Marvelous Mercies

Going to church is important, in fact, we were told last week why it is so important. If you missed that sermon I encourage you to go back to it and listen in. (It's on our website cbcaz.com. You'll find it on our resources tab, audio sermons, Why go to Church.) But if church is all that defines our "religion" we may be missing much of what Jesus intends for us.
Confronted with the disdain of the "religious rulers" over His reaching out to tax collectors and sinners, Jesus made this penetrating statement. He said, "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous but sinners."
The Pharisees of Jesus' day were really good at the sacrifice part. They had the whole "worship" routine down pat, and they were fastididous about doing it right. But there was something glaring missing from their religion. They lacked love and compassion. They were satisfied with their religious ritual oblivious to the people around them who were dying in their sins.
Jesus offered a different scenario. He said He desired mercy over sacrifice. In other words if one's worship never leads you to compassion, it is not making the grade, because God always desires it to make us more compassionate and merciful in our world.
We see that compassion all over the life of Jesus. In just this chapter beyond this statement we have just referenced, we see His mercies to the blind men who asked for mercy, and we see His compassion for the "sheep without the shepherd". We see those mercies all over the Bible as well. Ezra's contemporaries knew great mercies from God though they did not always respond to them appropriately. The conversion of Saul is a great mercy as are the healings that came to many through Peter and the Apostles.
The bottom line is this: our religion must get us face to face with people in need extending to them the mercies and compassion of Christ. Just as Peter and the Apostles continued Christ's mission of mercy, so we are called to do the same. If our worship of God does not get us there, we must say we are missing out. May God grant us, even today, opportunities to put on display the marvelous mercies of God. This is our spiritual service of worship!
What struck you today in the reading! Wasn't it rich!