I make it a practice to not be offended by or enthusiastically agree with bumper stickers. Almost nothing worth saying can be said on a bumper sticker. Plus, they ruin the aesthetics of even ugly cars.

I do have to admit I got a laugh when I saw this bumper sticker, “Religion… because thinking is hard.” I get the joke. Too often in our history religious people and religious leaders come across as or been overtly anti-science, anti-education, anti-progress, or anti-anything that requires critical, nuanced thinking and reasoning.

I think I would borrow and edit this bumper sticker to describe this week’s Scripture: “Religion… because faithfulness is hard.” This week Mark gives the account of a confrontation between Jesus and some religious leaders because Jesus and his disciples failed to observe some religious practices prescribed in Jewish religious law (a.k.a. - parts of the Old Testament).

Jesus flipped their criticism to reveal that they had only observed the religious traditions that fit their self-interest. Religious actions can’t make a soul holy; rather a holy soul results in faithful actions.