"It's not a religion, it's a relationship."
We've all heard that a million times - religion has become a dirty word in America. If I call Christianity a religion, I am certain to be chastised and told that ours is not a religion but a relationship with the living God.
The truth is that it is both. "Religion" simply means that we have a system of truth, practice and duty that tells us about God and life and eternity. To deny that Christianity is a religion is like trying to deny that America is a nation.
The problem we have isn't with "religion" - it's with bad religion - dead religion, false religion, formal religion, religion that cares more about rules and control and power than it does with connecting people to the God of heaven. Jesus continually confronted false religion, empty and dead, religion that did nothing but bind people in rules without freeing them to worship God. Our reading in John 5 today shows us empty, dead religion at its worst.
Two amazing things happened in John 5:1-14. First, Jesus healed a man at the pool of Bethesda. Sick and crippled people sat around the pool waiting for an angel to stir the waters so they might be healed, but this man, having no one to help him, could never get into the water in time to receive the healing. He'd been trying and failing for 38 years. That is a long, long time.
One day, Jesus came along and asked the man a strange question. "Do you want to get well?" The man did, but could not see any way to find the help he needed. He was trapped in his illness. But Jesus did not need the waters of Bethesda to heal. He just gave the man a simple command. "Take up your mat and walk." And he did. He stood up and his 38 years of suffering were over.
That is when the second amazing thing happened. The miracle took place on the Sabbath and the Jewish leaders had a fit. Why? Because this man who had been seeking healing for 38 years picked up his mat on the Sabbath after Jesus healed him. A man had been healed but all they were concerned about were their human rules. Nothing in God's law prevented a man from picking up a mat on the Sabbath. They had added their own laws to those of God and created this silliness.
These men were more concerned about their rules, their power and control than they were about this amazing display of the power of God. They didn't care that a man who was crippled for nearly 4 decades was suddenly able to walk. They were more concerned that one of their silly rules had been violated. For them it was not about God or people, but about power and rules and dominance.
May we care about people as we do God's work, and about the glory of God. It ought never be about power and control, but always about God's love for sinful people who need him.
Father, thank you for the example of your son who served and healed without regard to anything religious men added to your word.
No comments:
Post a Comment