The Lutheran Hour
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"Reformation, Restoration"
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Text: Romans 3: 22b-25
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! The living Lord Jesus, conqueror of death and grave proclaims the grace and love of God which He gives to sinners. This Reformation Day we proudly proclaim that the Lord wishes to restore sinners to His family of faith. God grant His truth touch all our hearts. Amen.
Almost everybody here knows that you throw rice at weddings, but not everybody knows why. That’s because throwing rice is an old custom whose origins, at least for most of us, are lost in the mists of time. We know such customs; we practice them; but we may not remember their original reason or rationale. So why do we throw rice at weddings? Throwing rice is an ancient symbol of fertility. It is a way for well-wishing guests to encourage the bride and groom to have a prodigious plethora of progeny. I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist doing that. We want them to have a lot of children. Of course, at today’s weddings we throw instant rice. Does that mean we hope the couple has a baby real, real soon; and if we throw processed rice, rice that can’t ever grow or produce, what does that mean?
Almost everybody knows the superstition which says you shouldn’t walk under a ladder. But do you know why? Most people, that is people of a practical nature, would say you don’t walk under a ladder to avoid having things dropped on your head. That’s a reason, but not the reason the custom began. A ladder, leaning against a wall, with its base on the ground forms a triangle, a symbol of the Trinity. When a person walks through the triangle, at least so I’ve been told, it shows that person’s disrespect for the Triune God. Hence, it’s bad luck to walk under a ladder.
Almost everybody has heard the superstition which says Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky. But why? THAT folks don’t know. Would you like me to tell you why Friday the 13th is considered to be bad luck? While Scripture doesn’t always address such matters, folks used to think Adam and Eve had been kicked out of the Garden of Eden on a Friday, that Noah’s flood began on a Friday, and Jesus had been crucified on a Friday. That explains why Friday is supposed to be bad luck; but how about the 13th? The thinking goes this way: at the Last Supper there were twelve Disciples and Jesus. Twelve plus one equals thirteen. Judas ended up leaving, and Jesus prophesied that His betrayer’s demise was not going to be pretty. Hence, 13 is unlucky, and Friday is unlucky, and when you put them together, they are doubly unlucky. At least that’s the way some say the superstition got started.
For many people, today, that is Reformation Day, fits into the same category as these other old and forgotten superstitions. Some have heard of Reformation Day, but most don’t know where it came from, and the vast majority of people don’t know why it should be remembered. In truth, I used to be one of them. When I was growing up in an Irish Catholic neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, my friends were intensely proud of their heritage… and they were ready to fight anyone who criticized either.
Being a lonely, little Lutheran was a tough thing. Even so, I celebrated Reformation Day… every Friday. That’s right, every Friday I brought out Martin Luther, dusted him off, and said to the Irish Catholic kids: “What are you having for supper? Fish? Smelly, stinky, bony fish? I’m having a burger, and you have to eat fish. I can have a burger because of the Reformation and Martin Luther.” Back then I could run fairly fast. Oh, there was one other time I was proud of the Reformation. That was Ash Wednesday. On Ash Wednesday all the Catholic kids had a cross of ashes prominently placed on their foreheads; we Lutherans didn’t. Of course today the Catholic Church no longer demands her people eat fish on Friday, and I, along with a whole host of Lutheran Pastors use ashes on Ash Wednesday. Which means the reasons I celebrated the Reformation are gone. So, maybe it’s time to relegate Reformation Day to the junk pile of outdated customs, obsolete traditions, and forgotten festivals. Sure, maybe, once upon a time, long ago, Reformation Day might have had some significance, but honestly, who celebrates Reformation today?
Think about it: how many Reformation Day presents have you received? The newspapers haven’t reminded us of how many shopping days were left until Reformation Day. The TV stations haven’t told me where I can go to see the houses with the best Reformation Day lights. Pam hasn’t bought a new Reformation Day outfit…my community doesn’t have a Reformation Day parade, my mailman hasn’t delivered a Reformation Day card, there are no Reformation Day fireworks, and no Reformation Day flowers sent to sweethearts.
