Scripture Readings: John 8: 30-8 and Romans 3: 19-28.
On Hallowe’en this week ghosts and goblins, witches and butterflies, skeletons and storm troopers will fill our streets and ring our doorbells. It is a very exciting day for children and even some adults as well. But October 31st is also an interesting and exciting day on the church calendar. It is Reformation Day. I looked in the Hallmark card shop and couldn’t find a single greeting card to celebrate this important day in the church. Unfortunately, this day is hardly noticed yet it marks a real milestone in the Christian church.
Many denominations around the world will hold services celebrating Reformation Day. In essence Reformation Day celebrates the re-birth of the church, also known as the start of the Protestant Reformation. The church was actually born on the day of Pentecost, but over time the church strayed away from its original purpose. It went from a God-made institution with the Ten Commandments, the Two Great Commandments and an emphasis on God’s love to a man-made institution with emphasis on man-made rituals and rules.
This was a time when the church pictured God as an angry God who was watching over us and anxiously waiting for us to make a mistake so that God could punish us with eternal suffering. The church taught people to fear God in the worst sense of the word, and the church used that fear to control the people, to get them to submit to church leaders and obey all the teachings and rules of the church. By the time of the Protestant Reformation, the church was similar to the Pharisees of Jesus’ time – very authoritarian. The word of the pastor or the church elders was law, and no one in the congregation could question it. The Word of God and the language of worship services was Latin, a language that the people could not read or understand. Since very few people other than the wealthy and the educated could read or speak Latin, they had to trust what the minister said was the Word of God.
The Bible at that time was virtually a closed book. It was closed by the authority, for the Church felt that it was not suitable or understandable for the common man. It was closed by ignorance, for the masses could not read, and no one felt that this was a desirable skill. It was closed by the simple fact of non-possession. Hardly anybody then had a Bible, or any book, for that matter. Books were not mass produced, but copied by hand.
However, one key event that helped was the invention of the printing press. That made the publication and printing of Bibles easier. The Reformation was also helped by efforts to translate the Bible from Latin into the languages of the common people of Europe, specifically English and German. That made it possible for the more people to read the Bible and discover the truth of God’s word for themselves.
The end result was the idea that ordinary Christians could and should read the Bible for themselves in their own everyday language and draw their own conclusions from it. They did not have to accept the words of the centralized religious leaders at face value. They did not have to accept traditions and rituals in the church unless they were prescribed by the scriptures. Naturally this undermined the authority of the established church, which is why the church tried to prohibit translation of the Bible into the language of the people, and publicly burned such Bibles as they could find.
Into this situation comes a young monk, Martin Luther. Martin hated God. “I did not love, yes, indeed I hated the righteous God,” he wrote. Like countless others who doubted whether they had made themselves worthy of heaven, Luther shook with fear at the thought of how God might judge him. Until, of course, he began to understand that the gospel is not a message of fear and judgment, but of good news and great joy.
Martin Luther and other reformers understood that Biblical theology can only be done on the basis of a detailed and comprehensive study of all the relevant material, and not by blindly accepting a minister’s word as law. They struggled to accept the church’s teachings. In fact, it is largely due to Luther’s struggle to reconcile his faith with church doctrine that the Protestant Reformation was successful. Luther and other reformers such as John Knox discovered that the only sacraments that were necessary were those that were explicitly mentioned in the Scriptures: baptism and Holy Communion, not the seven sacraments previously prescribed by the church authorities. On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther had had enough of the corruption and false teachings that were coming from the head of the church in Rome. He nailed his 95 theses on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany, thereby beginning the Protestant Reformation. Many significant social and religious shifts followed Luther’s actions. The Reformation era started in 1517 and continues until around 1648.
For the first time the authority of the church and its leaders was being called into question. The Reformation was a radical movement in Europe that came about as the result of the conviction of those who, through the power of the Holy Spirit, challenged the status quo and took risks. It was a time of much chaos and unrest within both the church and society.
The Reformation was a chaotic time, but it was a time of much growth and change for the Church, and it is a significant part of our history, a time from which we can learn about the need for change and challenge. The sole aim of the reformers like Martin Luther was to invite Christians into a new vision of the possibility of a genuine relationship with God that was not governed by church officials; a new vision of the promise of forgiveness based not on what we have done, but by what Christ has done for us, and the guarantee that access to God’s grace and promise of eternal life was not mediated by man-made rules. In other words, the reformers invited Christians to freedom.
Reflected in the reading from John, chapter 8, is the struggle within the early church between Jews who accepted Jesus as Messiah and those who did not. Jesus has been teaching, and verse 30 reports, “As he was saying these things, many believed in him.” Jesus addresses these new believers beginning at verse 31. Living in Jesus’ way leads to truth, which in turn leads to freedom. The Jews are puzzled by Jesus’ teaching, and claim that because they are descendants of Abraham, they are already free. They claim they have never been slaves, forgetting, of course, the slavery in Egypt. Jesus addresses the group’s misunderstanding of freedom with the new teaching that everyone who sins is not free, but a slave to sin. Jesus teaches that slavery is not limited to an economic reality, but also an inward state of being. Even those who claim freedom through Abraham are not as free as they think.
Through Jesus, the Son, we are given a permanent place in the house of God. True freedom comes through Jesus, the Christ. True freedom comes not through one’s heritage, but as a gift from God. Truth for the Jews involved their identity in Abraham; Jesus’ truth involves identity in God. Only Jesus the Christ can free us from slavery to sin, and does so through the truth of the gospel.
Martin Luther felt that the heart of gospel truth is summed up in Romans chapter 3. All people fall short in their relationship with God, but God offers forgiveness of sins by the gift of God’s grace through faith in Christ. In the words of Martin Luther, we are justified – put right with God – according to the Scriptures alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
It was as if Martin Luther’s whole world had flipped inside out. God, he saw, is not asking us to earn his love and acceptance in any way. God’s righteousness is something he shares with us as a gift. Acceptance before God, forgiveness, and peace with him can be received with simple faith or trust. “Here,” said Luther ecstatically, “I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.”
Luther had joined a monastery to do good works for God. But he came to see it is not God in heaven who needs our good works. It is people on earth. Luther therefore encouraged Christians, instead of retreating to monasteries, to go out into the world. Having been loved first by God, they could go out to love and serve others. Through the Reformation, a tidal wave of social and cultural improvement was unleashed.
There are some in our current society who voice the opinion that the church and society are again in a chaotic state. Our own denomination is facing a dramatic decline in membership and churches are closing every year. Our pews for the most part are filled with “the grey hair and glasses crowd”. Our younger people, even our own children whom we raised in the faith, are too busy to attend church or are saying that organized religion holds no interest for them and their children. The last General Council and the remits that were voted on in 2018 were the catalyst for reformation and change in this great denomination of ours.
The work of reformation is never finished. The church has always adapted to reflect changes in society while remaining true to the scriptures. As we approach the 100th Anniversary of the United Church of Canada we cannot help but recognize and celebrate the changes that have occurred since 1925 and that inauguration service at Mutual Arena in Toronto. As we move into the future more changes will take place.
God’s grace is all around us. If we look for it and listen for it, when we least expect it a voice will say, “You are loved, you are affirmed, you are set free”. Are we ready to allow the reforming, restoring power of the Holy Spirit to work through us?
Pat Edmonds
Licensed Lay Worship Leader