Religious?

The pharisees laid heavy burdens on others backs, so says Jesus in Matthew 23. He is critical of them, and it can be tempting to take a back seat and watch, for we are not pharisees … are we? It is worth ignoring the word ‘pharisee’ in these passages, for they are directed at the religious people of Jesus’ day, and who are we if not the religious people of our own day? Read them with ourselves in mind, and honestly think – how do we do that? what can I change about it? How do we, as the church, prevent people from coming to God? How do we add burdens to people, rather than setting them free, as Jesus came to do?  

Firstly, we may need to look at the burdens we ourselves bear. The problem with following Jesus is that we can miss the entire point. Despite all that is in the New Testament about being set free, we can bind people even further. It is a balancing act. We do need some laws and restrictions on our behaviour; we are not free to do whatever we want, or believe whatever we like – see 1 Corinthians 5 and the letter to the Galatians for biblical examples. But we can make those laws and restrictions the purpose, rather than a way to guide people closer towards God. We can give the message that ‘you must do x and y and believe exactly this, or you are not acceptable’. Yes, there is some behaviour that is not acceptable as 1 Corinthians 5 makes clear. But the problem is that the message can be that the minutiae of behaviour must be exactly correct, and sometimes this can lead us to miss more disreputable behaviour that might be going on behind a façade. We can give people the message not that they are loved by God, but that they are loved by God if…. you attend church every Sunday, you believe this exact version of the faith, you behave in the way I want you to … even when the ‘way I want you to behave’ may be more about my own peace of mind than about God. Unfortunately, we can give people the impression that, far from being loved by God, they are not worthy and can never be worthy unless they do x, y and/or z.

But, I hear you say, we are not worthy; we are sinners. Of course we are. We can never be worthy of God. But the point is not making ourselves worthy, because that is impossible, but that God, through his love for us, has dealt with all that. Laws and restrictions are necessary but are not the point of our faith. As we delve further into the love of God, and allow God to love us even more, we will increasingly be and act lovingly. As we learn God’s incredible love for humanity, we will come to see how we should respond to those whom God loves. But so often the burden gets in the way. A burden which is unique to each one of us, but may include: you are not worthy; you must do this (‘this’ being impossible); you must earn God’s love; you must keep jumping over barriers to get there… and so on. But we don’t. God is there with open arms saying: ‘I know you; I know all you have done wrong; I know all you have done right; I know you and I forgive you and I love you. Allow my love and compassion to enter your life and transform it; accept my love for you, and allow it to flow through you’.

But pride can prevent us from seeing God’s love for us. Pride can get in everywhere. Pride that insists that ‘I can do it myself/I have done it myself’; pride that insists that I am worthy; pride that insists that I am not worthy and can never be worthy … It takes a huge amount of humility to accept God’s love. Humility which accepts that it is not and never has been about us, it is all about God. Humility that realises only God can do this. It is only by allowing ourselves to perceive, accept and be soaked in the love of God that we can allow our burdens to fall from our backs, and begin to stop adding to the burdens of others. For the yoke of Jesus is easy, and his burden is light (Matthew 11:30). So often we struggle under heavy burdens that we cannot bear, but hardly realise we carry. We think that this is the way God wants it, and do not even see how we are adding to the burdens that others carry. Jesus is there calling to us, asking us to let go, and take up his burden, which is light. Are we willing to allow Jesus to take the burden from us in his time? Are we willing to bear it ourselves in the meantime?

So we come back to Matthew 23. How do we prevent people from seeing the love of God? Do they see that love in us? Are we so busy keeping the outside clean, that we miss the dirt on the inside? (see verses 25-28). Do we keep the minutiae of the law, rather than the deeper matters of justice, mercy and faith? (v 23-24). Do we truly nurture disciples of God, or are we simply creating religious people? (v 13-15). We can only spread the amazing news of the love of God if we truly know the love of God. None of us knows it perfectly, or wholly; all of us fail in part. But can we begin to let ourselves perceive and know this love? Can we truly know ourselves forgiven, and accept God’s mercy and compassion? Can we allow ourselves to accept all this, and therefore start to pass it on to those we meet? Can you?