{"id":97987,"date":"2026-03-05T15:39:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T15:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=97987"},"modified":"2026-03-05T15:39:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T15:39:04","slug":"religion-without-righteousness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=97987","title":{"rendered":"Religion Without Righteousness"},"content":{"rendered":"

By The Preacher’s Diary<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Something I Had Never Seen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes you think you have read the Bible many times enough until you come upon something you never saw all the times you read the Bible.\u00a0 This morning, in the course of other matters, I felt prompted to read the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). \u00a0I picked up my Bible, went to my table, sat down, and read it, and I came upon something I had never seen there: the irony of extreme religion without compassion, without mercy, without righteousness.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Between Creed and Kindness<\/strong><\/p>\n

In that parable, a traveller on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho falls among robbers who strip him of his possessions and leave him half dead along the highway.\u00a0 Luckily, an eminent priest comes along, but he does not go near the dying man.\u00a0 He passes by\u00a0\u201con the other side\u201d\u00a0of the road, keeping a pious distance.\u00a0 He is guarding his holiness, lest, according to the law, he should touch a dead man, or a dying man who eventually dies in his hands, and he becomes defiled (Ezekiel 44:25; Leviticus 21:1-3).<\/p>\n

Next, a Levite passes by.\u00a0 The other was a Bishop, this is a church worker, an ordained elder, an assistant pastor of the same brood as the previous clergyman.\u00a0 The bishop did not draw close.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t dare.\u00a0 He looked \u2018safely\u2019 from afar.\u00a0 This one manages to get close, but merely to take a look;\u00a0\u201che\u00a0came\u00a0and\u00a0looked\u00a0on him\u201d; he took a video of the show, and also\u00a0\u201cpassed by\u201d\u00a0quickly to\u00a0\u201cthe other side\u201d\u00a0of the road, lest he be defiled by the dying victim on the road. \u00a0He was being careful not to break the law.<\/p>\n

The injured man was very unlucky that day.\u00a0 First, he fell into the hands of robbers; and next, into the hands of brothers. He heard their footsteps and hoped that help had come from holier men.\u00a0 Sadly, each time, he was disappointed, with no strength to cry.\u00a0 With the robbers, it was physical pains; now, the pain was also in the soul.<\/p>\n

The third person to arrive the scene was a Samaritan, a stranger to the dying Jew whose religious kinsmen had passed him by as if they would rather see him rot on the street than that they should lose their legalistic claims to holiness. \u00a0They were persuaded that they were pleasing God, even if that should cost other\u2019s lives.\u00a0 They were \u2018keeping\u2019 the rules of God, proudly and stiffly.\u00a0 Their attitude to people, to issues, especially to people\u2019s calamities, was very religious but very loveless; very theological but lacking in compassion.\u00a0 The law filled their heads but did not touch their hearts. They never said it, but for all they cared, you could die in your bloody wounds so far as their theology was not injured.\u00a0 They keep to\u00a0\u201cthe other side\u201d\u00a0of the road \u2013 their holier side of life.\u00a0 They withhold help not because they cannot give it, but because they are restrained by a law that deadens the heart; a stiff theology that elevates soulless rites.\u00a0 Thankfully, help came to the dying man from a most unlikely source.<\/p>\n

Jesus often encountered their kind, especially in the temple.\u00a0 They were gladder to see you sick or dead than that you \u2018broke\u2019 their sabbath with the gladness of a priceless healing. \u00a0They fought to keep the purity of obedience to God, yet what indeed they defended was not the Lord but their law \u2013 the tradition of the elders (Mark 7:5).\u00a0 They could kill you on the sabbath for \u2018breaking\u2019 the sabbath with an offering of kindness (John 5:10; Mark 3:3-6).<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 What they Lacked<\/strong><\/p>\n

The story says that when the Samaritan saw the dying man,\u00a0\u201che had\u00a0compassion\u00a0on him.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0That was something the pulpitless Samaritan didn\u2019t preach but possessed; something the others preached but did not have: compassion, kindness, human feeling.\u00a0 They preached a holiness that did not have a practical human face.\u00a0 They proudly bore a title they did not live.\u00a0 They were always on the road going somewhere, carrying a religion without a heart.\u00a0 Sadly, there are more of them on the highway of life than those who will stop to pour the first aid of\u00a0\u201coil and wine\u201d\u00a0into killing wounds.\u00a0 Deformed by dogma, they often find scriptures for their choices.<\/p>\n

Jesus had told that parable to answer a Jewish lawyer, an expert teacher and interpreter of the laws of Moses, who had asked what one could do to inherit\u00a0eternal life.\u00a0 The verdict of that lawyer was that the true neighbour was the one who\u00a0\u201cshewed\u00a0mercy\u201d\u00a0to the dying man.\u00a0 Jesus used the word \u201ccompassion\u201d to describe the Samaritan; the lawyer used the word \u201cmercy.\u201d \u00a0Both words described the two great virtues that were lacking in the lives of the temple clan.\u00a0 They had the theology but lacked the spirit; the Samaritan lacked their theology but had a noble soul.\u00a0 They were religious; he was righteous.<\/p>\n

What has a man without a heart of mercy got to do in the frock of a priest?\u00a0 What has he got to do with the title of a Levite?\u00a0 What kind of sermons will he preach?\u00a0 According to Hebrews 5:1-2, such a person is unqualified for the office of a high priest.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 A Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Help does not always come from quarters most expected.\u00a0 At times, divine help comes from strange places \u2013 like Elijah\u2019s timely rations from greedy ravens (1 Kings 17:6).\u00a0 Sometimes, one\u2019s true brothers are not those who are so by blood and by creed. \u00a0Sometimes, your troubles merely reveal your true friends.\u00a0 In the day you fall among thieves on the highway of life (God forbid) \u2013 financially, emotionally, physically, may God deliver you from priests without mercy and Levites without compassion.\u00a0 May God send you help today, even if He has to send ravens.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n

\u25cf First published by thepreacherdiary.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By The Preacher’s Diary 1.\u00a0 Something I Had Never Seen Sometimes you think you have read the Bible many times enough until you come upon something you never saw all the times you read the Bible.\u00a0 This morning, in the course of other matters, I felt prompted to read the Parable of the Good Samaritan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":97988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5772,5782],"tags":[8095,4036,576,8094,8096],"class_list":["post-97987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-faith","category-opinion","tag-levite","tag-priest","tag-religion","tag-righteousness","tag-samaritan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=97987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/97988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=97987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=97987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=97987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}