By coincidence, a priest was traveling down the same road. When he saw the man lying there, rather than help, he passed by on the opposite side. Some time passed, and there came a second traveler, a Levite—again a man of position and importance. Yet, like the priest before him, he did not stop to render any help. Unwilling and unable to help, neither he nor the priest could be moved with compassion for the dying man as they made their way. These religious men, the most likely source of assistance, had failed him in his hour of greatest need.
There, on the side of the road, the man lay. His situation was desperate. With the life draining from his veins, his confused mind wondered if there was anyone who could save him.1
A Genuine Need
It is often in the most desperate situations that we realize how greatly we are
in need. The level of desperation may vary for each of us, but in the end, we know when we have reached the point at which we can go no further. In such a situation, we acknowledge our need and surrender to the intense constraint to find the help we require. Left exhausted, discontent, and without hope, we must inevitably confess, as has all mankind since time immemorial, that we need God. Whether our circumstances are dramatic or not, we all have come—or will come—to the realization that we as humans have an intrinsic need to know and experience God. Regardless of the myriad paths that have brought us and our ancestors to this profound acknowledgment, all humanity, without exception, has responded to its need for God.
Outside the Box
Religion is perhaps the most comprehensive solution to the problem of finding God that we humans have ever produced. From its primitive origins at the dawn of humanity to its most sophisticated manifestations at the turn of this millennium, religion embodies humanity’s consummate attempt to find and experience God. Archaeology and anthropology both document our need for God down through the ages. Relics of the quest abound. The debris left behind by generations of seekers litters our landscapes and fills museums worldwide. Ruined temples, crumbling idols, and lonely cathedrals bear somber witness to the time, energy, and wealth that we have sacrificed in the attempt to assuage our thirst for God.
Yet religion has failed. It seems the more we seek God in religion, the emptier we feel. It seems that we are farther from God than we ever were before. If God truly satisfies, why doesn’t religion?
To answer this, we need a clear understanding of religion. By “religion,” we mean “a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.”2 God, however, is not a system, and He cannot be confined to any creed or code. He is outside the “box” of religion. Nevertheless, nearly everyone—religious or not—has come to equate beliefs and tradition with God Himself. One can imagine the confusion that results when religion and God are considered inseparable, identical, and even one and the same. Yet whose mind is not clouded with this erroneous logic? So entrenched has this false equation become that it is now nearly impossible for anyone to separate one from the other.
The false correlation we have made between God and religion has had serious ramifications in the way that we actually live our lives. On one hand, this confusion has caused some to become so enamoured with their religion that the religion itself become the object of their affection, while, sadly, all the while they think it is God whom they are adoring. Others, particularly we in our generation, discard the one—God—because we cannot bring ourselves to buy into the other—religion. Whatever the source of this mistaken correlation, the consequence is the same—we are kept from God by the very thing that supposedly brings us to Him.
Empty Promises
When Jesus of Nazareth spoke of religion, He did not do so kindly. The parable He told about the beaten man was aimed squarely at a religious audience and was intended to expose religion’s true nature. The dominant religion in first-century Palestine was Judaism. The Jewish religion, however, was by no means alone at the receiving end of this pointed narrative. Had Jesus spoken these words today, He might have just as well directed them at the principal religions of our own time.
According to the parable, a band of robbers falls upon the traveler—stripping, beating, and all but killing him. Judging from the audience and context of this parable, there can be little doubt that the robbers represent religion and its legalistic teachers. This is amply proved by Christ’s words on other occasions. Once, while addressing an assemblage of religious leaders, He referred to them as “thieves and robbers.”3 Developing the thought further, He left little room for misunderstanding: “The thief,” He proclaimed, “does not come except to steal and kill and destroy.”4 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” He said to them at another time, “for you resemble whitewashed graves, which outwardly appear beautiful but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones…. You are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”5
With the man thus beaten and left half dead, Christ introduces the priest and the Levite into the parable. The priest was one whose job was to bring man to God, and the Levite was supposed to help people worship God. Yet when these men approached the dying traveler, they were disgusted at the sight and hurried away. In much the same way, religion, while allegedly offering answers, does not deliver the help we so desperately need. The tacit unwillingness and inability of these two religious leaders to help the dying man speaks louder than words regarding the true nature of religion.
There can be no doubt: religion is not only full of hypocrisy; it is also both deceptive and deadly. Religion kills the ardent seeker. Religious systems and many of their legalistic teachers have a beating and killing effect upon their followers. Not only do Christ’s words reveal this; examples abound in history, our experience, and in that of those around us. How many, in their search for God, have instead been loaded down with religious law, ritual, and restriction? How many, in their genuine desire to know God, have ended up learning little more than dogma and doctrine under the tutelage of religious leaders who themselves may hardly know God? How many, despite successfully keeping many religious regulations, are nevertheless left feeling dead inside? Despite its claims to the contrary, religion has only been able to serve the seekers of God a meager fare of tradition, emotion, and philosophy, while denying them the living presence of God Himself.
