Go and learn what this means – ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’; for I did not come to call the religious, but the outcast.”
Matthew 9:13 (OEB)
Well, Jesus said to do it, so today we're going to learn what, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ means.
First, we need to look at the context and quotation.
Context
And, later on, when he was having dinner in the house, a number of tax collectors and outcasts came in and took their places at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat in the company of tax collectors and outcasts?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are ill. Go and learn what this means – ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice’; for I did not come to call the religious, but the outcast.”
Then John’s disciples came to Jesus, and asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast while your disciples do not?” Jesus answered, “Can the groom’s friends mourn as long as the groom is with them? But the days will come, when the groom will be taken away from them, and they will fast then. Nobody ever puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for such a patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Nor do people put new wine into old wine-skins; for, if they do, the skins burst, and the wine runs out, and the skins are lost; but they put new wine into fresh skins, and so both are preserved.”Matthew 9:10-17 (OEB)
Jesus is at a dinner party with tax collectors and outcasts. The religious Pharisees are disturbed by this and question Jesus's disciples. Jesus, overhearing them, interjects that he has come for the outcasts and challenges the Pharisees to learn the meaning of Hosea 6:6. Jesus then explains to the disciples of John the Baptizer that He is doing something new, and doing something new requires the old to change.
Quotation
My judgment is like the light that goes forth, for it is love that I delight in and not sacrifice, and knowledge of God and not burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:5b,6 (OEB)
I recommend reading all of Hosea to get the full picture (it's kinda hard to pick a section to pull out that gives adequate context), but I'll give some of the surrounding verses here:
Hear the LORD's message, Israelites,
for the LORD has brought charges against the inhabitants of the land,
for there is no fidelity, nor true love,
nor knowledge of God in the land,
but cursing, lying, and murder,
stealing, committing adultery, and deeds of violence,
and acts of bloodshed quickly follow each other.
Therefore the land mourns,
all its inhabitants languish,
the wild animals and the birds of the skies,
even the fish of the sea are dying.
Yet let no one bring charges,
let none accuse,
for your people are like those,
who bring charges against a priest.
You stumble by day,
and the prophet stumbles with you by night,
and I will destroy your mother.
My people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge
I reject you from being priest to me.
Since you have forgotten the teaching of your God,
I also will forget your children.The more priests there are, the more they sin against me.
I will change their dignity to dishonor.
They feed on the sin offerings of my people,
so they hunger after their guilt.
Thus it comes to be, like people, like priest:
I will visit upon each punishment for their ways,
and their deeds I will repay them.
They will eat and not be satisfied,
they will sleep around but stay childless,
because they have abandoned the LORD
to give themselves to prostitution.Old and new wine take away the understanding.
My own people ask counsel of a piece of wood!
A stick gives them advice!
For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray,
they commit adultery against their God.
On the heights of the mountains they sacrifice,
and on the hills they burn incense
under oaks and poplars and terebinths,
for their shade is so pleasant.
Therefore your daughters become cult prostitutes,
and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.I will not punish your daughters for committing prostitution,
nor your daughters-in-law for adultery.
Your men visit prostitutes,
sacrifice with cult prostitutes.
So a people without understanding come to ruin!
Though you commit adultery, Israel,
let not Judah become guilty.
Do not go to Gilgal,
do not go up to Beth-aven,
nor swear an oath, “As the LORD lives.”Like a willful heifer,
Israel is stubborn.
Can the LORD now feed them
as he would a lamb in a broad pasture?
Ephraim is wedded to idols.
Leave them alone!
When their drinking is over
they sleep with the cult prostitutes,
their rulers love shameful ways.
A windstorm will wrap them in its wings
and they will be ashamed of their sacrifices....
I will return to my place,
until in remorse they seek my presence.
When they are in distress they will quickly seek me,
saying, “Come let us return to the LORD,
for he has torn us
but he will heal us,
he has injured us
but he will bandage our wounds,
he will revive in a couple of days,
on the third day he will raise us up again,
to live in his presence.
Let us know, let us eagerly seek to know the LORD.
His coming is as sure as the sunrise.
He will come to us like the winter rain,
as the spring rain that waters the earth.”What can I make of you, Ephraim!
What can I make of you, Judah!
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew which early goes away.
That is why I have hewn them by the prophets,
I have slain them by the words of my mouth.
My judgment is like the light that goes forth,
for it is love that I delight in and not sacrifice,
and knowledge of God and not burnt offerings.But they after the manner of men have transgressed the covenant,
there they have played me false.
Gilead is a city of evildoers,
tracked with bloody footprints,
and as bandits lie in wait for a man,
so a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem.
How terrible is the evil they do!
In Bethel I have seen a horrible thing.
There Ephraim plays the prostitute,
Israel is defiled.
Judah for you also a harvest is set.Hosea 4 & 5:15-6:11a (OEB)
The people of God have rejected their role in their partnership with God. They have lost their love of God and have shown adulterous love to the gods of the world. The people of God continue to give sacrifices and religious adoration to God, but with no true love behind it. They are merely following the motions. All the while they are also sacrificing on the altars of other gods.
God finds their vapid acts of worship worthless. Their worship is not to God alone, and it is done out of obligation, not love.
Without love, their sacrifices are worthless.
What does this mean for the Pharisees?
The Pharisees were only interested in religiously following the law and keeping up appearances. In their pursuit of religious righteousness, they lost the heart of their first love. They rejected their partnership with God to help put the world back together. They neglected those in need for the sake status and prestige.
What does this mean for us?
We are only interested in religiously going to church on Sunday and keeping up appearances. In our pursuit of religious righteousness, we've lost the heart of our first love. We've rejected our partnership with God to help put the world back together. We've neglected those in need for the sake status and prestige.
What does this have to do with atonement?
This post ended up getting away from me a bit. The title mentions atonement, but so far I've neglected to mention it at all.
This verse is in my list of radical verses because I find the statement that God desires mercy over sacrifice to radically conflict with the de facto atonement theory of Western Christianity, Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA).
The gist of PSA is that Christ took the punishment which we rightly deserved through his death on the cross.
I must ask if God desires mercy and not sacrifice, how could Christ's sacrifice mean anything? Another way to ask is if God desires mercy and not sacrifice, why would a sacrifice be needed to cover us at all, shouldn't mercy be sufficient?
While I concede PSA can be a helpful framework for some, my opinion is that it ultimately does more harm than good. To me, PSA paints a picture of a God who is not merciful and requires blood for his wrath to be sated. This god is not one I am comfortable calling loving.
God is a God of Love and mercy. He desires mercy over sacrifice.
Jesus paints the picture of a God of Love and mercy when He has fellowship with those cast out by society and religious institutions.
You are Love.