MARTIN LUTHER: GOD’S MAESTRO OF THE GRACE NOTE

(A Precis for Reformation Sunday 2016)

Martin Luther (1483-1546) is in relation to the Reformation (which we celebrate this weekend) much like the opening notes of some great symphony – say Beethoven’s “Fifth” – which states the theme, is then taken up by other instruments, and is finally absorbed into the developing pattern of music.  The incredible soul searching and trials of this man – most often solitary, but never alone – affected a renewal, a re-formation for the whole orchestration of the Catholic Church of his time (“ … and still is ours today.”)

 Luther stepped onto the stage of human history on account of an idea.  That idea convinced him that the church of his day had misunderstood the Gospel; that is, the “good news” of God by grace alone, through faith alone, in the person of Christ and his cross alone … the essence of Christianity. It was therefore necessary to recall the church to fidelity, to reform initially its theology and subsequently its practices.  This idea is summarized in a singular phrase: “Justification by grace through faith.”  In his famous treatise of 1520, The Freedom of the Christian, Luther states: “One thing, and one thing alone is necessary for Christian life, righteousness and liberty.  And that one thing is the Word of God – the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

From his own experiences of trying to live a righteous life – pure and holy before God – as an Augustinian monk, Luther realized that trying to “earn” God’s love and salvation was impossible.  “For however irreproachable I lived as a monk,” wrote Luther, “I felt myself in the presence of God to be a sinner with a most disturbed conscience.”  Luther’s troubles centered in one word, justitia – the “righteousness” or “justice” of God – as Luther studied St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, especially Romans1:17: “For in the Gospel the righteousness/justice of God is revealed.” 

Initially, Luther understood this sense of justice in an “active” sense; that is, as something humanity had to earn by certain “good works.”  If this were true, Luther could see only despair.  But then, as he prayed and read further in the book of Romans, in Romans 3:21-26 … God’s Spirit turned Luther’s interpretation upside down: from an “active” sense to one that is “passive” – with God as the Subject, not the Object.  Moreover, one might say, Holy Scripture began to interpret Luther.  God’s light of grace began to shine brightly upon Luther, as he witnessed later: “At last by the mercy of God, I began to understand the justice of God as that by which God makes us just in God’s mercy and through faith in Christ” – a holiness that is completely outside of ourselves (as an “alien righteousness”).  God’s saving Word, comes home to us in Christ, and continues so this day through the Church (that’s you and me) … proclaiming Christ for a world that is dying to hear such a radical grace-filled and saving word (cf. Romans 10:14-17; Ephesians 3:7-12).

The importance of this discovery is not that it was new, but that it was new for Luther.  What he saw in the Bible … with spirited fresh eyes … he was able to teach others so that the doctrine of justification by grace had a new and central importance – serving as a safeguard against an over-reliance on human achievement or rituals.  Keeping humanity always humble before Christ’s cross.  And so it was that Luther “went to the wall” – with everything that was in him and more – in nailing his now famous 95 Theses to the Wittenberg church doors on October 31, 1517 … now nearing a 500th anniversary.  In this re-forming/revolutionary act, Luther was protesting a human scheme (“the indulgence controversy”) that would tempt people into believing that they could, in any way, “buy-God-off” (cf. Romans 3:19-28; 5:8; 7:15-25a).  For essentially, this would make the cross of Christ superfluous or unnecessary.  It was on this belief, based on Holy Scripture and reason, that Luther faced a papal inquisition at the Diet of Worms in 1521, stating his now famous conviction: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise.  God help me.” 

By the end of the 1520s it was plain that the great solo instrument was being absorbed into the great symphony.  Another reformation tradition was beginning to emerge in the cities of Switzerland and south Germany, raising-up its own leaders in Zwingli and Calvin.  The possibility of a vast Protestant front was ended at this time at Marburg in 1520 when Luther and Zwingli could not come to an agreement over the interpretation of the Lord’s Supper.  For Luther it meant the “real presence” of Christ.  For Zwingli it was to be interpreted as a symbol – a “memorial.”  Nonetheless, the Word went forth conquering.  There was Luther’s translation of the German Bible, open at last to a growing literate audience of all classes – the “priesthood of all believers.”  There was Luther’s own powerful evangelical preaching and writing.  There were new forms of Christian instruction, like Luther’s beautiful children’s catechism (The Small Catechism) from which simplicity he said his prayers to the end of his days.  His people of Germany, and those who call themselves Lutherans, learned to pray his German liturgy, and to sing his fine hymns, one which we sing today, the great hymn: A Mighty Fortress.  It captures well Luther’s reforming theme in its verse: “Thy Word is our great heritage.” And this reforming Word still continues (semper reformanda). 

What do they know of Luther who only Luther know?  By 1525 and still more by his death in 1546, Luther was but one element, one note, in the Reformation symphony.  In comparison with the great tides of history, even the giants are but dwarfs.  Yet there are moments in world history, sometimes creative, sometimes destructive, or like the Reformation of Luther’s time, a bit of both, when it seems to matter that there are people who speak out in order to keep faith with their conscience – as informed by Holy Scripture – and who in a dangerous hour stand firm because, God helping them, they cannot do otherwise.

Dr. John Christopherson

Thoughts for Sunday

David falls prey to the classic trap of being chosen by God. Though he knows that everything comes from God, the thought creeps in that everything ends with him. God took him from being a young, nobody shepherd, and made him king of Israel, and victorious over Israel’s enemies. While David doesn’t dispute any of this, yet now he gets it in his mind that he repay God. He decides to build God a house. A house of cedar to house the ark of the covenant. It may seem like a reasonable gesture, a thankful offering out of God abundance, but God sees something more. God will not allow David to do him any favor, so that David has something to boast about. Instead, God promises to do even more for David, something David could never do even for himself. God will establish an eternal kingdom that will not decay, rot, or rust; a kingdom where God is Father and the ruler is God’s Son.

