The Feast of the Reformation

October 24-25, 2009

“Stand with the Truth”

John 8:31-36

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our heavenly Father, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

There are some great moments in history that I would love to have been able to witness in person: The scene in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, as men from every colony lined up to inscribe their signatures on the Declaration of Independence; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in November, 1863, as President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous address in dedicating the cemetery there; and, with slightly less historical importance, the championship-winning home run hit by Bill Mazeroski in the bottom of the 9^th inning of Game 7 in the 1960 World Series to give the Pittsburgh Pirates the title over the heavily favored New York Yankees. But two other moments surpass even those great events in my mind; two defining moments in history, both involving the same person. October 31, 1517, in Wittenberg, Germany, as a previously little-known monk, university professor, and parish priest named Martin Luther posted his list of statements against the abuses of the Church, a list referred to as the 95 Theses, on the door of the Castle Church. And just a few years later, after those 95 Theses had touched off a firestorm within the Roman Catholic Church, on April 18, 1521, as Luther stood before Emperor Charles V, refusing to recant what he had written about abuses in the Church, and ending with his proclamation: “Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”

Two defining moments in history, and yet, somewhat misunderstood. Martin Luther is sometimes held up as an example of individualism; a champion of personal faith over institutionalized religion. But he was neither of those. When Luther posted his 95 Theses on the church door, he wasn’t striking a blow against organized religion, but protesting some abuses that had crept into the Church over time. His intent was never to break away from Roman Catholicism and start his own church, and he would be appalled to come back today and find that there are still, almost 500 years later, churches that bear the name “Lutheran.” That was never what he wanted. And when he stood before the emperor and proclaimed, “Here I stand,” he wasn’t being a champion of individualism and personal liberty. He wasn’t saying “Here I stand,” a person to be reckoned with; he was saying, “Here I stand” – Here, on the Word of God, I stand, and can do no other.

Luther understood that God has revealed Himself to us first and foremost through His Word, as contained in the sacred Scriptures. It is God’s Word that brings us to faith and points us to Jesus Christ as our Savior; God’s Word that shows us our sinfulness in His Law, and shows us our salvation in the Gospel. God’s Word is truth; ultimate truth, and it is the truth that sets us free from bondage to sin and death.

But how easy it is to look past this truth, in the effort to create our own. The people in our Gospel lesson today did just that. “Jesus said [to them], ‘If you abide in my Word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ They answered Him, ‘We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, You will become free?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’”

Notice the delusion of the people, as they create their own version of the truth. “We have never been enslaved to anyone.” Really? What about those 400+ years of slavery in Egypt, until God led them to freedom through Moses in the great Exodus event? What about the Babylonian Captivity, when their ancestors had been conquered and carried off into exile? What about the fact that they were at that very moment subject not to a king of Israel, but to the pagan, Gentile Roman Empire? Never been enslaved to anyone? What version of history were they appealing to? But then, we do the same thing, don’t we? We create our own version of the truth, a story that fits our needs, that fits what we want to believe. We do it in our history books, that’s for sure. History is written by the victors. How many of us were raised with a glorified picture of America’s westward expansion? It was Manifest Destiny; God’s will for America to expand from the Atlantic to the Pacific. And as we did, there were some mean old tribes of Native Americans who had the gall to believe the land belonged to them, just because they were there first. But our valiant Indian fighters took care of them, and God’s will was done. Of course, the truth is far less neat and tidy than that; but then, the truth puts some of our ancestors in a less than favorable light.

And of course, we do this in our own lives, creating a version of the truth that satisfies what we desire to believe about ourselves. “It’s ok that I’m gossiping, spreading a rumor about that other person. He did something I think was wrong, and other people need to know about it.” So much for the truth of the 8^th Commandment; we’ve created our own. “If I develop an online relationship with another woman, I’m not really cheating on my wife.” So much for the truth of the 6^th Commandment; we’ve created our own. “If I sneak out and go to that party, I’m not really disrespecting my parents; they just don’t know how important this is.” So much for the truth of the 4^th Commandment; we’ve created our own. You get the idea; we do this in countless ways every day, creating our own truth to justify what we’ve done, or what we’re about to do, in an effort to make ourselves feel better about things. And it’s possible to do that, to a certain extent. Until it all comes crashing down. We think it’s fine, until that rumor grows out of control, and a person’s reputation is destroyed. We think it’s fine, until the wife discovers that online affair, and feels completely betrayed. We think it’s fine, until we get busted sneaking out to that party, and realize the damage we’ve caused in the relationship with our parents. Then our self-created truth comes crashing down around us, and God’s truth comes crashing in.

In the end, there’s no avoiding God’s truth. And when we push aside our sinful nature, we remember that there is no reason to avoid it. God’s truth, the truth of His Word, puts us where we need to be, as nothing else does. God’s Word sets us free from slavery to sin and death. God’s Word sets us free from all the man-made prisons we construct for ourselves, and grounds us in ultimate and absolute truth. In the end, what we are reminded of time and time again is this: We stand on the Word of God, or we stand on nothing. It’s the Word of God, or the vain and hollow philosophies of this dark world. On this, there is no middle ground.

“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” The Son, Jesus Christ, has set you free. He has set you free from the powers of sin and death by His own death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. Through the cross and the empty tomb, Christ has won for you the forgiveness of your sins, life and salvation. The Holy Spirit delivers those gifts to you in the Word of truth, in the grace of your Baptism that God calls you to remember each day, and in the very body and blood of Christ given to you in the Eucharistic feast at the Lord’s Table. For all the times we fail to stand firm in God’s Word, there is forgiveness. For all the times we fail to give witness to Christ, there is forgiveness. For all the times we fail to partake of God’s Word and Sacraments in worship, there is forgiveness. Christ has set us free, and that freedom allows us to turn to Him in repentance for all our failures, and receive once again His forgiveness, mercy, and love.

We may not find ourselves in the dramatic circumstances that surrounded Martin Luther at the outset of the Reformation. Our lives may seem tame and mild by comparison. But every day, in countless ways, we are given the opportunity to stand firm on the Word of God. Every day, we are able to live anew in the grace of our Baptism. Every day, we can say along with Luther, all the saints and martyrs, and the great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us, “Here – on the Word of God – I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen.”