Religion gets a bad rap these days. Religion has a long track record of legalism, hypocrisy, and violence. Religion gets used to justify oppression of women, marginalization of minority populations, and prejudice towards outsiders. With all this going against religion, it’s no wonder that more and more people in the United States are identifying themselves as n0n-religious.
But I find it interesting that for all that is reviling about religion, more and more people around the world are becoming more religious, not less. It seems to me, upon closer inspection, that what we hate most about religion is really about humanity: people can be jerks. One could make a strong argument that all people are religious – so the problem is not religion, but how humanity embodies that religion.
For example, in the Gospel of Mark, there is a story of Jesus “going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.” So what, you ask? The problem here is that they did this on the Sabbath! Gasp! I know, terrible right? The Pharisees see this transgression and grill Jesus: “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
It’s this kind of picky, mean-spirited, legalistic condemnation that we all despise about people. Maybe the Pharisees meant well: the Sabbath is a beautiful idea! It ensures that people get at least one day of rest each week, a way to protect them from unjust labor practices by employers, and a way to provide space for communities to relax together. But the Pharisees turn this religious day into a rule-keeping day, which sucks the life and purpose out of it.
Jesus the religious rule-breaker resists their attempts to ruin his day and condemn his disciples. He uses a story from the Old Testament about a time when King David violated the Sabbath when he was “hungry and in need.” Jesus then goes on to remind the religious rule-keepers what has always been true about the Sabbath and religion: “The Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath.” He then declares: “the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Sabbath is about rest that connects us to God and each other, not about keeping a list of do’s and don’t’s.
Think about this: rules at their best protect the weakest among us, give direction to us, and seek to intertwine freedom and responsibility for all. But like most human rules, when religious rules become more important than flourishing, when religious rule-keeping becomes more important than justice and mercy, then it’s time to be a religious rule-breaker.
What is it about religion that really causes a negative reaction in you? For me, growing up as a kid, I was really bothered by hypocrisy in the adults. (Confession, now that I’m adult, I see how easy it is to be a hypocrite…). As a college student I reacted against religious people that talked a lot about right beliefs and right moral actions, but did little to relieve the suffering of the poor and abused in our communities. As an adult, I am disturbed by the religious justification of violence towards those who are feared or despised.
For all that I resist about religion, I’m still admittedly religious. Though I’ve been wounded by religious people and their rule-keeping, I’ve not given up on religion. Instead, I see what’s best in people and seek to draw that out for their flourishing and ours. And since I believe all people are religious in some way, I’m committed to being a religious-rule breaker, if that’s what it takes, to break open new realities for religion to work for our good again.
So let’s not give up on Sabbath keeping (go ahead, enjoy those weekends of rest, take the vacations, get a full night of sleep – it’s God’s will for you)! Let’s not give up on helping the hungry and needy (most non-profits that do this are religious based).
Lets reconsider the ways our church-going, praying, Bible reading, charity, serving our neighbors, work of reconciliation, being patiently present can reflect the religious rule breaking of Jesus – for the flourishing of all!
