We live in a time when superficiality seems to be the order of the day, a time when a snarky tweet, or a deft piece of mockery, or a powerful, but false, accusation is the apparent currency of the realm. A couple of days ago someone tweeted a video of Representative Omar dancing, and said she was dancing to celebrate the fall of the World Trade Center Towers on 9/11. In fact, it was a video of her dancing at a Democratic political event a couple of weeks ago. But, no matter. The ewas re-tweted by those at the highest levels because, well, it was a good story, consistent with a predetermined narrative, and on the surface was shockingly-powerful. The people who did that, even though they must have known they were spreading a lie, probably thought (correctly, unfortunately) that lots of people would accept the superficial and never go behind it to get the truth. Sadly we human beings can all be very lazy mentally, and are prone to accept an easy superficial view of things when that fits our preconceived notion of how things should be. That phenomenon is nothing new-- it is as old as the Bible. Jesus refers to it in today's Gospel (Mt 9: 9-13) when He confronts the Pharisees, who are criticizing Him for dining with "tax collectors and sinners." The Pharisees have reached that conclusion purely on the basis of the superficial-- the people they are criticizing haven't been following all the fine points of Jewish law, so so they are "sinners." Jesus says then, as He says now (if people would listen to Him) that the superficial isn't the point. Ritual sacrifice, which looks good on the surface, doesn't really matter. it is one's orientation, internal disposition, motivation (pick a word) behind one's action that matters. That is why Jesus emphasizes "mercy", not "sacrifice." That's also what is behind Jesus' puzzling statement that He did not come to call "the righteous, but sinners." We're all sinners, after all, and if we're self-aware we know that. But if we judge our behavior just on the superficial-- if all we value is the "righteousness" of following rules-- we don't see that. We think we don't need to be saved. We think we already are. I'm not suggesting that rules don't matter. Of course, they do. But just following rules so that one looks superficially holy is not following the path of Jesus-- it is the path of the Pharisees. Following the rules needs to be informed by a deep sense of "mercy," or, as the original text in Hosea which Jesus is quoting says: "steadfast love." (Hosea 6:6). Of course, it is much easier to look holy than to be holy. The superficial is always easier. But Jesus never calls us to take the easy path.