Edited for additional content and minor corrections on November 12, 2026.
Martin of Tours cuts his cloak. Icon.
Today, November 11, the Church remembers Martin of Tours. Dying on November 8, he was buried on this date in 397.
Martin was a Roman soldier, born in what is now modern Hungary, who ended up serving in Gaul. One day, having compassion on a scantily clad, poor man, he cut his red military cloak to share it with him. That night, Martin experienced a dream or vision in which he saw Jesus Christ wearing the half-cloak he had given away; hearing Jesus tell the angels that Martin had clothed Him.
This spiritual encounter and his war experience changed the direction of his life. According to a biographer, Sulpicious, and other sources (as related in Wikipedia), “Martin came to conclusion that war was incompatible with the Christian life, so he resigned from the army and declined to receive the pension, telling, ‘I am the soldier of Christ: it is not lawful for me to fight.’ He was charged with cowardice and jailed, but in response to the charge, he volunteered to go unarmed to the front of the troops. His superiors planned to take him up on the offer, but before they could, the invaders sued for peace, the battle never occurred, and Martin was released from military service.” Martin became a priest and ended up Bishop of Tours in France.
During the Middle Ages, the supposed relic of St. Martin’s miraculous cloak (cappa Sancti Martini) was carried by the king even into battle, and used as a holy relic upon which oaths were sworn. The priest who cared for the cloak in its reliquary was called a cappellanu, and ultimately all priests who served the military were called cappellani. The French translation is chapelains, from which the English word chaplain is derived.
A popular devotion grew around Martin’s legacy. He was acknowledged a saint by popular acclaim before the more formal canonization process existed. On Martin of Tours feast day in 1483, Martin Luther was baptized the day after his birth to help assure his salvation. The Church at the time feared that if one was to die unbaptized, one would lose any chance of salvation. A tradition of the day was to name the infant being baptized after the saint of the day. Baby Luder became Martin Luder. And when it became popular in Wittenberg and elsewhere to Hellenize one’s family name, he began to use Martin Luther.
The Greek word έλεύθερος – Eleutherius – was the origin of his Latin name meaning free man. Many scholars of his time sought to latinize their name, and he settled on Luther by 1520. Yet all was not well. You see, the word Luder, his true family name, could mean a carcass, corpse, or dead animal flesh used as bait. It could also mean a disreputable person or even a prostitute in colloquial speech. Thus, some of those opposed to the Reformation eventually began calling their enemies Lutherans instead of Evangelicals, the preference of Reformers challenging Church practices. The term Evangelical was not a political use as it can be in the United States today. It just meant someone trying to interpret and live by the Word of God.
The term ‘Lutheran’ was first used soon after on July 4, 1519, by Dr. John Eck (Johann Maier von Eck), a Roman Catholic theologian, during the Leipzig Debate” (see Wikipedia). “You Lutheran…,” was perhaps meant to be pejorative by some, but at some point, Lutherans began to embrace it. The freeing theology inspired by Martin Luther and his friends now had a name that fit, too.
Centuries later, Martin Luther King Jr. was named after the 16th-century German Protestant reformer Martin Luther because his father changed both of their names following a trip to Germany in 1934. I find it lovely that he went on to be one of the greatest pacifists recognized in our history.
Then, it is likely no coincidence (if not intentionally, perhaps just mystically or providentially) that Martin of Tours feast day ended up becoming Armistice Day for WW1. I’ve not as of yet read anything about the two being related, but it’s a nice synergy.
Martin of Tours gave up his military vocation to serve others through the Church. When becoming bishop, a job he did not want, he famously prayed, “Lord, if your people need me, I will not refuse the work. Your will be done.” Today, he is considered by some Christian traditions as the Patron Saint of Soldiers as well as Chaplains.
Personally, I keep an icon of St. Martin in my office to encourage me in my volunteer work as a volunteer law enforcement chaplain. It helps remind me to keep my chaplaincy service centered on all the officers and deputies entrusted to my care, for Christ cares for them, too. I will seek to continue to help as long as called; working for greater justice and peace in the world as I do. Martin serves as a great role model.
Indeed, his feast day, called Martinmas, became the start of what we now know as Advent as early as perhaps the 5th Century in Gaul. Paralleling Lent’s relationship to Easter, one would practice the disciplines of Lent to prepare for Christmas. It became known as St. Martin’s Lent (Quadragesima Sancti Martini). Gradually, it was shortened and formally became Advent by the 12 Century.
