Three Stark Contrasts Between Religion and Christianity

Last time I spoke about discovering that religion and Christianity are two very different things. This came home to me again as I studied the story of the woman whom Jesus healed of a terrible back problem. It’s a long passage, but worth your time to read.

¹⁰ Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹ And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” ¹³ And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. ¹⁴ But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” ¹⁵ Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? ¹⁶ And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” ¹⁷ As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. (Luke 13)

The way the religious establishment (in this case the lay-leader of a synagogue) responded to this healing illustrates three stark contrasts between religion and Christ.

Shame

I just read an article about how stoning takes place in Iran. It’s hard to imagine anything more barbaric and ugly. Unless it’s crucifixion.

One common element in both forms of execution is public humiliation. The condemned person not only pays the ultimate price for his crimes, but is demeaned and shamed in the process.

Not all shame includes death, of course, but all shame is terribly diminishing. Some people say that guilt is feeling bad about something you did, but shame is feeling bad about who you are. Not just “I’ve done bad things,” but “I am a bad person.”

In colonial times people convicted of adultery had to wear the “scarlet letter.” Or they might be sentenced to time in the stocks for having stolen. Even today public shame may be part of a judicial sentence. I saw a picture of a man outside a Walmart store, wearing a sign: “I am a thief. I stole from Walmart.”

In the Old Testament, people hoped and prayed that they would make it through life without being put to shame, the ultimate failure.

• O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. (Ps. 25:2)

• O LORD, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon you; let the wicked be put to shame; let them go silently to Sheol. (Ps. 31:17)

• In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame! (Ps. 71:1)

I started thinking about shame because of our Savior’s endurance on the cross: who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame (Hebrews 12:2).