The Bubonic Plague,
which killed nearly one-third of the population of Western Europe during the 14
th
century,
struck
Martin Luther’s hometown of Wittenberg in 1527, just eight years after he
nailed his 95 theses upon the door of the castle church. While most persons of
economic means fled the cities and towns for the relative safety of the
countryside, Luther and his wife remained to care for the sick and the dying—even
opening their home as a little hospital.
Even before the plague struck, the average life expectancy
was about forty. Infant mortality was high. Two of Luther’s six children did
not live into adulthood. Most people desperately poor, uneducated, and illiterate.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Ottoman Empire was capturing
territory in Western Europe, threatening Christendom. All told, the world was a
frightening and dangerous place—and people were desperate for hope. But the
church was no help.
Worship services were conducted only in Latin, which few
people spoke. If you were fortunate enough to own a bible, it would be printed
in Latin.
And you didn’t have the option to go to another church. Your
religion was the religion of your king. If you wanted to stay out of prison,
you obey your king. If you want to spend eternity in paradise, you obey the
church.
The church got very rich selling people access to God‘s
graces. They sold people “indulgences,” which would grant them or a loved one early
release from purgatory.
Luther confronted these abuses with a truth made very plain
in the pages of Scripture: that you cannot become righteous before God by your
own effort. It is only through the cross of Jesus that you become righteous
before God, receive forgiveness of sin, and inherit eternal life.
But not everyone welcomed this truth—most especially, the
religious authorities, because they did not become wealthy and powerful by
proclaiming the gospel truth.
Today, everywhere you look, there are pundits,
politicians, media empires—
and religious leaders—who claim to speak the
truth. But do they? In my opinion, most of them didn’t become rich or famous by
speaking the truth. They are popular because they are really good at telling
people what they want to hear. People love to hear that they are right, that they
are entitled, and that they can have it all. And “
those people,” whoever
they may be, are wrong, that they the enemy, and they’re coming to take what is
rightfully yours.
In these chaotic and desperate times, we are all hungry for
truth. The truth is about more than just being “right.“ You seek truth to make sense of all that is happening. Truth is a means of survival.
It is assurance that if the unthinkable happens, you will be OK in the end. But
truth is not a weapon to be wielded against another. Truth should never cause
anyone to fear for their lives. Truth
is
life.
God’s truth will set you free. But first it will judge you.
Whether you are the most morally foul person on earth or a lifelong Christian
and pillar of the church, you are a sinner. You cannot save yourself from sin,
nor can you spare yourself from death.
But God turned truth into a person: Jesus Christ. It is
Christ and Christ alone who makes you right with God. There is no sin you can
commit, no tragedy that can befall you over which Jesus will not have the final
word. Abide in Christ and you are free from the powers of sin and death.
Yet don’t think for a second that God’s truth demands
nothing of you; because, in fact, it demands everything.
God’s truth is the cross. To carry it is to deny
yourself; it is to die to the ego which says that
you are all that
matters, and that what is right for you is what is right for all.
God is
God, and you are not. To carry your cross is to cling to your complete
dependence on the grace of Jesus Christ not only in death but also in life.
As Luther famously said, the Christian is slave to none and a
servant to all. Freedom is a gift we give to each other through actions of love
and forgiveness. If freedom means doing only what is right by you; if you bear
no responsibility to anyone but yourself, you are not free. We are all on this
together. If we are not servants to each other, then we will be slaves to sin
and death.
I’m reminded of something once said by President James
Garfield: “the truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.” Sometimes,
the truth will bruise your ego. It will tell you that you’re wrong when you
thought you were right. It will demand that you change when you want everything
to stay the same. But that is how you grow into the truth. That is how you
become free.
And here’s some good news: God uses change, challenge,
hardship, disappointment, and even failure so that you may know the truth
and
God more fully. The freedom you want cannot compare with the freedom Christ
longs to give you.
This week, you’re going to hear a lot of powerful voices who
claim to speak truth. But if those voices speak nothing of loving the neighbor
as yourself, and that we’re all in this together, they are not speaking truth. If
they say that there is righteousness without love, they are liars.
When you get discouraged by what you see in this world or by
what happens to you, remember this truth: when you cling to Christ, all will be
well in the end. There is nothing that can happen to you in which God will not
love you through it. There is no failure you can commit that God cannot forgive
you. God’s love and God’s truth will always triumph in the end.
Trust Jesus, love your neighbor, and live free.
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