Today, many modern denominations still focus on preparation but with joy and hope, less so a Lenten focus. In such churches, they often change the Advent candles’ colors from purple (a liturgical color of Lent) to blue (one reflecting purity and often associated with Mary). Still, Martin of Tours gets special attention for his Christian faith and witness on November 11, and we give God thanks for it. Hopefully, we learn from it, too
Let us pray: Lord God of hosts, your servant Martin the soldier embodied the spirit of sacrifice. He became a bishop in your Church to defend and spread the Christian faith. Give us grace to follow in his steps so that when our Lord returns we may be clothed with the baptismal garment of righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Worship)
This is a whopper of a parable. Listening to the words again as I prepared to speak now, it struck me. It is something that can really frighten people. It can make people feel guilty, and in the wrong hands, it is something a pastor or others could make you feel guilty about. “You are not doing enough! You must do more!”
When Jesus was earlier explaining why he spoke in parables way back in chapter 13 of Matthew, Jesus said to his disciples, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away” (Matthew 13:11-12). Not everyone will accept the gift of salvation, and some Christians will deny him, sometimes unwittingly or unwisely throwing that gift away.
In Matthew’s account, Jesus has recently cursed a fig tree for not bearing fruit, reflecting (as many believe) his anger and sadness that so many of the chosen people of God among the Israelites are not reflecting the fruits of the Kingdom. (The fig tree was a common symbol for Israel.) He’s been parrying and thrusting intellectually with pharisees and other enemies who challenge his authority and teachings. He speaks of upcoming destruction of the Temple and persecution for his Church. He also speaks about his Second Coming, and thus the end of the world as we know it.
So, note that it is immediately after these teachings and events that Jesus shares the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids (or sometimes people say Virgins). How should Christians live as they wait for Jesus’ ultimate return? If we are truly saved by grace alone, listening to ancient understandings, the voices of those Christians closer to the time of Jesus as well as the voices in scripture, we learn that as his saints we are not to fear Jesus’ return but to welcome it. His promises to save us will prove true. Jesus doesn’t lie[i].
So, when Jesus speaks of the End Times, he often couches it within a celebration, often a wedding celebration. All his promises will come to fruition. Suffering will cease. We and all the saints will live with our Triune God and the Heavenly Host in a new Heaven and Earth forever. And so, the healthier voices in the Church call us to expectantly welcome that day as we watch, wait, and serve. “Come Lord Jesus, come!” we pray as Church.
In using wedding celebrations, Jesus is drawing from a rich history and tradition of prophetic proclamation. Such allusions help us understand deep truths about God’s love for us, but they also explain to us our own covenantal obligations in this relationship.[ii] (Relationships are two-way streets when they are healthier.) In response to divine love, we are called to active discipleship, not because it will save us, nor get extra credit for heaven, but because we are now Christ’s body, the Church. It is who we are, our true selves.
Receiving grace without a willingness to take up our crosses and die daily through obedience is a very cheap idea of grace indeed, as Dittrich Bonhoeffer wrote about. As Jesus teaches, we have the gift of grace, but we are to be awake and ready for his return. We have a job to do. This parable serves to remind us of our spiritual obligations (or expectations if one prefers) recalling that Law and Gospel always go together to help us.
As I hope we all understand, our Lutheran theological lens repeatedly denounces any human work as saving. Yet Martin Luther himself, with all his human shortcomings, was no fool. As much as he struggled with the Book of James and its focus on works, he could not deny its truth, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26). True faith moves us toward holy works – the love of God and others.
Even as the chosen people of God, we aren’t meant to live isolated from the world’s troubles or focused solely on our needs. Luther explained this mystery with these words in 1522 as he preached on this parable:
“Therefore, let each one see to it that he has these two together: the oil, which is true faith and trust in Christ; and the lamps, the vessel, which is the outward service toward your neighbor. The whole Christian life consists in these two things: Believe God. Help your neighbor. The whole Gospel teaches this. Parents should tell it to their children at home and everywhere. Children, too, should constantly foster this Word among themselves.”[iii]
So, I understand why some people can grow fearful or feel guilty hearing this parable. They are wondering if they will be found to be one of the five wise or five foolish bridesmaids. I often wondered, too, when younger – more immature and foolish in my faith.[iv] To be left outside of that celebration, left in darkness where there will be lamenting and gnashing of teeth, is a frightening future.
