Mark has said a lot about religion and religious people so far. It hasn’t been a pretty picture and it’s tempting to throw the whole thing out. Can’t we just love Jesus and each other and stay away from organizing anything?
The Pharisees (and many ministers today) seem bent on preserving a system of service to God that sometimes misses the point and misrepresents His character. Why else would there have been any argument about healing on the Sabbath? As a result Christians may try to distance themselves and not want be identified as “religious.” This is ludicrous since any regular person would dispute that: “You’re not religious? Don’t you go to church, believe in God, pray, read your Bible?”
Unfortunately, the unbelieving portion of the population has to rely on what they see us doing and what they hear us saying to begin to comprehend religion. And yes, they count the sensationalists along with the quieter saints who don’t call much attention to themselves.
The outward expression of our faith is an important witness. It is also important to our community of believers to speak with one voice. This means imposing some organization with the guidance of the Holy Spirit so we can be coherent instead of looking like the aftermath at the Tower of Babel.
The key is to remember the outward expression is driven by the inner reality of faith. It’s easy to fake the externals (but not if you try it for too long). It’s a lot harder to let who you are as a child of God bubble up and overflow for all to see. This is a form of religion that isn’t watching to see what other people think. The only important observer is God Himself.