Mercy rather than Sacrifice

Forgiveness links the call of the tax collector to the healing of the paralytic – Christ’s authority to discharge sins and restore men – Mark 2:13-17.

When Jesus pronounced the paralytic’s sins “forgiven,” he offended the Scribes and Pharisees. He alienated them further by showing mercy to “sinners” considered especially unacceptable by more scrupulously religious Jews. Seeing Jesus eating with “tax collectors” and “sinners,” the Scribes and Pharisees insinuated that the Nazarene also was a notorious sinner – (Mark 2:1-17).

[Photo by Davide Cantelli on Unsplash]

Tax collectors were despised in Jewish society. Their occupation required them to handle currencies from pagan and Jewish sources, and they interacted with men from all walks of life. Contact with pagan symbols and Gentiles meant they were ritually unclean. Patriotic Jews viewed tax collectors as collaborators with Rome.

• (Mark 2:13-17) - “And he went forth again by the sea, and all the multitude was coming to him, and he began teaching them. And passing by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting over the tax office, and he said to him: Follow me! And arising, he followed him. And it came to pass that he was reclining in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they began following him. And the Scribes and Pharisees seeing that he was eating with the sinners and the tax collectors began saying to his disciples: He is eating with the tax collectors and sinners! And hearing it, Jesus said to them: No need have the strong of a physician, but they who are sick, I came not to call the righteous but sinners” – (Parallel passages: Matthew 9:9-13, Luke 5:27-32).

The man named ‘Levi’ was probably identical to the 'Matthew' listed in Matthew 9:9. It was common for Jewish men to have two or more names. As a tax collector, he was in service to Herod Antipas.

The Roman government collected poll and land taxes directly. Taxes on transported goods were contracted to local tax collectors who bid on contracts with the Romans to collect set amounts of tax revenues. Whatever sums they collected over the contracted amount became their profit.

Religiously observant Jews avoided employment of this kind since it required them to engage in transactions with Gentiles, putting their ritual purity at risk. The actions of Jesus were doubly scandalous since he associated with politically objectionable and ceremonially unclean men, and he compounded his offense by eating with tax collectors and “sinners.”

Table fellowship was important in Jewish society, especially to the Pharisees, and eating with less observant Jews put the ritual purity of more observant Jews at risk. The category of “sinner” could include immoral individuals, but in this case, it was used for Jewish men considered ritually impure regardless of any greater moral failures.

The sect of the Pharisees adhered strictly to the Mosaic Law and its body of oral traditions for interpreting the regulations of the Torah, the so-called “Tradition of the Elders.” Many of these traditions concerned ritual purity (e.g., dietary rules).

The priests officiating in the Temple lived under stricter purity requirements than the rest of the Jewish nation. The Pharisees desired to implement that same degree of ritual purity in their daily lives.

Christ’s concluding statement emphasized that his Messianic Mission was about redemption, not condemnation or destruction. The version in the Gospel of Matthew adds - “Go and learn what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,” quoting the prophet Hosea – (Matthew 9:9-13):

• “For I desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant. There have they dealt treacherously against me” – (Hosea 6:6-7).

God did not reject animal sacrifices in Hosea. He stated his preference for righteous deeds over religious rituals. Jesus was more specific. Acts of mercy were superior to the Levitical rituals valued above all else by his opponents. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy.”

Jesus expressed the same idea in his later denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees. “Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you tithe the mint and the anise and the cummin, and have dismissed the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. It was biding to do these, but those not to dismiss” - (Matthew 23:23).

By calling “sinners” to repentance, Jesus was fulfilling his role as the ‘Servant of Yahweh’ sent to restore Israel and bring salvation to the nations:

• “And now declares Yahweh who formed me from the womb to be his Servant, to bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be gathered for him. For I am honourable in the eyes of Yahweh, and my God is my strength. Yes, He declares, It is too light a thing that you should be my Servant to lift the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you for a light to the Nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth” - (Isaiah 49:5-6).

Whether forgiving sins or healing the sick, Jesus came to redeem the lost and restore men and women to all God originally intended. On this day, Jesus showed mercy by healing the paralytic, forgiving the tax collector, and welcoming him into his fellowship. He thus restored a son of Israel.

The mercy granted to Levi, the hated tax collector, provides us with a real-life demonstration of what it means to have “mercy rather than sacrifice.”

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SEE ALSO:

• Forgive your Persecutor - (How we react to hostility and persecution demonstrates exactly whose disciple we are, and whose kingdom we serve)

• "Rejoice and Exalt" - (The followers of Jesus are called to rejoice when they are found worthy to suffer for him and his Gospel)

• The Mind of Christ - (The submission of Jesus to an unjust death becomes the paradigm for the love and service to others that disciples are summoned to manifest)

• Прости своего врага - (То, как мы реагируем на враждебность и преследования, в точности показывает, чьими учениками мы являемся и чьему царству служим)