Time after Pentecost, Lectionary 30 or Reformation Sunday
Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22 or Sirach 35:12-17
Psalm 84: 1-6
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14
or
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 46
Romans 3:19-28
John 8:31-36
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee.
October 31st is a special day for many churches. For Lutherans and other Protestant denominations, it is Reformation Day. It is the anniversary of the day in 1517 when Martin Luther posted the Ninety-five thesis on the door of Wittenburg Church. The theses were written to open debate between scholars about the abuses in the Church at that time. This began a reform movement that sought to restore the Christian faith to a simpler time, to a time when the work of God, His grace, was the center of the faith.
Martin Luther was an interesting character who lived in an interesting age. Superstition was rampant. The Church and secular authorities used the fears of the people to control and to establish even greater power for themselves. They sold indulgences to raise funds to build a massive new church building in Rome and they did this by feeding the fears of hell that were held by the people. The only way anyone was going to get to heaven was to pay for it. It was also possible to pay for those who were already dead. People were set free of the bondage of purgatory by the works – and money – of their loved ones.
People were ignorant of God’s Word, they received only what was given to them by the priests. The priests were often uneducated and heretical in their understanding of God, partly because they were ill-informed and partly because so many pagan thoughts had entered into the Christian understanding of God. It was a time of fear. Those who were faithful were so afraid of the wrath of God that they could not find peace or hope in their life. Guilt was a tool used by the Church to convince the congregation to purchase indulgences.
Martin Luther was an educated man who studied the scriptures and had a good sense of God’s love, but he so riddled with guilt that he spent hours confessing his sins and seeking forgiveness. He was a priest and he was afraid that if was not justified before God, then his entire congregation would be condemned forever. He included every minor and trivial thought, word or deed that was not perfect. He suffered great pains spiritually. He was trying to be perfect, but when he was not perfect he obsessed over receiving forgiveness for himself for the sake of his congregation.
One day, however, Martin Luther realized that his works would never save him, that an eternity in heaven is dependent entirely on the grace of God. The scriptures that are used to celebrate Reformation Day all focus on God’s grace. When Martin Luther read the passage from Romans 3, he rediscovered the foundation of the Gospel message – that it is not by our works that we are saved, but by the amazing grace of God. It is so much easier for us to do good works than to accept the humbling reality that we can never make ourselves good enough to enter into the presence of God. We don’t want God to see our imperfections and we fear what will happen when He does. It is much, much harder for us to cry out to God in our imperfections because we are truly afraid of what He might say. Yet, the true path, the better path, is to cry out in faith knowing that God is gracious and merciful, full of forgiveness. There is nothing we can do to earn His grace, but in faith we can boldly approach Him with our needs. He will stop and listen. He will heal. In Him, and in Him alone, we have hope.
October 28th is Reformation Sunday for many churches and those churches will most likely focus on the texts given for that festival. They paint a picture of that amazing God who gives His grace to free those bound in the slavery of sin and death. Jeremiah speaks about a time when God will make a new covenant with His people, a time when they will know God fully and will be forgiven. Not only will God make them clean, but He will remember their sin no more. The Epistle lesson reminds us that we are sinners in need of a Savior and that Christ makes us free. We have nothing to boast about. Our good works are never good enough; it is only by faith that we are justified. In the Gospel lesson from John, the Jews held up their ancestry and inheritance of the faith as their way of salvation, but Jesus reminds them that they are slaves to sin. We are made sons through the Son who sets us free.
In all these scriptures we see a strong and powerful image of God, “our refuge and our strength.” We need not fear, like Martin Luther feared for himself and for his congregation, because God is a very present help in trouble. It was Psalm 46 that Martin Luther used as the basis for one of his most important works: the hymn “A Mighty Fortress.” God is always there. He is a fortress in times of difficulty and a refuge in times of need. When things are looking bad in the world in which we live, as they must have looked to Luther in 1517, we can rest assured that God is present, active and faithful.
