John 8:31–36

³¹So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

³³They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?"

³⁴Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

³⁵The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.

³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Jesus said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed." Jesus came to proclaim freedom and liberty. By his proclamation, his word, we are set free. His word frees us. His word liberates. His word cleanses. His word is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

That is what the Reformation is all about: His word. The power of God to set us free, to liberate us, to cleanse us, to save us. The Reformation is all about the re-discovery of the Gospel; the word which announces that we are saved by grace through faith. Hence the battle cry of the Reformation: Word alone, faith alone and grace alone.

The Book of Revelation tells of an angel that flew overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. That angel was the Reformation. It was the Reformation that brought that saving word of Jesus to light so that all people could hear and read it. It was by God's design that just a few years before the Reformation the moveable type printing press was invented, making it possible for the Word of Jesus to be printed, reproduced and spread around the world easily and inexpensively. Martin Luther translated the Bible into the language that people could read. An enterprise that continues today in the work of Bible translators who make the Word of Jesus available in the languages of all people. Bible translators, pastors, missionaries, teachers, and disciples like you who proclaim Jesus to your family and friends, are that angel who flies overhead with an eternal Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. You are that angel when you speak God's word. Jesus said, "If you abide in my word you are my disciples indeed, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."

The Reformation understood that God has spoken two words: law and gospel. There are two words from God. God's first word to us is law. Then comes God's second word, the Gospel. The first word, the law, accuses us. For example, when Jesus said that his word would set them free, they responded, "What are you talking about? We are already free." Then Jesus replied: "Anyone who commits sin is a slave to sin." That is Jesus' first word, the law. A word that tells that we are slaves to sin. In our Epistle reading we are told: "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." That is the law. It tells us that "no one is righteous, no not one. No one understands, no one seeks God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless, no one does good, not even one."

But that statement runs against our grain. We cannot accept these words of Jesus or St. Paul. After all, we do good deeds to others, we pray, we tithe, we look to God for help in our troubles. He must be talking about someone else. But what Jesus is saying is that no matter what we do, we're wrong. Sure he wants you to do good deeds. So you do a good deed and then pat yourself on the back. "I've done my good deed for the day," you tell yourself. But if there is some goodness inside you to do one good deed, then you can do more if you just try hard enough. You don't really need Jesus. Being proud of our good deeds is a subtle way of rejecting what Christ has done for us.

Or suppose you are sick and pray that God makes you well so you can enjoy life again, or go back to work. Surely God wants us to pray. But our prayer is usually more like this: "God, I don't want to be sick, I don't want to get old. I don't want to die." Fact is, since sickness, old age, and death are part of being human I don't really want to be human. I want to be more than that. I want to be independent, to make it on my own, to not have to rely on God." Just like Adam and Eve, we want to be our own gods. In other words, no matter what we do, we're wrong!

That's what it means to be slaves to sin. The job of God's first word, the law, is to remove the veil from our eyes and tell us that we are slaves. By the law comes the knowledge of sin. The law condemns. It shows us that what we really want is to get rid of God and be our own gods.

We can't bear to have him around. That's why when God became flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, we rejected him. "He came to his own but his own received him not." That's the true nature of sin. We betrayed him like Judas. We denied him like Peter. We left him alone like the disciples who ran, and we abandoned him on the cross to the fires of hell. Yes, we killed him. We hung him on a cross and crucified him. You see, the old man in us wants to be free from God, independent, autonomous in order to do exactly what he wants without restraint. So when God became one of us, we wasted him.

Jesus died, but even that was ultimately the work of the law. According to the law Jesus had to die. Jesus had to die because he became sin for us, and the wages of sin is death. The law kills. The law killed Jesus by condemning him to death on account of our sin.

Jesus was flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, so guess what: when he died, we died. Because of sin, we must die. If no matter what we do, we're wrong, then we are slaves to sin, and only by dying can we be free. The good news is that when Jesus died, we died too. We are through, washed up. The old man of sin is done for, over, dead and buried. In Baptism we died with Jesus; we are joined to his death. We died to our old sinful nature. We died to the sin that is in us. We died to the power of sin over us. The old is passed away so that the new might come. Baptism is the end of us, so that we can have a new beginning. We are no longer slaves.

St. Paul tells us that a woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive. But when he dies, she is free to be joined to another, just as we, dead to sin, are now free to be joined to Christ; to become one with Christ. Having died to sin, we become the bride of Christ. Having died to sin, we died to our desire to be our own gods. Having died to sin we are free to become the children of God. We are free to love our neighbor, to serve one another, to forgive offenses committed against us. We are free to be God's children just as he made in the first place.

That is God's second word to us; the Gospel of salvation. God's second word proclaims us free from sin. God's second word raises us from the dead. God's second word cleanses. "You are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you," says Jesus. In Baptism God's word is poured over you to cleans you.

In Communion we receive God's word in our mouth. We continue to abide in Jesus' word in order to bear much fruit. We partake of his flesh and blood in order to share in his divine nature. We partake of God. We become one with God and God dwells in us. And when God dwells in us so does his love, his mercy, his compassion for all people. When we abide in Jesus we bear much fruit, the fruit of good works, the fruit of love and compassion for others. The fruit of being able to forgive others. "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit."

By means of the word placed on you in Baptism and Communion, you died when Christ died, and you were raised to newness of life when Christ rose. That is the Reformation message of Law and Gospel. God does not just remodel us; God tears us completely down, destroys us, and then rebuilds a holy, righteous person. The old has passed away; now all is new.

The righteousness of God has been manifested. Though you have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, you are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. You, who were slain in Baptism by the death of Jesus, have been raised in righteousness through his resurrection. His word has set you free to bear the fruit of good works, the works of righteousness, of love toward one another, of mercy and compassion.

Indeed, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." You are free! Thanks be to God.

Amen.