I was talking with a coworker last week and she said, "We don't take no sacrifices here." That line really stuck with me. We do take sacrifices. Jesus sacrificed His life for ours. My parents sacrificed a lot so that we could stay in Romeoville and could play sports. I sacrificed a lot of time and money (and some of my sanity) so that my kids could come out of college without a massive amount of debt. Sacrifice is a good thing.
But, then Jesus says, "I desire mercy not sacrifice." According to Google, mercy is compassion or forgiveness shown to someone that could be punished. Yep, that's a good thing too - especially to the audience He was talking to at the time. Sacrifice means to give up something for something else regarded as more important. Yep, that sounds right too.
What I think Jesus is saying here is not - don't give up anything for something else more valuable. He's saying, "Don't just make a sacrifice for the sake of making a sacrifice." If it's not helping anyone, why do it?
Spoiler alert: They are talking about the Sabbath. So, He's saying don't follow the rules of the Sabbath and not help someone. In fact, He goes even further - stop trying to punish people because they are not "following the rules." How about we try to help them instead?
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