The Burden of Religion

I love how Jesus stirs the pot in Luke 11:37-54. He starts by not washing his hands before dinner at the house of one of the Pharisees. Now before my good friend, O.C. Handwasher (That's Obsessive Compulsive Handwasher for those of you that care) over at The Dumping Ground think that Jesus was breaking all rules of common courtesy, I want you to understand that the hand washing that Jesus skipped was the PUBLIC, CEREMONIAL hand washing done by the Pharisees to prove how religious and clean they were to the rest of the world. It should in no way be thought that Jesus was a disgustingly dirty person in any way shape or form.

As the conversation around the dinner table progresses, Jesus starts to pronounce "WOE" upon the Pharisees and the religious leaders of his day. He accuses them of being RELIGIOUS but uncaring. He says, they do a good job at following the rules, but they are completely missing the point. The point of the Law was to bring people closer to God, but by embellishing the rules with their own set of ceremonial, unbearable religious demands, the Pharisees and teachers of the Law were driving people away from God.

That is what is so unique about Christianity. It is not a religion - it is a relationship. A relationship with the One that created us. The one that was willing to step down into the depths of our depravity to rescue us from ourselves. Every other religion on earth - EVERY ONE - is about what you must DO in order to earn eternal security. Christianity is about what Jesus Christ has already DONE for us. Thank you Jesus.

No list of unbearable religious demands, simply a lifetime of trying to understand and become more like the greatest person that ever lived.