Broken by Religion - The Saviour
- Paul Downie
- Mar 19
- 16 min read
John 19:6-7 NIVUK
[6] As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify! Crucify!’ But Pilate answered, ‘You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.’ [7] The Jewish leaders insisted, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.’
Recently we had the privilege of visiting the historic Spanish city of Barcelona. At its heart is a spectacular cathedral, the Sagrada Familia – Antonio Gaudi’s masterpiece of a church that has taken centuries to complete.
And it is quite the sight.
However, there are three issues that I have with this incredible building.
Firstly, it cost an incredible amount of money to bring his vision to life – since construction began in 1882, it’s estimated to cost €25 million an average every year, which is a total of around €47.05 billion.
Secondly, for all the money spent on it, it’s more museum than church – and a very expensive one at that. People don’t go there to worship God. They mostly worship Gaudi, more than anyone.
Thirdly, the final completion of Gaudi’s ostentatious vision puts the fifteen thousand people at risk of losing their homes.
While there is no doubt it is a deeply impressive building, the Sagrada Familia is also a fine example of when religion goes too far; when it causes harm to others to help itself.
Sadly, this has all too often happened in history. The sheer pain and hurt caused by events such as the Crusades and various sectarian wars and struggles are incalculable and a stain in the reputation of the Gospel.
And certainly, the stench of ecclesiastical abuse of power in all of its nefarious forms is something that will reach heaven.
What was said of the Jews in Paul’s day can often be said of some so-called Christians in our day:
Romans 2:24 NIVUK
[24] As it is written: ‘God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’
But I’m going to tell you something that might surprise, or even shock, you:
No-one was more hurt by religion than Jesus.
No-one knows how it feels to be hurt by religion more than Jesus.
No-one feels your pain more than Jesus.
Why?
Because it was people from His own religion who sought to put Him to death on the cross.
What killed Him was our sin.
What put Him there was false religion.
How can I say these things?
We will now explore the three characters of the false religion of those who sought Jesus’ death, and see how it correlates to religions wrongs committed in our day.
The first of these is Hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy
Matthew 15:7-9 NIVUK
[7] You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: [8] ‘ “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. [9] They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” ’
I recently saw a rather brilliant movie by the name of ‘A Complete Unknown’. In it, the actor Timothée Chalamet rather brilliantly portrays the American singer/songwriter Bob Dylan.
His performance, to my mind, deserves an Oscar. Even Bob Dylan himself approved of it.
But he isn’t Bob Dylan.
He was acting. He was pretending to be Bob Dylan. Everyone who sees the film knows he was pretending to be Bob Dylan.
But he isn’t Bob Dylan.
The Greek word for ‘hypocrite’ essentially means someone who is pretending to be someone they are not – an actor like Timothée.
The only problem is that their act is designed to fool people into believing that they are the genuine article – that they are real.
And this is the problem Jesus had with the religious elite of His day:
Matthew 23:1-3 NIVUK
[1] Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: [2] ‘The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. [3] So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practise what they preach.
This was Jesus’ number one problem with them. And their number one problem with Him was that He didn’t tolerate it, and instead exposed it, without fear or favour.
As Jesus Himself stated, their religion was superficial – only skin deep:
Matthew 23:5 NIVUK
[5] ‘Everything they do is done for people to see.
Matthew 6:1-2 NIVUK
[1] ‘Be careful not to practise your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. [2] ‘So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
Matthew 6:5 NIVUK
[5] ‘And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
Luke 20:45-47 NIVUK
[45] While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, [46] ‘Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the market-places and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets. [47] They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.’
Even John the Baptist aimed his sharpest ire at this group of people (Matthew 3:7-10).
But what does this mean in our day?
The slippery slope to bringing shame and disgrace to the Name of God begins when you use religion – even right religion – as a thin veneer to disguise distinctly irreligious practices.
As Jesus said:
Luke 6:43-45 NIVUK
[43] ‘No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. [44] Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn-bushes, or grapes from briers. [45] A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
So when people act in a sinful manner in church communities, and persist in it, while maintaining an outward veneer of religiosity, no matter what they say, you know one thing for sure:
This person’s heart is not right with God.
They are pretending to be something they are not.
They are a hypocrite.
And if you find yourself treading these treacherous waters, know this:
God will not be mocked.
Hypocrisy is never okay.
You might be able to fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you will never, ever be able to fool God any of the time.
John’s simple command to the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law was this:
Matthew 3:8 NIVUK
[8] Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
There is nothing that drives people away from the Gospel quite as effectively as the hypocrisy of those who say they believe it. And there is just one cure for hypocrisy, and that is to stop being a hypocrite.
It is to repent
There is no other way.
So you know what you must do. Right away.
Apart from hypocrisy, we also see Heresy.
Heresy
John 10:31-33 NIVUK
[31] Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, [32] but Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?’ [33] ‘We are not stoning you for any good work,’ they replied, ‘but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.’
Now, this is where we might get a little confused. Here we see Jesus almost being stoned because He contradicted Jewish norms and claimed He was God. From the point of view of the Jewish leaders, Jesus was the heretic, not them.
