Holy Troublemakers

Sermon about John 8:31-36

Happy Reformation Sunday!

We made it. 503 years of Lutheran protest and reforms trying to really feel that grace and we are still around. Congratulations everyone!

The truth will set you free. Promised.

The truth, that you are a beloved child of God. You will be free to leave the monastery and get married. You will be free to talk to your God whenever you want. Because you want to and not because you are terrified to death about all the sins you did or might have done or could commit. You are free to sin boldly and have fun in life and you will be forgiven. You are free to be your own pope and to read the bible in the language of your heart. You are free to be fully human and fully God’s child. You are free, Martin Luther!

Free to shout out God’s word of grace and love to the world. Free to tell everyone the truth: That God has already forgiven all of us in the death of his son Jesus Christ. That we don’t have to earn forgiveness. That we just have to accept it and live accordingly. Which sounds easier, but is actually harder. Because we can’t do anything about it. And it also means that we have to go from there. We can’t claim to work on our souls. We actually have to start living up to our life in Christ right away. It can be exhausting to be Lutheran.

And what are we freed from? Want to hear the short answer? From being slave to sin. And what does that mean? Can’t have anything to do with chocolate still I still can’t resist it after nearly 34 years of being baptized.

Martin Luther told us a great truth here: The greatest sin is to feel like God and be occupied with oneself all day. Selfies would be a nightmare for Luther. Or Zoom meetings where you keep looking at yourself and how you look when looking at the camera.

That’s the greatest sin. To think that the world is all about me, me, me. Incurvatus in se. Turned inward on oneself, Luther writes. When we are entirely occupied with taking care of ourselves that we don’t have eyes for our neighbors, the world and God anymore. And yes, that’s what Luther was freed from. Instead of just worrying about his own salvation day in, day out, instead of beating himself up for every thought or tiny misstep, Luther suddenly was free to think big. To preach the Good News of forgiveness and grace to everyone. Which will set us free from unholy rulers and people who are just after our money. Which means, that someone will lose a lot of profit and might have a hard time building churches and palaces.

Yes, the truth will set you free. And get you in deep trouble.

In such big trouble, that all of Europe will start fighting over it. That you will have to hide in a castle for months. With lots of time to translate the bible. Just to be called back into town to calm people down. So that they won’t kill each other in a civil war over how to celebrate Communion. Whether with wine and bread for all or whether a priest should drink it all. (It’s the one thing about the Reformation that I regret a little bit…). Your life will be threatened by the emperor and the pope. You will be asked to renounce for the sake of peace and unity. You will be a hero to some and the personified devil to many. You will be free to move as long as it is within friendly territory. Because the truth of true freedom from sin has the power to change the world. And not everyone wants the world to change to the better for all. Some benefit quite well of the status quo. Don’t mess with them. They will fight to keep their privileges. They will call it a fight for the soul of their nation and mean: their own money and power.

Luther was free and divisive. He divided the truth from sin, what is life giving from what is not. He divided love from hate and grace from indulgence and he told everybody who wanted to hear it. Luther was a holy troublemaker.

Why did the people get so excited about Luther’s messages? After all, he was just a pastor. They understood very well, that freedom from Rome, freedom from being scared to death of dying has a political implication. If people aren’t afraid of dying anymore, how can they be held down by fear? The freedom of our souls is more powerful than fear. And it will lead to political freedom.

The truth Jesus talks about in today’s Gospel is defined by its relationship to sin. He says: “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” A slave is powerless. A free woman isn’t. It’s a power game. And Jesus was willing to play it. To challenge all the masters of this world, including death. Just like Luther did 1500 years later.

The truth will set you free. That’s how Jesus lived. He was no slave to sin. He faced his challenges. Remember the mother begging for her daughter’s healing? It took him a long second to reassess his judgement and be what she needed him to be: On her side, fighting the demons imposed on her daughter by society.

Jesus was free. To walk the country. To heal, to preach, to teach, to truly upset people in power. Many of them. So many, that they couldn’t stand him living any more. Even the greatest emperor gets nervous when someone doesn’t care for his own life anymore but for justice and peace for everybody. Jesus was free to die. Free to rise again. Jesus was free and divisive. He divided the truth from sin, what is life giving from what is not. He divided love from hate, and he told everybody who wanted to hear it. A holy troublemaker.

The truth will set us free. Hopefully sooner than later. From the original sin of wanting to be like God, caring only for oneself. Which is ironical, because God cares for an entire creation and billions of bodies at the same time. If we really wanted to be like God, that’s what we would do, too. Care for as many people as possible. No matter the cost.

Yet, as slaves to sin we worship God and mean our own benefits and privileges. We often try to avoid change and just want to keep the status quo. Because it’s scary to question a system that has benefitted us Eurocentric Christians for so long. It’s scary to face the truth. That we say freedom for all and mean “Let’s keep things how they have always been.” Which means: Freedom for some. Freedom just for us.

Jesus freed us from living in bondage of death and fear to striving for justice and peace on earth. Luther freed us from paying indulgences to the pope and living in constant fear of a grim God. And today? Today, we still need to be freed. From dividing people according to the color of their skin, judging them, sorting them into categories that are way below ourselves. Over 500 years after the reformation that set out to free all people, we still struggle with even seeing the neighbor in the neighbor. And how many of those neighbors do we call friends?

The truth, that we are beloved children of God. It will set us free to be anti anything that keeps people small and marginalized. To see God’s child in every person we encounter. And it will get us in trouble. Many people don’t like to be challenged around the topic of racism. Its language seems to be new and unusual. (Although it’s been around for over 60 years now.) And there is a sense that more people at the table might mean less food, less resources. Just that there is never not enough when God puts out the table. Never.

And I start dreaming of the day when we are not slaves to the sin of racism anymore that keeps us within our comfort zone. It’s called comfort zone for a reason. It’s comfy. And don’t dare to make me step out of that. Out of my comfy chair I can see people suffering outside. If I choose to look closely. I can see unhoused neighbors preparing for the cold season. I can see black boys cautiously move around stores in order not to distress anyone. I can see women of color being mocked for their names or their hair or their way they speak. I can see the disparities without any problem. And even though I see that truth, I often opt-out and refuse to acknowledge what I know to be true. Instead, I find excuses like “Why, I am not the right person?”, “I need to know more.”, “Let’s all calm down and look forward.”

I dream of the day, when I will see somebody and celebrate who I see. When I will learn the truth about new friends and old neighbors, because we trust each other.

There is this huge misunderstanding around freedom. So many think freedom means that we can do what we want. Actually, in Luther’s terms, that is sin. Sin is to be free to do whatever I want because I want it. That’s sin. That’s being enslaved to our own wishes and wants. Freedom is, to serve God and one another. Because the truth is: We are loved by God and we don’t have to worry about ourselves. We are free to serve!

The truth will set us free. It’s a power game. And Jesus was willing to play it. To challenge all the masters of this world, including death. Just like Luther did 1500 years later. How about us today?

The truth of God’s abundant love will set us free. And it will get us in holy trouble. And it will set us free to serve one another and to challenge the world’s system. Just like Jesus and Luther did. To live, to love, to be free wherever we go whenever we go! Until then: Let’s be holy troublemaker in Jesus’ name. We owe it to Jesus and Luther. Amen.