Religion’s Failure
Such is the picture Christ painted with His words before the religionists of His day. With stunning accuracy, He portrayed religion’s true nature and fundamental failure. Religion, Christ revealed, is devoid of God. It is unable to bring us into the living experience of God and, in fact, separates us from Him. Although religion was invented in order to meet our inner need for God, it has failed in its mission. Far from bringing us to God, religion has cast a sidelong glance toward us as it passed us by on the other side of the road.
The Good Samaritan
It is with the traveler in such a state that Christ concludes the parable and apprises us of the dying man’s fate. “But a certain Samaritan, who was journeying, came upon him; and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion; and he came to him and bound up his wounds and poured oil and wine on them. And placing him on his own beast, he brought him to an inn and took care of him. And on the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, Take care of him; and whatever you spend in addition to this, when I return, I will repay you.”6 By introducing Himself into the parable as the good Samaritan, Jesus Christ reveals that it is actually He Himself—not religion—who is the unique One who can bring us into the real and living experience of God.
Like the Samaritan in the parable, Jesus Christ made a journey to save us, the wounded and dying ones on the side of the road. In His journey in search of the lost ones, Christ accomplished what religion (as represented by the priest and Levite) could not—He came down to where we were in order to bring us to God. Previously existing outside the confines of time and space, God stepped out of eternity into time and became the man Jesus.7 Jesus Christ was the very definition, explanation, and expression of God, for He is God Himself with us.
Christ’s life can be characterized in two ways. First, His was a life that brought God to man and man to God. Second, His life was a continual battle against religion—an obstacle that separates God and man. Everything that Christ did brought God and man together. Whether He announced good news to the poor, released those in captivity, recovered the sight of the blind, or freed those who were oppressed, Christ was the real good Samaritan. As one who was full of compassion and tenderness for man, He brought God to man. When Christ came to people, God came to them; when people came to Him, they came to God. Jesus Christ, simply by being who He was, did what religion could only claim to do. Yet, this man was despised by religion. When He healed the sick and the lame on holy days, religion condemned Him for breaking ritual law;8 when He cast out demons, religion accused Him of being in league with the devil;9 when He forgave people of their sins, religion accused Him of blasphemy against God.10 When Christ fulfilled man’s basic need by bringing God to him, the religious leaders did everything within their power to stop Him.11 Finally, when those in religion could tolerate Him no longer, they killed Him. Christ, who was God coming to man, was murdered by religion when it nailed Him to a cross of wood.
It was in His crucifixion that Christ fully displayed the immense depth of compassion that was within Him for us. There, on the cross, Christ suffered for our sins in order to bring us to God.12 There, even as He was being mocked by religion, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto the shameful death of a cross.13 There, the man whom religion despised was moved with deep compassion for the ones whom religion had mistreated and neglected. There, Christ’s deep inward affection for us surged forth in one unreserved act of saving love. Then, after His death and burial and through His subsequent resurrection from the dead, He became the life-giving Spirit.14 And like the good Samaritan who bound up the traveler’s wounds, pouring oil and wine upon them, Christ Himself comes to us as the life-giving Spirit and gives us His divine, unlimited life.
Christ vs. Religion
Within all of us, there is an innate, unrelenting desire to know and experience God. Although we have developed innumerable religious traditions, not one of them can answer our heart’s cry for Him. For religion, though perhaps full of teachings concerning Him, is devoid of His living presence.
Jesus Christ is God existing eternally and independently of human religion. He transcends religion and He does what religion can only claim to do—He brings God to man and man to God. Christ is the embodiment of the living God and has nothing to do with dead religion. Christ came to us as the sojourning Savior, a real and living person who finds us on the roadside and gives us what religion cannot. While religion treats us mercilessly, Christ is full of compassion. While religion deprives us of knowing and experiencing God, Christ is God Himself coming to us. While religion leaves us half dead, Christ is the life-giving Spirit coming to us to fill us with His uncreated, divine life. By opening to Christ as our Good Samaritan, we receive God Himself. And by receiving Him, our deepest and most enduring need—the need for God—is finally satisfied. 
1 Luke 10:30-32 (back) 2 Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition, s.v. “religion” (back) 3 John 10:1, 8, 19 (back) 4 John 10:10 (back) 5 Matthew 23:27-28 (back) 6 Luke 10:33-35 (back) 7 John 14:9; 1:1, 14 (back) 8 Luke 6:6-11 (back) 9 Matthew 9:27-34 (back) 10 Luke 5:20-21 (back)
11 Matthew 23:13 (back) 12 First Peter 3:18 (back) 13 Philippians 2:8(back)
14 First Corinthians 15:45b (back)
To desire God is not religious; to desire God is human. If you would like to enter into a real and living experience of Him, it is very simple. All you must do is open to Him and pray the following:
"O Lord Jesus, I love You! Thank You that You became a man to die for my sins. Thank You that in resurrection, You became the life-giving Spirit. Lord Jesus, come into me! Free me from religion and fill me with real life and freedom. Bring me into the full experience of all that You are. Lord Jesus, thank You for saving me!"
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All Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible ©1999.