So, Martin Luther pastorally responded to those around him with such fears. And reading his words helped me grow more mature and certain in my faith. Luther asked them to remember and trust that God is love. First and foremost, God is love.[v] Jesus died for all our sin, even that which we have not done yet. And forgiveness is always available through our confession and heartfelt repentance because God wants us to succeed. We also have access to means of grace, the sacraments of the church, where we are told that we can find forgiveness of sin.[vi]
Regarding fears of Judgement Day, which there were many in the Medieval period, Martin Luther told people to remember their baptism where God claimed them forever. If struggling with sin, he wrote to his friend and fellow Reformer, Phillip Melanchthon, “be a sinner and sin boldly, but [emphasis mine; this end part of the quote is often sadly left out] believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly [emphasis mine]” This doesn’t mean that we should seek out sin or that some won’t fall and fail in their Christian, much as demonic angels were cast out of Heaven, but to struggle with our faith and sin is part of our human condition even as we remain saints, claimed by God. Don’t be so fast to cast ourselves and others into hell. Trust in Jesus.
Within this parable, the primary consensus over the ages understands that Jesus is talking about his Second Coming or as what some people call Judgement Day. And in Jewish culture, I think it no coincidence that the number ten reflects divine perfection. So, we have ten bridesmaids. Here, in this primary interpretation, the Church does not represent Christ, nor does the bride necessarily represent the Church as common in some other parables and writings, but our focus is primarily drawn to the ten bridesmaids.
Although details of such ceremonies are lost to history, we understand that the parable echoes practices of the day with roots dating even further back to the Babylonian Exile. There would be a grand procession at night with the groom, a celebration of the entire village for what God was doing in the lives of those two people. And he would be welcomed with lamps, torches, and joy by the bridesmaids as he arrived at his bride’s family home.
Yet once the bridegroom arrived, a contract or covenant of sorts was drawn up, the Ketubah. It was not a ceremonial document, prayer, or even anything about the approval of God or society.[vii] According to one Rabbi,[viii] “The ketubah restates the fundamental conditions that are imposed by the Torah upon the husband,”…These are the husband’s obligations…five obligations: core marital duties (provide food, clothing, and regular marital intimacy); an endowment, a potential divorce cushion, if that day comes (to protect the woman); a dowery (which will return to the family if the marriage devolves); and a traditional promise of additional funds which would usually make arbitrary divorce difficult. The agreement protects the wife, and if the proposal was accepted, the marriage would happen. The bride and groom would then be escorted to their new home together.[ix] (Another common End Time image we hear from Jesus is his having a place for us within his mansion or house.)
So, in this parable, I think Jesus is promising to care for those who hold on to their faith, even if imperfectly. For note, all ten bridesmaids fall asleep…all of them have failed or sinned in their obligation at some level…as much as his beloved Apostles in the garden of Gethsemane did. To ancient Jews, five often represented the core texts and structure of the faith.[x] For example, there are five books to the Torah, which primarily speak of Jewish obligations under the covenant of the Ten Commandments. Here, five bridesmaids are ready to fulfill their obligation to serve. Five are carelessly, foolishly unprepared. They forget their oil, their trust in Jesus, and their lamps, their love of God and neighbor, cannot shine.
We learned with the Beatitudes, echoing earlier Jewish understanding, that the righteous will need to wait for their reward, but they are always blessed as they wait. Matthew’s community had begun to see people drift away. People experienced a challenge to their faith as the Temple was destroyed. Christians were cast out of both synagogues and families because of their faith in Jesus, and people died with no sign of Jesus’ return (at least not yet). People expected Jesus to return quickly, and he did not. We learn from their experience that following Jesus takes trust, patience, and persistence.
Yes, the truth remains that we never can know or do enough. We can never be fully prepared on our own. We need God’s help, and we need to try to trust that help is on its way just as promised. For “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1-3). And in this context, each of us must decide our response to Jesus, an individual choice to believe…to trust and let that trust reshape our lives. We call that accepting the gift of faith.
And although we cannot give the gift of faith to others (that’s ultimately the Spirit’s work[xi]), we can seek to support and encourage one another as we wait…pointing others toward faith in Christ – no matter how much faith we have; no matter what we understand or don’t; no matter our own struggles. We can direct others toward Christ as the source of abundant and eternal life just as Jesus asked of his disciples in scripture to do.
As someone noted at our Bible study last Wednesday, it seems awfully selfish that the five wise bridesmaids did not share oil with the unwise, the unprepared, those who accepted cheap grace or a counterfeit Gospel offered by the world. Yet, Jesus a chapter before already compared his Second Coming to be like Noah’s flood. The unwise “were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” until the day when Noah entered the ark. They remained unaware, lived without care, until the flood came and suddenly swept them all away (see Matthew 24:37-39).[xii] We are asked to not only trust in God’s grace but also God’s fair and loving judgement with a mystery to large for us to comprehend.
