2025-10-26 Reformation (Observed)

Scripture Readings

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!

Years ago when landline phones were still a thing, we had a cordless phone. Just imagine the freedom! No longer being wired to the wall in one spot, you could rove around the house, fold laundry, work on the car, go to the potty, all the while listening to cousin Mabel go on about her neighbour’s dog, still peeing on the front lawn, despite her sassy lawn signs. Those were the days! I remember this one time when the phone rang. I could hear it but couldn’t find it. Someone didn’t put it back in the charge cradle so I had an elaborate scavenger hunt to go and find it. Running around the house like a be-headed chicken, I finally found it, squished between the couch cushions. “Hello!?” I gasped. Dead air silence. Then, “Bwaaaaaaaaa!” A ship’s horn! “Congratulations! You’ve won a FREE, all expenses paid trip to Nassau, Bahamas! You’ll be living in the lap of luxury aboard The Caribbean Princess cruise ship with buffets so big they have their own area codes! Enjoy live music and dancing! Make memories that will last a lifetime in the idyllic, crystal clear waters! All you need to do is enter your credit card number right now to secure your free trip!” Click. I immediately hung up the phone. Have you ever noticed that they always have some incredible “free” trip or other unbelievably amazing “free” thing to give you, it’s not really free. It’s always just a creative way to scam your money. If they offer you an incredible deal that seems too good to be true, it usually is!

This old cliché, is actually the heart of the Protestant Reformation that we commemorate today. What was the scam back then, long before the days of spam phone calls and emails? It was none other than, the Christian Church. More specifically, the Western Church of Rome. What was going on? Well, they were scamming the poor German peasants out of their hard earned Marks. They were taking advantage of a vulnerable, uneducated people who simply trusted that what the Church said must be true. They represent God, after all! What they tell us must be true! That’s what makes all Church abuses so egregious. People who represent God Almighty better walk the walk.

What was the scam? The number one thing was none other than the indulgence. Forgiveness of sins, life and salvation could be purchased, from the Church, for a limited time, so call now, right now and get a two for one deal on this incredible offer! This seems so crazy to us today. But that’s only because God Himself used the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther to bring about a course correction for the ship. At least, that was the goal. October 31, 1517, the very day we are commemorating today. The 95 Theses were nailed to the castle church door in Wittenberg. 95 issues and abuses that the Church needed to repent of and change. Luther knew that everybody would be coming to church the next day, All Saints’ Day, on Nov 1 (more about that next Sunday). So on All Hallows’ Eve, from where we get our English term Halloween, Luther posted his writing that kicked off the Protestant Reformation.

But Luther had absolutely no desire to create Protestant Christians. He did not want to see the Church fractured into a zillion denominations, let alone have one named after him! He wanted the Church of Rome to correct it’s wrong theology and practice, especially the selling of salvation through indulgences. But as we know, Rome would not yield to the chubby little Monk from Germany. The racket was just too good to be true. It was even better than a Casino! With a Casino, people sometimes win money back, to hook them on the feeling and keep them spending money! But with the indulgence, the people gave the Church their money and the Church gave them nothing in return, save a piece of paper assuring that their coin bought their forgiveness.

But the indulgence wasn’t only for the individual! No, no! You could buy them for other people too. If grandma Walburga and grandpa Ludwig were in purgatory, that veritable fat-camp for the soul, well, you could get them outta there too! Straight to Park Place, pass Go, collect $200.00! “Once the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs!” They even had the advertising slogan and everything, courtesy of Johann Tetzel, seller of indulgences, extraordinaire!

But where was all this money going? Was it just to line the treasury with gold ducats?! No, no, that wasn’t it. It was to fund a building project. Specifically, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Pope Leo X authorized the sale of indulgences around 1517 to finance this massive project, which aimed to rebuild and expand the basilica into a grand symbol of papal authority. Just how massive was this project? It was around $48 million dollars in 17th-century terms. Adjusting for inflation and purchasing power, reliable analyses place the modern equivalent at approximately $33 billion USD! Which is like $79 Trillion Canadian! You get the drift. It’s an insatiable amount of money.

Now we know why the Church was doing this. Now we know why they couldn’t afford not to sell indulgences and had their heels dug in so bad on this issue. But it doesn’t really matter. Grand Church buildings and projects do not justify the wretched abuse of selling salvation. Jesus our Lord tells us straight up: “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (JN 8:36). Free. As in, no strings attached. No money. No credit cards. No gimmicks. No scams. No merit. No works. No worthiness. No brownie points. No horse trades. Nothing. Nothing, but faith alone. That’s what Jesus means. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world has done precisely this. Through His precious blood, shed on the Roman cross, He has paid the price in full for you and grandma Walburga and the entire world. The pearl of great price, that no one can buy, is unsalable precisely because it is freely available to all who believe.

What comfort this sweet sentence gives. There’s no wondering if we’ve ever “done enough” to get into God’s good books. There’s no despairing over all the wrong we’ve done that would send us straight to hell in a hand basket. Forgiveness, life and salvation, “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe … 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 by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Rom. 3:22-25). These are the words that opened Martin Luther’s eyes to the truth of the “eternal gospel to proclaim” (Rev. 14:6).

So where do we receive God’s gifts by faith then? Right here, in God’s house. We read His word, the Bible, publicly, every Sunday. God’s people have always gathered together in God’s house on God’s day to do exactly this, to hear it over and over and over again, to listen to the promises of God for “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17) to quote St. Paul. We listen to the Word and believe the promise for ourselves.

Also, we are literally “saturated” in God’s promises in Holy Baptism. As the water and word of promise wash away our sins, we become a new creation. We die to our old selves and our sinful ways, daily rising as God’s forgiven people. Here the Holy Spirit leads us in a life of sanctification, growing more and more like Jesus our risen Savior. And in this same idea, we embrace the old adage “You are what you eat!” We eat and drink the body and blood of Christ in the mystery of Holy Communion, further cementing our identity as God’s family, members of the Body of Christ.

This is what is means to be set free by the Son of God. Free to love the God who freely gives His forgiveness, life and salvation to all who believe. Thanks be to God Who has brought this freedom to light once again in the Reformation. To God be the glory by faith alone, by grace alone in Christ alone. Amen!