John 8:31-36

Grace to you and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ on this Reformation Sunday. Amen.

Reformation Day dates back to and important but relatively unspectacular event on October 31, 1517. Martin Luther—a parish priest, biblical theologian, member of the Augustinian Order of the Catholic Church wanted to debate key points of teaching and practice in the church which he believed were not in keeping with the biblical record. Holy Communion, Confession and Forgiveness, Scripture and the practice of Indulgences were all issues for him. The sale of Indulgences which provided forgiveness of sins and release of relatives from purgatory for a price, together with the use of the funds received to pay for the building of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome, all of these angered him.

So, he compiled a list, a long “grocery list” of grievances—95 in all. These propositions, or theses, he wanted to discuss and debate with other theologians of the Catholic Church. On All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween, to many), he nailed the papers on which he had listed them, on the church door of the Castle or City Church door in Wittenburg. This was the church where he served as the pastor. This was not an act of vandalism. Often special notices were posted on the church doors which acted as a bulletin board for the parish. It was seen as a very rebellious action and created a fire storm of controversy.

At the heart, the very center leading to his action, was the biblical understanding of a phrase which we all might struggle to understand. It was justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. If we read once again a portion of the second lesson for today taken from Romans 3:24-26, and 28, we find the battle cry for Luther’s deep concern. In short form it means, we are accepted and we are forgiven by God, NOT
because we are good, NOT because we have earned God’s favor, and NOT because we deserve it. But purely and solely because God loves us!! Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It is a gift of God’s undeserved and unconditional love in action. This, you and I are invited to receive and believe. SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.

As one of the old hymns says so simply, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling!”(Rock of Ages) We cannot buy, earn, barter, beg, or haggle for it. Luther near the end of his life would say, “We are beggars, it is true!” This is truly a gift, initiated by God. Christ died to offer it to us. God completes it, for salvation is a gift of God. That is what Christ began and completed, but it is also what Luther rediscovered. The truth was like a buried treasure buried deeply in the teachings and traditions of the church. Teachings which had become more central than the Christ who had come to save us. It was the truth which prompted Luther’s act of “rebellion.” If Reformation Day is about anything—it is about the rediscovery of this truth!
The truth is also that the events of the Reformation, like any revolutionary movement or moment of change in history, unleashed forces and generated consequences that Luther could never have imagined. It would change the face of the church, even the world forever. Luther pointed back to the Cross and the Crucified Christ. Obedience to the commandments, trying to follow the letter of the law, could not make it possible to build a relationship with God. Lord knows, Luther had tried that as all of us have and quite possibly are still trying to do. Only God can establish that relationship through the work of the Holy Spirit. And the means by which God has chosen to work is through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. That phrase, justification by grace through faith, keeps cropping up.

The technological world has helped me understand a wee bit better what that means. I am no computer whiz, I get by with my word processing and a bit more. Anyone who has worked with me knows that computers continue to confound me. But I have learned that when I type a paragraph on a page and find that the right hand margin is never as neat as the left hand margin, with a key stroke it can come out looking neat and spiffy. By instructing the computer to “justify,” the lines come into uniformity and what I have entered on the computer looks perfect. My inadequate attempts and imperfections are “forgiven,” if you will, and all is “justified.” Too homey an illustration, perhaps! But God’s wondrous and gracious action of forgiveness for my sins and imperfections are justified through the actions of Christ. My relationship with God through Christ is reestablished and renewed.

Paul reminds us in the second lesson today and in Romans 5:8...”ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALLEN SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD. BUT WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US.” That’s the promise Jesus made to his disciples in the Gospel this morning from John 8, but in these words, “YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE.” FREE? INDEED!”

These are appropriate words as we remember this day in the history of the church. Through the advent of the printing press during that same era, scripture was translated into the language of the people and became accessible to the common people which gave them important truths to ponder. As they began to study and be led in the Word, they discovered their place in the life of the church through the priesthood of believers. It was a freeing action in their journey of faith. “YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE.”

