Thursday, March 10, 2011

Religion

Mark 12
The Parable of the Tenants

1 Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

7 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

9 “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’[a]?”

12 Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.

Whenever I see a teaching of Christ which is aimed at the religious 'elite' of His day, I take special notice. As a Christian, I want to be 'like Christ,' and I want to have Jesus as the center of my life. To most people, that makes me 'religious,' yet I don't want to appear religious. Because religion is only man attempting to explain God, and it usually takes on the form of tradition, pomp and circumstance, and has no power to heal or to change people in any positive way.

In fact, it is in the name of religion (or religious zeal) that most historical wars, crusades and inquisitions took place, and in the name of religion that recent acts of terror have taken place.

So I would rather be the one who is active in serving God, but not religious.

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