Do you preach Jesus or a moral idol made in the image of religion?

The Pharisees had God all figured out. They observed (rather poorly I would add) the 10 Commandments and added another 600+ rules on top of those for good measure. After all, whoever has the most rules wins right? What ensued was a moral standard, weaponized by the law, that not only reinforced surface level cleanliness and behavior modification, but it also created the needed separation between those who “kept” the law and those who didn’t.

When Jesus arrived on the scene, He challenged the moral idol that religion had built and revealed Who God had always been. Jesus had to systematically strip away the veil of the law which had built a great delusional chasm of distance and separation. Emmanuel showed us what it was like to truly be loved, seen, cared for and accepted without any performancism needed…ever.