It is difficult on days like this to decide whether to focus on the texts for the special day or to stay with the regular lectionary lessons. I will focus more closely on the regular lectionary texts, since many of the readers come from non-Reformed traditions. I also like the way the Gospel text seems to answer the question from last week’s text, “Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”
It is a natural human response to respond to the question with a checklist of religious actions which are the marks of Christian faith. We think about regular attendance of worship, our bible study, our prayer life. We think about the things we do in the community to meet the needs of the less fortunate. When we hear the question we wonder if He will find us doing what He has called us to do. Will He find us living the life of discipleship? Will He find us glorifying God? When we are asked this question, we measure our righteousness in the only way we know how, but counting all our good works. When we can put a check next to all the marks, we can breathe a sigh of relief and rest assured that He will find faith, at least in our life.
Jesus recognized this natural human trait in the people who were listening. They were the righteous, the ones who followed all the rules. It is so easy for us to assume that we are better than another because we can point to our good works. How many people have said, “I will be going to heaven because I am a good person.” We might remember that we aren’t perfect, but we can all compare ourselves to someone who is not quite as good as we. We are certain that we are better than a murderer, cheater or even our neighbor whose life does not appear as righteous as ours. We think we are good enough. But we are no different than the Pharisee. We might not walk into church and proclaim that we are better than the person sitting in the next pew, but haven’t we all thought it silently?
The Pharisee thanks God that he is not like the sinners, even points out the tax collector praying nearby. He proclaims before God his list of good works. We are offended by this prayer, wondering how anyone could be so self-serving with his words. However, this was a typical prayer for the day. There is a prayer of thanksgiving in the Talmud which was used by the rabbis as they entered and exited bible study. They thanked God that they were not like the people who did not study the scriptures. It was not considered self-righteous to recite this prayer; it was expected of those set apart for studying the Torah. In other words, this prayer of the Pharisee was probably an acceptable rote prayer that was regularly said by the Pharisee and his peers. This was the way things were done.
However, Jesus calls their attention to the other person at prayer in the Temple. The listening crowds were probably sympathetic to the Pharisee, perhaps even proud that their leaders were so righteous. The tax collector was a man who was reviled not only for his vocation but also for his religious impurity. He was a sinner and as a sinner he had no right to stand in the presence of God. He was not even good enough to be in the presence of the righteous Pharisee. Jesus tells them, “This man went down to his house justified rather than the other.” It was the sinner that humbled himself before God that was found to have faith. It was he that was granted forgiveness and was justified before God.
When the Son of man comes, shall He find faith on earth? He will find it in those who have humbled themselves, who have recognized their sinfulness and who have sought God’s mercy and grace. They will be justified. They will be the ones who can rest assured that they will spend eternity in heaven. It is not by our good works it is not because we can claim a list of right actions, which we can count on God’s promises. We can’t be sure we will be going to heaven because we have prayed right or worshipped right or done all the right things. Christ finds faith in the hearts of those who know that they are not worthy to receive the gifts but trust in God’s faithfulness. Those are the ones who will be justified; they are the humble ones who will be exalted.
Jeremiah lived at a difficult time for the people of Judah. They felt secure. The message of Jeremiah was unpopular because he preached doom and gloom for the people. He constantly warned that Judah and Jerusalem would fall. This was hard for the people to believe because they knew the promises of God that had been given to their forefathers and passed down through the generations. However, they had allowed the foreign gods to become a part of their lives. He preached that God would not protect them because they had come to rely on the false gods. He left them in the care of gods that could not do anything to save them.
It was a time of political and military unrest. Babylon was right around the corner. The prophecies of Jeremiah could very well have happened at any moment. The people of Judah thought they had no need to worry, but they were apostate. They no longer relied on God. Jeremiah warned them that their apostasy would be their undoing. God would allow Babylon to destroy Judah. Though Jeremiah’s message included a promise for restoration, he preached about the need for repentance and humility before their God. God would be faithful, but the hope would only come after the destruction. This message made life very difficult for Jeremiah. He was hated and threatened. He was ignored and rejected. The people listened to the words of the false prophets and they believed that the prophecies could not possibly be against them.
