Jesus teaches that He desires mercy rather than sacrifice, emphasizing His preference for acts of forgiveness and kindness over blind adherence to ritual. He is not condemning the laws of sacrifice He established for Israel, but clarifying that He is more pleased with mercy than with strict external compliance to the law. He rebukes the Pharisees for their exactness in keeping the letter of the law while missing its true intent, as seen in Matthew 23:23, where He declares, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone." These weightier matters—justice, mercy, and faith—are a Christian's priorities, and if a conflict arises between practicing them and adhering strictly to the law, judgment should lean toward these virtues. Jesus Christ personifies mercy, as symbolized by the Mercy Seat described in Exodus 25:17-22, where God, the pre-incarnate Christ, declares He will meet and speak from above the Mercy Seat, representing His merciful dealings with sinful humanity. When we show pity, compassion, and kindness to those in difficult situations, we reflect the merciful attitude God expects from His children at all times. While He does not want us to be overly soft-hearted and easily taken advantage of, He desires that we develop discernment to know when mercy is the better choice over strict rule application. We must learn to employ mercy daily in our interactions, recognizing that everyone struggles and misunderstandings arise from differences in age, background, or past mistakes. In situations requiring judgment, it is far better to lean toward patience, forbearance, and mercy, applying principles of giving a soft answer, turning the other cheek, and extending tender mercies. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 18:35 that just as He forgives us from the heart, we must forgive others in the same generous, merciful way. God plainly states His requirement in Micah 6:8: "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Our God always defaults in mercy, a truth that reveals His heart's deepest nature. When God looks at suffering people, He feels compassion toward them and their needs, and this compassion precedes mercy. Compassion is the emotion that moves us toward action, while mercy is the action itself, showing forbearance, kindness, and relief from distress. In Jesus' Parable of the Unmerciful Servant in Matthew 18, we see mercy illustrated as the master, moved with compassion, forgave an enormous debt, holding back deserved punishment. Yet, the servant failed to extend similar mercy to another who owed him little, revealing a forgetfulness of the immense mercy he had received. God desires us to show the same tender compassion and willingness to forgive others, mirroring the mercy He has shown us for a debt of sin we could never repay. In Matthew 9:13 and Matthew 12:7, Jesus emphasizes that God desires mercy, not sacrifice, calling sinners to repentance rather than demanding rigid adherence to ritual. This echoes the heart of David in the Psalms, who often cried out for God's mercy, understanding that at the bottom of God's heart lives mercy. As seen in Psalm 103, God's mercy restrains Him from giving us what our sins deserve, offering new mercies every morning because He is love, and love, grace, and mercy are intertwined. Micah 6 makes it plain that God requires us to love mercy, to act justly, and to walk humbly with Him, growing in His love and thus in His mercy. Jesus commands us in Matthew 5:48 and Luke's account to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect, which means to be merciful, for we are perfect in God's eyes when we reflect His merciful nature. If we truly have the love of God in us, we too will always default in mercy, moved by the needs and sufferings of others to compassionate action, just as He is.