The Spirit of Religion

Thursday, March 15th> Luke 7: 36- 50

One of the results of weeping is CHANGE.  How do the Pharisees exemplify the way the spirit of religion resists change? I think what causes people who stick to the FORM of godliness the most fear is the unknown. They become so comfortable with "doing" church the same way it's always been done that they feel threatened when something changes.

Yet we see that the Pharisee who invited Jesus to his home did not even follow the tradition for honoring a special guest. That speaks to the fact that he did not regard Jesus as a person of honor, but only invited him out of obligation, or even to see whether Jesus would slip and reveal Himself for the fake they thought He was.

I guess what that communicates to me is that the spirit of religion serves to keep things the way they are so that we do not become accountable for recognizing who we really are in the face of God's holiness. What the woman with the alabaster box did was scary; she opened herself up to change by acknowledging how wretched and in need of a Savior she was. That's why she left a totally different way than she came. And that's why many of us don't.