A RELIGION EMPTY OF GOD
Christians of the first and second generations remembered Jesus not so much as a religious person, but as a prophet who boldly denounced the dangers and traps of every religion. What he was doing wasn’t the pious observance above all others, but the passionate search for God’s will.
Mark, the oldest and most direct Gospel, presents Jesus in conflict with the most pious sectors of Jewish society. Among his most radical criticisms we can point out two: the scandal of a religion empty of God and the sin of replacing God’s will with «human traditions» at the service of other interests.
Jesus cites the prophet Isaiah: «This people honors me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. Their reverence is worthless, the lessons they teach are nothing but human commandments». Then he denounces in clear terms where the trap is: «You put aside the commandment of God to observe human traditions».
This is the great sin. Once we’ve established our norms and traditions, we put them in the place that only God should occupy. We put them above even God’s will: you mustn’t pass over the smallest prescription, though it goes against love and damages people.
In that religion, what’s most important isn’t God, but other types of interest. They honor God with their lips, but their heart is far from God; they pronounce an obligatory creed, but they believe in what’s convenient; they fulfill rites, but don’t obey God, but do obey men. Little by little we forget God and then forget what we’ve forgotten. We diminish the Gospel in order to not have to be converted all that much. We point God’s will toward what interests us and forget God’s absolute demand for love.
This could be our sin today. We instinctively hold onto a religion that’s worn out and without power to transform our lives. We keep honoring God only with our lips. We resist conversion and go about forgetful of Jesus’ project: the construction of a new world according to God’s heart.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
