Hesed

It all starts with the covenant. God is a covenant God and we are his covenant people.

In the Hebrew texts, God initiates four major covenants—all expressions of divine
graciousness as God voluntarily binds himself to a people.

In the first major covenant God speaks to Noah. In this covenant, all living creatures are
involved, and it emphasizes the sacredness of life and the faithfulness of God, and it is sealed
by a rainbow.

The second covenant God initiates is with Abraham and all of his descendents. Abraham will
be the father of a multitude of nations, and God will be his God. All of the nations will be
blessed through Abraham.

In the third covenant, God vows to David and his descendents, promising to keep King David’s
royal heirs on Judah’s throne forever.

The most important covenant, however, was with Moses. Sometime after Abraham and
before David, God made a covenant with all of Israel. The central expression of God’s unique
relationship with his people is seen in this covenant. The Mosaic covenant is the standard by
which prophets and priests measured the successes and failures of God’s people. This
covenant was a solemn agreement between God and all of his people, committing the people
to recognize and worship God alone, and to observe and obey his laws and ways. On a
trembling mountain, shrouded in clouds and rent by lightning, God revealed himself as the
God who hears the cry of the oppressed, the God who delivers and provides, the God who
calls a people to himself. Through worship and the sacrifice of animals, the covenant is
ratified, and total cooperation and total obedience is expected in return.

Covenants are typically defined as serious and significant agreements between two parties,
involving promises and often requiring certain behaviors and attitudes on both parts. But
covenants are more than just agreements or contracts; covenants are relationships. The
Mosaic covenant defined the relationship, “I am God; you are my people.” Everything else
centered on the relationship.

In the Hebrew world, a covenant often was ratified by blood. One extreme example is found
in Genesis 15, where Abraham cuts in half a heifer, a goat, and a ram and arranges the halves
opposite of each other. When the sun set and it was completely dark, before the eyes of a
sleepy Abraham, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch moved between the split carcasses.
God bound himself to Abraham. The implication was this, if God didn’t fulfill his promises
that he would become like the slaughtered carcasses.

The covenant belongs to the sacred sphere of divine witness, relationship, and enforcement.

We used to believe in simple covenants, the shaking of hands, a word of promise, making a
public vow. But we are a people whose hearts are easily distracted and forgetful, tempted to
break covenants for the sake of comfort and convenience, or a really cool party.

And God sends prophets.

Prophets see differently. They feel life and truth and justice deep in their bones. They
understand their complete dependence on an all-powerful God for their very breath. The
prophets come from God, reminding us of our commitment, of our covenant. “Remember!
He alone is God, bow down before none other. Remember! You are His people. God alone is
the source and provider, the strength and the comfort, the maker of all of creation, the
faithful one. Remember!”

But the people forgot, and we forget, and they broke covenant, they broke relationship with
God. The prophets in their holy passion point fingers and call names—Idolater! Adulterer!
You made a covenant with God, you turned your back on your relationship with God, and the
disposition of your heart led you astray.

Hosea was just one of the prophets that confronted God’s people. His life was a parable to
God’s relentless and steadfast love. Hosea married a wonderful woman named Gomer, and
they had three children together. And Gomer broke the marriage covenant, and left. She
prostituted Hosea’s love. Hosea pursued Gomer through it all.

God said to Hosea, “Love her the way that I, God, love my people, even as they flirt and
party with every god that takes their fancy” (Hosea 3.1).

And we start to see a picture of Hesed.

The people heard Hosea’s message and responded.

“Come on, let’s go back to God. He hurt us, but he’ll heal us.
He hit us hard, but he’ll put us right again.
In a couple of days we’ll feel better.
By the third day, he’ll have made us brand-new, alive and on our feet, fit to face him.
We’re ready to study God, eager for God-knowledge.
As sure as dawn breaks, so sure is his daily arrival.
He comes as rain comes, as spring rain refreshing the ground” (Hosea 6.1-3).

