Meeting guide · command 34

Go and Learn What This Means

Learn God's desire for mercy by joining Jesus in welcoming people treated as morally or socially unworthy.

Read

Read the complete passage aloud.

Primary passage

Matthew 9:10–13

10 As he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. 13 But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

World English Bible

Religious leaders criticize Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners, and He answers that the sick need a physician and that God desires mercy rather than sacrifice.

Discuss

Listen carefully to what Jesus says.

  1. What does Jesus command?
  2. What does this passage reveal about Him?
  3. Where do we resist this command?
  4. What is difficult or unclear?
  5. Whom are we tempted to classify as unworthy of fellowship, and what would learning mercy from Jesus change?

Practice

Choose one specific act of obedience.

Share a meal, conversation, or practical act of welcome with someone you might normally keep at a distance, listening without treating the person as a project.

Return

Come back and discuss what happened.

Whom did you move toward, what did you learn by listening, and how was your understanding of mercy stretched?

Close together

Pray. Then prepare to teach.

Pray

Merciful Jesus, heal our self-righteousness. Teach us to receive your mercy and extend it with truth, dignity, and welcome.

Teach

Mercy does not rename harm as good; it moves toward people as Jesus the physician does, seeking restoration instead of superiority or exclusion.