In today’s passage we hear Jeremiah crying out to God for the sake of the people. He was begging for mercy for Judah, reminding God of His grace. I can understand Jeremiah’s case before God. What good will it do to have Judah destroyed? He reminds God that the destruction of Judah will dishonor Himself, because the destruction of Judah would mean breaking a covenant. In the verses we do not read for this day, God tells Jeremiah not to weep for Judah, that they will receive the just reward for believing the false prophets and worshipping the false gods. The Jews thought they had a special wealth as the chosen people of God. They thought they were guaranteed protection and prosperity based on their ancestry, but they had turned their backs on God. Though they still claimed to believe, they also worshipped false gods and believed the false prophets. They would soon learn that the Lord God Almighty is the only God and that it is only in Him that they will have peace.
The alternate text for today is from the Book of Sirach. It is also known as Ecclesiasticus (not to be confused with Ecclesiastes), Ben Sira and the Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach. This deuterocanonical work is a book of proverbs and wisdom that was penned during the intertestimental period. The book was not considered part of the Hebrew canon, which is why it was not accepted widely as part of the Christian canon. Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches still include the deuterocanonical texts in their bibles and some Protestant churches include passages from Sirach as alternate texts in the Lectionary.
Ecclesiasticus was used by the earliest churches. There are references to the book in the writings of the early church fathers and it is believed that the book was used as a catechism for new Christians. It is filled with wise sayings as well as words of guidance for living the faithful life. It includes chapters containing moral instruction. The author was Jesus, son of Sirach, a man who lived in the third to second century B.C. The text was translated into Greek by the author’s grandson. The grandson added a foreword that gives some details about the book, the author and the translator himself. Fragments of this text were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
He translated it to Greek because it was the common language in the world so that many would benefit from the wisdom contained within. He was not the first to do a translation, but he found that some of the translations were less than satisfactory. He wanted to do it better. He wrote in the foreword in 132 B.C.: “Many important truths have been handed down to us through the law, the prophets, and the later authors; and for these the instruction and wisdom of Israel merit praise. Now, those who are familiar with these truths must not only understand them themselves but, as lovers of wisdom, be able, in speech and in writing, to help others less familiar. Such a one was my grandfather, Jesus, who, having devoted himself for a long time to the diligent study of the law, the prophets, and the rest of the books of our ancestors, and having developed a thorough familiarity with them, was moved to write something himself in the nature of instruction and wisdom, in order that those who love wisdom might, by acquainting themselves with what he too had written, make even greater progress in living in conformity with the divine law. You therefore are now invited to read it in a spirit of attentive good will, with indulgence for any apparent failure on our part, despite earnest efforts, in the interpretation of particular passages. For words spoken originally in Hebrew are not as effective when they are translated into another language. That is true not only of this book but of the law itself, the prophets and the rest of the books, which differ no little when they are read in the original.” He went on to say that he spent many sleepless nights trying to translate the book rightly, “for the benefit of those living abroad who wish to acquire wisdom and are disposed to live their lives according to the standards of the law.”
Despite the disadvantages of translating the text from Hebrew to Greek, the grandson of Jesus, son of Sirach understood the necessity of providing the scriptures to the common man. Others have done the same thing, often against the Church. Martin Luther also translated the scriptures into the common language of his day. It was one of the many things he accomplished during his ministry. For many Christians from Protestant background, Reformation Sunday will be celebrated this week. On that day we remember the man Martin Luther – both saint and sinner – and what he did for the Christian faith nearly five hundred years ago.
Though the Book of Sirach is not included in many bibles, we can see by the words of today’s texts that there is indeed wisdom in the words. We can see the connections that can be made between this text and the others for this Sunday. We are reminded that God not need, nor does He seek, our gifts or sacrifices. He does not show favoritism according to our good works. He is a just God, giving forgiveness and mercy to those who humble themselves before Him. He has a special heart for those who are in humble circumstances, those who cry out to Him. The writer reminds us of God’s grace to those who are left alone and who are oppressed, like the widow in our Gospel lesson.
