Did Jesus Really Ask Us to Do All the Things Religion Has Added?
Sometimes Christianity can feel exhausting, not because Jesus is exhausting, but because somewhere along the way following Jesus can become buried beneath an enormous collection of expectations. We may be told what we should do and what we should avoid, which activities we should attend, how we should dress, which words we should use, which traditions we should follow, how we should worship, how we should pray, and even which secondary doctrines we must understand in precisely the same way as everyone around us. Depending upon where we learned Christianity, there may also be an unwritten list underneath the written one, things nobody can necessarily show us in Scripture, but everybody somehow knows a “good Christian” is supposed to do.
Over time, it is possible to become very good at carrying all the expectations associated with Christianity while barely knowing Christ Himself. We can learn the language, understand the culture, participate in the activities, and know what is expected of us without ever stopping to ask whether Jesus actually asked us to carry everything we have attached to following Him.
That question needs to be handled carefully because this is not an argument against obedience, the church, spiritual discipline, biblical doctrine, accountability, holiness, gathering with other believers, serving, studying Scripture, prayer, giving, or living differently because we belong to Christ. Jesus absolutely calls His followers to obedience. The question is whether we have sometimes placed requirements upon people that Jesus never placed upon them and then treated those requirements as though they came directly from God.
If we have, Jesus had something to say about it.
Jesus Confronted Religious Burdens
In Mark 7, the Pharisees and scribes confront Jesus because some of His disciples ate without performing the traditional ceremonial washing of hands. This was not primarily a question of hygiene. Mark explains that the Pharisees practiced these washings because they were “holding the tradition of the elders.”
“For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.”— Mark 7:3 KJV
The Pharisees then ask Jesus:
“Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders…?”— Mark 7:5 KJV
Their question is revealing because their concern was not simply whether the disciples were obeying God. They wanted to know why the disciples were not following their religious tradition, and Jesus did not treat those two things as though they were automatically the same.
His response was strong:
“Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”— Mark 7:6 KJV
Then Jesus continued:
“Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”— Mark 7:7 KJV
That is an astonishing indictment because Jesus identifies what can happen when something human is gradually elevated until it begins carrying divine authority. A practice may have begun as a tradition, but eventually people can be taught to obey it as though God Himself commanded it. This is where religious tradition becomes dangerous.
Tradition itself is not automatically wrong. Traditions can be beautiful and meaningful. They can help communities remember important truths, create healthy rhythms, preserve wisdom, and connect generations of believers. The problem begins when we can no longer distinguish between saying, “This is how we do it,” and saying, “This is what God commanded.” Those statements are not necessarily the same.
When Preference Becomes Commandment
This can happen surprisingly easily. A church may develop a particular way of doing something, perhaps for a very good reason. The practice continues, the next generation inherits it, and eventually nobody remembers exactly why it began. Somewhere along the way, “This is how our church does it” becomes “This is how Christians should do it,” and eventually “This is how Christians should do it” becomes “This is what God requires.”
That progression should cause us to stop and ask whether God actually required it.
We can do the same thing personally when we confuse our individual convictions with God’s universal commandments. God may lead one believer to abstain from something, and that believer should obey the conviction God has placed upon his or her heart. The problem begins when that person assumes that everyone who genuinely loves God must receive the exact same conviction.
At that point, something has shifted. A personal conviction has been turned into a universal requirement. If Scripture has not made something universal, we should be very careful about doing so ourselves.
This does not diminish personal conviction. It actually allows us to honor it properly. I can sincerely say, “I believe God has asked this of me,” without automatically declaring, “Therefore God has asked this of everyone.”
There is wisdom in knowing the difference.
Jesus Wasn’t Making Obedience Easier
There is another side of this conversation that we cannot ignore. Someone could read Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees in Mark 7 and conclude that Jesus simply did not care about rules, obedience, or holiness. That would be a serious misunderstanding of Him.
Jesus cared deeply about obedience. In John 14:15 He said:
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Jesus taught His followers to forgive, love their enemies, care for others, reject hypocrisy, turn from sin, deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him. He was not offering casual discipleship in which everyone simply did whatever seemed right to them.
In fact, some of Jesus’ teachings went much deeper than merely regulating outward behavior. In Matthew 5, He repeatedly moves the conversation from what people had heard to what He was revealing about the heart. He moves from murder to anger and from adultery to lust. Jesus was not merely concerned with whether someone had technically obeyed an external rule. He was exposing what was happening inside the person.
Religion can sometimes be satisfied with saying, “I followed the rule.” Jesus asks what is happening in the heart of the person following it.
That is not easier obedience. It is deeper obedience.
Jesus was not removing holiness. He was removing the illusion that outward conformity alone could produce it.
Then Why Did Jesus Say His Yoke Was Easy?
