Reformation Sunday

John 8:31-36

So this Reformation Sunday, there is an embarrassment of riches for the preacher.

Here at Grace, on Reformation Sunday, we have a tradition of celebrating the affirmation of baptism for our students who have completed three years of formation and instruction in confirmation. Earlier we heard Emily Karen, Nyles and Katya share their memory verses. And in the bulletin, you can read more about why those verses are meaningful to them. Later in the worship service, they will commit themselves to the promises that were made for them at baptism, and as a congregation, we will promise to support them in their lives in Christ and pray for them. I could talk more about these three youth and what we have learned together, but baptism isn’t about what we have done, but what God does for us.

Another sermon would talk about our favorite reformer Martin Luther and the work of the Protestant Reformation that happened a little over five hundred years ago. It’s the story of his being thunderstruck and becoming a monk and a professor. And even then, he had questions about God and faith, so he read and he studied and in reading Paul, discovered that God’s grace is a free gift given to us all, through no works of our own, but through the redemption we have in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:24) When Luther witnessed corruption in the Roman Catholic Church, he became an advocate for change and wrote and shared his 95 Theses calling for reform. He was called a heretic and eventually he was forced into hiding because he took a stand. But this isn’t “Luther Sunday”, and the story of our faith isn’t simply a historical account of what happened centuries ago. It is a story that continues today because God’s activity in our lives continues today.

And, while we are Lutheran, we do not worship Martin Luther, but Jesus Christ.

So I am going to focus on Jesus’ words in our gospel today.

While John’s gospel often uses a phrase translated “the Jews”, it’s helpful to understand that he is referring to a specific group of people – Judeans, and not even to the general population, but most likely to the religious leaders of Judea.[i]

John reveals that Jesus has been speaking to Judeans whose opinions are divided. Some are complaining about him (6:43) and want to arrest him (7:44) but others believe in him. (8:30).

In John’s gospel belief in Jesus isn’t an intellectual exercise; it means being in relationship with Jesus. It isn’t a matter of the head, but of the heart.

And Jesus encourages those who have believed in him, saying, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples.” (8:31)

There is a note for Bible geeks here. In Greek, the word Jesus uses for “continue” comes from meno μένω and another way to translate μένω is “to remain” or “to abide”.

In John 5, after he heals a man on the Sabbath, Jesus speaks to the Judeans about God’s Word abiding in those who believe. (5:38)

And again, when he teaches about the “bread from heaven in John 6, he says, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” (6:56)

When he describes himself as a vine and God as the vinegrower, he commands his followers, “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.” (15:4)

And then he says, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. (15:9)

When Jesus says we are to continue, or remain, or abide in “his word”, we are meant to remember the prologue at the very beginning of John when Jesus says,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (1:1)

“The Word”, in Greek the λόγος is God, is Jesus. So when he says “continue in my word” he is saying, “abide in me”, stay in this relationship. Because it is in relationship with Jesus that we experience the truth of God revealed in Him, and in relationship that we experience God’s free gift of abundant grace and love.

And that is the truth that sets us free.

Free to explore the world where we live and become the person God has created us to be.

Free to try and fail. Free to mess up and be forgiven.

Free to stop navel gazing, curved in on ourselves, and serve and love others.

Today as we celebrate with Emily Karen, Nyles and Katya, our confirmands on this Reformation Sunday,

we remember that we are always becoming the disciples that God desires;

we recognize that our history and tradition provide guideposts for how we practice our faith;

and we give thanks for the truth and freedom we know in Christ.

Amen.

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[i] Judith Jones. “Commentary on John 8:31-36”. workingpreacher,org. Luther Seminary.