Today is Reformation Sunday, the day each year where we gather in churches to sing “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”, the liturgical color for the day is red, some churches have special afternoon or evening services to commemorate the day, and we talk about Martin Luther. Some people really look forward to this day. Others think it’s a nice thing once in a while, but wonder why are we commemorating something that happened nearly 500 years ago? What was the big deal about a monk in a city in Germany posting a piece of paper to the doors of a church that we celebrate yet today? Our Epistle reading for today is going to help guide us through that discussion, and help us understand that Reformation Sunday isn’t just about something that happened 500 years ago, it’s about something that’s happening yet today.
To really understand the importance of the Reformation, one has to understand the spiritual condition of the Church of the early 16th Century. In those days, you had one church in the west: what we call today the Roman Catholic Church. And of course, the Roman Catholic Church was ruled by one man, the Bishop of Rome, whom most called the Pope. Now in and of itself, having someone as the head of a church body isn’t a bad thing. However, the Roman church also taught that whoever occupied the Papacy was the “Vicar of Christ” on earth, literally Christ’s “stand-in” and whatever the pope said, it was to be treated as if it were from Christ himself. As a result of this false teaching, problems crept into the church over time.
Another un-scriptural teaching that had been introduced into the Roman Catholic Church through the centuries was the idea of Purgatory. Purgatory was viewed as a “holding area” where the soul of a believer went after death to undergo a final purification of sins before it was permitted to enter into heaven. One’s time in purgatory could be reduced by doing enough good works in the eyes of God to make satisfaction for one’s sins, or after one’s death, loved ones still living could offer prayers to the saints on behalf of their deceased loved ones to implore the saints to share some of their extra merit to free the deceased’s soul from purgatory. The other way to decrease or eliminate time in purgatory was to purchase an indulgence, a piece of paper which in essence granted remission of sins and freedom from purgatory, either for a living person, or a deceased loved one.
By the early 16th century, the Pope was Leo X. Leo had a vision of building a beautiful basilica named St. Peter’s Church in Rome, which stands today and is perhaps one of the most famous churches in all the world. Building a church of that size was going to take a lot of money. Thus, Leo, using his power as the “Vicar of Christ”, authorized the sale of indulgences to help finance the construction of St. Peter’s church. One of the foremost indulgence sellers was a monk named John Tetzel. Tetzel traveled from village to village, preaching in the churches, and offering for sale a papal indulgence. The phrase “A coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs” became rather popular in relationship with Tetzel’s work. People flocked from all over to hear him preach and to have the chance to buy an indulgence, either for themselves, or for a deceased loved one.
Some members of St. Mary’s Church in the city of Wittenberg, Germany were among those who bought an indulgence from Tetzel. Their Pastor was a priest named Martin Luther, who was also Professor of Bible at the local University. If there was anyone who knew what it was like to live in constant fear at the idea of an angry, vengeful God, it was Dr. Luther. Early on in his life, Luther viewed Jesus Christ as only an angry judge, a vengeful God waiting to throw Luther into the depths of hell for eternity over his sins. He tried everything he possibly could to try to appease God. He confessed every single sin he could think of in the confessional to his father confessor, he tortured himself, he deprived himself of food and sleep, but the harder he worked, the further he went into despair. “God is righteous, I am not. Because of that, God will judge me to eternal damnation” were Luther’s thoughts of God.
That is, until he really started studying the Scriptures. In our Epistle reading from Romans 3, he finally understood what that phrase “The Righteousness of God” truly meant. Here, he read, in the words of our text: “For there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Okay, he knew that all too well. But it was the part that followed that changed everything. St. Paul continues: “and (all) are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” That was wonderful news for Martin Luther! God’s righteousness wasn’t something that Luther, or anyone else had to earn through prayer, confession, penance, works, or indulgences, it was a FREE GIFT from Christ for all who believe! We are justified by Christ, so that when God sees us, it is “just as if I had never sinned!” What great news! It wasn’t about me, it was all about Christ. It was all about Christ and what He did for us at the cross. No wonder Luther felt he could never atone for his sins, because all had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But Christ justifies us. It wasn’t our work, it was all Christ’s work for us! That’s what the Gospel is really all about. That’s what Christ’s life, death, and resurrection were really all about!
So, with this new-found truth of the Gospel from the Word of God, Dr. Luther now finds his parishioners coming to him, telling him “Guess what, Pastor? We were over in the village across the river the other day, and we heard Tetzel, and we bought this indulgence, and he said that the pope said that if we bought this, we could get out of purgatory and get into heaven! Isn’t that awesome! You’d better tell everybody that John Tetzel is in the area, and maybe even invite him to come here to Wittenberg so we can get everybody saved! Oh, happy day!” Operating on the principle of “Sola Scriptura”, meaning “Scripture Alone”, and having discovered from the Scriptures themselves that Christ is the one who justifies us, not ourselves or anyone else, what do you think is going to be Luther’s reaction?
