Why are religious people so scary?
The scariest people in the gospels aren’t sinners and tax collectors, nor even the demon possessed. The scariest people in the gospels are the religious people— the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the teachers of the law. It’s the religious people who ultimately crucify Jesus! The people who crucified Jesus were not the sinners and tax collectors, not some deranged demon possessed man, and not some career criminalor death-row murderer like Barabbas. It’s the high priest, the good and decent Romans, and God-fearing Jews who saw that Jesus was killed.
Why are religious people so scary? It’s because they think they're so righteous, and so holy, and so close to God, and so above grace. They think they are somoral, and right, and pure, and look at me, and you get the picture!
Let me tell you what religious people do. In Mark 2:15 (NIV) Jesus is having dinner at Levi’s house. He just met Levi earlier and called him saying, "Come, follow me." Levi was a tax collector— not a reputable profession. Imagine if China invaded the United States-- they already own us-- and one of your neighbors came knocking on your door each week, collecting taxes for the Chinese government. How angry would that make you? Levi was a vulture, a shark, and a traitor to the Jewish people. He washated!
The only friends Levi had were other tax collectors and irreligious sinners. Talk about a rag-tag bunch of scoundrels!By reputation at least, these guys had no respect for God, for the law of Moses, for Jewish traditions, or for anythinggood and decent. They were the cockroaches of society, bottom-feeders.
Religious people think they are too righteous to associate with sinners.
So here is what religious people do.Mark 2:16 (NIV) says,"When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him (Jesus) eating with the 'sinners' and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: 'Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?' "
What do religious people do? We think we're too righteous to associate with sinners and people of low social status. "Me talk to them? Are you kidding? Go to their house, eat with them, listen to their stories, put up with their jokes, choke on their cigarette smoke, and have beer spilled on me? Are you serious?"
We aren’t righteous because of who we associate or don’t associate with! Jesus wasn’t too religious to get acquainted with Levi. His love didn’t discriminate. Jesus cared about Levi, and he didn’t see himself as too righteous. Jesus saw himself as the great physician, one with the capacity to truly help Levi and his friends! Mark 2:17 (NIV) says, "On hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.' " How do you see yourself? If you are a follower of Christ, you are a doctor, so go meet the sick.
Religious people think their spiritual practices make them spiritual.
Let me tell you something else religious people do. In Mark 2:18 some of John the Baptist’s disciples were fasting, along with the Pharisees. According to Old Testament law, God’s people were instructed to fast on the Day of Atonement. Fasting, like so many other spiritual disciplines, is a good thing. We fast, we pray, we tithe, we meditate, we study our Bibles, we do daily devotions, we take communion, and we sing, serve, and abstain.
In Jesus’ day religious people went beyond the letter of the law and also fasted on Mondays and Thursdays. So here they are fasting, while Jesus and his disciples, along with Levi and a host of sinners and tax collectors, are feasting! The religious folk were beside themselves! Mark 2:18 (NIV) says, "How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours (Jesus') are not?"
What do religious people do? We think our spiritual practices make us righteous,just like we think the people we associate with make us righteous! "I am righteous because I fast. I’m really righteous because I also fast on Mondays and Thursdays, and read my Bible, and attend church, and sing, and I give 11.5% of my income instead of the light-weight 10% tithe!"
Here is what religious people do. We get so busy looking religious that we miss the bridegroom. Isn’t this true? Mark 2:19-20 says, "Jesus answered, 'How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast." "
Everything we do is about drawing nearer to God. But what happens is that our spiritual practices become an end in themselves. Our spiritual practices become the reward, while our hearts remain far from God. Our religion becomes this hollow, zombie-like charade that leaves us unchanged, unengaged, empty, and dead inside. And we get so disconnected from Jesus that we don’t see him nor hear him calling us, "Come, follow me."
Religious people can become judgmental about minor problems.
I’ll tell you something else religious people do. Here are a couple examples.In Mark 2:23 Jesus is walking through a field with his disciples, when some of them pluck a few heads of grain. They were hungry, and they couldn’t help themselves!
By now, these religious people were really watching Jesus. They didn’t like the people he was associating with, andthey were angry that Jesus didn’t follow their spiritual regime. And now they’ve caught Jesus’ disciples red-handed, harvesting grain in direct violation of the Sabbath law. The Sabbath was to be a day of rest. "We gotcha, Jesus!" There is a story in the Old Testament of a man who was stoned to death for violating the Sabbath!
In Mark 2:24 (NIV) the Pharisees say to Jesus, "Look, why are they (your disciples) doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"Then in Mark 3:1-3 there is a second incident, "Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, 'Stand up in front of everyone.' "
What do we religious people love to do? We love straining gnats while swallowing a camel. We love majoring in the minors. We love getting technical and judgmental about the most ridiculous and mundane things. It’s not our principles that fail us. It's the application of our principles that fails the smell test. It’s keeping the letter of the law while violating the spirit of the law.
The religious people in Jesus’ day had a whole list of things that couldand could not be done on the Sabbath. If your son falls into a well on the Sabbath, you may rescue him. If your animal is thirsty on the Sabbath, you may give it water. If your animal falls into a pit, you must leave it there and not rescue it. If your animal gives birth, you cannot help it. And it is unlawful to heal on the Sabbath because healing is a work, and God rested from his work on the Sabbath.
Funny, but none of these Sabbath laws are written in the Bible. They were invented by men, passed down from generation to generation, and codified into law. These were not God-given laws, but man-made laws. Jesus wasn’t violating the laws of God. He was in violation of man’s laws, man’s rules, and man-made traditions.
In Mark 2:25-26 Jesus illustrates how their rules didn’t measure up to a well-known story in Scripture. In Mark 2:27 (NIV)Jesus explains how their rules violate the spirit of the law."The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." In Mark 2:28 he shows them how utterly ridiculous their traditions are. If God wants to heal a man on the Sabbath, he can do as he pleases! Mark 2:28 (NIV) says, "So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
In Mark 3:4-6 (NIV) it gets crazier! Jesus confronts them, " 'Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?' But they remained silent. He(Jesus) looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus."
What makes God angry?
Do you know what is interesting about this verse? This is the only place in the gospels that it explicitly tells us that Jesus was angry. For them, it was unlawful for God almighty to heal on the Sabbath,but okay to plot how to crucify Jesus! Who was Jesus angry at? He wasn't angry atLevi,or tax collectors,or sinners. He was angry at scary religious people. He was angry at people whose idea of righteousness is who to avoid, instead of whoto serve. He was angry at people who thought they were righteous because of what they do, rather than becaquse of who they are in Christ. Jesus was angry at people who were concerned only about what they thought, instead of what God reveals in his word. Friends, this is the kind of junk religion that makes God angry.