However, I would counter that.
Yes, they understood correctly that Jesus claimed to be God. There is no disputing that.
Yes, from their perspective, it was against their definition of normalcy and orthodoxy. That us also correct.
But from God’s perspective, these Jewish leaders were the heretics, because God had sent His Son to save them and they didn’t even believe who He was.
Now, Jesus’ own disciples struggled with this (some examples are Mark 4:41 and Luke 8:25), but only because they were confused, not because they flat out denied that Jesus was God.
The Jewish leaders, however, would not accept that Jesus was God. Or rather, could not. Because this is what they feared:
John 11:47-48 NIVUK
[47] Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. ‘What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many signs. [48] If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.’
It was a matter of power and control. Jesus’ powers were supernatural – that much was clear. As much as they could try to come up with an explanation for what He was able to do, none of them were ever good enough (Matthew 9:34, 12:24-28; Mark 3:22-29; Luke 11:14-23; John 8:48-49).
Not only was Jesus unexplained, He was also uncontrolled, in that no matter what they did, He just did not toe the party line. They just could not get Him to do what they wanted.
So from their point of view, He was a loose cannon and a clear and present danger, both to their Temple and their place in the ‘natural order’.
As a result, they could never accept who Jesus was. There was too much at stake.
But that meant they were committing heresy against Jesus, and in the process costing themselves way more than they stood to lose.
Why?
Because Jesus could only be recognised as heretic if what He was saying was false.
However, if it was true, and He was the Son of God, then the Jewish leaders would have been heretics because they did not recognise Him when He came.
Maybe you are puzzled as to why I am even talking about this. After all, those who have committed great wrongs in the church stated that they believed in Jesus, that they followed Him, but it didn’t stop them from being so heartless selfish and cruel.
So what was happening there?
There is a huge difference between intellectual belief and spiritual belief. I can believe something is true – like, say, the existence of some far off country – and it can make not one bit of difference to how I live my life.
That is how many people approach religion. They believe it is true. They carry out the rituals and rites and participate enthusiastically in the celebrations. It’s fun. Possibly a lot of fun. But it makes no difference to them at all.
James wrote about such people with words that are so sharp they are almost surgical:
James 2:18-20 NIVUK
[18] But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. [19] You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder. [20] You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?
Even the devil believes that Jesus died for our sins. He should do. He was there.
But it makes no difference to his heart or his soul or his conduct.
Then there is spiritual belief: belief that drives a change in our heart and our life:
Ephesians 2:8-10 NIVUK
[8] For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – [9] not by works, so that no-one can boast. [10] For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
This belief recognises that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works, but to work; that our fruit shows people that we believe.
This faith causes changes in our actions.
Intellectual faith is nothing short of heresy.
Why?
Because the right thinking might be there, but without the right action, it shows that the believer neither fears God not loves Him. The believer does not fear God because they are unafraid do to the things God says are wrong; they do not love Him because they pay no attention to the blood He shed to save them, and how their sins caused those wounds.
That is why intellectual belief cannot save:
James 2:14 NIVUK
[14] What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?
Those who commit heinous acts in God’s name clearly have an intellectual faith because it has made not one jot of difference to how they live.
They are hypocrites. But they are also heretics, because their actions deviate from God’s norm and bring deep shame on His Name.
They are people who try to build their own kingdom inside the walls of the Kingdom of Heaven, and God will not allow that. He didn’t allow it for satan. He will not allow it for them either.
However, hypocrisy and heresy are just stages on a downward plunge away from God. The last stage is the one that is the worst of all, and the furthest from all that God commanded: that of Hatred.
Hatred
John 15:23-25 NIVUK
[23] Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. [24] If I had not done among them the works no-one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. [25] But this is to fulfil what is written in their Law: “They hated me without reason.”
These are strong words. Jesus is literally, and without fear of contradiction, saying that the Jewish leaders hate Him.
Now, we must know one thing very clearly: no real Christian will hate another human being.
It just isn’t compatible with following Jesus:
1 John 2:9-11 NIVUK
[9] Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. [10] Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. [11] But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
1 John 4:7-12 NIVUK
[7] Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. [8] Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. [9] This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. [10] This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. [11] Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. [12] No-one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
Romans 13:10 NIVUK
[10] Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.
But yet here we see Jesus accusing the Jewish leaders of hating Him.
And that is a very serious charge. As I’ve stated on many previous posts, the whole law is summed up in loving God and others as ourselves (Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:29-31).
Here's the thing: even the Jewish leaders knew it (Mark 12:32-34; Luke 10:26-27).
So they would know – they would absolutely know – that hating Jesus would be against both the letter and the spirit of the law.
Yet they did it.
Why?
There is only one shocking reason:
They did it to save themselves.
John 11:47-50 NIVUK
[47] Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. ‘What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many signs. [48] If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.’ [49] Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, ‘You know nothing at all! [50] You do not realise that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.’
But here’s the irony: by trying to save themselves and their position in their society, they lost far more than they ever sought to hold onto.
