John 8.31-36

Sunday before Reformation Day – Pentecost 21 (Revised Common Lectionary) | 10.30.22 | John 8.31-36 | Carl A. Voges |

 The Passage

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.  How is it that you say, ‘You will become free?’”

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.  The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.                  [English Standard Version]

 The Lead-In

“For 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, “atoning sacrifice”) by his blood, to be received by faith.”                                                                                                                                                        [Romans 3.22b-25a]

  In the Name of Christ + Jesus Our Lord

More than five hundred years of observing the Reformation tends to have Lutherans milling around while attempting to freshen the annual observances.  That long period of time, though, can also surface another reality in the Lutheran tradition – losing sight of the re-forming that was triggered by the Lord’s activity as his Life pushed into the Church’s life in the 1500s.

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’s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.  It is intriguing in this year’s 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.

Over the past two and three generations, as the world deepened its habitual narcissism, so did the Lutheran structures participate.  An obsession with their tasks and their futures led them to adopt the world’s ways or the Pharisaic ways displayed in the Gospels or the ways picked from other church structures.  Sadly, such obsession has not worked out as promised, leaving the Lutheran structures mired and trapped.

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.  As they do, they are centering their observances in the Lord’s saving activity, the activity re-discovered by Martin Luther and his colleagues through the mysterious workings of the Holy Spirit.

This observance of the Reformation turns on the reality that the world’s people are not able to save themselves from the horrifying realities of sin, Satan and death.  The world’s people are saved only by the grace and mercy pouring from the Son’s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension for the people crushed and trapped by the world’s life.  While the attractiveness and destructiveness of the world’s life swirl around us, this does not prevent us from being exposed to the saving actions of LORD God.  We can also recognize that the re-forming work which took place over five hundred years ago can still occur today.  Such re-forming work got underway through Martin Luther’s intense exposure to the Holy Scriptures along with the Sacraments of Baptism, Forgiveness and Eucharist given to the Church by its Lord.

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 – today’s Gospel from John 8.  This passage is a very familiar one, but it originates in a setting with which we are not familiar.  In the verses just in front of it, Jesus is having a highly serious conversation with the Pharisees.

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!;  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!;  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!  After this conversation, however, as today’s 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!

As we turn into this passage – Jesus is saying to his listeners, “If you continue in my Word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will make you free.”  Let’s unpack some of the key words in these phrases.

“Word” is seen most clearly in Jesus’ birth, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension; this Word is always boring in on us from the Lord’s Scriptures and Sacraments (there is no other source for it).

“Truth” is the revealing of who Jesus is; Truth is having the Holy Trinity establish the saving, sustaining and creating relationships with their baptized people.

“Being made free” 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).

The listeners answer Jesus,  “We are descendants of Abraham, and have never been in bondage to anyone.”  The word, “descendants” point to a number of people, but the Greek word, “sperma,” 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 “bondage” to anyone?  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).

Jesus’ listeners had also lost sight of their responsibility as Abraham’s descendants.  They were to be the carriers of the Lord’s promises into the world, but that had been replaced by a sense of privileged, automatic and divine protection.  They concluded they could inherit the Lord’s promises no matter what their lives had become or how wrapped up they were in their own.

So they ask Jesus,  “How is it that you say, You will be made free?”  Our Lord answers,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin” (notice that sin does drive our attitudes and actions!).  He goes on,  “A slave does not continue in the house forever, the son continues forever” (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).

Jesus is pointing out that the births of his listeners into the world’s life traps them, it treats them like slaves.  From the Lord’s actions in the Old Testament, they should know they cannot break themselves free from such bondage, instead, they have forgotten that reality.  That’s where Jesus comes in, descending from David’s family, his approaching crucifixion and resurrection will break the grip of the world’s bondage and free the people caught in it.  That’s why our Lord concludes, “So if Son makes you free, you will be free indeed!”

In the verses following this passage, it is clear that Jesus’ listeners miss the point of what he is saying.  In fact, they miss it so much they do not hesitate to speak of killing him!  Because of these dynamics, it is no surprise then to recognize that today’s listeners have not changed from the ones in this passage.

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.  Such individuals tend to see Baptism as an automatic protection, similar to a vaccination!  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!  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.

Such absence and slim recognition is what generates the obsessions wheeling

through the various Lutheran church structures.  That being the situation, what can we do?  Follow the example of Martin Luther and his re-forming colleagues!

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’s 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.  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!  The excellent and faithful work of the reformers made it clear that the Lord’s saving Life drives into the world’s life only through the holy places of his Scriptures and Sacraments.  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’ dying and rising.  The reformers were continually pointing their listeners to the Lord’s saving actions; that still is the Lutheran calling today!

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.  Like Martin Luther and his colleagues, we have been made aware of his saving actions for us and for all the world’s people.  With the Lord’s 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.  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!

Now may the peace of the Lord God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our

    hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus Our Lord

Pr. Carl A. Voges, Columbia, SC; carl.voges4@icloud.com