Jesus cares about people
One of the things that people notice about Jesus is how he cares about people. He wants to put people and their relationship with God above systems and organisations. When the religious leaders of the day try to stop people doing things just because it is wrong Jesus steps in and tells them off.
Some have mistaken this to mean that Jesus thought that you could ignore God’s laws if those laws were upsetting you. Jesus never says this and in fact is quite strict in how he interprets the law.
What Jesus didn’t like was ‘religiosity’. When people compain about organised religion they often mean that side of religion that seems to make people feel bad just to suit the religious leaders. Jesus hated this. He had no time for any religious leader who was using people’s faith as an excuse to gain a little more power.
Jesus described people as ‘sheep without a shepherd’ meaning that people need some guidance but sadly all they get are these impotent religious leaders. Jesus saw himself as the good shepherd, by the way.
So Jesus didn’t say ignore the law but he did say that he wanted religious leaders who helped people. Sadly even the followers of Jesus at times have made too much of the authority of the church and not enough of the compassion of Jesus.