Let’s see the hands. How many of you are having a special Reformation Day meal today? There’s no such thing as a Reformation Day turkey and you don’t hunt brightly-colored Reformation Day eggs. Martin Luther doesn’t come down your chimney and he doesn’t go hippity-hoppity down the Reformation trail.
Remember Reformation Day? Think about it: who in their right mind is going to celebrate the fact that, almost 500 years ago, a German monk nailed 95 debating points onto the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. True, they were 95 debating points which changed the world, but if you don’t know what was being discussed, that bit of news doesn’t help. You do know the 95 points, don’t you? Let me ask: raise your hand if you’ve memorized all 95… how about 50? 40? 10? 1? See, most of us have forgotten.
Which is why we often end up saying: ‘Most of what Martin Luther did was very nice, and we’re glad he did what he did, but that was a long time ago and it doesn’t have much to do with us. We live 500 years after Luther pounded his nails and to ask people to remember some nail pounding for 500 years is simply asking too much of them. 500 years has changed things. Nowadays it seems like most religions are getting along… and if they’re not, at least nobody has started a 30 or 100 year war recently.
All of which explains why Reformation Day has become a custom which is pretty much reserved for and remembered by a diehard group of pastors and laypeople who are perceived by others as having nothing better to do with their afternoons on the last Sunday in October. That’s why, when Reformation Day rolls around, a lot of people ask, “Isn’t it time we put this thing out of its misery? Isn’t it time we forget Reformation Day and join with everybody else in observing the festival of Samhain. What? Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of Samhain? Of course you have.
You know, it’s an interesting thing: most people know about Reformation Day, but very few of them celebrate it; on the other hand, very few people have heard the name Samhain, but almost everybody observes that festival. That’s right, you and especially your children celebrate Samhain, the great god of the Druids, the god of death, the god of darkness, decay, and the underworld.
You celebrate the festival of Samhain, when the souls of the wicked who have died are supposed to come forth from their graves to revisit their former friends and family. You may never have heard of Samhain, but that does not mean you do not celebrate his festival. You celebrate the festival of Samhain as you follow the ancient custom of the Druids who thought you could, by setting out food, save yourself, and keep away the spirits of the dead who were roaming the land. That’s why you give candy to those ghostly and gobblinly children who show up at your door. Without knowing, without understanding, you are remembering Samhain, and that’s a custom which is thousands of years old. Indeed, in 835, speaking about the festival of Samhain, Pope Gregory the IV wrote, “If the pagan traditions cannot be forbidden, then let them be tamed.”
Taming a pagan custom. That was the best Gregory could hope do against the Halloween celebrations of his day. Gregory tried, but the increasing popularity of Halloween shows he didn’t do so good. Now this message, in contrast to what you might think, is not going to turn into a rant and rave against the children’s trick-or-treating or their wearing Halloween outfits. The church has bigger devils to fry than keeping our little ones from getting a sugar high, or dressing up like Superman.
St. Paul spoke about those devils when he wrote, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. St. Peter knew it. He wrote: (1 Peter 5: 8, 9) “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, stand(ing) firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” The Prime Minister of Germany’s State of Thuringia notes that 500 years have passed since Luther nailed his 95 debating points on the church door, and she acknowledges many things have changed… but this has not: man is still a sinner in need of a Savior.
She’s right, there have been changes. In Luther’s Day you had to see an enemy if you wished to kill him. You were limited to sword, lance, long or crossbow, and a rudimentary gun. Today it is possible to flatten entire cities from a continent away. In Luther’s Day if you wished to lust after a woman, you generally had to know her. Today, through print and internet it is possible to commit the same sin with a person whom you will never meet. In Luther’s age, if you wanted to steal a person’s money, you had to do it in person; today identity theft and corporate immorality thrives on stealing from a distance. Yes, the world has changed. Advancements in technology, medicine, communication, travel have made this world a smaller place and a faster place; but they have also, in many ways, made it a more frightening place. That’s because although the passing centuries can change the world, they can’t change us.
