Reformation Sunday
John 8:31-36; Romans 3:19-28
In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Jesus is using the future tense. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). That is to say, they do not know the truth now. They are not now free. That is what angers the Jews.
It’s at this point that I’d expect Jesus to walk away. They won’t abide in His Word. They won’t be set free. They refuse to see that they even need saving. But our Lord doesn’t leave them. He’s incredibly patient. He seems to be pleading with them. He says, “Everyone who commits sin,” just a sin, any sin, that person “is a slave to sin” (John 8:34).
That’s also what St. Paul teaches in the Epistle, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Not some. Not most. All. But that’s not easy to hear. And yet, it’s almost as if Jesus knows how devastating that is, because He doesn’t leave those words hanging in the air long before He rushes in with the Gospel. “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” (John 8:35-36). That should cause them to rejoice. The Christ has come, and He’s not demanding that you earn this freedom, that you do something to work for it. No, He comes to set you free from sin and death and despair.
But it doesn’t matter. If anything, this enrages the Jews further. We don’t hear it in these verses, but just after our text, they imply that Mary was promiscuous. They call Jesus a Samaritan. Twice, they say He has a demon. And they pick up stones. They would kill the One who stands before them, offering freedom. And why? It’s not just that our Lord is saying something they don’t like. Yes, that’s true, but it’s more than that. Jesus is asking too much. It’s too hard for them to believe that they are slaves to sin, that they can’t do anything about it. That’s too much, too difficult. And this is something we tend to misunderstand about the Reformation.
Today is the Sunday we celebrate the Lutheran Reformation, because the event that we typically associate with the beginning of that Reformation was on October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Church door. He did that on All Hallows’ Eve because on All Hallows Day—All Saints Day—there would be people coming from all around to visit the many relics in Wittenberg, over 17 thousand. So Christians would come and pay money to see a twig from the burning bush, or a piece of hay from the Holy manger, or a bone of a saint. And by venerating these things, people were taught that they would receive special blessings. So Luther posted his 95 theses.
But most of the time, we think Dr. Luther was upset that the system of indulgences was making salvation too hard. We imagine that the forgiveness of sins was made too difficult to obtain. You had to work for it. And so we think that Luther wanted to show everyone that it’s not hard at all. Salvation is easy because of the Gospel.
But we have it backwards. Luther believed that Rome was making salvation too easy. Just pay some money. Venerate a relic. Buy an indulgence. That doesn’t take much at all. It doesn’t demand anything serious. It’s easy. Whereas salvation that cannot be earned, that comes only by grace, salvation that is received by faith alone in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, who took your place under the wrath of God and bore the punishment you deserve, well, that salvation is nothing but a gift. It’s not something that can be bought. You can’t do anything to deserve it. It doesn’t matter how much money you give or how sincere your intentions are. That only comes by way of gift.
Now, you might be thinking, “Hey, wait a second, Pastor, that sounds like it’s easier, not harder.” But you see, true repentance includes the devastating sorrow of realizing that you are the sinner. What does Jesus say? “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin,” which means you must be the slave. You have to be a wretched sinner if the only solution to your sin is to have the very Son of God suffer the eternal punishment of hell on the cross. Without that, you are in bondage. But that is to acknowledge what the Jews of our text would not. It’s a price they were unwilling to pay. Even today, few will.
But do you remember the very first of Luther’s 95 theses? I don’t expect you to remember all 95. Not all of them are important, but the first one is: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” Repentance is not something you do once and then forget. It’s not something you only worry about when you commit some really bad sin. Your whole life is one of repentance.
That means two things. First, contrition. The first part of repentance is to confess what the Jews would not. Own it. You’re not a mild sinner. You’re a wretched one. Don’t pretend otherwise. Sometimes, you hear a sin from the pulpit, and even though it strikes your heart, you try not to react, because you don’t want anyone to know that that sin is your sin. Stop pretending. Know that you are guilty. That’s first, know you’re guilty. But second, know that your guilt is removed in the blood of Christ. That’s the second part of repentance: faith. Which is what I find people struggle with far more.
Unlike the Jews, you probably don’t have a problem saying that you’re a sinner. You confess it every week here on your knees. You’re not unwilling to admit your guilt. If you’re honest, you’ll acknowledge your failures; the ways your sin has harmed those around you. But what you tend to struggle with, what you find difficult, is trusting that your sins are actually removed, that your guilt is completely taken away, that you’re forgiven in full, by grace, that is, undeserved. That should be easy, but when you commit some transgression, when you say something you can’t take back, when you fail to show compassion, what do you do? You try to make up for it. You try to undo the wrong. You work on the sincerity of your apology, and you make these bargains with God, that you’ll do better next time. Oh, by the way, you should do better. Strive to control your passions and bridle your tongue. Do that. But that is not your freedom.
This is what Paul was talking about when he said, “by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). You cannot make up for your sin by doing better. You don’t deserve mercy. “But now,” Paul says, “the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law” (Rom. 3:21). And what’s that righteousness apart from the Law? It’s Jesus. You are righteous simply by faith in Jesus alone.
That is such impossible news that you have a hard time believing it. So you hold on to your guilt at times. You tend to think that your sin is what defines you, your temptations, your failures. That is slavery. You hear satan whispering the memory of those sins in your ear—after those sins have been forgiven—but it’s not God who wants you to remember them. Your Lord would have you trust your standing in Christ, trust that you are actually holy and righteous, more holy and righteous than even the angels in heaven, because you are clothed with the perfect righteousness of the Son of God in your baptism.
But that is not something you can believe on your own. You need to be convinced. How? Jesus is telling you. He says it here, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The Word is what brings freedom. The Word is what removes sin. The Word silences the devil and drives him off. The Word grants peace. And that Word is Jesus. That Word is added to bread and wine in the Supper. Jesus says, “Abide in my Word.” Here it is. Your slavery’s not broken by you doing anything other than receiving Jesus and His Word.
This is your freedom to now joyfully live according to God’s Word because you are not condemned by it. This is your freedom from the nagging guilt of sin. It’s your freedom from the weight of your failures, the burden of stress, the worry that eats at you. This is freedom from your constant vain pursuit for rest that cannot be found by looking to yourself. “Abide in my word,” Jesus says. Or the way you usually hear it, “Take eat, this is my body, this is my blood, given, shed, for you.”
In ☩ Jesus’ name. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
"If God is for us, who is against us?" 