Matthew 12:7
Matthew 12:77If only you had known the meaning of ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.
receives little JW commentary in apologetic contexts. Where it appears, it is read as Jesus's general rebuke of Pharisaic legalism — God values mercy over ritual. The verse is not engaged with the JW blood policy or the question of whether refusing a life-saving transfusion sacrifices "the reality for the symbol."
Hold Jesus's principle up against the JW blood policy. Jesus quotes — "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" — precisely in a context where Pharisaic insistence on ritual observance overrode human well-being. Apply the principle to the Watchtower's blood prohibition: blood symbolises life (). Refusing a transfusion to let someone die sacrifices the reality (life) for the symbol (blood). The JW logic preserves the symbolic respect for blood while paying for it with the very life the symbol points to. Pair with ("the Sabbath came into existence for the sake of man, and not man for the sake of the Sabbath"). The same Jesus who refused to let Sabbath rules override mercy would not approve of letting blood rules override life.