"Waiting..."

There's a word at the heart of our Old Testament reading for this coming Sunday, from I Samuel 1:4-20; 2:1-10. Hannah embodies it. Prays for it. And sings because of it. This word is 'Waiting.' Waiting describes our existence in relationship to God, in both the Old and New Testaments. Waiting. It's a difficult word; especially when we're so filled with anxiety and fear. Read these words from the Psalmist: 'My eyes grow weary while waiting for my God' (Psalm 69:3; cf. Psalm 130:5-6 and Isaiah 59:9).

The challenge is that waiting is perceived in our time as such a big waste of time. Hmm? Like ... 'But I can't wait I've got so much to do!' Or maybe, something like ... 'I can't take it anymore. It's hopeless!" As my mentor, Paul Tillich once observed: 'World history is a cemetery of broken hopes, of utopias which had no foundation in history' (Theology of Peace; p.187). And yet, this is exactly what kept Hannah in the game, hangin-in-there.

For Hannah knew well the long history of her people Israel - of God's promise of steadfastness to Abraham and Sarah and their descendants (Genesis 12:1-3) ... that was the soil from which hope sprang forth: the story of Joseph, the Exodus event, David and Goliath, and at Creation itself, when God made somethin' even out of nothin'!

You see, the Old Testament people of Israel, like Hannah were able to wait because they had received God's promise, a word of hope, and everlasting Word, one that allowed them to wait. They received something that was at work in them, like a seed that had started to grow. And together they knew it would continue to grow, no matter what.

'Together.' This is such an important word as well ... especially for our time of individualism. It's why the church as 'community' is so vital. Religion might be a private matter but not Christianity. The whole meaning of Christian community lies in waiting together around God's Word of Promise - offering each other reassurance, especially in dark and troubling times, that the seed will still grow. A waiting that reminds us to 'Be still before the LORD' (Psalm 37:7) and watching that seed burst right through the seeming concrete impossibility of it all, and breaking finally into a song of rejoicing ... as with our beloved forebear in the faith, Hannah (I Samuel 2:1-10). God's amazing grace ...

dr. j.r. christopherson

Thoughts for Sunday

In Sunday’s Scripture narrative, the Israelites fear they are leaderless because Moses has been gone for 40 days.  So, they revert to worshiping a golden calf!  “What were they thinking!”  Not so fast.  They’re scared and want what is familiar.  And therein lies a critical difference - - between serving idols and trusting God.  We humans easily confuse the two, however, and it’s important to understand the difference.  One is about control, the other about love.   

Here are some huge differences between idol worship and worshiping God:

1. God is the creator (and owner) of all that is - - life itself.
2. Life therefore is not finally our own - - we are managers of that life and asked to live in a way that is pleasing to the Creator.
3. The core of what pleases God has been revealed in Scripture, most richly through Jesus - - we best describe it in the word “love” or “compassion”. This, in its many forms and manifestations is what the worshiper of God is called to - - a very different “bottom line” from other gods.
4. Yes, there is reward promised - - it comes imperfectly in this life through greater joy, blessing and meaning.  But it is promised completely in the life after.

It’s fascinating to follow the logic of this and compare it with where worship (or first loyalty) leads with idols such as riches, power, fame, nation, recreation - - all good in themselves - - or, evil itself.

The Prison of Want

"Agnus Dei" by Francisco de Zurbarán

(EXODUS 12:1-13; CF. LUKE 22:14-20) 

This coming Sunday, God’s Word wings its way once more into our hearts as well as filling our hands with the sacrament of unleavened bread and wine (holy communion) …  as we hear again the story of God’s salvation in the central, defining event of the OT; namely, the Exodus with its entrée point of “The Passover.”  Specifically, we hear God’s concluding instruction to his people Israel as they begin their exodus journey, out of the bondage of Egypt: “In this manner you shall eat [the Passover meal of roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs and wine]: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste” (Exodus 12:11). 

Briefly recall from last week, how in the concluding chapters of Genesis, Abraham’s descendants move from the land of Canaan – due to a devastating drought – into the land of Egypt.  Some four hundred years later, these descendants (the people of Israel) become a great nation (Exodus 1:7), numbering several thousand – thanks to “Uncle Joseph” who became Egypt’s Secretary of Agriculture.  But Israel’s great prosperity led to idol worship and immorality (Judges 24:14).  Soon the Egyptian Pharaoh, Sethos I pressed them into slavery and hard labor – building what we know today as the great pyramids, in order to maintain control over them.

And so, for yet another couple of generations, the people of Israel suffered great persecution, until around 1280 B.C., now in bondage to a new Pharaoh, Ramses II.  The Israelite people lifted their repentant pleas to God for deliverance … and God heard their cry (Exodus 2:4).  And by God’s freeing power, through his servant Moses (which is our story for this week) God passed over their sin in his great mercy, setting them quickly on an Exodus journey of unleavened bread, through the Red Sea and wide ‘n wooly wilderness, into the Promised Land. So some questions: 

The Prison of Slavery to Pharaoh.  How-in-the-world does this relate to our lives today? 
Might such a slavery be one of living in a daily “Prison of Want”? 

The Passover meal with its unleavened bread and wine, roasted lamb and herbs.  So where’s the Lamb in our Christian observance of this Passover meal in Holy Communion? (Read Luke 22:14-22)

Overall, how does the Exodus journey to freedom’s home connect with us today – some 3300 years later?  What are we freed from?  And what are we freed for?

  dr. j.r. chrisopherson