by Amelia Love

Created on: December 18, 2010

A teacher of the law approached Jesus and asked Him which was the greatest commandment.  Jesus replied, "Love the Lord Your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength."  The teacher said to Jesus, "Well said.  To love Him with all your heart, all your understanding, and all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Jesus acknowledged the man's wisdom, saying, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."  (Mark 12:28-34)

Jesus taught relationship, not religion.  His desire was for people to finally understand that God does not want our offerings and rituals; He wants us.  This was very difficult for the religious leaders of Jesus' day to understand.  They watched, appalled, as Jesus dared to heal on the Sabbath, proving that love for man far outweighs rules and regulations.  They watched as He dared to eat with tax collectors and be seen with prostitutes.  They watched as He refused to stone the adulterer, choosing forgiveness over the law of Moses.  Indeed, Jesus was a great rebel.  For centuries, the Jewish nation waited in anticipation for the Messiah to arrive.  When He did, He did not fulfill any of their preset notions of who the Messiah should be and what the Messiah should do.  Even His own disciples, those who recognized Him as God's Anointed, fell away from Him in the end, not understanding that His death on the cross was a victory rather than a defeat.  He never adhered to policy.  He never followed regulation.  He never performed the rituals in the ways everyone believed they should be performed.  He was a walking testimony to God's love, redeeming God's children through forgiveness and fellowship rather than works and sacrifice. 

Still today, many misunderstand this, seeking to prove their Christian worth through religion, foolishly believing that rituals such as church attendance and tithes, singing the right songs, wearing the right clothes, and hanging out with the right people are the means to pleasing God.  Of course, attending church and building righteous habits are worthy endeavors, but they can never be sought after in exchange for fellowship with the Almighty.  Every Christian must guard against the dangerous faux pas of allowing rituals to govern his or her relationship with God.  To do so would hinder

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