Mateus 9:13

DISCOURSE: 1338
MERCY BEFORE SACRIFICE

Mateus 9:13. Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.

ST. PETER, speaking of his brother Paul, says, that in his writings there are “some things hard to be understood.” The same may be said, in some degree, respecting all the inspired writers. There is, in many of their statements, a height which cannot be explored, and a depth which cannot be fathomed. Even the precepts which they give us are by no means always plain. Some are so figurative, that we are, of necessity, constrained to divest them of their high colouring, in order to reduce them to the standard of practical utility. Thus, when it was said, “Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also [Note: Mateus 5:39.],” we cannot take it altogether in a literal sense, but must understand it as inculcating only a very high degree of patient submission to the injuries inflicted on us. Some are obscure, on account of the unqualified manner in which they are expressed: “Give to him that asketh thee; and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away [Note: Mateus 5:42.].” Were this precept followed in its full extent, the richest man would soon have nothing either to give or lend. Some passages, like my text, are difficult; because, whilst they are expressed in the most positive terms, they are to be understood only in a comparative sense. Our Lord never intended to say that God did not require sacrifice: for the whole Mosaic law was written to shew what sacrifices God did require. His meaning was that mercy was in itself far superior to sacrifice; and that, where the two came into competition with each other, mercy was to be preferred to sacrifice, and to be exercised to the neglect of sacrifice.

That we may enter fully into this subject, let us consider,

I. The lesson that is here commended to us—

Our blessed Lord, after calling Matthew the publican to the apostleship, condescended to attend a feast which his new disciple had prepared for him. To this feast many publicans and sinners were invited; and our Lord did not disdain to sit down to meat in their company, and to converse familiarly with them. For this he was blamed by the Pharisees, who thought such a condescension, on his part, a violation of his duty both to God and man: to God, who bids us “not to sit with the wicked [Note: Salmos 26:5.];” and to man, to whom it must appear an encouragement to vice. But our Lord vindicates himself, by shewing, that such persons were most likely to profit from his instructions, as the sick are from the physician; and that his conduct was in perfect accordance with their own Scriptures, wherein this lesson was plainly inculcated, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.” The import of this he bade them learn: “Go ye, and learn what that meaneth.”

Now, the meaning of it is,

1. That moral duties are more excellent than those which are merely ritual—

[To this the whole Scriptures bear witness. You will find the utmost contempt poured on ritual observances, when devoid of piety [Note: Isaías 1:11.]: but in all the Bible you will not find one real exercise of grace despised. The smallest good imaginable you will see commended [Note: 1 Reis 14:13.], and the will accepted for the deed [Note: 1 Reis 8:18.]. In moral duties there is a real and inherent excellence: in every one of them there is, what I may justly call, a conformity to God himself, to “whose image we attain by the universal exercise of righteousness and true holiness [Note: Efésios 4:24.].” They are good at all times, and under all circumstances: whereas ritual observances have nothing valuable in them, except as being appointed of God for his honour, and as being made use of by God for our good. For instance, what is there in the seventh day of the week, or the seventh part of our time? As far as regards the morality of that appointment, it might as well have been a third or a tenth or a twentieth part of our time. And what is there in sacrifices? The killing of a bullock is in itself no better than the killing of a dog: and if God had so ordained, the blood of swine would have been as good as the blood of bulls and of goats. As commanded of God, even the slightest ordinance is to be regarded with the deepest reverence: but, divest even Sabbaths and sacrifices of their divine authority, and I say again, they are of no value. Hence David says, “Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt-offering [Note: Salmos 51:16.].” And Samuel, reproving Saul, puts to him this pointed interrogation, “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice; and to hearken, than the fat of rams [Note: 1 Samuel 15:22.].”[

2. That, where they come in competition with each other, ritual duties must give way, and be superseded by the moral—

[The whole course of our blessed Lord’s conduct upon earth attests this truth. On many occasions he, if I may so say, violated the Sabbath-day, performing his miracles then, as on any common day, and ordering a man to carry his bed upon the Sabbath-day. On account of these apparent violations of the Sabbath he was constantly accused as disregarding the laws of Moses and of God. In the twelfth chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel we are informed, that he authorized his disciples upon the Sabbath-day to pluck some ears of corn, and rub out the grain and eat it. The act was perfectly legal in itself [Note: Deuteronômio 23:25.]: but, being done on a Sabbath-day, it was construed as a threshing of the wheat, and, consequently, as a work forbidden on that day. But our Lord justified them from the example of David, who, with his followers, had, contrary to an express command, eaten the shew-bread, which was the exclusive portion of the priests. He further justified them from the countless occupations of the priests in the temple, which turned the Sabbath, that should have been a day of rest, into a day of more than ordinary labour. These being works of necessity, the one for satisfying of their hunger, and the other for the serving of the altar, the ritual command was made void, being superseded by a call of more urgency, and of paramount obligation.]

Such being the lesson here inculcated, let us consider,

II.

The vast importance of learning it—

The manner in which our blessed Saviour speaks, shews that this lesson is far from being generally understood; whilst yet it is so important, that it ought to be diligently studied by every child of man. It is a lesson of vast importance,

1. For the forming of our principles—

[In the true spirit of the Pharisees of old, many amongst ourselves lay a very undue stress on outward observances, as recommending us to God. But the answer of Balaam to Balak, who had consulted him on this subject, gives us the true view of it: “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” This was the question put to Balaam. His answer was, “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God [Note: Miquéias 6:6.]?” To the same effect is the declaration of St. Paul: “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost [Note: Romanos 14:17.].” It is the inward disposition of the mind that God regards, and not the service of the body. “The sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit is, in his sight, of more value than the cattle upon a thousand hills [Note: Salmos 50:8; Salmos 51:17.].” We must not, then, form a judgment of our state by our punctuality in outward duties, but by the depth of our humiliation, the simplicity of our faith, and the integrity of our souls in the way of holy obedience. To this must we attend, as of absolute and indispensable necessity: and any principle opposed to this will only deceive us to our ruin.]

2. For the regulation of our conduct—

[There must, of necessity, be times when our ritual and moral duties clash with each other. To wait upon God in the public assembly of his people is a duty which we all owe to him, and which should not be omitted without great necessity. But who will say that an attendance upon a sick and dying person is not a sufficient cause for neglecting, for a season, the house of God? Who will say, that if there were in a town a general conflagration, the inhabitants would be ill employed in extinguishing the fire, even though it were the Sabbath-day? True, we must take care that we do not pretend a necessity which does not really exist: for we cannot deceive God; and therefore it becomes us to be on our guard that we deceive not our own souls. But, supposing that we exercise an impartial judgment in determining the question before us, we may be sure that God will approve of the conduct that is founded on the rule before us. There is a medium to be observed between a superstitious adherence to forms and a profane neglect of them: and it must be our endeavour so to approve ourselves to God, that we may have his Spirit witnessing with our spirit that we are accepted of him [Note: The question of the British and Foreign Bible Society was here considered. The union of all sects and parties, in dispersing the word of God throughout the world, may be supposed to be, in some respect, a violation of order. Then the question arises, Shall a regard to order be considered as a reason for not uniting every creature under heaven in a work that is so good in itself, and so necessary as that of endeavouring to enlighten and to save the world? To any one who should entertain a doubt on this point, I would say, “Go and learn what that meaneth, ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.’ ” And the very same answer must be returned to those, who, knowing that a fellow-creature will receive only the Bible which is accredited in his own Church, withholds it from him, and leaves him to perish in ignorance, because he differs from him as to the books that should be included in the Sacred Canon.]