Looking to the One who gave to us, then sharing it with others.

by David R. Downey

Someone said, “A life wrapped up in itself makes a very small package.” This would certainly apply to a person who lacks mercy and finds it difficult to forgive other people. To be unforgiving, one would need to be certain of their own righteousness, or at least unmoved by their sin.

The Bible is full of calls for followers of God to be merciful. When we do so, we show that our hearts have changed. God’s mercy is first in view, then we act out of our awareness of His testimony.

Example of Jesus

In Matthew 9:9-12, we have just such a case. Jesus had just called Matthew as one of His disciples, and He went with him to Matthew’s house to sit down and eat. It is not surprising that many of Matthew’s friends came to his invitation. The guest list included other tax collectors. Memorably, Matthew adds, “and sinners.”

Jesus was meeting with some of the most unrighteous and despised people in the community. This would be tantamount to the local preacher meeting at a drug dealer’s house and sitting with all the users the man could gather. “Righteous” folks would certainly notice, just as they did in Jesus’ day.

But we must remember that this event just followed Matthew’s agreeing to the call of Jesus (v. 9). He had left his tax office, so there had to have been a change of heart. Enough time had passed that Matthew could organize what Luke called a reception (Luke 5:29). Here we have a changed man who was excited about the Lord — the One who could change him so radically. Matthew naturally called his friends to join him.

This event is disturbing in several ways. One is that we do not have the habit of meeting with people like this. To put a finer point on it, we try to avoid them. This would be natural as we do not have the same worldview and we walk in different circles. But we should be honest that we might be more concerned about our reputation than the spiritual brokenness of people like Matthew’s friends. Sadly, we might defer to people like the Pharisees in the story, the so-called righteous.

Jesus did not seem to worry about appearances. He came to seek and “to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). He was not obsessed with making impressions as we are likely to do, but was more concerned with the spiritual health of His subjects.

This scene is disturbing in another way. Why would Jesus choose such a person as a tax collector to staff His team? You would think the Master would pick better talent.

The answer comes in Jesus’ answer to the accusation of the Pharisees, and it guides us in these dark days. The Pharisees asked the disciples why Jesus mingled with sinners. Overhearing this, Jesus responded, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12, 13).

Tending to the sick

Imagine a doctor who decides one day that he has had enough. Sick people are possibly contagious, and if they aren’t, they are generally a lot of trouble. All sorts of coughing, limping, and complaining people are in his office.

Then the doctor has a eureka moment: Why not stop treating these people and open his office only for those who are healthy? There would be less trouble, the environment would be more positive, and the doctor would not have to be around all that disease! Happy days would ensue!

This doctor would also soon be without a job. Doctors treat people who are unwell, or at least keep them from being unwell. Part of the Hippocratic Oath doctors adhere to says, “I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required . . . I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.”

Jesus understood this. He was focused on those who needed His help. He generally avoided those who thought they were fine.

I have noticed the people our churches attract are often like birds on the beach, flying in front of a storm: They are broken, hurt, confused, and in need. We have it backwards when we develop a country club mentality in church, because this is opposite to Jesus’ emphasis. We should hope our churches are made up of broken people. Those are the ones who tune in. They are open to help and to the Redeemer.

Our shared sinfulness

Obviously, we should not remain helpless. We are sinners, but we have been redeemed. We are not what we once were.

Babies are cute, and almost everyone loves them. But if a child were to grow into a teenager and still need constant care, throw tantrums when their will is thwarted, and refuse to consider anything but their own needs, we could rightly determine that something was wrong.

In the same way, no matter how sinful our heritage is (infancy), we should be growing daily in a likeness to Christ. This is where Jesus’ words concerning mercy leap from the page: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (NKJV). Growing in mercy means we are aware of the grace that led us to maturity.

Jesus called people like Matthew to His team first because they were desperate. They were not aware they needed help until Jesus shined His light. Then they were overwhelmed with their need. Fishermen like Peter thought they were capable until they met Jesus. Then they learned how much they lacked. The Thomases of the world were self-confident in their cynicism and in their certainty that things always go wrong, until Jesus showed them that a life of faith always has promise.

These men, and others like them, were broken beyond repair even without knowing it, and when Jesus lifted them up, they were ready to show mercy. They were forgiven great wrong ­— what they could not justify themselves. And having received mercy, they could extend it to others.

Some of us were saved from the very depths of degradation. Others of us came to Christ young and before we could fall deeply into sin. It does not matter our history; our heritage is the same: We each would be hopelessly lost without Jesus’ sacrifice and provision.

In Matthew 9:13, Jesus was referring to Hosea 6:6. He did not want our sacrifice (religious attempts to secure forgiveness) but our mercy (faithful awareness of being the recipients of mercy). Being in the Master’s presence overwhelms us. We are then ready to repent and extend the invitation of grace to others.