October 27, 2019
Reformation Sunday
Rev. Mary Erickson
John 8:31-36
Liberating Truth
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Today is Reformation Sunday. This religious holiday has a very specific Lutheran flavor. You won’t find it listed on the liturgical calendar of a Roman Catholic or a Southern Baptist church! On this Sunday we lustily sing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” We break out the red paraments.
Reformation Sunday is a celebration in which we remember the actions of Martin Luther long ago on All Hallows’ Eve, October 31, 1517. We remember Luther writing a brief essay, only 95 theses in length. He nailed it to the front door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The essay presented his rationale for disagreeing with the Church’s sale of indulgences. An indulgence was a certificate signed by the Pope. It stated that the purchaser of the certificate would receive the forgiveness of all his or her sins. This person would not have to spend a single day in Purgatory, which was thought to be a place between heaven and hell. In Purgatory they would have their sins “purged” from them, much like metal ore is purged of its impurities in a crucible. Luther disagreed. He said there was no biblical justification for Purgatory. Our sins are fully forgiven by the acts of Jesus. Nothing more is necessary.
That day is long in the past. Relations between Roman Catholics and Lutherans are more vibrant that they have ever been. But as we mark this special day, we remember that the reformation was not and is not a once-for-all event that happened long ago. The Lutheran Reformation isn’t an event; it’s a movement. The reformation of the Church is meant to be on-going. It’s summed up by the statement, “Please be patient; God’s not finished with me yet!”
On this Reformation Sunday we consider a passage from the Gospel of John. Jesus addresses a group of Jewish leaders. They’ve taken his message to heart. Jesus tells them that if they keep on in this way, they will know the truth and “the truth will make you free.” But they take issue with Jesus’ words.
“The truth will make you free.” We like to think that we have aligned ourselves with what is true. But unfortunately, there are a whole host of lies we can mistake as truth. Just because we believe them to be true doesn’t make them so. They’re still lies. They’re still not reality. At one time it was common understanding that the world was flat. Now we know better. Believing it was flat didn’t make the world flat.
When we regard falsehoods as truth, we’re left with a distorted understanding of the universe. In order to see what’s really there – what is reality – we need to leave the hall of mirrors, the distortion of lies, and step into the light, step into the truth.
“The truth will make you free.” Jesus says these words, not to his adversaries, but to those who believe in him. Strange words to say to his followers. By following him, aren’t they walking in the truth? We could understand if he were to say this to his opponents. It would make perfect sense if Jesus were to say “the truth will make you free” to those who were hostile to his message and opposed to him.
But Jesus says this to people who believed in him, people who said “Amen” to his teachings! So if Jesus were to suddenly appear in our midst this morning, he would say the same thing to us, too! “The truth will make you free.”
The response from Jesus’ audience was objection. They said, “Whaddya mean, ‘make us free?’ We’re descendants of Abraham; we’ve never been in slavery to anyone!”
Well, this just wasn’t true. Their early ancestors had been enslaved by the Egyptians for about 400 years. And later on, still other ancestors were captives in Babylon. And currently, their country was overrun by the Roman Empire. So there was a good deal of denial at work in their insistence that they’d never been slaves to anyone.
Jesus counters their remark by pointing out that those who sin are slaves to sin. When we gather on Sunday mornings we begin our common worship with a confession of our sin. In that liturgy we confess that “we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.” Our sins cover the things we have done and also the things we’ve neglected to do. We state that we’ve fallen short of the two great commandments, to love God above all else and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
The first step to freedom is realizing we are in chains. How can we be saved if we don't recognize our need for a savior? To those who question their bondage, to those who believe they are not tangled up in sin, Jesus says, “My word has no room among you;” God's transforming power can find no foothold in the hard heart. He must find a way to show us our radical need.
It might seem like a downer to come here week after week and begin our worship with this confession. But this truth sets us free! There’s something cleansing in this confession. It’s cleansing and it’s liberating. Week after week that confessional is followed by the truth that sets us free so that our hearts are unburdened. That confession is followed by the remembrance of God’s rich mercy. We hear that God loved us even when we were dead in sin!
It’s easy to love the lovely. It’s natural to feel kindly and warm to those who love you. But to be accepted in our full nature, even our rebellious and unpleasant nature, that is the mark of an amazing grace!
Today we also mark the confirmation of nine of our youth. Confirmation is intimately connected with baptism. Since so many people were baptized as an infant, baptism was something that was done to them. If you are like me, then you had no say in the event. It wasn’t my choice. My parents made the decision for me.
And this is a powerful image. When we’re baptized as infants or very small children, then we aren’t the prime mover in the act. We don’t choose God; God claims us. This saving action doesn’t occur because we set it into motion. It is bestowed upon us. It’s all gift. The grace of baptism simply comes to us.
Affirmation of Baptism is our opportunity to say yes to the gifts received in Baptism. In this ceremony we return to the baptismal waters. And we remember what that baptism means.
When we go into the waters of baptism, we are buried with Jesus in his death. In baptism, we are drowned. As we go down into those baptismal waters, our sinful nature is drowned. Like the waters of Noah’s flood, like the Israelites passing through the Red Sea waters, we enter the waters. We go in those waters as one thing but we come out of them as a different person altogether. We come out just as Jesus came out of his grave, born to new life in resurrection. Baptism marks our death, the spiritual death of our sinful nature. And it also marks our new beginning. We live now already in the new spiritual realm of Jesus’ resurrection.
It may be hard for us to wrap our minds around the reality that we are born into sin; we are born sinful. It’s hard to look at a small baby and think that baby is anything other than pure and unadulterated. But we know that we are born into sin. And it doesn’t take a parent long to notice the manipulative, purposefully deceitful nature popping up through their young children! Oh, it’s there! It’s there from the moment we’re born!
When we come here on Sundays, we gather in spirit around the waters of baptism. And we confess our need to be born anew all over again. We acknowledge our sinfulness and our need to be set free. And the promise of baptism is that when the Son sets us free, we are free, indeed! In the waters of our baptism, we are born anew in Christ’s redemption day after day.
In today’s passage from John, Jesus speaks of the importance of his word. Staying in the word was utmost to Martin Luther. It’s why he translated the New Testament into the common German of his day. He wanted his parishoners to have access to the Bible in a language they could understand.
The word of God is the foundation for our daily reformation.
Both of my grandfathers left me a strong legacy through the witness of their commitment to reading the Bible. My Grandpa Jorgensen would get up a early before milking the cows so that he could read his Bible in the quiet morning hour. My Grandpa Koehler had a Bible that sat by his easy chair. He read from it daily. It was a Living Bible version. He used it for so long that he had to buy a new one. My cousin Linda has the broken-down copy and I have the new one he purchased shortly before he died.
We entered into the freedom of Christ at our baptisms. We continue to live in that freedom and that joy when we ground ourselves in God’s word.
“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” The words of Jesus: that’s where freedom lies. Keep your minds centered on his word. Dwell in his promises daily, and you will live in the light of his truth. And what a life you have then! Daily formed and re-formed through the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord and the eternal love of God. It doesn’t get any better than that.
