The Lutheran Reformation

Today is the day that Lutherans celebrate the Reformation. It is not a day to pit one denomination against another. Many things have changed in the church since then. Martin Luther committed himself to becoming a priest because of a vow he had made during a storm. He struggled to be the best priest he could be. He would spend hours in confession so as to remember everything he had done. As he went to leave, feeling that all his sins had been confessed and all penance was done, he remembered something that was unconfessed, and his joy immediately drained away. He would literally try to beat himself into submission to God, but again, was unable to force his body to fully serve God. He even ran from his “duty” to preside over the Eucharist, suddenly feeling that he was unworthy to rightly handle the body and blood of Christ. In his heart, he pictured God as an angry God that was looking for a way to punish him. All his best efforts failed to make him good enough. It wasn’t until he ran across the Bible passage that stated that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, not by works lest any man boast. This was the heart of the reformation. There was no sudden vision revealing a new command. Luther didn’t get this knowledge after going on a great pilgrimage. God spoke to him through His word, just as He speaks to us as well. Luther was now able to turn from all his efforts to satisfy God’s law and realized that in Christ, this law no longer had power over him. He understood that he was saved by Jesus’ work on the cross and that we could not add anything to what God had already done. By faith, we receive this with a humble and grateful heart. Luther desperately tried to help the church in that day understand the hope that is found only in Christ. The church fought against him, trying to force him to recant all that he had written and taught. With the help of the newly invented printing press, Luther was able to mass produce many of the things he discovered in God’s word. Luther hated the name Lutheran, but it was a way of distinguishing what Luther taught versus what the church of the day taught. Father, open Your word up to us that we may discover anew the good news, and trust Your work of salvation. Amen