Pursue Pure Religion

Jesus was a man of compassion!  Have you ever noticed that the only people recorded in the Bible that received any hostility from Christ were the religious.  I'm not sure exactly how I feel about the current trend of Christians actually bashing religion.  Jesus was not against following the ceremonies and rites that were spelled out by the law of Moses.  He followed them all...He was the fulfillment of them.  Mathew chapter 23 shows what Jesus' real problem with the Pharisees was.  He says to them"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others." Notice what he says to them at the end of  the verse; "Without neglecting the others."  It seems as though He still expected them to follow "the others."  His problem was their hypocrisy not with the actual following of the law.  The law was what God expected people to do.  As a matter of fact, look through the New Testament and see how many scriptures deal with commands of proper conduct.  There are many.  Jesus' issue was with the religious, not to be mistaken for true religion.  James 1:27- "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world" (ESV).  Notice that this verse includes the requirements for pure religion.  Imagine if Christians spent as much focus on pursuing pure religion as they do rejecting the concept all together.  We might begin to experience the multiplication God intends for His body, instead of just dreaming about it.
Thanks for listening; Hope this helps...
Chuck