Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God the Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!
It’s funny how things change over the years. This is a realization that comes with the wisdom one gains through age. The older you get, the more stuff you’ve seen, the more change you’ve encountered. And it’s not like these changes are A to B. No, no. These kinds of things flip flop back and forth. Take butter for instance. You may recall a time where your parents, or even you yourself, ate butter made from cows milk on the farm. Probably even drank full-fat, real cream too! Life was splendid and grand, full of flavour and decadence! It was normal and part of every day life that many people didn’t really think about. It was just how life was for pretty much everybody. But then, a new invention came along. It was cheaper than butter, despite having to be made in a factory and dyed that familiar yellow colour. Margarine was the new hot commodity! It spread so much easier over toast and pancakes, straight from the fridge! Then along came World War II with shortages of all kinds and the popularity of margarine skyrocketed. Over time the original beef fat and skim milk recipe of margarine changed into using hydrogenated seed and vegetable oils to turn them into solid fats. Then marketing changed it’s image from a ‘cheap alternative’ to a health food! Butter was bad, loaded with saturated fats! Margarine was good, chock full of healthy trans-fats! Pass me the bucket of Becel, Leonard! ’Tis health food, all the experts say!
But then, what happened in the 1990s? New medical research discovered that trans-fats are incredibly bad for you! Cardiovascular disease. Cancer. Bad cholesterol. Inflammation. Heart disease. Stroke. Type 2 Diabetes. It turns out that highly processed foods have adverse health effects! Back to butter we go!
This is just one example. There’s plenty more, but you get the idea. In nearly every facet of life there’s this kind of flip flop. And the church too is not immune. Enter: The Protestant Reformation. You rewind the tape, all the way back to the New Testament. You’ve got our Good Lord Jesus and the Disciples. They are going around preaching and teaching about the Kingdom of God. The miracles and signs and wonders abound! Then our Lord is crucified on the old rugged cross. The disciples are verklempt. But then, 3 days later He is risen from the dead! And this message goes out into all the world. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (JN 3:16). Forgiveness, life and salvation are gifts of God’s grace given to “whoever believes in him.” Believes. Has faith. Trusts. Faith is the way salvation works.
But then, what happened? Around the middle ages, the Church of Rome did a flip flop. Instead of salvation by faith, a new idea emerged. What if getting into God’s good books was actually by works? Brownie points. Merit. You could earn your salvation by being a goody-two-shoes. Do everything right, all the time and don’t make any mistakes. Then you could merit God’s love and stave off His wrath. But I mean, nobody’s perfect, right?! We’re all natural born, poor miserable sinners. We’ve all got red in our ledgers. How can we know if we’ve ever done enough good to outweigh all of our bad? The Church at the time was fighting against the invading Turks and at the same time, they had this massive building project on the go. St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Both of these were expensive ventures to be sure. All of a sudden there was this stroke of marketing genius. What if we could kill 3 birds with one stone? You’ve got a bunch of poor, miserable guilt laden sinners with vexed consciences, a war to fund and a cathedral to build. What if the church could sell forgiveness and use that money to fund the war and building effort?? If salvation wasn’t a free gift of God’s grace by faith in Jesus but rather could be sold in some way, they would solve all their problems at the same time!
And this is exactly what happened. They needed a shyster extraordinaire to pull this off. They checked the Google job listings and found a perfect candidate in Johann Tetzel. He was a Dominican Friar from Germany. He became the inquisitor of Poland and Saxony and later elevated to the Imperial Wizard of selling indulgences. This became the Church’s ticket to financial freedom 55! You’ve sinned. You have guilt. You need forgiveness. Gimme all your money and we will give you your passport to celestial bliss! No matter how big or small the sin, it would be wiped out free and clear for a little bit of cash. But not only yours, but also those you care about. Think about Grandma languishing in purgatory! In that veritable fat-camp for the soul, she’s there working off her debts and sweating off her transgressions! Wouldn’t it be right corking if her no-good Grandson could spring her from the hot place?! It’s the least he could do for all that granny did for him. And so, Tetzel’s money making marketing phrase arose: “Once the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs!” It was a ponzi scheme unlike the world had ever seen! It was even better than a casino! The people gave you their money and you gave them nothing in return except a little piece of paper.
This Roman flip flop needed to be flip flopped back. Margarine’s gonna kill you, people! It’s back to Butter! And this is where Martin Luther comes in. He saw the corruption. He saw the ponzi scheme for what it was. Fleecing poor German peasants out of what little money they had was bad enough, but the selling of God’s forgiveness, life and salvation that was and is a free gift of grace for all who believe? It was too far. Luther wrote his infamous 95 Theses and nailed them to the castle church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. He called out the church on this issue of indulgences and loads of other things that they had flip flopped on. In a nutshell it was a message of back to the Bible. Get back to what God’s Word actually says. If you read it, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. There is “an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people” (Rev. 14:6). And that Gospel is freedom. Freedom from sin, guilt and shame - not by works, not by indulgences, not by money. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
Faith was what it was all about. Putting our faith in Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world was the key to eternal salvation – not Popes and salesmen who want your money. Not our works. Not indulgences. Not anything people can think, say or do. But rather “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (Rom 8:36). The truth of the Gospel shone brightly into the darkness and the darkness could not overcome it. This was indeed the triumph of the Reformation and what we as Lutherans still hold to this very day. This is exactly what we are celebrating this year, some 507 years after the Reformation. We still cling to Christ for salvation. We still cling to the Scriptures for timeless truth. We still embrace God’s forgiveness by faith alone through Christ alone. This still remains the truth that sets the guilty conscience free and ensures poor sinners like us that God is mercy and love. Our Mighty Fortress God has defeated the greatest enemy we shall all face: death. He has destroyed that which separated us from Him since the day Eve and Adam ate of the fruit and embraced death instead of God. Now by faith alone we can embrace God. For this is eternal life, that we know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent (JN 17:3).
Undoubtedly Luther had no idea the kind of roller coaster ride God would take him on or how far this flip flopping adventure would go. He had ups and downs like so many of us do, struggling with ill health and depression. The vim and vigour he exuded boldly when the Reformation ball first started rolling waxed and waned like it would for any of us. But Luther’s faith held strong. He knew the truth of Christ and that set him free. He knew that God was love and mercy above all else. His sins were freely forgiven in the blood of his Saviour. No matter what happened, God would always be for him that Mighty Fortress, a bulwark never failing. For us too, in this same world of darkness and troubles, corruption and fraud, failing health and frailty, God still remains for us our Mighty Fortress. We flee to Him for strength and cling to Him by faith, just as Martin Luther did. The Reformation changed the world beyond all shadow of a doubt. But the love of God for His fallen creation remains unchanged. In the truth of Christ you have been set free indeed! Amen!
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