Hello, friends.
This week’s Reformation Sunday worship service, in its entirety, may be viewed here:
If you’d prefer to listen to the gospel reading and sermon only, you may do so here:
https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson/you-are-free-a-sermon-for-reformation-sunday
This week’s sermon is based on John 8:31-36.
31Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
34Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
Beloved of God, grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
This facebook post won the internet for me the other day. It said: Anyone else feel like Halloween is unnecessary this year? I’ve been wearing a mask and eating candy for 7 months now; I don’t think I need a day dedicated to it anymore…
Sometimes, to be honest, that’s how I feel about Reformation Sunday. We celebrated the 500th anniversary of the reformation in 2017 and with all the hoopla before and after—at least 7 months worth—by the time it was all said and done I was happy to give Reformation a rest. After all, I thought, shouldn’t we be looking forward instead of backward? Shouldn’t we be focusing on what unites us instead of what divided us all those years ago? Do we really need a day dedicated to remembering the reformers’ emphasis on freedom in Christ?
Now I think maybe we do.
Because I think maybe we often find ourselves in a position similar to the people Jesus was talking to in today’s gospel reading. Like them, we’re cut off from our past, even from our present, and therefore from our future.
Jesus tells these would-be disciples, that the truth will make them free. And in response, they reference the past, but they fail to really understand it. We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free?”
These are descendants of Abraham, people of the promise God made to make Sarah and Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. But between that promise and this moment in which they find themselves, the people experienced slavery in Egypt. They experienced oppression and hopelessness. They experienced the suffering of a people held captive, unable to live freely.
And though these descendants questioning Jesus are far removed from those days of slavery in Egypt, they are still under the rule of an empire not their own. The longed for promised land has become another experience of slavery, no longer with Egypt but with Rome at the helm.
Surely, they remember their past. Surely, they understand the gravity of their present. So, what’s going on here? Are they so captive to generations of suffering that they don’t dare risk acknowledging the burdens they continue to bear, that they don’t dare risk trusting that they could finally be free?
And are we like them?
When Jesus talks about being a slave to sin, can we hear him talking to us? Can we hear him describing not just our clear moral failings, but those systems of injustice that continue to bind our communities, those unhealthy patterns that are passed down through the generations unaware? Can we hear him talking to us about our shame, our fear of never being good enough, our superb ability to always hear our inner critic above all the other voices that try to assure us that we’re loved just as we are? Can we Jesus talking to us about our tendency to just shut down when the pursuit of peace and justice becomes too much or our continuing to think that it’s all up to us, that we’re alone, that we have to be strong, that we can never rest?
I listened to a beautiful conversation this week between Krista Tippett, host of On Being, and Sharon Salzberg, an esteemed teacher of meditation. They spoke of the Buddha’s teaching that it’s because of visiting forces that we suffer. Sharon Salzberg, reflecting on that teaching, said: There are a couple of things to that: one is that these forces are visiting—greed, hatred, jealousy, fear. They’re not inherently, intrinsically, who we are, but they visit. And they may visit a lot; they may visit nearly incessantly, but they’re still only visiting. And [second]: the Buddha didn’t say it’s because of visiting forces that we’re terrible people or we’re awful or we’re not good enough or anything we might say to ourselves. It’s because of visiting forces that we suffer.1
If we look at this through the lens of Jesus’ words, it’s because of sin, a visiting force, that we’re enslaved, that we suffer. We’re not terrible people. We’re not awful. We’re not not good enough. We’re held captive by a visiting force that keeps us from being fully at home in our lives, in our bodies, in our minds, in our spirits, in the life of the larger world. But it’s through the Son of God that we’re set free. It’s through Jesus that we come home to that place where those forces might still come visiting, but they don’t get to define us or control us anymore, because we’re free.
Martin Luther was visited by the force of fear incessantly. He knew he could not keep the law as God intended and it nearly destroyed him. The harder he worked the more he despaired. He would never be good enough. He would never live up to what was expected of him. Until finally, one day, he experienced, reading scripture, the freedom Christ won for him. He read: The one who is righteous will live by faith (Romans 1:17).
Luther came to understand that his righteousness—his right relationship with God—came not by what he did or didn’t do but through what God did in Jesus. The Son makes you free and you are free indeed. God names you beloved and you are beloved indeed. God claims you as God’s child in the waters of baptism and gives you gifts to use in service to the world and you are gifted indeed.
That’s what we’re celebrating here today. That’s the gift we receive every single day of our lives. When those visiting forces come to our door trying to hold us captive, they are met by the Son of God who declares us free.
Freed, we are no longer cut off from our past, our present, or our future.
We can see where we’ve been held captive in the past. We can give thanks where thanks is due to the God who has rescued us, in the past, from sin and death, shame and fear.
We can see clearly, in the present, those systems of injustice that still want to define and threaten us and our neighbors; we can see clearly how we are not alone in the struggle, how God keeps on leading us to freedom from all that binds us.
And we can see into the future to the end of this awesome story in which God silences those visiting forces forever, this life-saving story in which God sets all creation free.
Beloved ones, you are free—you have a permanent place in God’s household; you have gifts to use in the struggle for peace and justice; you are free to love this world without shame or insecurity holding you back.
You are never alone. God is our refuge. God is our strength.
You are free to love yourself as you are, to love yourself as God loves you.
You are free. Amen.
1 I encourage you to listen to this beautiful podcast.
https://onbeing.org/programs/sharon-salzberg-shelter-for-the-heart-and-mind/