deadly wrong religion

And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Mark 12:38-40

There is a huge difference between faith in the gospel and acts of works-based religion. The place of most difference is at the core of inner motivation. Jesus fought hard against pretentious, showy, prideful religion. The religious Jews hated Jesus. They succeeded in getting Him crucified. He was preaching good news that literally overturned their profitable, ego-stoking religion.

Here is why works-based religion is a bad thing according to Jesus in this passage: 1) It appeals to human pride. The scribes liked their long religious robes, their showy religious greetings in public view, their owners box suite seating at the synagogue. Religion gets you noticed. It deflects glory from God to humanity. 2) Religion is parasitic... it thrives at the expense of the less fortunate. In the case of Jesus’ observations, the scribes lived quite comfortably on the donations of the very poorest, devouring widow’s houses. This literally happens right after Jesus’ condemning remarks as a widow gives her last two cents (Mark 12:41-44). 3) Religion is all outward pretense and no inward substance. The scribes enjoyed their long prayers which weren’t about worship of God, but rather about attention to self. This was not real prayer at all.

The gospel counteracts all these things. The gospel dismantles pride through the process of repentance and faith. Jesus does it all. I can’t take pleasure in what I’ve done because it is not good enough. I trust Jesus alone. The gospel comes at the sacrifice of Jesus. And this frees us. It does not bind or hurt others in any way. Jesus bears all the pain in the gospel. The gospel changes the inside. We are given clean hearts and new ways of seeing ourselves and our world. We constantly grow as we continue to repent, believe, worship, and trust Jesus alone every day that we live and into eternity!