While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:10-13)
“Go learn what this means” - Jesus tells the Pharisees to go learn scripture! This is hilarious because the Pharisees considered themselves the experts, and yet the “carpenter’s son” schools them here. This isn’t the only time the Living Word took them to school, either.
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (John 5:39-40)
These ‘experts’ were much like many of us. They were so busy concerning themselves with the minutiae in the scroll that they missed the very Giver of Life the scrolls were pointing them to. The saying “don’t miss the forest for the trees” means not to focus so much on the small details that you miss the more important theme or big picture.
The Bible is a big story of a wonderful God, and we, like the Pharisees of old, can easily miss the overarching theme of a merciful God while we focus on the rules and regulations we find.
Don’t miss the never-ending Forest of His Mercy while focusing on the Tree of the law.
#LoveMatters