500 years ago, Martin Luther took a look at the church he had grown up in, was serving, and reflected on how it did not hold up to the character and call of God.
For Luther and the western church in the 16th century, this had mostly to do with justification – how is one made right with God? How is the relationship between God and people made whole so that people receive God’s promise of everlasting and abundant life?
The church in the 16th century was selling salvation – from requiring certain good works, withholding sacraments, tothe sale of indulgences, salvation was something to be won, earned, and bought.
Luther and reformers of his time proclaimed salvation is not for sale. Rather, we are justified and saved by the grace of God through faith in Christ and the faithfulness of Christ.
Justification plays a major role in this morning’s Gospel lesson.
Some scholars offer this truth – both men walk down the hill justified. The pharisee self-justified, believing he is better and is earning his way into right relationship with God and life everlasting. The “sinner” justified by God’s grace.
The understanding of justification outlined in scripture by Jesus and Paul and articulated by Luther is now widely accepted in the church across denominational lines. So what’s left to ask is, what reform still needs to happen?
If we all agree that justification happens by God’s grace, apart from works of the law, why do some of us in the church still try to sell it, and many of us walk around trying to earn what we have already received.
God, as free gift out of God’s love for the world God creates and sustains, has given us everything we need – the gift of being accepted exactly as we are. The assurance that we have enough and that we are enough. The promise of life abundant and everlasting in Christ now and forever.
A theological reformation – what’s at stake when we promote a false understanding of who God is and what God does?
What’s at stake is our ability to live out the life God has given to us – a life centered in loving God and loving neighbor. Because when we only use male imagery and language for God, we deceive ourselves into thinking men are more like God than women and therefore of more worth – and so we must make social statements and continue actively working to reform our theology so that we put an end to sexism and gender-based violence. When we only use images of a white Jesus – when Jesus was a brown-skinned, Palestinian, Jewish man of the middle-east – we deceive ourselves into thinking white people are more Christlike and of more value and so we must root out racism and white supremacy because they are a heresy that keeps us from loving God and neighbor and at their worst has us killing each other.
What, then, still needs reform in the church today?
All of the lies that dehumanize. The heresy that though we are all beloved bearers of God’s own image, some of us are worth more than others. The failure to hear and live into the reality that there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female for all are one in Christ Jesus. This deep-seated heretical understanding of who and whose we are creates false distinctions that lead us to believe some of us are suprahuman while others are subhuman.
We must root out and rid ourselves of our drugs of choice – white supremacy, racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia.
We fail to accept that we are accepted exactly as we are, and as such, we cannot accept others exactly as they are.
BECAUSE we are justified by God’s grace through faith in Christ THEREFORE we cannot pray, “God, thank you that I’m not like THEM, THOSE SINNERS,” because it means we are like them. We are them.
BECAUSE all are one in Christ THEREFORE means that people are not worth less because of the color of their skin or where they are born – and so no family deserves to be separated and held captive for seeking a more abundant life.
BECAUSE every person bears the image of God THEREFORE our siblings in prison are worthy recipients of God’s overwhelming love and grace just as we are, and they are to be treated with dignity, reminded they are not alone.
BECAUSE there is no distinction – all have fallen short, and all are now saved – THEREFORE we speak for and with those who have been ignored, silenced, sent far off, counted as less-than.
BECAUSE God’s grace is sufficient and is given to you and to me, THEREFORE we are free from sin, death, the devil, and the forces that defy God, and free for loving service to our neighbor – feeding students on the weekends who would otherwise go hungry, visiting those in prison, welcoming those who have been turned away, working for an end to forces that divide us from God and one another, striving for justice in all the earth, responding to disaster, mourning with those who mourn, taking meals to the sick, lonely, exhausted, gathering resources to further these ministries and above all to share the good news that:
You are recipients of the only gift you need – the grace and love of God through Jesus Christ.
It’s work that must happen each day – accepting that we are loved and accepted exactly as we are. But it is the stuff that transforms lives – that sets us free to be who God has made us. God’s free gift of grace means you have nothing to fear – so you can give everything away, you can share your life for the sake of your neighbor, you can see in your enemy the face of your brother, you can encounter the very presence of Christ in each and every person you meet, especially those who are different from you.
The truth is, all of us are like the tax collector, sinners in need of mercy.
The good news, gospel promise, of that truth is – the tax collector is justified by God’s grace and so are you.
God has given you everything you need. God has given you a transformed and transforming life. See with new eyes that the ones we think are different and lesser are the very image of God. Receive with a new heart the good news that you are loved and accepted exactly as you are and you have nothing left to earn, nothing more to purchase, for you have gained the very grace and love of God that gives life abundant and everlasting to the world – to YOU.
Go and share this remarkable gift and tell of this remarkable God.
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