It is possible that Jesus was even referencing this text when he was telling the parable to the people. In these verses we see the widow crying out with tears to the righteous judge. She will not leave be comforted or leave until justice is executed. The persistence of the widow gives us an example of how to live the Christ-like life: the life of seeking God’s mercy and justice through prayer and supplication. Those who love the Lord will be heard, but God’s way is always to do things in His time. We live Christ-like when we trust in the promises knowing that God is faithful. The wait is long and hard, but we have been invited to lift our voices in prayer over and over again until God does what He has promised.
The Psalm for today was written as a song of praise for the pilgrim traveling to Jerusalem. The journeys were difficult as the people had to traverse mountains and dry valleys. The Valley of Baca has not been identified and may be figurative, describing the barren places all the pilgrims had to cross to get to Jerusalem. I can imagine what it must have been like when the pilgrim first saw Temple during their journey. It was an awesome sight, sparkling white on the hillside. Knowing that they were close to their destination would have given them hope and the last burst of energy they needed to finish their trip. They would have approached the Temple rejoicing with songs and hymns, encouraging one another with words of hope.
The psalmist writes, “They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion.” This psalm was most likely written in reference to the Feast of Tabernacles, the feast that came in the fall when the first rains began to fall to water the winter crops, transforming the dry landscape into a sea of new growth. Those gentle rains left pools of refreshing water along the path. That is what it is like living in the presence of God. We go from strength to strength to strength as we journey toward the day when we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Until that day, we walk with songs of praise on our tongues knowing that God is with us, walks with us and provides us with all we need to go on.
George Matheson was a gifted young man. He was a preacher and theologian who lived in Scotland during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He went to the University of Glasgow and graduated first in his class. He decided to become a minister and in 1879 he earned his Doctorate of Divinity from the University of Edinburgh. He did all this with a disability. He was born with poor eyesight and was almost totally blind by the time he turned twenty years old. His sister took care of him and even learned Greek, Latin and Hebrew to help him with his theological studies. Despite his blindness he became an amazing preacher. He was able to memorize scripture and his sermons so well that many people did not even realize that he was blind.
George was engaged to be married to a young lady until she discovered that he was going blind. She could not face life married to a blind man, so she broke off the engagement. He tried to be a theologian, but his lack of eyesight made it difficult for him to do the necessary research. His colleagues found grave errors in one of his publications, so he gave up that work to return to parish ministry.
On the eve of his sister’s wedding, George was feeling abandoned. Though he was happy for his sister and wanted her to be happy, he recalled the pain he felt when his fiancé left him. He did not attend the wedding and felt utterly alone in the world. He was a blind man who did not know who would care for him now that his sister had a life of her own. He did not know who would help him with his studies, with his sermons, with his ministry. On that night as he sat alone, he wrote the hymn “O Love That Will Not Let Me God.” The words of this famous hymn tell the story of a man trusting in God and recognizing His presence in difficult circumstances. It is a hymn of humility and commitment.
I wonder how Paul felt at the point of his life when he wrote today’s Epistle lesson. He was utterly alone. He was imprisoned and no one who had been his friend and co-worker could be found to aid him in this time of trouble. He was forsaken just when he needed them most. But in this difficulty, Paul knew the presence of God. He knew that he was not alone, that God was with him in his troubles. He also knew that everything that happened was for the glory of God. His life, and even his death, would serve to bring the Gospel of Christ to the world. By God’s grace, his life, and even his death, would not be in vain. God is true to His promises. He does not abandon those whom He loves and has called to serve.
Whether we use the Reformation Sunday texts or the regular lectionary, the message for this week – and every week – is to trust in God, not in our good works. We are hopeless sinners without Him. In Him we are made free to live and love and work for God’s glory. He is our refuge and our strength. He takes us from strength to strength by His grace. Will He find faith when He comes? We can’t be sure we will be going to heaven because we have prayed right or worshipped right or done all the right things. Christ finds faith in the hearts of those who know that they are not worthy to receive the gifts but trust in God’s faithfulness. Those are the ones who will be justified; they are the humble ones who will be exalted.
A WORD FOR TODAY
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