In 9:13 Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6. Jesus is responding to the Pharisees who complained about His spending time with “sinners.” They did not see themselves as sinners but as the righteous. In their righteousness they stayed close to the temple and far away from tax collectors and the like. In so doing they were confident they were closer to God. In Jesus' righteousness He spent considerable time with “sinners.”
Whose righteousness was the righteousness of God? Jesus’ righteousness, of course. He stood on the word of God through the prophets. He quotes the prophet Hosea who had spoken these words in the same context as Jesus. The priests were guilty of murder (6:9) and the people were engaged in spiritual harlotry (6:10). They were close to the temple, doing the sacrifices and burnt offerings; but they were far from God. Jesus used the passage perfectly. And furthermore, He related it to His Messianic purpose, to call sinners to repentance.
Read Matt. 10:32-39; Micah 7:5-7, Enemies from His Own House
Again we see Jesus’ use of the OT prophets. He is not saying that He was fulfilling a prophecy given in Micah. Rather He is saying His situation is exactly the same as what Micah experienced. Micah describes a situation in Israel where the righteous can trust no one, not even those closest to them. There is no one upright left in the land (7:2). The prince, the judge and the great man together scheme to fulfill their evil plans (7:3). There is a massive conspiracy of wickedness. Even those of one’s own household cannot be trusted to stand by the upright.
Notice what Jesus says. He does not say simply that He is in the same societal context. He says He came to create such a context (10:35-36). What does He mean? It is not that He is not the ultimate peacemaker. But the problem is that people, for the most part, will not accept Him as God’s Son, the Holy One of Israel. Mt. 10:32-33 shows how polarizing is His message. There is no middle ground: either one confesses (agrees with) Christ or denies Christ. The division is so personal that people will have to choose between Christ and their closest loved ones (10:37).
This is true to this day. You can see it more easily in, for example, Israel. There, Jewish young people who choose to follow Christ are generally ostracized by their families. The same is true in Muslim societies as well as where Hinduism and Buddhism are strong. There is little toleration for Christians in these cultures. In the West it's different, but only because, first, the societies are tolerant and not strong in religious belief; and second, because the Christians themselves are often not standing strong with their Savior. To use Mt. 10:39, they are trying to find their life in this world while maintaining something that passes for a relationship with Christ.
How we need to use the Scriptures as Jesus did. How we need to hear these two messages from Jesus. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. … I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
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