\u00a0The Passage<\/p>\n
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, \u201cIf you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.\u201d\u00a0 They answered him, \u201cWe are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.\u00a0 How is it that you say, \u2018You will become free?\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Jesus answered them, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. \u00a0The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.\u00a0 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0[English Standard Version]<\/p>\n \u00a0The Lead-In<\/p>\n \u201cFor there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation (that is, \u201catoning sacrifice\u201d) by his blood, to be received by faith.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Romans 3.22b-25a]<\/p>\n \u00a0 In the Name of Christ + Jesus Our Lord<\/p>\n More than five hundred years of observing the Reformation tends to have Lutherans milling around while attempting to freshen the annual observances.\u00a0 That long period of time, though, can also surface another reality in the Lutheran tradition \u2013 losing sight of the re-forming that was triggered by the Lord\u2019s activity as his Life pushed into the Church\u2019s life in the 1500s.<\/p>\n Through such activity Martin Luther and his colleagues were brought face-to-face with the self-wrapping that is native to the human condition along with the redemption that breaks out from the Son\u2019s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.\u00a0 It is intriguing in this year\u2019s observance to note how this self-wrapping continues to persist, not only within our individual lives, but also in the life of the Lutheran church structures to which we belong.<\/p>\n Over the past two and three generations, as the world deepened its habitual narcissism, so did the Lutheran structures participate.\u00a0 An obsession with their tasks and their futures led them to adopt the world\u2019s ways or the Pharisaic ways displayed in the Gospels or the ways picked from other church structures.\u00a0 Sadly, such obsession has not worked out as promised, leaving the Lutheran structures mired and trapped.<\/p>\n Still, it is healthy that the parishes from different Lutheran denominations are marking the 505th anniversary of the Reformation this weekend with the recognition that the Lutheran structures are still part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.\u00a0 As they do, they are centering their observances in the Lord\u2019s saving activity, the activity re-discovered by Martin Luther and his colleagues through the mysterious workings of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n This observance of the Reformation turns on the reality that the world\u2019s people are not able to save themselves from the horrifying realities of sin, Satan and death.\u00a0 The world\u2019s people are saved only by the grace and mercy pouring from the Son\u2019s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension for the people crushed and trapped by the world\u2019s life.\u00a0 While the attractiveness and destructiveness of the world\u2019s life swirl around us, this does not prevent us from being exposed to the saving actions of LORD God.\u00a0 We can also recognize that the re-forming work which took place over five hundred years ago can still occur today.\u00a0 Such re-forming work got underway through Martin Luther\u2019s intense exposure to the Holy Scriptures along with the Sacraments of Baptism, Forgiveness and Eucharist given to the Church by its Lord.<\/p>\n While the work of Luther and his colleagues lingers in the back of our lives, it is no accident that we turn our attention to one of the passages in those Scriptures \u2013 today\u2019s Gospel from John 8.\u00a0 This passage is a very familiar one, but it originates in a setting with which we are not familiar.\u00a0 In the verses just in front of it, Jesus is having a highly serious conversation with the Pharisees.<\/p>\n In it note some of the astounding things he is saying to them: I go away and you will seek me and die in your sin!;\u00a0 You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world!; I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he!;\u00a0 When you have lifted up Son of man, then you will know that I am he!; As he spoke this way, many believed in him!\u00a0 After this conversation, however, as today\u2019s Gospel opens up, there are people who no longer believe in the Lord and, when you look at the verses following this passage, there are others who actually want to kill him!<\/p>\n As we turn into this passage \u2013 Jesus is saying to his listeners, \u201cIf you continue in my Word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will make you free.\u201d\u00a0 Let\u2019s unpack some of the key words in these phrases.<\/p>\n \u201cWord\u201d is seen most clearly in Jesus\u2019 birth, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension; this Word is always boring in on us from the Lord\u2019s Scriptures and Sacraments (there is no other source for it).<\/p>\n \u201cTruth\u201d is the revealing of who Jesus is; Truth is having the Holy Trinity establish the saving, sustaining and creating relationships with their baptized people.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing made free\u201d by our Lord means we are no longer bound to ourselves (such binding occurs when we are born into world); instead, we are now bound to the LORD God (this binding first occurs at Baptism).<\/p>\n The listeners answer Jesus,\u00a0 \u201cWe are descendants of Abraham, and have never been in bondage to anyone.\u201d\u00a0 The word, \u201cdescendants\u201d point to a number of people, but the Greek word, \u201csperma,\u201d can also refer to just one person (John may be working with the word to indicate that Jesus is the real descendant of Abraham!). What do the listeners mean they have never been in \u201cbondage\u201d to anyone?