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The Worship of Religion

Jesus was not a Christian challenging Jews. He did not come to proclaim that one religion (Judaism) had it wrong and another (Christianity) had it, or would have it, right. Jesus was a Jew challenging Jews. He did not repudiate Judaism but the obsession of many of its members with the formalities and regulations that obscured the religion’s core principles. He sought in part to bring his people’s minds and hearts back to the central message, the whole point, of their religion. In that way, he was much like the Hebrew prophets of old leading right up to John the Baptist, his precursor.

 Or like the Buddha, who had much to critique about the crust that had accumulated on the Hinduism into which he was born. If Jesus had come as a Hindu, he would undoubtedly have challenged the caste system, as Gandhi did, particularly its labeling of some members of society “untouchable.”

 If he were to come today, as a Christian, what would he find displeasing in this religion that bears his name?

 God doesn’t found religions; people do. God shows up when people begin to worship their own creation (religion) and not him. He comes to remind us why we found religions in the first place.
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