Jesus and the End of Religion

I want to pick up on a post from over two months ago, where I considered whether Christianity as a religion can be reformed? At that time I stated:

This summer I've had the opportunity to do some reading in the area of church history. Besides discovering that a refresher of history is a valuable exercise that should be repeated regularly, I took time to reflect on previous reformations of Christianity in the last 2000 years. Of course, the Protestant Reformation is the most notable example, but there have actually been many mini-reformations throughout the history of the church. It seems that there were always individuals who were unwilling to accept the deviations that had taken place and who wanted to bring about reforms to correct these problems. They saw a picture of Jesus that was much different than what was being promoted in the church at that time.

 

What became apparent to me again is the fact that all reformations end up needing to be reformed themselves at some point. The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century confronted the corrupt Catholic church and recovered some important truths that were being overlooked. But, the reformations of Luther and Zwingli soon became corrupt themselves and adopted practices that were not anywhere near the teachings of Jesus. The church quickly became institutionalized and closely aligned with regional politics, and there was considerable bloodshed during the religious wars that followed. One can see this cycle repeat itself throughout history.

 

It is interesting to note that most reformers never intended to break away from their existing religious bodies. There was usually the hope that the leaders and their followers would see the light, repent of their ways, and everything would get back to the way it was supposed to be. The reality was much different. The powers at be resisted any change, and worked to squelch the trouble-makers.

 

Jesus recognized this predicament. He was a Jew and wanted to see his people get back to the simple faith God intended for them. But, it became obvious that while the disenfranchised in society were interested in Jesus' revolution, those at the top were determined to end this little uprising. Upon his last trip to Jerusalem Jesus expressed his disappointment that his people would not fully accept him (Matthew 23:37-39), and predicted that ultimately Jerusalem would be destroyed because of the path it had been following and that out of the ashes would emerge his new movement that would sweep the world (Matthew 24). Jesus saw his impending death as a necessary step for this radical reformation to take place.

 

My point in all of this is to say that true reformation really requires a major break from the past, not just tweaking the messed up system one is in. Jesus' example provides a radical model for change. It's complete change, even to the point of death.

 

In practical terms, it probably is an indicator of our current situation. Not that they we want to go on some destructive rampage, but is it really productive to try and change the Christian church from within hoping that people will come around? Or, has modern Christianity (at least in the Western world) burned its bridges with society to the point that nothing less than the death and resurrection of the church is required?

 

I will discuss some practical matters related to all this in another post, but for now I need to restate that a good starting point for us is to acknowledge the anti-religious nature of Jesus's message and begin to live it out where we can.

 

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