This truth remains: humanity is still composed of sinners. No matter how much we try to convince ourselves otherwise, no matter how hard we try to live differently, an honest individual must and will confess: his heart remains dark; his thoughts, twisted; his words, bitter; and his actions hurtful. You may argue differently, you may even believe differently but the daily news carried by every television and radio station, by every newspaper in every country of every continent tells this truth: humans are sinners and they cannot change.
Luther, like everyone in his generation, knew that; he knew he was a sinner. He tried, desperately tried not to be one, but he was. He fasted until he fainted; he confessed his transgressions until his priest got bored with the endless and repetitious list of wrongdoings. Luther knew he was a sinner, even as he knew a perfect God was committed to punishing men like himself. Fear of Divine anger became Luther’s motivating force. When he accidentally cut an artery in his leg, he was afraid of what an angry God would do to him if he died. When some college friends unexpectedly were struck down by the Black Plague, he was afraid of the punishment God had in store; when he was caught in a thunderstorm, surrounded by lightning bolts striking around him, Luther’s fear had him pray for deliverance.
It was that last event which motivated Luther to become a monk and church worker. It was his hope that being in the clergy might, in some way please or appease his angry Divinity. Searching for peace he beat and starved his body, but he was never sure, he never felt he had done enough. After all, if the Father in heaven hadn’t rescued His own Son from Calvary’s bloody cross, what punishment could a sinful monk expect.
Luther might have lived and died that way if he hadn’t been asked to teach some classes at the new Wittenberg University. As he prepared for his classes on Psalms and Romans, he found that the Psalmists were confident that not only did God love them, they were also convinced that they were forgiven and would enter heaven when they died. In the book of Romans, the third chapter, Luther read that while all have sinned and fallen far short of God’s expectations, they are declared forgiven and free of their sins if their repentant hearts are given faith in God’s Son. He learned that which had been forgotten: that while God is a God of justice, He is also a God of grace. So sinful humankind could be saved He sent His Son to redeem us, to pay the price which would buy us back from sin, the devil, and death.
It was a breathtaking rediscovery. It wasn’t a reformation as much as it was a restoration. Luther realized the devil had, ever so slyly, ever so craftily, managed to deceive God’s people with half-truths. Where Scripture had proudly proclaimed, “by grace you are saved through faith and not by anything you can do”, Satan had suggested sinners needed to work their way into heaven. Where Scripture had clearly stated: “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved”; Satan was suggesting there was no hope for sinners and hell was the only future they could expect.
For the rest of his life Luther proclaimed this restoration truth. For the rest of his life he fought against rulers, authorities, against the powers of this dark world; against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms who had corrupted the fabric of faith. And this one German monk, armed with Scripture which said, “By grace are you saved through faith”, refused to compromise with evil; refused to back down when he was confronted by dark powers.
By grace you are saved through faith. That is the unchanging message which comes from an unchanging God through His unchanging Word. That is the unchanging message which every sinner needs to hear. You are saved through the grace which God shows you in the undeserved sacrifice made by His Son on Calvary’s cross. You are saved because Jesus took your place in His life, in His suffering, and His death and the guarantee of your salvation is seen in Jesus’ resurrection and at His empty tomb.
That, my friends is why this day, Reformation Day, Restoration Day needs to be remembered. It needs to be remembered because one person, with the Spirit’s power, stood against evil. It needs to be remembered because, although Jesus, through His suffering and death has won the war over sin, death, and Satan; other battles, smaller skirmishes, still continue on for the souls of humankind. This world still has rulers, authorities, and powers who struggle against the Savior.
Look on the map and you will see nations trying to strangle the Savior and snuff out His Name. Listen to the news and you will hear how other religions threaten to murder any person who preaches Christ or is converted to Him. Look in our land where pornography hides behind freedom of speech and the taking of life is called freedom of choice. God grant a Reformation Day, a Restoration Day to our land where polls, not personal integrity, determines a politician’s path and position. God grant a Reformation Day, a Restoration Day for sinful human hearts. You see, all of what I’ve said is quite inconsequential unless you, yourself, by the grace of God, through the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, have a heart that is reformed.
