06/09/2026
✨🙏🏾✝️ “Mercy, Not Sacrifice” ✝️🙏🏾✨
📖 Matthew 9:9-13| Pastor Willie Bodrick, II
Before Sunday, many of us had heard the phrase: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” But Pastor Willie Bodrick, II challenged us to ask a deeper question:
“What would the world look like if we led with mercy?”
Jesus sits at the table with people society had written off, while religious leaders questioned why He would associate with them.
Yet Jesus reminds them—and us—that God’s heart is not rooted in exclusion, judgment, or religious performance. God’s heart is mercy.
Jesus also reveals something deeper: God’s love is not limited by the labels people place on one another.
🙏🏾Mercy sees humanity before labels.
🙏🏾Mercy chooses compassion over condemnation.
🙏🏾Mercy values people over prejudice.
🙏🏾Mercy makes room at the table.
During the message, Pastor Bodrick challenged the church to consider how this text has often been used to justify tolerance rather than embody the radical mercy and love of Christ. He reminded us that every person is created in the image of God and worthy of dignity, love, affirmation, and belonging.
“The tragedy of this text is not that sinners are welcome. The tragedy is that religious people are offended by God’s mercy.”
In a world marked by judgment, prejudice, violence, and division, Jesus calls us to lead with mercy.
🙏🏾Mercy over assumptions.
🙏🏾Mercy over condemnation.
🙏🏾Mercy over fear.
🙏🏾Mercy over exclusion.
As followers of Christ, we are called not simply to receive God’s mercy, but to reflect it, especially toward those who have too often been pushed to the margins as sinners, including our LGBTQIA+ siblings who are fearfully and wonderfully made.
May we be a church that reflects the heart of Jesus—a church where mercy makes room at the table, where love is greater than judgment, and where every person encounters the grace of God.
“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” — Matthew 9:13
LoveMercy