Their words sure sound good, but their heart’s not in it. They are simply trying to manipulate
the system to get God back on “their” side. Sure, they’ll offer the prescribed sacrifices and
say the prayers, but they are just going through the motions.

When it comes to matters of worship, it is so easy to go through the motions. You might be
going through the motions in worship if you pay more attention to what the worship leaders
wear than the words that you sing. You might be going through the motions in worship if you
base your offering on how much you “got” out of the service. You might be going through the
motions in worship if you only come to feel better about yourself. You might be going
through the motions in worship if you try and barter or make deals with God.

To his people who have turned their backs on his love, God speaks.

“What am I to do with you? Your declarations of love last no longer than morning mist and
predawn dew. That’s why I use prophets to get your attention, why my words cut you to the
quick, to wake you up.
For I desire Hesed, not sacrifice. I want you to know God, not just go to more prayer
meetings” (Hosea 6.4-7).

In the last twenty years, worship has exploded. Incorporating lights and media and
electronics of every imaginable sort, worship has taken on a new life of its own. Without
Hesed, though, worship means nothing.

The whole point of worship is to remember. We are reminded that God is God and we are his
children. We are reminded that we are dependent on God for the very breath we breathe. In
worship, we freely confess our weaknesses and our sin and find strength and forgiveness in
God alone. In worship, we remember our wedding vows to God. In worship, we don’t go
through the motions, but position our hearts before the Creator of all. In worship, we are
shaped and formed together. We learn a language different from the language of our
parents, a language centered on our relationship with God. We cannot check worship off a
“to-do” list any more than we can check off “loved my wife” or “loved my kids.” In worship,
we renew our covenant before God, committing anew to follow Him and His ways, not simply
living as I see fit.

And God says, “For I desire Hesed, not sacrifice.”

Most translations do a disservice to the word Hesed. Hesed occurs 245 times in the OT (it
doesn’t occur in the NT because the NT was written in Greek).

Hesed is covenant love. The love God promises to his covenant people, and the love that God
expects in return. Hesed is not some generic love of all people, but a love within the context
of a lasting, forever relationship, where it is already promised and the recipient is expected
to respond in kind. Hesed is the loyal, faithful, long-suffering, steadfast love of God that
manifests itself in acts of mercy and compassion. Hesed is not just an attitude, but the
actions that stem from that attitude. It is social, focusing on interpersonal relationships. It is
enduring, never ending. Hesed is the virtue that knits people together. Hesed means that we
carry through our commitments of exclusive worship to God alone and to communal justice,
mercy, and compassion with all people.

In Exodus 34.6, we hear, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, is slow to
anger, abounding in love, abounding in Hesed…”

Psalm 23.6, “Surely goodness and mercy, Hesed will follow me all the days of my life.”

Psalm 63.3, “Because your love, Hesed is better than life, my lips will glorify you.”

Psalm 136.1, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, his love, Hesed endures forever.”

Our worship, the sacrifices of God’s people, is meaningless if it is not an expression or a

pursuit of the faithful Hesed of God.

Which brings us to this story in Matthew 9.9-13:

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.

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and
ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why
does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and
learn what this means: 'I desire Hesed, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners."

Wherever Matthew went, disgust and dissension followed. After all, he was a tax collector.
Nobody likes tax collectors. The deeper he dug into people’s pockets, the more he could
keep for himself. Yet no matter how much stuff and wealth he acquired, there was a
restlessness within, a general disdain for himself, and a relentless nagging about what could
have been.

Then Jesus…

We need to keep telling and retelling and re-imagining the stories of Jesus, because we so
quickly forget. We forget that Jesus didn’t spend his days in the walls of a church or behind a
computer, but looking for people. Talking to people. Touching, hugging, and loving on
people. And the more we read and listen to these stories of Jesus, the sooner we’ll start to
see that he’s doing the very same things today.

When Jesus walked by the table that day, he was following the breath of the Spirit. He was
actively looking for people, and he did not see a tax collector. He did not see a liar, a cheat,
or a thief. He saw a child of God. He saw a person—broken, beaten-down, worried, hurting,
distracted, beautiful—and he reached out to him, whispering the invitation, “Follow me.”