This brings us to Matthew 11, where Jesus gives an invitation that many of us know well:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”— Matthew 11:28 KJV
He continues:
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”— Matthew 11:29 KJV
Then He says:
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”— Matthew 11:30 KJV
We can sometimes read those verses as though Jesus were saying that following Him requires nothing from us, but that is not what He said. Jesus did not say there would be no yoke. He specifically said, “Take my yoke upon you.”
There is still discipleship. There is still submission, obedience, learning, surrender, and following. The important question is whose yoke we are supposed to be carrying.
It is His.
That raises an uncomfortable possibility. What if some of the exhaustion Christians experience comes from trying to carry the yoke of Jesus along with everybody else’s expectations? We may be trying to carry what Jesus actually commanded while also carrying denominational expectations, family expectations, church culture, social expectations, another believer’s personal convictions, the pressure to appear spiritually impressive, and the fear that God will somehow be disappointed with us if we fail to satisfy all of it.
Eventually, we may find ourselves carrying things Jesus never placed upon our shoulders and then wondering why following Him feels so heavy.
Perhaps the problem is not always the yoke of Christ.
Perhaps sometimes we have added weight to it.
Martha Was Doing Something Good
Luke 10 gives us another picture of how easily good things can become distractions from the most important thing. Jesus enters the home of Martha and Mary. Martha begins serving while Mary sits at Jesus’ feet and listens to Him.
Luke tells us:
“But Martha was cumbered about much serving…”— Luke 10:40 KJV
The word cumbered gives us an important picture. Martha was distracted and pulled about by everything she believed needed to be done. Yet what she was doing was not evil. Martha was serving Jesus.
That is precisely what makes this story so important.
Martha was not ignoring Jesus because she did not care about Him, nor was she living rebelliously while Mary faithfully followed Him. Martha was busy doing something for Jesus, but she became so occupied with serving Him that she grew frustrated with the person who was simply sitting with Him.
Eventually, Martha says:
“Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.”— Luke 10:40 KJV
Martha had reached the point where she wanted Jesus to correct Mary because Mary was not doing what Martha believed needed to be done. Jesus responded tenderly but directly:
“Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:”— Luke 10:41 KJV
Then He said:
“But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part…”— Luke 10:42 KJV
The contrast between the many things occupying Martha and the one thing Jesus identified as needful deserves our attention. Christianity can become filled with many things: programs, activities, responsibilities, expectations, voices, assignments, ministries, and opportunities to accomplish something for God. None of those things are automatically wrong, but they can become so numerous that we lose sight of the One around whom all of those things were supposed to revolve.
Mary’s position was remarkably simple. She sat at Jesus’ feet, listened, and received from Him. Martha’s world had become complicated because her attention was being pulled in many directions. Mary had become centered because her attention was fixed upon Christ.
Perhaps part of what Jesus continually does in our lives is bring us back to that center.
We Can Become Busy for Jesus Without Being With Jesus
This may be one of the greatest dangers of religious activity. We can do an enormous amount for God without spending much time with God. We can serve, teach, write, lead, volunteer, attend church, organize ministries, study Scripture, give generously, work diligently, and minister to other people. All of those things can be good and even necessary, but none of them can replace knowing Him.
This is particularly important because activity can give us the appearance of spiritual health. Other people can see what we are doing, and we can even convince ourselves that our productivity is evidence of intimacy with God. Yet Jesus’ words to Martha remind us that it is possible to be occupied with serving Him while missing the opportunity to simply be with Him.
The question, then, is not merely how much we are doing for God. We also need to ask whether what we are doing is flowing from a relationship with Him.
There is a significant difference between serving from intimacy and using service as a substitute for intimacy.
Religion Often Leaves Us Asking, “Am I Doing Enough?”
One sign that something may have become distorted is when our relationship with God begins to feel like a spiritual scoreboard. We start measuring ourselves according to how long we prayed, how much Scripture we read, how many church services we attended, how often we served, how many ministries we joined, how consistently we maintained our spiritual disciplines, or how productive we were for God.
Prayer matters. Scripture matters. Gathering with believers matters. Serving matters. Spiritual discipline matters. The problem is not the practices themselves. The problem begins when those practices become measurements of how much God loves us or substitutes for actually knowing Him.
There is a difference between praying because I want to know God and praying because I am terrified that God will be disappointed if I do not meet a certain quota. There is a difference between reading Scripture because I hunger for truth and reading merely so I can check today’s box. There is also a difference between serving because love compels me and serving because I do not know how to say no without feeling spiritually guilty.
The outward actions may look identical, but the condition of the heart can be entirely different.
This is why we cannot evaluate spiritual health merely by counting religious activity.
Jesus Continually Brought People Back to the Heart
Jesus’ confrontation with religious systems was unsettling because religious systems can often be measured externally, while Jesus repeatedly moved the conversation inward.