His reaction was to do what any theologian of the day would do when a controversial subject came up, call for a debate based on the Scriptures on the topic of the sale of indulgences. He developed 95 theses that were in agreement with the Word, showing how the practice of indulgences was not a scriptural practice, and posted them to the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, which was in essence the “bulletin board” of the community. Printers got hold of them, copied them on their printing presses, and they spread like wildfire. Luther continued to preach from the pulpit that one was not saved by their own works or labors, but solely by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Needless to say, this didn’t go over very well with the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church of his day. Luther was asked to recant, and he refused. He was not going to allow anyone to prevent him from proclaiming the truth about Jesus Christ, crucified, for the sins of the world. Even when it led to his excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church, which led to the Holy Roman Emperor naming Luther an “outlaw” meaning anyone could kill him at any time without penalty. Luther didn’t set out to start out a new church, his original hope was to reform the existing church of his day. Only when the church of his day made it clear that they would prefer to boast in their own works, and in the words of a man in Rome, instead of boasting in Christ and His Word, did Luther face the reality that a new church would need to be formed. A church which would have what would come to be known as the “three sola’s”, as it’s motto: “Sola Scriptura” meaning “Scripture Alone”, Sola Fide “Faith Alone”, and Sola Gratia” “Grace Alone” to be the base of its belief. It would be a church that would retain all that was good and profitable for salvation and served to teach the truth of the Gospel, but whatever would lead astray from the faith of the Scriptures would be reformed. Luther wasn’t a radical, seeking to throw out everything, good and bad, and start over, he merely wanted to reform what was already in place. Although he wouldn’t be happy about it, the church that he formed would come to be known as the Lutheran Church.
Okay, that was 500 years ago. But what about for us who call ourselves Lutheran today? The Reformation is over, we don’t fight the papacy anymore. So, why bother?
Luther once said that that the Reformation of the church is ongoing. There are constant threats against her. And when one looks out at the church that bears the great reformer’s name today, one sees that indeed, there is a need for an ongoing reformation. We’re fighting a two front war that wants to rob us of our belief that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and turn it something else, something that cannot save us from sin, death, and the devil.
On the one hand, we still have those who fall into the traps of the errors of the church of Rome in Luther’s day, many of whom are not in any way affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. Today, there are preachers who tell you “if you just give me enough of your money, God will show you favor in this life. You will be healed of your diseases, you will have riches beyond your wildest dreams.” Their indulgences may not be getting you out of purgatory, but they promise to free you from God’s wrath in one way or another, for a price of course. Others will tell you “I am the example you must follow if you are going to get to heaven! I have to be more favored than anyone else here in God’s eyes. They just don’t get it. I put my fair share in the offering plate, why isn’t everyone else doing the same? I pray on a daily basis and read my Bible and am involved in Bible study with others, most people in church don’t open their Bibles at all. I have served on boards and committees in our church, I’ve always been a faithful church goer. I’ve gone on mission trips, and supported missionaries. God has to favor me over others because of what I do for Him, and if you do the same, He will favor you and bless you too!” When we fall into that mindset, and make our ministry or our faith all about ourselves and our actions, we are back to seeking salvation based on our works. When this happens, we deny the scriptural truth of Ephesians 2:8-9 where we read: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” When we boast in ourselves, we are not boasting in Christ, and we have returned to the pit of works righteousness, believing that our works somehow contribute to our salvation. When that happens, we’ve lost track. And that’s why we need an ongoing Reformation, to refute this mindset from happening in ourselves and in our churches, so that we only proclaim Christ Crucified.
But there’s another attack that reminds us that the Reformation is ongoing. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells us “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) Today, we have churches, yes, even churches and church bodies that bear the name “Lutheran” who no longer are abiding in the Word of Christ, and have abandoned it instead for whatever feels good to the sinful, fallen world in an attempt to be popular. Instead of calling sin what it is according to the Word of God, it is now calling it a mere “alternative lifestyle”, as they refuse to hear God’s word of warning in His Law. Instead of living by the Reformation principle of “Sola Scriptura”, they have now turned God’s Word into a doctrinal buffet table, which one can pick and choose from what they want and pass over the rest. But when that happens, when one begins to doubt the authority of the Word, where do you stop? When we no longer listen to God’s Word of law, eventually, we come to believe that we must be good people, and don’t need to be forgiven of anything, so Jesus didn’t really die for my sins, he just tells me how to be a good person. When that happens, we have looked at Christ on the cross, and spit in that image, and said “We don’t need that, we’re not sinful. We don’t need a Savior from anything.” When that happens, we cease to be the church, and have become just another social club.
Indeed, Reformation Sunday is a wake up call for us. We are reminded that yes, the Reformation began nearly 500 years ago, but it continues for us today. We are reminded of the constant need to look to Christ and the cross for our forgiveness, life, and salvation. We are reminded not to boast in ourselves, but to boast about Christ. When reformation is called for, that’s exactly what we need, reformation that is in line with the Word of God. On this Reformation Sunday, with all that has happened and continues to happen in the Lutheran Church in this country, now more than ever, we need to remember that the Reformation of the church continues, that it is centered in the message of sins forgiven through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and that our work as the church is to proclaim the message of the angel in our reading in Revelation, “with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.” (Rev. 14:6) May God use us as His Reformation instruments to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified, for the sins of the world to the people in our community, and throughout the world for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