Matthew left everything, because when Jesus says “Follow me,” it’s life-changing.

When he heard these words, he understood that he was being given a new start at life. He
understood that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he didn’t want to miss. He
heard these words deep in his soul, and knew that there was only one appropriate response—
walk away from everything else and follow Jesus.

The kingdom comes with dancing and food, with laughter and celebrations, and Matthew
certainly had the funds to throw a big party. Everyone was invited, and everyone came.

Even the Pharisees.

Now-a-days, everyone knocks on the Pharisees. The Pharisees were your middle-class (even
though there was no real middle-class) people who tried to live by the letter of the Law.
They listened to the interpretations of the scribes and scholars and wholeheartedly
attempted to apply them in daily life. I believe their intentions were sincere—they didn’t
want to experience any more of God’s wrath.

They just weren’t prepared for God’s grace.

They knew the stories that told how disobedience to God’s commands had resulted in exile
and captivity, and were determined to return Israel to freedom from Roman rule through
strict adherence, through an intense faithfulness to the Law. But, as much as one can
generalize a group of people, Pharisees were judgmental, lacked compassion, held tightly to
tradition, contemptuous, and separatists. In short, they looked like a lot of Christians today.

A friend and I were recently comparing our “Inner Pharisees.” We concluded by agreeing that
her inner Pharisee prays more than mine, but my inner Pharisee fasts more than hers.
Everyone who commits to following Jesus goes through a Pharisee phase. The trouble is how
many of us get stuck in our Pharisee phase.

At Matthew’s house were people that would not feel welcome at many churches. People
whose reputations preceded them. People whose character was more than somewhat
questionable. People we go to church to “get away” from.

And the Pharisees asked, “Why is Jesus hanging out and eating with thieves and cheats and
liars? Why is Jesus hanging around those people?”

“Jesus, in his surprising communion with “those people” is displaying Hesed, being faithful to
the covenant that is commanded by God. The Pharisees who are objecting to this behavior
are not just criticizing Jesus, but suddenly become unfaithful to the covenant that they are
trying so hard to live by. Along with their inability to understand this Scripture comes the
inability to understand who Jesus is and what he does.”1 In trying to keep the law, to keep
themselves ritually pure, distancing themselves from those who were outwardly “different,”
the Pharisees actually broke the law, distancing themselves from God himself.

Jesus affirms that in our relationship to God, what is desired is not sacrifice (itself a God-
ward directed activity) but the compassionate attitude and merciful action which give
concrete expression to one’s faithful love for God. And that is called Hesed.

Hesed is seen in our relationships and actions.

When Mark and Ken and Sam and others unpack the trucks getting ready for the food pantry,
that is Hesed.

When Jim pounds the pavement distributing flyers, letting hungry friends know that we have
free food, that is Hesed.

When Jamie and Beth and Elaine spend hours upon hours folding and sorting and organizing
clothes, that is Hesed.

In fact, any activity associated with Coldwater is an act of Hesed, for it is extending love and
compassion and relationship to someone who needs a little help, a little mercy…to someone
who needs a friend.

Finally, Jesus demonstrated Hesed by establishing a new covenant, not based on keeping
track of rules and regulations. This covenant cost him his blood, binding him forever to us.
This new covenant is nothing like the old covenant, because we didn’t do a very good job of

1
Repschinski, Boris. The Controversy Stories in the Gospel of Matthew. 2000. pp. 77-81.
sticking to our part of the bargain. “I will write my laws on their hearts,” says God, “and I
will be their God and they will be my people.” Our sins and weaknesses are remembered no
more. We are set free to live.

Therefore, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. Let us hold
unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Let us consider how we
may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together,
as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another day after day after day.

“For He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To do
justly and to love Hesed and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6.8).

Jesus said it like this, “A new command I am giving you: Love one another.”

Can we love each other enough?

May we go and live out the Hesed of God.