Sticks & Stones 5 – No Longer Rolling the Stone of Religion
There is a Greek myth about a fellow named Sisyphus who was cursed by the gods. He was required to roll a stone up a hill over and over again. When he would almost reach the top the stone would roll down and he would have to start again. He was cursed to do this over and over every day for all eternity. He was just trying to reach the unreachable and unattainable top of the mountain. Yet he continued every day according to the story.
Many times people have trouble with religion because it seems that we are doomed to roll up a hill that we will never be able to climb. I think sometimes religion seems to be a stone rolling exercise in pain. It can often seem like it is one of these three things.
Unreachable expectations we can never live up to
Rules that change with not only different religions or even churches
Those rules that made us realize we could not live up to their rules
It is crazy when we think about all the stone rolling that has been done in trying to climb that hill and prove our worth. Just like Sisyphus though, we roll up that hill and it only takes a little slip to end up at the bottom again. That is why we have to take a hard look at the stone someone handed us called religion.
Jesus lived during a highly religious time in history. He was born to a devoted Jewish mother and his step-father had a great respect for God. At 12 he shocked the temple leaders with his knowledge of the Torah. He followed the Jewish religion and then when he began to teach at the age of thirty he turned it on its head. Mark tells us the story in his gospel. “One Sabbath day, as Jesus was walking through some fields of grain, his followers began to pick some grain to eat. The Pharisees said to Jesus, “Why are your followers doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath day?“ Jesus answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and those with him were hungry and needed food? During the time of Abiathar the high priest, David went into God’s house and ate the holy bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And David also gave some of the bread to those who were with him.“ Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Sabbath day was made to help people; they were not made to be ruled by the Sabbath day. So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.” Mark 2:23-28 (NCV)
The Jewish teachers are upset because you cannot pick grain or harvest on the Sabbath day and Jesus’ followers are picking grain to eat. The leaders are livid with Jesus. This is a punishable offense and they are mad. Jesus reminds them of a time that King David was on the run he ate the holy bread reserved only for the priests. Jesus takes a story they probably told about God providing for those He loves and used it to make them see that God provided the Sabbath day for them as well.
He reminds them that religion was made for us, not us for religion. God has always said in the Bible that people were the crowning achievement of God’s great creation. We would crazy to think that we are called to serve a religion. We are not; we are called to something greater: a relationship. Jesus wants them to see that God designed all of this as a way to grow in our relationship with Him. Not to follow a bunch of rules but to find our way to His heart and to spend our lives grower closer to God. So why do we pick up the stone of religion and keep carrying it in our lives? There is no telling why some people lean into things that are impossible to complete or to find peace within its belief systems. Maybe if we just rested in the peace of a truth Jesus taught us in the book of John.
In John, Jesus is getting ready to go to the cross. He wants us to understand what God thinks of us. John tells us, “You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I heard from my Father. You did not choose me; I chose you. And I gave you this work: to go and produce fruit, fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in my name. This is my command: Love each other.” John 15:14-17 (NCV)
Jesus calls us friends, not ones to carry a stone that weighs us down and makes our lives harder. He does not hold back from us what God wants us to do. He did not leave us here guessing as to what it means to follow God. He tells us over and over again. Plus he took all those commands and summed them up in a simple command. Jesus said it is all summed up in the words “Love each other.” Other times he tells us to love each other like he loves us. It is strange to think that all of life could be summed up and lived out by how we treat each other. There is no rule keeping to gain favor, or stones to carry to garner praise. Just our relationship with each other expresses our love and belief in God.
Religion calls us to accept and chose to follow a set of rules to please God. To gain His favor and love we have to be good and keep the rules. Religion always says do more to be accepted and loved. Look at the words Jesus tells his followers. In the middle of these verses Jesus says something that should encourage all of us. “You did not choose me; I chose you.” Those words, which God has chosen us, because of his great love for us should lift our hearts. We can do nothing to make God choose us. He simply chose us because of his love for us. I can finally drop the stone of religion and realize that God simply loves me.