\u00a0 In a political sense their boast is empty (over many centuries they were occupied by world powers such as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Rome; they were not occupied, however, when David was king in the 900s BC).<\/p>\n Jesus\u2019 listeners had also lost sight of their responsibility as Abraham\u2019s descendants.\u00a0 They were to be the carriers of the Lord\u2019s promises into the world, but that had been replaced by a sense of privileged, automatic and divine protection.\u00a0 They concluded they could inherit the Lord\u2019s promises no matter what their lives had become or how wrapped up they were in their own.<\/p>\n So they ask Jesus,\u00a0 \u201cHow is it that you say, You will be made free?\u201d\u00a0 Our Lord answers,<\/p>\n \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin\u201d (notice that sin does drive our attitudes and actions!).\u00a0 He goes on,\u00a0 \u201cA slave does not continue in the house forever, the son continues forever\u201d (if the owners of a home die, the slaves, because they are viewed as a commodity, have to go elsewhere; the son, on the other hand, receives the home and continues in it).<\/p>\n Jesus is pointing out that the births of his listeners into the world\u2019s life traps them, it treats them like slaves.\u00a0 From the Lord\u2019s actions in the Old Testament, they should know they cannot break themselves free from such bondage, instead, they have forgotten that reality.\u00a0 That\u2019s where Jesus comes in, descending from David\u2019s family, his approaching crucifixion and resurrection will break the grip of the world\u2019s bondage and free the people caught in it.\u00a0 That\u2019s why our Lord concludes, \u201cSo if Son makes you free, you will be free indeed!\u201d<\/p>\n In the verses following this passage, it is clear that Jesus\u2019 listeners miss the point of what he is saying. \u00a0In fact, they miss it so much they do not hesitate to speak of killing him!\u00a0 Because of these dynamics, it is no surprise then to recognize that today\u2019s listeners have not changed from the ones in this passage.<\/p>\n Looking around, we realize we are surrounded with people who used to believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but have now sunk into the rhythms of their own lives.\u00a0 Such individuals tend to see Baptism as an automatic protection, similar to a vaccination!\u00a0 This tendency fools them into thinking they can do whatever they want with their own lives and that somehow, someway, the Lord will keep track of them!\u00a0 Such people are not talking about the killing of the LORD God (very few people have the nerve to do that!), but they do re-shape the Holy Trinity into their ways of thinking and doing so much, the LORD God is barely recognizable or absent.<\/p>\n Such absence and slim recognition is what generates the obsessions wheeling<\/p>\n through the various Lutheran church structures.\u00a0 That being the situation, what can we do?\u00a0 Follow the example of Martin Luther and his re-forming colleagues!<\/p>\n Recall that they were part of the Church in 1500s AD that was exercising political and military control over its territories; that was building up its construction funds for Saint Peter\u2019s Church in Rome (it was estimated then to be a fifteen million dollar project; today that estimate would be close to eight hundred million dollars!); that was concentrating on itself as an organization and corporation.\u00a0 Through the intense and brilliant exposures to his Scriptures and Sacraments, the LORD God blew through all those distortions of his Life to re-assert his own!\u00a0 The excellent and faithful work of the reformers made it clear that the Lord\u2019s saving Life drives into the world\u2019s life only through the holy places of his Scriptures and Sacraments.\u00a0 They recognized how dangerous and deceptive are the workings of sin, Satan and death, but they also knew how those workings had been ripped to shreds by Jesus\u2019 dying and rising.\u00a0 The reformers were continually pointing their listeners to the Lord\u2019s saving actions; that still is the Lutheran calling today!<\/p>\n With that in mind, we see the members and friends in Lutheran parishes gathering to worship the LORD God this weekend on the 505fth anniversary of the Reformation.\u00a0 Like Martin Luther and his colleagues, we have been made aware of his saving actions for us and for all the world\u2019s people.\u00a0 With the Lord\u2019s holy places swirling around our lives in a sin-driven and sin-sustained world, we are grateful, deeply grateful, for his grace and mercy pushing into our lives.\u00a0 May the LORD God continue to re-form the life of all Lutheran church structures in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church by dominating all we are and do through his saving, sustaining and creating actions!<\/p>\n Now may the peace of the Lord God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus Our Lord<\/p>\n Pr. Carl A. Voges, Columbia, SC; carl.voges4@icloud.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunday before Reformation Day \u2013 Pentecost 21 (Revised Common Lectionary) | 10.30.22 | John 8.31-36 | Carl A. Voges | \u00a0The Passage So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, \u201cIf you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,157,853,173,108,110,233,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-14366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-johannes","category-beitragende","category-bibel","category-carl-a-voges","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-08-chapter-08","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14367,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14366\/revisions\/14367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14366"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=14366"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=14366"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=14366"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=14366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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