The church & Jesus

Ernst Kasemann, a German theologian, made the following insights:

"What causes most trouble for Christians of all ages is not legalism or lack of faith or theological controversies; it is Jesus Himself, who bestows freedom so openhandedly and dangerously on those who do not know what to do with it. The church always gets panic-stricken for the fear of the turmoil Christ creates when He comes on the scene; and so it takes His freedom under its own management for the protection of souls entrusted to it, in order to dispense it in homeopathic doses when it seems necessary. The church claims to represent Jesus on earth, but in fact often supplants Him. It must tremble in all its joints when confronted with His portrait. Ecclesiastical traditions and laws have domesticated Jesus, and today all of the churches are living off the success of the attempt."