13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. – Matthew 23:13-15
If you read about the Pharisees and religious leaders in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John you will find how terrible they treated people.
The Pharisees were consumed with fulfilling their religious agendas. They would go to any means in order for their agenda to be accomplished, even to the degree of killing the Son of God.
Jesus called them “white washed tombs” having the appearance of good but inwardly evil. In the name of God, holiness, religion, and truth they believed what they were doing was good.
Today we have religious leaders as well. Today’s religious leaders are not quite going to the extreme of killing or throwing people in prison but the attitude, and belief are similar in nature. They believe they are fulfilling the will of God by creating religious bound agendas that they expect others to fulfill. As Christians we must break free from this religion and begin to establish Gods kingdom.
Jesus came to set to people free. Jesus came to liberate those that are oppressed (Luke 4:18) When you look at the life of Jesus in the Gospels you will see that the people he encountered were liberated. He opened the eyes of blind, healed those that were crippled and mute, and was gracious and merciful to prostitutes.
The life Jesus lived challenged the religious system and made those in power very angry. Jesus lived a free life, he said that he only did what he saw his father doing.
As believers let’s learn and educated ourselves so that we do not make the mistakes of becoming religious people. Let us be a free people who seek liberty, life, and freedom.
