At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. (emphasis added).
Matthew 12:1-7 (NIV)
What does “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” mean in Matthew 12:7?
In Matthew 12:7, Jesus is quoting from Hosea 6:6.
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:6 (NIV)
Therefore, if you examine the context of Hosea 6:6, you can see that it deals with Israel’s unrepentance and lack of love for God.
“What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears (emphasis added).
Hosea 6:4 (NIV)
As lovely as the imagery of morning mist and the glistening of dew covering the earth might be, these things exist briefly and quickly give way to the day’s heat. Thus, you don’t want your love for anyone described in such a manner, especially in the context of loving God. The prophet Hosea was sent to warn Israel about their idolatry. Although they “worshipped” God with sacrifices and offerings, Israel still did whatever they pleased.
I have seen a horrible thing in Israel: There Ephraim is given to prostitution, Israel is defiled.
Hosea 6:10 (NIV)
Therefore, in Hosea, Israel thought it more important to offer sacrifices and offerings to God than to obey the finer points of God’s moral law. To God and love others.
In Matthew 12:7, we see the same thing. Jesus refers back to David asking for something to eat from Ahimelek, but all that was available was the consecrated bread (cf. 1 Samuel 21)—something that only the priests and their families could eat. However, instead of flatly turning David away, Ahimelek gives him the bread. Ahimelek had a choice: strictly obey the ceremonial law or acknowledge something greater. Ahimelek chose love.
Thus, in Matthew 12, we see the Pharisees doing the opposite. Just like those in Hosea’s time who thought obeying God’s ceremonial law was more important than obeying God’s moral law, these Pharisees were ready to condemn Jesus and his disciples. We see further evidence of this in what happens immediately after Matthew 12:7.
Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Matthew 12:9-12 (NIV)
These Pharisees wouldn’t think twice about getting one of their sheep out of a pit, which would be a ceremonial violation of the law that said they weren’t to work, but doing something like feeding the hungry or healing someone on the Sabbath was too much for them. Indeed, we can see that they were only self-serving in their relationship with God, just like their ancestors.
In a sense, we can be no different today than those Pharisees when we don’t treat people with love and respect and, instead, think about more “important” things like how they look and act. Consider those who go into church for the first time uninvited by anyone but entering because the Lord is tugging their hearts. We might see people who don’t know how to “behave” in church. People who dress like they’re going to a nightclub or the beach. Yet, God sees lost souls for whom Jesus died.
This song by Casting Crowns does an excellent job of reflecting the concept of mercy over sacrifice in Matthew 12.
