Matthew 9:9-13
God Desires Mercy, Not Sacrifice
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Matthew 18:21-22
We Are to Forgive Regularly and Often
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?" 22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Hosea 6:6
God Desires Mercy Not Sacrifice
6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
God gave mankind freewill many, many years ago, and it seems to me the most of the time we still use it on making our daily choices and following our will instead of His will...We follow earthly ways, more often, and not the Spiritual Ways of God...Despite of this and our pardons and our prayers to our LOVING Father and our asking Him for forgiveness, He does forgive...For if Jesus teaches us to forgive and forgive over and over, wouldn't we expect our Father to forgive the ignorance we show in constantly doing our own thing the way we want to do things, and following our own will...
Jesus quoted the Prophet Hosea and said that we must go and learn what it means that God desires mercy and not sacrifice from sinners and our neighbors who sin...To actually desire mercy is an act of the heart...When we think we need to sacrifice or make a personal sacrifice to help others, or when we feel guilty about not helping someone or others, or when we feel obligated to help others -these things are not acts of the heart...So when we study God's Mercy and what Jesus said, we can see in this that God is full of grace and full in heart...
And we also see that the Prophet Hosea adds in this verse that we acknowledge God rather than the sacrifices of burnt offerings...When we believe that mercy is much about the heart, we can see that He is full of grace and full of mercy, and why Jesus teaches us that His Father wants mercy and not sacrifice...And we remember that Jesus was always merciful and full in heart...