From Ritual to Reality
Mark records three instances in which Jesus tries to prepare his disciples for his suffering and death.
In each of the three stories, the disciples miss Christ’s message. In the first, Peter declares it to be a blasphemous impossibility; in the second, the disciples just do not understand. The third time Jesus tries to prepare them, they immediately change the subject, and John and James ask to sit at his right and left in the kingdom.
Jesus’ carefully worded warning to help them face the most traumatic event in human history became to them a religious litany. They must have thought to themselves, You know, Jesus always makes that funny little speech about a cross. I don’t know what it means, but he seems to feel obligated to make it.
This is true of worship as well. We do not understand it, but we feel obligated to do it. For years when I took communion, it was about words and action instead of grace. I was baptized.
Water was poured on my head and the right words were said over me, but there was no regeneration. We turn the realities of the gospel into a litany that we do not even attempt to comprehend.
Never think for an instant that because you go through the motions of Religion you have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. It is only by coming to know him in his reality and coming to understand his words because of that relationship that we find salvation. Then the ritual becomes reality and meaning transforms boring traditions into eternal truth.
—Dennis F. Kinlaw, This Day with the Master
Even those closest to Jesus missed the heart of his message when it came cloaked in suffering. The disciples—so often like us—heard but did not listen, participated but did not perceive. Christ’s talk of death and resurrection became just another “religious speech” to them. They were going through the motions, nodding politely, but their hearts hadn’t caught the weight of it.
How often does that happen to us? We sing the songs, recite the prayers, take the bread and cup—but the ritual remains empty unless it is grounded in relationship. It is only when we truly encounter Jesus—not just the symbols, but the Savior—that the motions become meaningful. The words take on flesh. The traditions we once found boring become alive with grace. Worship isn’t meant to be endured; it’s meant to be entered. And when it is, everything changes. —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics