosea’s statement. He was teaching that the letter of the Law (the rituals of sacrifice) wasn’t nearly as important to God as the spirit of the Law. It’s the same point Jesus made when he accused the Pharisees of neglecting the “weightier matters” of the Law—justice, mercy, and truth—by paying so much attention to the technical details of tithing.

How did the audience react to this challenge? We aren’t told directly. The language in Hosea is really pretty clear. God says He isn’t nearly as interested in the externals as he is in the internals. Carrying this thought to its conclusion was a place the lawyers didn’t want to go. A few chapters later, Jesus said to the same audience, “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” (Matthew 12:7) This seems to indicate that they had not given Hosea’s words the thought that Jesus urged them to.

Of course, we don’t do sacrifices in the temple today. But the point can have the same force for us if we change the wording a little. What if Jesus said to us, “I desire mercy, not going to church on Sunday”? Would we understand him to say that going to church is unimportant? No, just as neither Hosea nor Jesus was saying that the sacrifices under the Law were worthless. The point is that an outward observance, with the heart far from God’s heart, is not going to save us.

God is the God of mercy, as He points out over any over throughout the Old Testament, as well as the New. The Law itself was filled with mercy. Israelites were not to muzzle the ox treading the grain. If they found something that was lost, they had to return it. If they saw their enemy’s beast collapsed under its burden, they had to help him to get it back up. And many, many more instances where they were to show mercy, even to the lowest classes, and even to their enemies.

The teaching of the Lord Jesus is likewise full of mercy. From the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the merciful,” and “If you do not forgive, neither will your Father forgive you.” (Matthew 5:7, 6:14-15) And there are many more.