For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice … (Hosea 6:6)
Through the Prophet Hosea, we learn what is an unexpected truth of the Old Testament – God wishes for us to practice love and mercy more than God wants us to offer sacrifices to Him. The Evangelist Matthew has Christ repeating the words of Hosea twice (Matt 9:13, 12:7) in his Gospel, which surely indicates that he wished to emphasize the teaching.
Christ tells us to go and learn what it means that God desires mercy not sacrifice. It is something Christians are to study and understand. In our spirituality, the emphasis is to be more on our charity/mercy than on our sacrifices. This is important for us to remember during Great Lent in which we might think the Church is telling us that our sacrifice (fasting, self-denial, asceticism) is the most important spiritual aspect of the Lenten Season. It is not. We are fasting and denying the self in order to help clear our hearts and minds of our self-centered thinking and to focus on mercy and charity for others.
For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:13)
Especially if we find ourselves in Great Lent watching and judging how our fellow Christians keep or don’t keep the fast, we need to consider the words of Hosea. If we find ourselves feeling superior to those denominations which don’t practice fasting, then again, we need to remind ourselves Christ says God wants mercy from us not sacrifice.
Before Lent began, we all heard the Gospel Parable of the Last Judgement (Matthew 25:31-46). It is very clear in Christ’s teaching that God judges us in the end for whether or not we were merciful to others, especially those less fortunate than ourselves. It is good for us to remember this parable every week of Great Lent. Take time to read it again.
Note in the parable that before the king pronounces judgment, He has already judged everyone – He divides the sheep from the goats before pronouncing judgment. The king distinguishes between those He declares to be “righteous” [dikaioi] and “blessed” [eulogemenoi] – the sheep – and those judged as “cursed” [epamenoi] – the goats. The distinction God makes is not between sinners and the righteous, but between the blessed and the cursed. God recognizes as “righteous” those who practiced hospitality, charity, compassion and mercy. God ignores their sins completely. The cursed are those who failed to be merciful, charitable, compassionate or hospitable, even if they otherwise endeavored to strictly keep Torah (or Great Lent!). This is extremely important for all Orthodox to think about. The Lenten emphasis on ascetical practices is a misshaped spirituality if we ignore or forget about mercy, charity, hospitality and compassion. The way to the kingdom is not righteousness through keeping the law and avoiding sin (which in fact may be impossible) but righteousness through love, mercy, charity, compassion and hospitality. This Lent is a good season to get one’s spiritual priorities in order.
I intend this Lent to explore the idea of “mercy” to remind myself and my readers of our sacred obligation to be merciful to the least of the brothers and sisters of Christ.
Fraternized 