Christ at the Center: A Reformation Day Meditation on John 8

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him,

If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

They answered him, We be Abraham's seed,

and were never in bondage to any man:

how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,

Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

And the servant abideth not in the house for ever:

but the Son abideth ever.

If the Son therefore shall make you free,

ye shall be free indeed.

 

There were many influences on the 16^th century Reformation, just as there were many characters and players involved in it.  The backdrop was a semi-united western Holy Roman Empire, though factions of political and religious leaders vied for control of the levers of power all across Europe, the Middle East, and the broader Mediterranean region… even as Islamic armies attacked the eastern boundaries of Europe, with much of Eastern Christianity under the boot of Islamic potentates.  There was a rising tide of nationalism, particularly in England and across the continent, where local leaders began questioning their political subservience to the Bishop of Rome.  There was also a Renaissance budding in academia where Enlightenment Rationalism was applied to the sciences, arts, law, and humanities, with calls to re-discover and expand upon the ancient sources of history, philosophy, and social dynamics bequeathed to the West through Greek and Roman classics.  It was an age of exploration and colonialism, with different nations seeking to rule the seas and bolster their royal treasuries, while also seeking dominance over each other.  Yet at the cradle of the Reformation, in the midst of this terrific societal maelstrom, one German Augustinian monk, an ordained Roman Catholic priest in practical ministry, and a Doctor of Holy Scripture at the University of Wittenberg, ignited a firestorm by proposing that Jesus and His Word should be at the center of Christian life.

 

When Luther read the Scriptures, like many of the Church Fathers who came before him (including St. Augustine, who’s religious order Luther was educated in) he saw that Jesus put Himself at the center of the Scriptures, because Jesus alone was the Incarnate Word of God.  To abide in Jesus was to abide in His Word, which meant everyone needed to hear that Word clearly and consistently.  Of course, this ancient approach to the Scriptures earned Luther both friends and enemies; friends in those who celebrated a return to the Word of God for not just clergy but also the whole Christian people, and enemies of those who wanted something other than Jesus at the center of everyone’s life.  Whether they were politicians, or popes, or bishops, or scientists, or philosophers, or hedonists of various shades and foci, those who were content with Jesus as an affectation to their ambitions but not at the center of life, were vehemently opposed to Luther and the Reformation he ignited by pointing people back to Jesus and His Word.  At the root of Luther’s appeal was a conviction that Jesus really is who He said He was, really did what the Old Testament Prophets predicted He would do and the New Testament Apostles declared He had accomplished, and that eternal life depended on whether one would meet Jesus as Savior or Judge.  To Luther, every other matter of politics or philosophy or human ambition fell short of this most foundational question, and he devoted his life—writings, ministry, teaching, and livelihood—to it, no matter the personal cost.

 

This brought Luther to the foot of the Cross.  He did not deny or diminish all the other teachings of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, but He did declare that we find the fulfillment and clarity of the whole Scriptures in the Cross of Jesus Christ.  The Word which first formed the cosmos out of nothing, which thundered from Mt. Sinai to Moses, which whispered to Elijah in the desert, which produced all the prophecy and psalms and wisdom of the Hebrew Bible, showed up in Roman-occupied Israel to suffer and die for the sins of the whole world.  That same Word, forever incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of the Father, descended into death and rose victorious over it on the first Easter morning, giving the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation to everyone who would repent and believe in Him.  Thus the Cross of Jesus formed the primary lens through which to see all the writings of the Prophets and the Apostles, as well as the whole history of the Christian church, and the life of every individual Christian in every age.  The Cross is where the Word of God stood in humanity’s stead, that He might make the Vicarious Atonement which placed our sins upon Him, and His grace upon us.  To Luther the Cross was everything, because there Jesus did the work that saves the world, and showed forth the immeasurable love of God for His people by overcoming the curse we had earned under the Law.  The Cross of Jesus was to Luther the Everlasting Gospel of salvation, written and proclaimed in the shed Blood of the Son of God.

 

There were other paths taken by other Reformers, with some who emphasized the majesty or glory of God over all others, and some who focused on inner experiences of God’s presence, and some who focused on intellectual or political independence from foreign ecclesiastical interference.  Some focused on trying to build a utopia on earth, some focused on the terrors of the End Times; others focused on intellectualizing the faith by marriage with Reason, while still others elevated emotion and Mysticism.  Yet the beginning of the Reformation was far simpler and deeper than the many movements which sprang from it, because it beckoned people back to the old idea of Jesus and His Word at the center of everything.  Regardless of theological emphases or eccentricities that have emerged across the centuries, Jesus and His Word have remained the same.  Jesus is still the only Son of God, the only Name given under heaven whereby people may be saved from the calamity of their own sins.  Jesus is still the only One who died for the sins of the world, and rose victoriously over sin, death, hell, and the devil, so that He could speak peace and forgiveness to all who would receive Him by faith.  Only Jesus is the Living and Eternal Word of the Father to whom the Holy Spirit testifies, in perfect harmony with the written Word of Scripture which He breathed out by the power of the same Holy Spirit.  Only Jesus is the Savior of the world, so that only by His grace could anyone be set free and abide in the house of the Lord forever.  And grace, to remain authentically grace, can only be a gift received in living faith, and never be the reward or wages of inferior human works.

 

This is how the Reformation of the 16^th century started, and how it continues.  It is the declaration that our life in this world and the next are found in Christ alone, by His grace alone, received by faith alone, declared reliably and infallibly by the Word of God alone.  It is not a political movement, though it has affected politics; it is not a philosophical movement, though it has informed better philosophical systems; it is not a program of personal piety, though it has informed many pious practices; it is not a systematic theology, though it has helped build better ones; rather, this is the path of life, and light, and truth which comes to enlighten and enliven all people.  The Reformation was not begun as a means to define new teams and clubs and societies and denominations all pitted against each other, but to point the world—and every individual soul—to the salvation which only Jesus and His Word can give.  As we give thanks to God on this festival of the Reformation, we do not give thanks that we bear the name of Luther regardless of the blessings God brought forth through him in his time and place.  Rather, we give thanks to God for Jesus and His Word, by which we are reconciled to the Father, set free from evil and condemnation, and made alive in Him forevermore.  Or as the angels sang at Jesus’ birth looking forward to the salvation He would accomplish upon Calvary, Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!  Amen.