Matthew 9: Mercy, not sacrifice

We see more of Jesus's miracles performed and God's glory revealed; but at the same time his works were constantly being criticized and under scrutiny by the Pharisees. They accused of him of blasphemy, that his ability to drive out demons was because he is the prince of demons. Jesus knowing exactly what they were thinking, he rebuked them of their lack of faith and basically owned them by performing even more miracles haha.

One thing that really hit me was not what Jesus did for people, but for whom he performed miracles. The Pharisees questioned why Jesus always associated himself with sinners and the tax collectors. This is key! Jesus teaches us that we too must love our enemies; it is not the righteous that he wants but the sinners. That's me! Jesus loves me! He desires mercy, not sacrifice. Hm, where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, almost every one of Joe's sermons! haha- God never wanted us to just follow some list of rules to get to Heaven, but He wants our hearts. Like Joe mentioned, "If we truly love God with all our hearts, the things that we do on the side will fall away." If I really love God, would I keep doing things that break His heart? When you really like someone, you want to be the best for that person and not do the things that make that person mad/upset/disappointed/sad,etc. Jesus performed all these miracles, healed the wounded, cured the incurable, and sacrificed himself so that we wouldn't have to sacrifice ourselves but to just love His Father.