Religion Questions Jesus
- Larry Kutzler
- Jun 25
- 4 min read
I have been against religion for some time. Why? Because religion tries to put me into a box that makes me see everything through the lens of that box. Now, religion taught me about an organized worldview and it made sense out of things that previously didn’t make sense. It taught me about good and evil, and about heaven and hell … things I had very little understanding about. However, it also made me feel guilty about who I was as a human being. Every thought that was not kind, pure, or wholesome made me feel less than everyone else in the religious group. I always felt a little lower than the other participants because I knew I wasn’t as good as they were in their service to God.
Religion became easier for me in time because I learned to navigate the language and the rules of the system. Once you knew the language, followed the rules at least in public, you could fly beneath the radar and feel less guilty about your sinfulness. In fact, religion numbed me to my sinfulness, and as long as I followed the dictates of religion, I never thought about my sin.
At one point in my life, I went into a religious school and learned the deeper meaning of living within a religious system. It helped me to grow in religion and provide me a better standing among the religious crowd. Once you become a leader, or a teacher of religion, you can then create a group of people who think your form of religious understanding is worth following. You start to believe you have a special gift, an anointing as some would say, and that would increase your value to the religious crowd. How foolish this all may seem to God. In fact, Jesus quoted the Prophet Isaiah:
Matthew 15:8 These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
It is easy to think religious thoughts, but it is harder to believe in them and live them from your heart. God’s people went through the motions, just as I described in my experience with religion. Religion makes you know the rules, the precepts and the laws, but it does not teach you about the heart of God, the grace, the mercy and His desire that none should perish. As Jesus told His audience:
Matthew 9:13 Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: 'I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.' For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.
Religion makes you think you are righteous because you follow the religious rules, but even if you follow the rules with a great skill of precision, you are still a sinner in need of a savior. Religion can be very misleading as it can provide a false sense of security and assurance. Religion also questions Jesus. It puts Him on trial as it did during the last week of His life:
Mark 14:55-61 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.’” Yet even then their testimony did not agree. Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.
This is religion at its best … it questions what doesn’t fit within the parameters of the system. Jesus always challenged the religious system of His day, He even, at one point, called the system tombstones in a graveyard. I have often wondered what He would call some of our religious systems today? This honestly Jesus had about religious systems was what placed Him on trial and ultimately to death. Religion schemed to find something wrong with Jesus so it would have an excuse to do away with Him.
Even today, religious systems all have a tendency to twist the words of Jesus in such a manner that supports their system and their viewpoint of God. Religion in Jesus’ day even tried to get Him to come down off the Cross to prove he was the real Messiah. Religion was strengthened after the Cross because it had all kinds of doctrines to reshape the events into a system to fit the thinking of religious people.
Let me just say that Jesus is not a religious person. He didn’t come to establish Christianity … He came to fulfill the promises God made to Abraham in Genesis Chapter 12. He came as a Jew, destined for a Cross, and His calling was to provide a way of salvation for all human beings, past, present and future. He did not come to establish a religion. Religion likes to remove Him from His orientation as a Jew, His calling to the Jewish nation first, and makes Him into a Christian-like character that fits within a modern religious thought.
It took me almost 40 years to realize how religion had blinded my eyes to the Jesus in the Bible, but today I see Him clearly as the Scriptures proclaim Him, and He is not religious. I hate religion because it keeps people away from the real Jesus of transformation and change.
If religion has blinded you to the real Jesus, I suggest you read the Gospel of Mark … it’s a great summary on the real Jesus. Let us celebrate the Work of Jesus on the Cross, the finale of the empty tomb, and the hope of His soon return.
Challenging the Culture with Truth … Larry Kutzler