Jesus hated his religion for what it had become. God dictated to Moses what the Jewish faith should look like. He told him about the organization of the priests, how the sacrifices were to be conducted, how his tabernacle was to be constructed, and various rituals or feasts that were to be observed. On the mountain God issued to Moses the Ten Commandments.
Christ was fully aware of how the Jews were to worship. Yet, there was no question about the conduct of the religious leaders. Jesus called them ravenous and wicked. He referred to them as fools. Then he issued a series of woes. He charged the Pharisees that they passed over justice and the love of God. Instead, their love was for the limelight before other people. Then he added the scribes, calling them also hypocrites. He referred to them as graves that people walked over. He charged the lawyers for laying grievance burdens on the average worshiper. Jesus reminded them of how their ancestors treated the prophets by killing them. He warned them that the blood they shared would be required of them by God. The Lord emphasized against the lawyers how they held the key of knowledge and hindered them.
Instead of taking heed for the correction offered from the Son of God, they began plotting how they may catch him and accuse him. The religion of the day that Jesus faced was nothing like the Almighty intended. Their religion failed in every way possible. Their lives were taken up with prestige and greed. They had no compassion for the average worshiper. These people made no effort to encourage the commoner to have a means by which they could draw closer to God. It was not the Romans who nailed Jesus to the cross. It was a false religion maintained by false leaders. Oh, how gracious it was that Jesus died on the cross even for these people.
What does this scene hold for us that Jesus held over 2000 years ago? Is there any truth, is there any warning that we should observe today? As a man, Jesus was only 33 years old. However, as God, he always was and would always be. He was pointing out their failures and their sins. Surely, there was a tone of distrust as he spoke to these men. He knew that by and large he was speaking to men that would not hear him even though a few of the Sanhedrin court did accept Christ as Savior later.
Now here’s the rub for today, and for today’s church. As he prophesied, the faithful number are fewer and fewer in our community census. The denominations that have been large and influential are losing attendees on a rapid basis. Something is happening! It is a bad thing that those who have once professed Christ no longer support his ministry or even attend church. It is a good thing because this dispersion from faithfulness is a sign of his soon coming.
While modern praise and worship can enhance engagement and emotional connection, its negatives include the risk of turning worship into entertainment, prioritizing spectacle over substance, lacking theological depth, and potentially diluting the sacred nature of corporate worship.
We have a choice. Do we allow things to continue or do we try to take the proverbial bull by the horns and try to make differences from what they have been currently? We must not confuse church attendance or church membership with genuine salvation! A current trend in most churches is to get them in and then get saved. There are two problems with this attitude. How do you get them in? Is it entertainment using productions or just through solid exegetical sermons? What’s to come on the basis of entertainment, how likely are they to accept Christ as Savior? There have been many programs and presentations that are appealing to the community, but few are brought to Christ.
Why did Jesus criticize his own religion? He complained that his religion as it had become was only concerned with the outwardness of people without addressing their internal needs.(vs 39) His concern was there was no difference in how religion was presented where everything was the same.(vs 41) Christ’s observation was the conditioning of his current religion that left out justice and the love of God. (vs 42) Jesus knew that the religion of the day was more concerned with outward prestige than inward transformation. (vs 43) The Lord’s comment next is very interesting. He said that they were so ineffective and inconsequential that they were like dead men buried with no tombstones so that people walked over their graves without even knowing they were buried there.(vs 44) Furthermore, Jesus said that the leaders had knowledge but kept the seekers from finding truth. (vss 46-52)
Where is Jesus in your private life and in your church life? How much of it is sacred and how much of it is emotional? Allow me to make a suggestion. Thinking about your relationship with Christ, make a list of how close you are spiritually to him. Ask why and how to fix it. Go to church and observed without participating. What is really happening; what are the consequences; what are the reasons for what is happening; how different is our worship comparative to the religion that surrounded Jesus when he walked this earth?
Christian Writer 