"I Desire Mercy"

Jesus calls us to repent and believe and obey His Word.  But in our zeal to honor and obey God, we often come up with our own set of rules to guide us.  Then these rules take on a life of their own, becoming burdensome regulations that sap the joy of knowing and following Christ.  We lose sight of the truth about God and end up with a misguided understanding of God, more often as a harsh task-master, that we ourselves have imposed on Him.  We fall into the trap of the Pharisees, even while seeking to avoid their hypocrisy.  We need God to remind us that He desires mercy, not sacrifice.  We need help understanding what that means.  From Matthew 12:1-21.