Mark (Mark 3:20-35) reveals that Jesus is precisely what the religious authorities were not expecting. They didn’t know what to make of him. He didn’t meet their expectations, and as is often the case, what doesn't fit our expectations, we typically label as abnormal, deviant, crazy, or possessed. These iconoclasts are cast as “outsiders.” We assume that what we know and have experienced becomes the standard by which we measure – and judge – the thoughts and actions of others.
Religion was intended to serve as a way to bring us closer to God. The root of the word itself comes from the Latin ligare, which means to bind. It provides the roots of the words "ligament" (tissue that binds together) and "obligation" (the duties to which one is bound.) Religion, then, most often serves to connect us again to God by specifying what actions, duties, and obligations we should undertake out of reverence to God. On one level there's something absolutely right about this. Religion gives us a way to orient our thinking about and our relationship with God. It provides the “training wheels” that enable us to express our thanks for all things in our lives. The trouble arises, however, when we don’t let go and soar on our own “power” and allow religion to become a substitute for a genuine, living relationship with God. This happens when we use to manage and control our relationship or, even worse, to attempt to “manage” and control God.
This is why Jesus was against anything that separated people from the abundant life God had intended. Jesus introduced a new vision and a new way to relate to God...and it's nothing what man could possibly have invented or designed. God knows we try. (David Lose, “Working Preacher,” 6/5/12)
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