«　WEEK 2　DAY 1　»

　　Matt. 9:14-15 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but Your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, The sons of the bridechamber cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they?…

　　From the record of Matthew we see that all things related to Christ took place outside of religion. In that day Judaism was the genuine religion, the religion founded according to God’s holy Word. But everything concerning Christ took place outside of that. In other words, Christ had nothing to do with religion.

　　The record of Matthew 1 tells how the birth of Christ was accomplished outside of Jerusalem, away from the temple, having nothing to do with the holy priests…God sent His angel to a little town in a despised country, Nazareth of Galilee. He sent him to a girl, a virgin, in a poor family. Practically everything related to this girl and her situation was outside of Jerusalem, the temple, and the holy priesthood—the typical and genuine religion. The birth of Christ had nothing to do with religion; it was absolutely accomplished outside of religion. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” p. 3)

　　Matthew 2 then proceeds to tell us how people found this Christ…He was not found in Jerusalem; He was not found in the temple; neither was He found by any priest or any holy people. We are all familiar with the account of the heavenly star appearing in a pagan country to people with no Bible and no genuine religion. We know also how those heathen magi exercised their natural mind, concluding that the King of the Jews should be born in Jerusalem. In so doing, they caused many young lives to be taken. But eventually, they found Jesus…When they came to Jerusalem, King Herod called the chief priests and scribes, those who had the knowledge of the Bible. They all gave Herod the proper and exact quotation, Micah 5:2, telling that Christ would be born in Bethlehem. They had the knowledge, they had the exact scriptural references, but none of them went to see Christ. They were for the Scriptures, they were for the Bible, but they were not for Christ.

　　Matthew 3 relates to us the principle of the introducing of Christ— this also is absolutely outside of religion. John the Baptist was the one who recommended Christ to the people. He was born a priest, but he would not remain in the priesthood; he would not stay in the temple or even in the city of Jerusalem. We read that he was in the wilderness. He stayed in a wild place, and even he himself became wild. He wore camel’s hair. The camel, according to Leviticus 11, was an unclean animal.

　　John did not teach people about religion—he called on them to repent, to change their mind, to change their concept about religion and culture. He did not tell them to do something; he baptized them, he buried them, he terminated them. John said, “I baptize you in water,…but He who is coming after me…will baptize you in the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 3:11). [Jesus] was recommended by a wild person in a wild way with nothing to do with religion.

　　Matthew 4 tells us that after Jesus was introduced, there were some dear ones who followed Him. Who were they? The high priests? The scribes? No. They were Galilean fishermen. Some were fishing in the sea, others were mending their nets—they were unlearned people, but they followed Jesus. They began to follow not in Jerusalem, not in the temple, and not even in the Holy Land, but in Galilee, a place then considered as “of the Gentiles” (v. 15)…The birth of Christ, the finding of Christ, the introducing of Christ, and the following of Christ were entirely apart from religion…Jesus came: He not only came in His birth, but He also came of age; He came forth to minister; He presented Himself to the people…He came to the people; there was no need to go and find Him. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” pp. 3-6)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” ch. 1