The Pharisees could measure ceremonial washing, but Jesus addressed the heart. They could measure Sabbath behavior, but Jesus confronted their understanding of what the Sabbath was for. People could measure giving, yet Jesus noticed the widow whose offering appeared insignificant by comparison. They could measure prayer, but Jesus warned against praying in order to be seen by others. They could measure fasting, but Jesus warned against performing fasting in a way designed to advertise spirituality.
Again and again, Jesus disrupted systems that allowed outward behavior to become the primary measurement of righteousness.
He did not do this because behavior was irrelevant. He did it because behavior disconnected from the heart can become religious theater.
A person can learn to perform holiness without actually surrendering to God. We can know how Christianity is supposed to look and still resist the transformation Jesus wants to accomplish within us.
Have We Added Things Jesus Never Asked For?
This question requires humility because the answer may sometimes be yes. Churches can add expectations. Denominations can add expectations. Families and Christian subcultures can add expectations, and we can create expectations for ourselves that God never gave us.
Over time, we can build elaborate systems around God and forget which parts actually came from Him.
That does not mean we throw away every tradition or reject everything that is not explicitly stated as a biblical command. Instead, it means we learn to identify what we are actually dealing with. We should be able to ask whether something is a clear scriptural command, biblical wisdom, a meaningful tradition, a personal preference, or an individual conviction.
Those categories matter because something can be wise without being commanded. Something can be meaningful without being required. Something can be my conviction without automatically becoming yours. Something can be a beautiful tradition within my church without becoming God’s universal law for every believer.
When we know the difference, we can value each of those things without giving them authority God never gave them.
Removing Religious Burdens Does Not Mean Removing Lordship
This may be the most important caution in this entire conversation because there is also a modern temptation to criticize “religion” whenever Christianity asks something difficult of us.
Jesus tells us to forgive, and forgiveness can be difficult. He tells us to love our enemies, deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. Obedience can cost us something. Therefore, we cannot label every uncomfortable biblical command a “religious burden” simply because we do not like what it requires of us.
Sometimes the thing weighing on us truly is a man-made expectation, but sometimes what we are experiencing is conviction. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is confronting something we would rather keep, and sometimes Scripture is challenging a preference we do not want challenged.
The test cannot simply be, “Does this feel heavy?”
The better question is, “Did Jesus actually ask me to carry this?”
If He did, then the answer is obedience, even when obedience is costly. If He did not, then perhaps we need to examine why we have given that burden the authority of a commandment.
That distinction protects us from both legalism and lawlessness.
His Yoke, Not No Yoke
Jesus never promised a life without surrender. He offered us His yoke, and there is tremendous freedom in realizing that we do not have to attach everything else to it.
We do not have to impress God or perform spirituality for other people. We do not have to adopt every believer’s personal conviction, treat every church tradition as Scripture, confuse busyness with faithfulness, or prove our devotion by exhausting ourselves. At the same time, we absolutely do have to follow Jesus, and following Him may ask far more of our hearts than religious performance ever could.
Religion may be satisfied because we followed a rule, while Jesus asks whether we love Him. Religion may be impressed because we look righteous, while Jesus examines what is happening inside us. Religion may leave us continually wondering whether we have done enough, while Jesus begins His invitation with the words, “Come unto me.”
Perhaps Christianity becomes unnecessarily complicated when we begin adding things around that invitation that Jesus never placed there.
Come Unto Me
Maybe that is where we need to return. Before all the programs, expectations, arguments, labels, traditions, performances, and ideas we have accumulated about what Christianity is supposed to look like, there is Jesus saying:
“Come unto me…”
He does not invite us to come impress Him, prove ourselves to Him, or carry everybody else’s expectations into His presence. He invites us to come to Him.
Once we come, He teaches us. He corrects us when we are wrong, changes what needs to be changed, calls us to obedience, confronts our sin, reshapes our desires, teaches us how to love, and asks us to follow wherever He leads. None of that is passive, and none of it suggests that discipleship requires nothing from us.
But at the center of it all remains a Person.
Jesus Christ.
Perhaps, then, before we ask whether we are doing enough Christianity, we need to ask whether we are actually following Jesus. Have we learned His voice, His commands, His character, and His ways, or have we become exhausted carrying expectations that He never placed upon us?
That question leads directly into the next part of this series because once we begin examining what we have inherited, another question becomes unavoidable:
Are we following Jesus, or are we simply following what we have been taught about Him?
That is where we will go next.
Much Love
~Gayla~
Continue Your Journey
If this reflection spoke to you and you’d like to explore further, I invite you into The Secret Place, a place created for deeper time in God’s Word, prayer, reflection, and spiritual growth. There you’ll find Bible studies, devotions, the Prayer Library, The Garden Room, and more.
Enter The Secret Place →
Continue Through My Books
If you enjoy these biblical reflections and would like to continue studying with me, I invite you to explore my books. Each one was written to help you go deeper into Scripture, examine your walk with God, and continue growing in your relationship with Him.
Explore My Books →
Comments