Ann Larson
St. John Lutheran
Lawrenceburg, IN
REFORMATION DAY
John 8:31-36; with reference to Mark 10:46-52
Years ago, a friend gave me a poster which hung on my wall until I lost
it in one of my moves. It showed an old-fashioned ringer washer -- a
contraption that stands over a tub with rollers and a handle. You feed
wringing wet clothes in one side and turn the crank to squeeze them
between the rollers. I remember seeing one in my grandma’s basement.
It was fascinating to watch her grunt and sweat as she turned that
handle so water from the clothes ran into the tub. Then we’d go out to
hang the clothes on the labyrinth of clotheslines in her backyard.
Maybe the younger folk here have seen one in a museum.
Anyway, this poster showed a wringer washer. Instead of clothes, there
was a rag doll caught between the rollers with an agonized expression on
her face. Under the picture were some words. "The truth shall set you
free. But first it will make you miserable." You may recognize it as a
twist on Jesus words in today’s Gospel lesson.
Jesus was talking with some folks and made one of his wise statements.
"You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." The
reaction, I’ve always thought, is pretty funny. "Huh," they say.
"We’re children of Abraham and we’ve never been in slavery to anyone."
Huh!, I say. Do a reality check. What about the time in Egypt--escape
from that slavery is celebrated every year by the Jewish community at
Passover. What about the Babylonian exile? What about the Roman
occupation of their own country in Jesus’ time. Well, OK. Maybe those
last two weren’t slavery, strictly speaking. But in exile or under
occupation, the Jews weren’t exactly free in any sense that we would
understand the word. If they believed what they said, that they had
never been in slavery to anyone, then they were blind to their own
history and blind to their present situation.
It’s interesting to me that, if we didn’t have the interruption of
Reformation Sunday, the lesson scheduled for today is about blindness.
It’s about Bartimaeus, a blind man begging by the side of the road in
Jericho when a crowd comes by, following Jesus. He starts calling out
"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." People around him told him to
be quiet, but the more they scolded him, the more he cried out, "Son of
David, have mercy on me." Jesus finally notices and has him called
over. Bartimaeus, we are told throws off his cloak and comes to Jesus.
Jesus asks "What do you want me to do for you?" and Bartimaeus answers
that he wants to see again. Jesus tells him, "Go, your faith has made
you well." But instead of going, the healed man follows Jesus down the
road.
You may think I’m stretching it to relate the story of Bartimaeus’
gaining sight to today’s Gospel lesson in John chapter 8. But it’s a
connection which actually fits quite well. After a few more verses in
chapter 8, John devotes all of chapter 9 to the healing of a man born
blind. That much longer story sets the man who starts out blind but
gains not only physical but also spiritual sight, in contrast to
religious leaders who supposedly can see but sink deeper and deeper
into a spiritual blindness. Refusing to recognize their own spiritual
blindness, they sink deeper and deeper into sin. And, in the Gospel of
John, that is the height of sin: In John 15:22 and 24 Jesus tells his
disciples, "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have
sin; but now they have no excuse for thier sin. ... If I had not done
among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but
now they have seen and hated both me and my Father." In other words,
those who have not had a chance to see, can not be blamed for it. But
those who have had a chance to hear and see, but refuse what God says
through Christ, are in sin. Jesus often talked with leaders who should
know better, but trapped in their self-assurances, they missed, no
refused to see what was in front of them.
"You shall know the truth and the truth you shall set you free" but
first, it might make you miserable.
If the people Jesus talked with that day were attached to an illusion
that they were number 1, never second to anyone, then it could make them
quite miserable to see and admit the truth. But as long as they didn’t
admit the truth, then they would waste a lot of time and energy
pretending to be something they were not and pushing away anyone who
dared say different. In fact, rather than face the reality of who they
really were, sinners in need of saving, they finally managed to shoot
the messenger...rather, crucify him.
Counselors often see this kind of denial and projection at work. A
person comes to them, miserable because life isn’t working out. They
spend time explaining the unmanageable situation they are in, or how
mean pepole are treating them. The counselor can often see, pretty
quickly, the ways that the person makes choices which put them in a
position to fail or be hurt over and over. Quite often, within a few
sessions, the counselor can point these things out to the client. But
invariably, the client resists seeing it. Their self-esteem depends on
thinking that they are blameless and that the world is out to get them.
It can take a long time to build trust in a therapist--or perhaps hear
the same message often enough from different people, but the client who
finally takes the risk of looking at themselves honestly, can start to
learn better ways of coping with life and making better choices.
You shall see the truth and the truth shall set you free, but first it
might make you miserable.
Reformers, like prophets, are often people who see the truth that other
people do not want to see or do anything about. The Lutheran
reformation started (at least according to what we Lutherans are taught)
because Luther began to "see" abuses in his beloved Church. He loved
God and the Church enough to want to correct those abuses and restore
the church to purity. On the eve of All Saints Day, he posted 95 theses
on the church door at Wittenberg listing corrections which, he blieved
were necessary. Surprise! The church did not exactly welcome his
efforts and tried to push him back in his place. He pushed back and the
result was a lot of nasty name calling (and, oh yeah, threats on his
life). Condemnations between Catholic and Protestant that are only
being lifted now, 500 yrs later.
You shall see the truth and the truth shall set you free, but first it
might make you miserable.
Jesus answered them, "very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin
is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the
household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you
free, you will be free indeed."
The radical notion that set Luther free to start a Reformation, as
unintended as that might originally been, was that, while all are slaves
to sin, we have been set free by the Son. As a young monk, Luther
strove to follow all the rules and regulations that were part of
monastic life and, he believed, the life of any Christian. But, like
many a saint, the harder he tried, the more impossible it seemed to ever
reach a level of perfection that would let God love him. And then he
realized: God already loved him! Salvation was a gift already offered.
All he could do, all he should do, was accept it.
"If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." Luther wrote a
lot about freedom. He pointed out that freedom in Christ, freedom from
the burden of sin, does not mean freedom from burdens and commitments.
If anything, once our eyes are open to the truth of God’s presence and
activity, we are bound by our calling in Baptism to be witnesses in the
world. We are compelled to share the good news we have heard about
Jesus Christ. We are drawn to serve people in need. We are called to
speak out about injustices... or sin. This is true whether we’re
speaking to the world or to a church in need of reforming. Resistance
and rejection to the message can make the messenger miserable. But
ultimately, we believe, all shall know the truth and the truth WILL make
us free.
In the words of the old hymn, let us each pray: "open mine eyes that I
might see, glimpses of truth thou has for me. Open mine eyes, illumine
me. Spirit divine." Amen.