And a scribe came up and said to him, “ Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “ Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “ Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “ Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
Do you ever hear people say: “I’m not really into organized religion.” Ahhh, I see, you like disorganized religion? I think I know what they are trying to communicate. They don’t like the institution, they don’t like the empty ritual usually associated with many religious traditions, but make no mistake, the New Testament is PRO-RELIGION… in fact, the hero of the New Testament, Jesus (ever hear of him?) started a pretty big one. The answer to “empty-religion” is no “anti-religion,” that’s a major mistake. The answer is TRUE-RELIGION. Religion is simply how you relate to God, and others who relate to God, that’s quite important. There were some 2,000 years ago who thought they could be “spiritual” but not actually do anything. “I’m spiritual… not religious.” Well, that may be, but you’re not Christian either (at least not in a biblical sense). The first scribe wanted stability “Jesus, I’ll follow you, if nothing ever changes at your church… if it does, I’m gonna jump-ship.” The second said “Well, you know, that’s my ‘family time’ Jesus… we have ‘family worship’ I mean… spending time at my kids sporting events, family vacations, working on my kids’ school projects, you know, I only have so much vacation time from work, I have to use my Sundays to get all that in…” oops. Don’t let anything, especially good things, get between you and Jesus.
