Reformation Day: Truly Free

Jesus proclaims in today’s gospel reading, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”, but if I’m honest, much of the time, I feel pretty trapped. Perhaps you have felt this way.

It’s obvious that our world has set many ingenious traps and snares for us to fall into. So, it’s no surprise that sometimes they work, even on us Christians. Many I speak with feel constrained by their careers, detained by dead-end jobs, subjugated by their supervisors, confined by their commitments, held hostage by house chores, and hindered by their home lives.

Maybe you feel bound to broken relationships, fenced in by your fixed income, restrained by retirement, manacled to your mortgage, or worse, resigned to pay ever-rising rents.

And while those things might seem bad, some things that hold us captive are completely invisible to us. We can be like the man in our gospel reading, who somehow missed the memo on Israel's long history of captivity. Setting aside enslavement to the Egyptians and the Babylonian Exile, remember at the time of this account, Israel was a small, insignificant province of the Roman Empire. At times, it can be too painful to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth of our captivity, so we can opt to ignore it or repress it entirely.

But, I believe before we can properly understand freedom, or at least the type of freedom that Christ brings us, we must first know and acknowledge what holds us captive. Before we can understand what our freedom is for, we must know what we are freed from.

One reason it’s painful to meditate on all the ways we’re held captive is that, often, our captivity has become comfortable.

In Deuteronomy, we read that when the Lord freed Israel from Egypt, he did so “with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm.” A mighty hand was certainly needed to crush the tyranny of the Egyptians, but I suspect the outstretched arm was to keep the Israelites from running back to the comforts of captivity. Almost immediately after Moses parts the Red Sea, the Israelites long for the good ole days in Egypt. We can be like that.

We’ve learned to love our captivity; I mean, many of us choose to be captivated by the little computers in our pockets. Right from our phones, we have all new ways to offer worship to the gods of wealth, power, privilege, politics, and self.

But, when Jesus taught in the temple courts this lesson, the freedom he spoke of wasn’t from our phones or our day-to-day struggles but from something which has the power to take our very lives. He aimed at the source of all dysfunction, a threat that makes these other threats seem harmless by comparison: sin itself.

Scripture and Our Lutheran Confessions teach that we are all born in bondage to sin and must therefore face sin’s consequences, namely “death, eternal damnation, and the tyranny of the Devil. No doubt these are powerful foes­–ones which we have no shot against on our own.

For a little while, we will face various trials, God’s word promises. But we can get so wrapped up in our own struggles that we forget Jesus came to destroy, not just the lingering effects of sin but the central cause of our trouble. And this same Jesus doesn’t just promise freedom but secures it with his own precious blood. On the cross, he took on the unholy trinity of sin, death, and the devil and vanquished them, rising again on the third day.

But that wasn’t enough for Jesus. It wasn’t enough for Jesus to simply give us freedom from sin–he wants us to know that we are free.

As he says in our reading, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” You see, Jesus isn’t trying to test our discipleship by how often we read his word, rather, he invites us to read his Word so that we might know the truth that sets us free. Christ doesn’t just want to give us salvation, he wants us to grasp the security of having it. He desires that we would rest in his Word and find in that Word freedom from our fiercest and most formidable foes.

And real quick, it’s really easy to know if this promise of freedom applies to you. I think Dr. Martin Luther puts it well in the Small Catechism, as he responds to the question, “What benefits does Baptism give?”

“It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.”

Christ secured for us our freedom from sin and fully delivered it to us in our baptism, such that there is nothing we can do to earn, add to, or even slightly improve our standing before God.

While this is the clear testimony of Scripture, it’s hard for us to swallow. “It can’t be that easy,” we tell ourselves, “There’s got to be something I have to do to validate it or keep it current” But, The plain truth is that Jesus settled it all on the cross, God validated Jesus by his resurrection, and he applied it to you at the moment of your Baptism. You are free.

It was scandalous in Jesus’ day when he preached in the temple.

It was scandalous in St. Paul’s day when he wrote to the Galatians.

It was scandalous in Dr. Martin Luther’s day when he defended himself before the papal inquisitors.

But, it's not just the people of history trapped by works-oriented religious beliefs that need to hear this Gospel. They aren’t the only ones who’ve failed to understand that they were captive to sin and that only the grace of God, won through Jesus, could free them.

No, it's not just back then, it's now. Before we hastily point the finger at this group or that person, let's remember that even we Lutherans sometimes forget about God’s grace and the freedom Christ purchased for us. Our Gospel reading today puts before us this plain truth: In Christ, you are free.

You might remember that it was on Reformation Day in 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his “95 Theses” on the door of Whittenburg Castle Church.

His “95 Theses” basically amount to a series of discussion questions about theological issues of the day.

Maybe one way we could mark this 505th anniversary of Luther posting his latest discussion questions for his doctoral students would be to consider some questions of our own. Maybe we could find time this weekend or during this week to meditate on all Christ has freely given to us and ask ourselves…

How might we, in light of our freedom, more clearly see the things that hold us captive?

Would it be possible to give up the endless roller coaster of self-hatred and self-justifying and to gratefully accept the grace of God, knowing that we haven’t done anything to deserve Christ’s gifts but that he gave them to us anyway?

How might we think about things differently if we were confident that Christ had made us truly free–that there were no “gotchas” waiting around the corner?

How might we see God’s word, not as another item on our to-do list, but as a resource where we could find rest?

How could we become more certain of the gifts freely given to us in baptism?

Could we see our workplaces, homes, and day-to-day lives not as places where we’re burnt out but as areas where we can bring a little of Christ’s light?

How would we deal more prudently with our own sins now that Christ has removed the curse that our failure to live up to the law brought?

What if we were so confident of what Christ has given us that we could face our life not as a burden but as a calling to a great adventure?

What should we do now that we are truly free?