Today the Holy Spirit of God wishes to bring about a Reformation Day, a Restoration Day in your heart. God grant a remembered, Reformation, Restoration Day in which Christians, are strong; where homes are happy; where children know Jesus as their Friend. Such a Reformation Day is worth remembering, worth celebrating, worth having. To that end, if we can help you, please, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for October 30, 2011
Topic: Interview with Christine Lieberknecht – Part 2Announcer: And we continue on this Reformation Sunday with our Speaker Emeritus, Pastor Ken Klaus. I’m Mark Eischer. Pastor, we’re picking up on this interview you did with the Honorable Christine Lieberknecht, President of the German State of Thuringia.
Klaus: We are. What you are going to hear today was recorded earlier this year at Concordia University in Chicago, and we thank them for their hospitality. This was during an official state visit by President Lieberknecht. She was here to promote trade and tourism for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation which is going to be celebrated in 2017, although they have activities taking place every year until that and through that year. Last week, we heard how she takes a strong stance against abortion and euthanasia.
Announcer: She said an “uncompromising stand.”
Klaus: Yeah. This week, the first question I asked was, “Luther lived 500 years ago and Jesus, two millennia ago. How come it is that their impact continues on so very strongly today?”
Announcer: And speaking through a translator here’s what President Christine Lieberknecht had to say:
A: Jesus lived and preached God’s Word. He’s the Son of God. Martin Luther preached the faith in Jesus. And his insights of freedom, of the grace of God, of righteousness, are based on his faith. The secret is that both Jesus and Martin Luther saw man realistically, as a fallible being, able to do good and to do bad. And because man is like that, he needs the help of God. And this is an authentic view. And it appeals even today to people who are searching for meaning in their life, who are looking for answers. And even today these answers are still to be found in the Book of books, in the Bible. Martin Luther preached this, Jesus lived it.Announcer: Now you don’t often hear a politician say, “Jesus is the Son of God.”
Klaus: Yeah, or that the Bible is the Book of books, the Word of God. As I said, President Lieberknecht was in Chicago to promote tourism to Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt. I asked, “Why bother to spend all that money to remember something which happened so very long ago?”
Announcer: And here’s what President Lieberknecht had to say.
A: The Reformation took place 500 years ago. It was a world event. And ever since, Christians, Protestants, Lutherans, Evangelical Christians have settled all over the world and spread the faith. Still, the cradle of this, the cradle of Reformation is in central Germany, in Thuringia and in Saxony-Anhalt. And we prepare for celebrating this event with stressing the historical locations: Wartburg, the St. Augustine Monastery, Eisleben, where Luther was born and where he died, Wittenberg, where he posted the 95 Theses on the church door. And we invite everybody to come and visit these locations. But, I think we also invite people to think about, what does Luther mean for us today? What does he mean for the big issues that concern us today in a global world where people want to live in peace and justice, according to God’s Word?Announcer: Once again we want to thank the Honorable Christine Lieberknecht, President of Thuringia, and thank you Pastor Klaus for bringing that interview to us. Anything else you could add?
Klaus: Well, just this–and we’re going to talk more about it down the road: Lutheran Hour Ministries is planning a trip to these places sometime between now and 2017, Lord willing.
Announcer: Very good. We’ll look forward to hearing more about that. That’s all the time we have for today. We thank you, the listener, for making this program part of your day. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.
“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” arr. Paul Kretschmar. From Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice by the Concordia Seminary Chorus (© 1993 Concordia Seminary)
“God the Father, Be Our Stay” by J.S. Bach. From Te Deum by the Seminary Kantorei (© 2000 Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne)
“Reformation Fanfare” by Nicholas Stark. From If Thou Be Near by the Concordia University Wind Symphony (© 2009 Concordia University-Chicago) Used by permission.