Göttinger Predigten
Göttinger Predigten im Internet hg. von U. Nembach
Reformation Day, 10/27/2013
Sermon on Romans 3:28, by Frank C. Senn
Text: "For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the Law" (Romans 3:28).
We can hear Martin Luther hurling this text at his opponents who saw a value in teaching the people to rely on the traditions and practices of the Church for their eternal security. Attend Mass, go on pilgrimages, venerate the relics of the saints, buy indulgences that reduce your relatives' time in purgatory and help to build St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. "Works-righteousness," he thundered. He lifted up St. Paul's text against this whole late medieval religiosity. And his use of Paul's text has colored our reading of Paul---and of the Judaism the apostle was trying to reconcile with gentiles who had faith in the Jewish Messiah.
"We are justified by faith apart from the works of the law." Slogans are like sound bites, and they falsify the truth, the whole truth, the whole counsel of God. I would not want to take what late medieval Christians believed as a testimony to what the Catholic Church officially taught any more than I would want to take a survey of what Lutherans (or at least American Lutherans) actually believe as a testimony to what is taught in our Lutheran confessions and catechisms. And I would not want to ascribe to St. Paul's fellow Pharisees what our caricature of Phariseeism has been. It would be a violation of the eighth commandments about bearing false witness against our neighbor, as it is taught in our Catechism. The "works of the Law" that Paul said did not apply to gentile believers were the marks of Jewish identity, like circumcision and keeping kosher.
There's been a lot to work through when it comes to the doctrine of justification by faith. In 1999 the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation signed a Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by Faith. Unfortunately, that momentous accomplishment came at the end of an exciting period of ecumenism rather than at the beginning of new ecumenical efforts in realizing Christian unity. So we have not been able to build on that achievement to transcend the tragic divisions caused by the 16th century Reformation. Roman papacies since John XXIII have moved in the direction of promoting Christian unity, but the bureaucratic wheels turn slowly and conciliar decrees and papal encyclicals teaching Christian unity do not seem to filter down into local dioceses and parishes. Nor is there a whole lot of reaching out to Rome by Lutheran judicatories and congregations. In fact, there is less ecumenical effort now, I would say, than a couple of decades ago.
It's like we momentarily enjoyed the summer of ecumenism in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council when we were all out on our porches conversing with our neighbors and maybe even sharing backyard barbecues with them, but then as autumn approaches and moves toward winter we go back indoors and tend to our own households. There's no doubt that all the Churches in the West are concerned about their own wellbeing, even their own survival. When you're insecure you don't move out into the world to embrace others, you circle the wagons. You emphasize not what we share with others; you work on your own identity. And the unfortunate thing about identity is that we often form ours by comparing and contrasting ourselves with others. As we move toward the year 2017 and the 500th anniversary of Luther's Reformation, watch for a lot more emphasis on building up our Lutheran institutions at the expense of joining with others to bring the gospel of Christ to the nations.
Now, having said that, I do not mean to suggest that we should no longer observe the Reformation. If the torn robe of Christendom were sewn up tomorrow, the message of the Reformation---our understanding of the gospel, the good news of Christ's atoning sacrifice that reconciles God and humanity---must be proclaimed today. It must proclaimed by all who know the gospel and celebrate it, whether they are Lutherans or not. It must be heard by those who know it, but who need to be reminded of it again. It must be heard by those who have forgotten it, or who have never really understood it, even though they regard themselves as sons and daughters of the Reformation. Most of all, it must be heard by modern and postmodern people who are likely to be scandalized by it. It must be addressed to all people who will not "let God be God," who do not understand that you do not make God in your own image but that we are made in God's image, who do not understand that we do not have to justify God before the world but that we must all be justified before God.
We must be justified by God if we are to have any relationship with God because we have effaced the divine image that we were created to display; because we have taken God-like decisions into our own hands and even demeaned what it means to be human; because we have made a mess of the earth and even of our own bodies that God entrusted into our care. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," and we can't fix it.
Sin is not a popular idea today. People think they're pretty good. They don't want to hear about how bad they are. They don't want to think about how they have been taken captive by their own worst impulses. So churches looking for their market share make sure that their attendees don't have to think about personal sin. They suppress the confession of sins and congratulate them for showing up and supporting church projects.
Modern people like to point to their individual and collective accomplishments. They---we!---point to our technological achievements, our entrepreneurial skills, our new devices, our condos and town houses. Like our medieval and ancient ancestors we want to be able to stand before God and say, "Look what I have accomplished...for myself, for my family, for the world. I did it all by myself."
But it was the liberating experience of the Reformation that what one has done does not count before God. It is not necessary to heap achievement upon achievement, success upon success. Maybe it's only when we reach the point of being crushed under the grind of what it takes to achieve our successes and wonder if it was all worth it or whether we achieved anything lasting at all that we can appreciate how liberating it is not to have to justify ourselves by our works.
As I look at the biblical characters, the one who stands out for me as very modern is Jacob. Jacob was the intended son of promise, the one who would carry on God's promise to Abraham and receive the blessing of descendants and land. But with his conniving mother he had to take matters into his own hands and steal the birthright of his first-born twin brother Esau by deceiving his blind father. He had to flee the camp to escape Esau's wrath. He continued to be the conniver and deceiver as he got what he could from his Uncle Laban, including his two daughters in marriage. But after years had passed he wanted to take over the leadership of the clan and that required reconciling with his brother Esau. He headed back, but fearing the worst made sure that his growing family was protected. Then he went forth to the ford of the River Jabbok to meet Esau alone.
Jacob spent a sleepless night at the ford---sleepless because he got into a wrestling match with a stranger. When the stranger saw that Jacob was putting up a great struggle and that dawn was breaking he sought to end the match by putting Jacob's thigh out of joint. But still Jacob held on and said he would not let go until the stranger blessed him. The blessing turned out to be a name change---always a significant event in the Bible. Jacob's new name was "Israel," "one who struggles with God." Jacob, now Israel, discerned that he had been struggled with God all night and yet his life was preserved. In fact, he had been struggling with God all his life. Jacob had to come to grips with the fact that he could not just do things his own way and according to his own timetable. He had to trust the God who makes and fulfills promises in his own mysterious ways. That's justification by faith.
Could any character be more modern? Like Jacob, we modern and postmodern people who want to do things in our own way must be confronted by the Lord God of heaven and earth. It is when we stand our ground and struggle with God or conscience during those dark nights of uncertainty and fear that God will bless us.
We cannot lose sight of that lonely struggle of Jacob with God for the future of God's people, or of the equally lonely struggle of that professor at Wittenberg who was preparing to challenge the Holy Roman Church and the Holy Roman Empire, or of the lonely struggles that we ourselves have as we try to come to grips with our own self-absorption in an effort to find meaning and purpose in life. In these struggles we eventually come to perceive that we are really struggling with God. The outcome of such a struggle is that we rely on faith in God rather than on our own works.
The Church too must struggle with its mission in the modern and postmodern world. Our tendency is to rely on works---on our studies of social and cultural conditions, on strategies and tactics based on these studies, on appropriating whatever seems to work that others are doing. But only by struggling with the God we encounter in the Scriptures can we receive the resources for genuine reform and spiritual renewal.
The Reformation testifies to the God of Israel, the God who "has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, saved me at great cost from sin, death, and the power of the devil---not with silver or gold, but with his holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death." The Reformation testifies to Christ. He is the God we have seen face to face, and through him is our life preserved. Through his blessing we are sent off into the morning light to claim promised inheritance. Amen.