October 25, 2015 – Reformation Text: John 8:31-36
Dear Friends in Christ,
It’s only about half a mile. The monk walked from his cell in the monastery, past the university where he was a teacher, to the church at the other end of town. He there affixed a poster on the doors of the Church of All Saints. If people had any interest they soon turned away when they saw it was written in Latin.
That’s the way it may have happened on Oct. 31, 1517, in the town of Wittenberg. The publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Martin Luther. Little did people know at the time that this would change Western Christianity and the course of history. The question: How could one man do it? The answer: he couldn’t and he didn’t. The Reformation is not about Luther or even the 95 Theses. Rather it is about the one truth in Christ not the many truths around us.
“THE REFORMATION MAY NOT BE THE TRUTH YOU THINK”
Why celebrate the Reformation at all? Is it not different from the other feast days of the church: Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost? The Reformation – Luther did this, his friends did that, the papal rules were thrown off and many a king, prince, duke, or earl was delighted. Is that something to celebrate?
When Luther issued this call to the church he was challenging Christians not just the mighty pope and bishops. He was challenging all Christians in the Western Church to come back to the source of faith and hope: The Word of God, the Bible.
To be honest the Church was doing fine from a worldly point of view at this time. In Wittenberg the seven priests were conducting 9,000 masses a year – 9,000! This made for a sizable income for the clergy. People were being reassured that their loved ones were being released from purgatory. A good deal for everyone, even economically for the city. And here comes this monk and…What did he say?
Father Martin did not say: Don’t listen to the Church. He would be horrified at today’s churches who say believe anything you want. He did say: “Let’s get back to the source.” The source of faith is the Word of God. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.” (v. 31) How did the listeners respond: “We are offspring of Abraham.” (v. 33) We don’t need Jesus’ words we have this great prophet. In Luther’s time, the church leaders told him to keep out of this, they knew best. Today? “I’m an offspring of Walther.” “I’ve been a member of the LCMS my whole life.” Dare I ask your faith in Christ or faithfulness to God’s Word?
This is what the Reformation events were all about. Not a mythical German hero named Luther, but God’s grace that helped us recover the hidden, the falsified, the changed, and glossed-over Word of God. In the Holy Bible we have God’s mercy, packed in words, and the whole Christ, crucified and risen for you, speaking to you his full message of repentance and salvation.
Look around this day. There will be Reformation services elsewhere. There will be people who claim the name “Lutheran”, people who started with the same events of the Reformation, with the same translated Bible for daily use and preaching in the Church, and yet their proclamation differs so much from ours that you might begin to wonder what “Lutheran” means these days. There are so many different views and opinions in the Church that we begin to wonder: What does the Christian Church stand for?
Our text reminds us to “abide in my word.” If we do this we are truly Christ’s disciples. The doctor has prescribed the best medicine but it is of no use if we don’t take it. How many baptisms have we had over the years? And yet, do you see all those blessed “by water and the Word” sitting in the pew with you? How many confirmands have pledged fidelity and loyalty to Christ and the Church at this altar? Where are they now, and do you care? If they moved, that is one thing, but if they have left the faith, it is a tragedy for congregations everywhere.
How do we abide? Christian education, catechism instruction, and regular worship attendance. It is a threat to your spiritual survival to disregard the Word of God. Some churches are doing that with their modern views of Scripture. In the end, they will have to give account for every lost soul. The apostle encourages us: “Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3)
Perhaps what I have said is not happy enough for you. Perhaps you wanted more praises of Luther and the other Reformers. Well this is not a course on history and this service is not about the past. Our worship service, is always a message for the here and now – and its content – Christ’s Holy Word and the blessed Sacrament of the Altar – strengthens us for the road to the Christians final goal.
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (v. 32) That truth says: You cannot free yourself from what you are. The sinner – you and I – is a slave, bound, loaded down. But that truth says above all: Christ Jesus, God’s truth, is the truth that frees us. Jesus death on the cross for all your sins has freed you.
This day we don’t make a list needed to reach our Christian goal. This day’s worship bids us to praise and thank Christ our Redeemer for giving us all for nothing, for taking us from captivity to self into the glorious spiritual freedom of the children and heirs of God.
Without any merit on our part, we again hear Christ freeing us from sins in the words of the absolution; we listen to the Gospel of eternal liberty worked for each of us by the sacrificial death of Jesus. We witness the power of the Savior’s words, making ordinary bread and wine the bearers of nothing less than the body and blood of our holy Lord. Out of these simple earthly elements, the creative Word of God makes a “medicine of immortality” (St. Ignatius of Antioch) for our lifelong walk to the gates of paradise. Now why would anyone want to miss that?!
Amen.