REFORMATION – October 25, 2009

SCRIPTURES – Jeremiah 31:7-9; Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 10:46-52 

             We celebrate Reformation Sunday every year, and I sometimes wonder why. Is it so that we can distinguish between Martin Luther and Martin Luther King, jr.? Important though this might be, it’s surely not important enough to set aside an entire Sunday’s worship. Is it so that we can remember where we Lutherans came from? Again, this is fine, but Luther himself would urge you to look much farther back than him for this. So, why do we celebrate the Reformation every year at this time?

             Consider how the Reformation began. It was with a hammer, with Martin Luther hammering 95 Theses to the church door, the town’s bulletin board. He wrote them in Latin, the language of the Church and not the familiar tongue of his fellow Germans, for he wanted to have a debate with the leadership of the Church. But, a hammer is a tool of change. It is used to tear down and build. The issues Luther intended to raise could not be kept in the halls of academia. They tore down and built up, brought about a great change in the Church that Luther never foresaw or intended. Why? Because the issues raised in his 95 Theses were not about Luther. They were about Christ.

 Only Christ can change lives for eternity. This is why we celebrate the Reformation year after year. Sure, knowing and understanding history is important. But, above all we must know Christ and what we have in Him.

 What do we have in Christ? Do you know? Are you certain? We all know and believe that He is God. But, what kind of God? This is the real question, a question that is just as much an issue today in America, in Fairfield County – for us – as it was 500 years ago in Germany.

‡       I had a discussion last Tuesday at the bowling alley with another son of the Reformation, a fellow Lutheran. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and he brought up our Synod’s response to his Church’s recent permitting of the ordination of practicing homosexuals. He said that he had no problem with it. His business dealings in recent years with a homosexual couple had changed his mind. When I responded that we don’t base our beliefs on what seems god to us or what society says but on what the Bible teaches, he said that churches often disagree on the Bible’s teachings, and this shows that the Bible is unclear and uncertain.

Do you know what this means? This man in essence believes in a hidden God, a God whose will and ways are basically unknowable. To think this way is to be on very shaky ground. Is God pleased with you? Are you doing what pleases Him? Will He receive you and help you, or be angry and reject you? You cannot know with certainty.

 The Bible, especially today’s readings, gives us a clear answer by both portraying and proclaiming what kind of a God is our Lord Jesus. Who is Jesus? He is not just God. He is our priest. “[Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” 

 What is a priest? He is one who makes intercession for the people, who stands between God and the people to speak to the people from God and then speak to God for the people he serves. Jesus speaks to God for us and from God to us, and how we need this! We need Jesus to be our priest.

‡       For we need physical help, like blind Bartimaeus. This need changes throughout our lives, but we need to know we have a God who will hear our cries and help us. He will, because Jesus, God’s beloved Son, is our intercessor. Jesus helped Bartimaeus when he cried out to Him, even though many tried to silence his cries. He is the God who helps. He will help you when you cry out to Him.

‡       But, above all we need the forgiveness of our sins. Here we do not change, for we are sinners who need forgiveness daily. Martin Luther knew this. In fact, he stated it right at the beginning of his 95 Theses, the 1^st  of which is: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "Repent" (Mt 4:17), he willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.”

Will God forgive? We know Jesus received and forgave many sinners who came to Him. Be encouraged by this, for Jesus is God speaking to you, and this has not changed. Even though He is no longer walking on this earth, His priesthood continues forever. “He always lives to make intercession for you,” Hebrews says. The Son of God is before the throne of His Father and asking Him to help you and forgive you! So much for our needing to ask the saints, or Mary, to intercede for us. And, “He offered up Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the people.” God will always forgive you because of His Son’s sacrifice of Himself for you. What you see in Jesus is what God will always do for you. So, go to Him for forgiveness with the certainty that He will give it. He is continually offering to you the blood of His sacrifice for you. Receive it! 

This is what the Reformation ultimately was, and is, all about: a God who is a priest who receives sinners, whatever their need, and helps and forgives them. Does this matter to you? Is it a blessing for you? That depends. Are you a Bartimaeus? 

Bartimaeus had nothing. He was blind, and his blindness reduced him to being a beggar, utterly dependent upon the goodwill of others for his daily needs. Then, he heard that Jesus was passing by. “Son of David, have mercy on me!” he cried out; and he would not stop. Jesus was the Son of David, the promised Savior from God. He would certainly help! Bartimaeus would not let go of this belief. And his faith was rewarded. “Go your way; your faith has made you well,” Jesus said to him; and his sight was restored. He was no longer blind, and so need be a beggar no more! So, where did he go? He followed Jesus. He would not let go of Him!  

This is what it means to live a life of repentance. It is to follow Jesus because He is your Savior, your priest upon whom your life depends and with whom you are secure. It is to continually cry out for His help and forgiveness, with the confidence that He will give it because He is your priest. It is to continually be wherever He offers His forgiveness, for where there is forgiveness, there is your priest Jesus. It is to gladly and regularly be in His house to confess your sins, pray, and listen to His words, for here there is forgiveness, life and salvation in Jesus. 

This means that, really, we do not celebrate the Reformation only at this time every year. We celebrate the Reformation every week, for every week we sinners gather to cry out, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And, every week our priest Jesus hears us, forgives us, and sends us forth with this blessing, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.”