Truth is a loaded term in the Gospel of John. Truth is a person, as in the one who made the claim, “I AM THE TRUTH, THE WAY, AND THE LIFE”. On the one hand, it discloses Jesus’ identity. He is the truth God wants us to know and the One we desperately need to know. He is God’s Son who came into the world to save us. On the other hand, it is a disclosure about ourselves. It may not be what we want to hear because it reveals who we are and who we are not. Just as the morning light broke into the darkness of the day a few hours ago, so truth breaks into our world of pretending. Truth and light both expose us with an honesty that strips us of pretenses and illusions.

One of the great gifts of God for redirecting our lives and the transformation of our lives into the people God would have us be is when we become disillusioned. Often we speak in negative tones of being disillusioned with our lives, the church, our world, politics and more. But let me suggest this morning that to be disillusioned can be positive when we begin to see life as it really is and we no longer live under an illusion of what life is like.

Do you remember the fairy tale about the Emperor’s New Clothes? I think it holds a kernel of truth as we reflect on these words of Jesus this morning. The emperor wanted the finest clothes and offered a contest for the persons who could create them for him. Two shysters claimed to be able to weave such garments but needed to do so in secrecy until they were finished. So incredibly fine would these garments be that only the wisest of persons would be able to recognize just how wonderful they were. After a lengthy wait, the Emperor insisted on seeing them so he and his attendants come to the shop and the two “would-be” tailors fuss and stew over putting the garments on him. Neither the assistants nor the Emperor can see the “finery” but wouldn’t admit it lest they be thought not to be wise. After much ado, the tailors convince the Emperor that he must reveal these exceptional garments to the people of the kingdom.

The Emperor agrees and walks down the street in front of all the loyal subjects who also cannot see the garment but are not about to admit that they can see nothing except their leader walking down the street in his underwear. Until, a child in the crowd shouts out, “THE KING HAS NOTHING ON!” There are no more illusions! To be disillusioned is to see the truth and to speak the truth! To be disillusioned is to let go of our pretenses and illusions.

To know Jesus is to let go of our illusions about ourselves and our lives. So too, was Luther’s revelation for the church. The church began to hear and live the truth. We as the people of the Reformation are people called to acknowledge that we too need to be freed from all those things that bind us and to live in the truth. The truth can set us free!

Historically, the church has needed to be disillusioned. We have often been bound by our own rigid rendition of beliefs, kept from hearing a new word in the words of scripture. There have been times when Reformation Day was the occasion to lord it over other denominations in a triumphalistic celebration leading others to believe that only we Lutherans held the truth. But we have come to realize more fully that God reveals the truth to others, and to discover anew the richness of the faith we share in the broader family of faith. While the good news of Christ doesn’t always call us to uniformity, it does call us to be united in Christ.
The truth has reminded me that we have great Saints of the church who have modeled for us the gracious gift of faith and provided compelling witnesses to the freedom which comes through knowing Jesus Christ as Lord. But of equal inspiration to me have been the lesser known, more common people I meet everyday. They are indifferent to the pressures of society and they don’t hide their faith. They are free to express their faith and provide example after example of what it means to be freed in Christ. They know who the truth is and they live in Him. They are free, indeed!

To hear the truth spoken, to see what is truth, to know who is the truth, to embrace and embody that truth…is to know more deeply the joy of being a Child of God, Christ’s person who has been set free to be. To no longer live under an illusion either of who we are and what our lives can become, is to have the image of God restored and renewed.

We, like Luther, can affirm, “We are beggars, it is true!” We are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. To accept that truth is to be renewed for life through the cross of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Years ago, singing in the church choir as a student in high school, we sang an anthem that I’ve never forgotten. It has become a Reformation Day hymn for me, one of my favorites. The words are these:
GOD’S SON HAS MADE ME FREE, FROM SATAN’S TYRANNY, FROM FEAR OF DEATH AND BONDS OF
SIN, FROM ALL THAT PLAGUES MY SOUL WITHIN. THE HOLY ONE DIVINE, BECAME A FRIEND OF MINE.
O BOUNDLESS LOVE, HE CAME, HE DIED, HE ROSE FOREVER GLORIFIED. HE CAME, TO LIVE, TO DIE THAT I MIGHT LIVE WITH HIM, ETERNALLY. GOD’S SON HAS MADE ME FREE. YES FREE! YES FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE!
GOD’S SON HAS MADE ME FREE!

Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free!” So if the Son makes you free, will you be free? YES! FREE! INDEED!

Pastor Clark Cary