In article , Vendor Neutral says...
>
>I'm seeking deeper insight into Matt 9:13
>
>"But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'  
>For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."  NIV
>
>I'm mostly interested in the meaning of the quoted statement.  I take 
>it to mean that what our Lord seeks is for us to show mercy [towards 
>one another] rather than seek atonement through animal sacrifice, 
>which I believe was still the practice of that time.

He is quoting the Prophet Hosea (Hos 6:6). So no, He is _not_ forbidding animal
sacrifice, not yet (as Hosea did not forbid it either). But He _is_ saying that
without mercy, offering animal sacrifice is worthless; a purely forensic
definition of 'righteousness' is simply wrong. There is no righteousness without
being merciful!

As Blessed Theophylact explains on this verse (Mt 9:13):

Begin quote----------
I have come now, He says, not as Judge, but as healer: for this reason I
tolerate even stink. But saying "go and learn", He rebukes them also as
ignoramuses: 'you', He says, "still do not know, so go now and learn, that mercy
to sinners is more acceptable to God than sacrifice".
End quote-----------

>Ie, reflecting 
>the statement elswhere that love mitigates a multitude of sin (a 
>paraphrase; can't find the verse).
>
>The commentary in my NIV, however, seems to say that here Christ is 
>extending His own mercy to us; that this statement is a call to 
>salvation.

This is true, but as the NIV commentary too often does, they have restricted the
scope too narrowly. Perhaps they are afraid of recognizing the implications of
"mercy not sacrifice" for their own overly _forensic_ understanding of
righteousness.

>I can see part of that, particularly the second sentence 
>in conjunction with Matt 9:12 ("On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is 
>not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick....").  But this 
>doesn't seem to capture the meaning of 'I desire mercy, not 
>sacrifice'

It does not _capture_ it, but consider Christ's healing as an _example_ of the
mercy God desires. Although most of us cannot do miraculous healings, we too
_are_ expected to show mercy as He did in whatever way we can.


-- 
---------------------------
Subudcat se sibi ut haereat Deo
quidquid boni habet, tribuat illi a quo factus est.
(St. Augustine, Ser. 96)

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