I.N.I.

A sermon to be preached at St, Matthew Lutheran Church, Hastings on Hudson, NY on the celebration of the Reformation Day 2002, and based on the Gospel for the Day (St. John 8:31-36) and an outline by Walter W. Stuenkel in Concordia Pulpit

Grace, mercy and peace be yours in Christ Jesus,

Dear Friends in Christ,

On the last day of October in the year 1517, a university professor made his way from one end of town to the other in the little city of Wittenberg. It’s not much of a place now, and certainly wasn’t then, except that it did have this university he taught at. He was headed to what is known as the Castle Church in order to post 95 theses on the door there as an invitation to debate anyone about them.

His need to debate sprang from something happening over the border and little ways away: another monk was selling certificates that assured the purchasers that their loved ones (or they themselves) would be released from purgatory (a sort of in between place) and allowed finally to enter Heaven. And people were driving over the border to buy these things. It drained the local economy, and — more importantly — it made people feel as if they didn’t need to come to confession any more. So Martin Luther, for of course that was the professor’s name, wanted to put a stop to the practice.

He picked All Hallows’ Eve because on 1 November, on All Saints Day, there would have been a big crowd at the church, and he figured that lots of people would see his announcement. And it worked. Perhaps beyond his wildest dreams. The word spread across Europe like wildfire. And October 31 has ever since marked the beginning of the campaign to free the Church from its chains.

We’re marking today by connecting with the Gospel Lesson’s note on freedom. Specifically we’ll touch on the words “freedom,” “truth,” and “disciples.”

I. Freedom

The freest person who ever lived was Jesus. He’s a wonderful model for us in this as in everything else. Look at the story surrounding the Gospel. Jesus is quietly teaching when he’s accosted by a mob who wants a judgment from him in an adultery case. But look what he does.

He seems to ignore them at first, just writing something in the dust at his feet. Then he finally answers them when they’ve worked themselves up into a real lather. You who is without sin may cast the first stone. And being honest men they each knew they didn’t qualify. So they drifted away, thinking of the sins that kept them from punishing the woman any more. And Jesus releases the woman, too, with a word of forgiveness.

Jesus was constantly running into people who crept up to the boundary of freedom, but needed a word from him either to step on in, or to step back and reconsider their motives and methods. Closer to our text verse the Jews were proclaiming to Jesus that they had never been slaves to anyone. Oh, you descendants of Abraham, don’t you remember slavery in Egypt. Oh you descendants of Abraham, what would you call your subjection to the Roman authorities. Certainly not freedom, would you? And Jesus uses their declaration to show them that they’re also carrying about burdens of sin that they don’t recognize. These burdens of sin enslave just as surely and Pharaoh and Caesar.

And, significantly, so do our burdens of sin. Luther had gone through bigger sets of spiritual gymnastics than any of us are likely to have gone through, in an attempt to regain balance before God. But it didn’t work for him. He had tried all kinds of ways to please God: working hard at studies, becoming a monk, becoming a priest, fasting, praying, all the rest of the activities of medieval Christian piety. None of this activity earned him peace and freedom. He felt he was constantly under the judging eyes of a vengeful God.

Luther was turned around when he came to see that God’s demands for righteousness are balanced by assurances of forgiveness. He understood that God’s Law is balanced by his Gospel. He came to understand that what Jesus said in our text is actually, really true: if the Son makes you free, you are free indeed. What marvelous news: The son has declared you to be free!

“This is the heart of the Reformation, the heart of Lutheranism — freedom from the guilt and fear and worry of sin because by faith the righteousness of God is ours through the . .. sacrifice of Jesus Christ [as our substitute before the Father].” (Stuenkel, p. 209) We can declare with St Paul, “therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom 5: 1)

II. Truth

How does this freedom come to be ours and remain ours? Jesus adds a concept that makes it clearer. He says, “If you continue in my Word .. you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32) The truth. Remain in the truth. Continue in the truth. Live in the truth. Be at home in the truth. In other words, be so firmly established in the truth that no mater what the Devil throws your way that you can still respond with words of faith declaring your trust in Jesus as your Savior.

To keep us firmly grounded in that truth, God has given us his Word. And what a high place Luther reserved for God’s Word. You could page through Luther’s works and find references to the Word on pretty much every page. It’s clear that the Protestant Reformation was founded on Scripture, as was every other reformation of God’s people throughout history.

God’s word is alive. It has the breath of God in it. It brings us life because its one central message is the truth about Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. As we meet him in the Word, and come to know him as our substitute and Savior, we will have personally gained the freedom that he proclaims for us.

It’s unfortunate that many Christians have not heeded Jesus’s suggestion that we remain constant in the Word. All sorts of trouble can develop when that happens. We should be quite at home in the Word, and when we’re not, we get lost. Perhaps the forces of darkness cover our sight. Perhaps confusion troubles us when we don’t know for ourselves what God says in the Word. To confront darkness and confusion, we have the marvelous light of the Gospel, revealed to us in God’s Word. It is the Truth with a capital “T.” In thanks for giving us the Truth, we can determine to be so at home in the Word that we will be able to meet every challenge that comes our way.

III. Disciples

When we know the truth, we will be his disciples indeed. And disciple is the third word to consider this Reformation Sunday. Freedom. Truth. Disciple.

A disciple is a student and follower of his or her teacher. Disciples do not swell to greater than their teachers. So disciples do not increase in importance over Jesus, but he promises us, too, that we will be like him.

What better way can we celebrate what the Reformation and the faith we share are all about than to be joy-filled, loving, peaceful, people? We Christians are “little Christs” and we ought reflect each of the attributes our master so naturally displayed. We live and walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

May these three words — freedom, truth, disciples — help to make our lives ones of continual reformation celebration. We focus not on the university professor in Wittenberg, but on the fact that we are free in Christ. We focus on the fact that we are free through the Truth, justified by faith, having peace with God, standing in the grace of Christ, rejoicing in the hope and glory of God. (Rom. 5:1-2). We celebrate that we can walk in the footsteps of Christ wherever they may lead us.

In His holy and most precious name, AMEN

S.D.G.