And here’s the even bigger irony: by acting in hatred towards Jesus and sending Him to the cross, they were playing their part to ensure that Jesus would die for them to save them, and yet most of them would refuse that salvation and damn themselves.
Maybe you think I'm overreacting. Maybe you think that it can’t have been that bad – these fine religious people can’t really have hated Jesus, can they?
If that’s how you feel, consider this:
If you maliciously falsely accuse someone of a capital crime in your law, is that not hatred?
If you yell for them to suffer the most painful death known to man, is that not hatred?
If you stand at the foot of the cross, and mock a man slowly asphyxiating and bleeding to death, is that not hatred?
And their bitter hatred of Jesus did not stop after He died. Look how they reacted once He was buried:
Matthew 27:62-64 NIVUK
[62] The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. [63] ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, “After three days I will rise again.” [64] So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.’
But then, why does it surprise us that religious people are capable of hate? We’ve seen it throughout history and we still see it now!
Of course, the irreligious are also capable of the most astounding hatred. Anyone who has lived through a communist regime will tell you that.
But we should expect more from religious people. We really should. And so when they fail, it is infinitely more disappointing.
The Bible is absolutely clear: these were, on the surface, fine, upstanding, religious men, but on the inside they were violating the very principle that undergirded the law they professed to follow and thinking nothing of it.
And it’s wrong. It’s entirely wrong. It’s absolutely wrong. It’s unjustifiably wrong.
But it’s real. All too real.
And no-one knows this better than Jesus Christ Himself.
Conclusion
Isaiah 29:13 NIVUK
[13] The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
I am going to make an assertion now that some of you might find shocking.
Many years ago, we visited Bangkok, Thailand. The temples really were something else. We are not Buddhist by any means (I hope that’s clear by now!), but even we had to be impressed by the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. We even got to see the statue itself – a huge, hulking, solid gold work of art that must have cost a fortune.
It all seemed so calming. So serene.
Yet Thailand in general, and cities like Bangkok in particular, struggled with a disturbingly high incidence of people trafficking. For a highly religious country, it almost seems incongruous that they should have real issues with the sex trade, including child prostitution.
It seems completely out of place. But it’s true.
On seeing such awful, inhumane exploitation, particularly of the needy, we might be moved to cry out in anguish, ‘Why can’t you stop this? Don’t you see that it’s wrong? Doesn’t your religion tell you that it’s wrong? Does your religion even work?’
If we did, then, given the horrendous evils committed in the past decades by so-called Christians, we would be guilty of a spectacular self-own.
So much wrong has been committed in the name of God and religion.
But then, so much wrong has been committed in the name of no-God and no religion.
The problem is not religion, or even the lack of it.
The problem is human nature.
The problem is the human heart. Because the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 NIVUK
[9] The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? [10] ‘I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.’
Not for a second do I think you should follow the sappy Disney doctrine to ‘follow your heart’.
No! You take that heart of yours, deceitful as it is, and you give it to Jesus.
Because yes, I am aware that tremendous evil has been committed in His Name. And tremendous evil has been done in other names too.
But no-one in all creation understands what it feels like to be hurt by religion more than Jesus Christ. Because they didn’t just shun him or cancel him or abuse him, they killed Him. And they mocked Him while He died. And they set a guard and a seal on His grave to try to stop Him rising.
But Jesus rose from the dead and defeated then all. One day He will return in judgement, and all who have defamed His Precious Name will either repent or feel His wrath.
So yes, great harm has been done by religious people – and irreligious people too. But the cure for this harm is not to run away from Jesus, but towards Him. Only He can bring healing and forgiveness and a new life.
The greatest rebellion against all those evil people have done is not to abandon God. That is what they want. No, it’s to get as close as you can to Him.
The most defiant thing you can do is not to leave the church. That is what they want you to do. It’s to find a church where you will not be harmed but helped.
And I want to show you something so very precious:
Luke 24:40 NIVUK
[40] When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.
Religious people convicted Jesus and demanded His crucifixion. Jesus died. He rose again. But when He appeared to His disciples, He still bore the scars!
In fact, the wounds inflicted on Him by religious men were the means by which His disciples identified Him.
The scars of intolerable pain He endured on the cross became a source of blessing for all who follow Him.
The Christ of the Scars can do the same thing with your wounds, no matter how raw they may feel like now, if you let Him.
So as a fellow sufferer at the hands of those who were religious and ought to have known better, I implore you, even though I understand the pain you have gone though, to leave those who hurt you, don’t let then drive you away from Jesus, but run to Him with all you have.
Because you might have been hurt by religion, but you can be healed by Jesus.
And He stands ready to heal you.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, people who ought to know much better have caused me tremendous pain. But I won’t run away from You. No, I run towards You. Take my wounds and heal the, I pray. Use my scars to bless others and heal their wounds. Amen.
Questions
What are the three behaviours of the religious people who convicted Jesus? What went so badly wrong for them?
What is the reason why these things happen?
Who can fix this problem? Who can heal you? Will you run to Him today?
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