In Matthew 7 as part of his Sermon on the Mount, in conjunction with the Beatitudes and Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Today’s Gospel reading is a parable, not a command to ignore those outside of the faith or those thought by some to be unredeemable. It is a teaching story making a comparison to the suddenness of the End Times and revealing how the choices we make matter eternally, especially if we claim Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
If we regularly ignore his teachings and examples willfully and habitually, if we despise God’s will in word and deed even out of ignorance, if we fail to love God and neighbor as ourselves without concern for Christ’s commands, if we ignore, deny, or dishonor the Spirit that now resides within us through our faith and baptism and choose to conform to the world instead, we have a rather low view of grace. We aren’t really putting on the mantel of faith in Jesus Christ but the yoke of the pharisees. He will not know us, because he will not see himself in us in how we live. Our words, “Jesus is Lord,” prove empty, because our hearts have proved empty toward God and neighbor.
Ultimately…and this is the Good News…to be ready is not a state of perfection. To be ready is to know the source of all life is Jesus and to seek him throughout our lives. To be ready is to live in hope of Jesus Christ and share that hope in him with others. To be ready is to trust that the bridegroom is coming, surely coming, no matter what is causing us to fear or doubt, and our heart remains open to welcoming him with joy. To be ready requires that we be prepared to wait, and while we wait, we seek as best we can to love our God and neighbor in all that we do. We don’t do so for credit. We never do it alone, for we are gifted with the Spirit and the Church. We do so because we are now the children of God, and Jesus is truly our Savior. Amen.
[i] Martin Luther often said, “Jesus doesn’t lie” or similar words to remind us to trust.
[iii] Martin Luther, “Sermon on the Twenty-Seventh Sunday after Trinity (October 21, 1522),” in Luther’s Works, Vol. 79: Sermons V, ed. Christopher Boyd Brown (Philadelphia: Fortress Press / St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2016), 281–282.
[iv] “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways” (1Corinthiasn 13:11).
[v] This is supported most clearly by 1 John 4:7-21, but God’s love for us is revealed throughout scripture from Creation to promises of the new Heaven and Earth.
[vi] Lutherans have two Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, also called Holy Communion or the Eucharist) where we believe the Spirit is active and encountered. These are not exclusive means to encounter God’s grace, but they were instituted by Christ and have physical signs (water for Baptism, bread and wine for the Lord’s Supper), so they are considered primary means of receiving God’s grace as gift.
[xi] See Matthew 16:17 and 1 Corinthians 12:3 for example.
[xii] Allen, O.W., Jr. (November 2026). Commentary on Matthew 25:1-13. Working Preacher. Downloaded at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-32/commentary-on-matthew-251-13-10 on November 6, 2026. – Referencing Matthew 13, the author also rightly adds, “In 24:36–44, Matthew portrays Jesus as drawing an analogy between the parousia and the flood in Noah’s day: Those in the ark were left behind, but those caught in the waters were swept away in judgment. This is the opposite of the way popular culture talks about the “left behind” today based on 1 Thessalonians 4:17, where those saved are caught up together with the resurrected dead to meet Jesus in the sky and taken away, and those judged are left behind.” Most of the worldwide Church echoing the witness of the earliest Christians understands the theological arguments for Dominionism and Rapture as being in error. Yet, these arguments remain a matter of faith for some Christians particularly among Baptists, Evangelicals, and Charismatic/Pentecostal churches.
Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 30:09 minute mark.
I was taught in the Church as a child to treat everyone justly as individuals. Be merciful, I was told, even when people do wrong. It’s a universal (Catholic) Church with great diversity. I learned this from the Creeds weekly but also in sermons and Sunday school. Sure, when someone does wrong, consequences can be appropriate, but restoration and reconciliation is our hope for others (not just ourselves when we sin).
Meanwhile after this election, A President Trump adviser, Laura Loomer, declared on X, “America was always intended to be a majority White country. Not a cesspool for third world minorities. America was founded as a Christian country. Not a Muslim country.” She reposted a video of someone saying, “America didn’t just go blue, it went brown.”
This is not Christ-like in any way. Perfect love casts out fear (1John 4:18), but this kind of politics is fear-based – overt racism and xenophobia – clumping certain people together as “bad.” In 2025, I had someone even write me that God approved slavery in the Bible. What blindness! Where’s the condemnation from the pulpits for such statements?
Not enough is being heard for what is so easily come across online from people claiming faith in Christ. A large segment of the Church in the US sadly looks the other way because of desired political ends. They confess this at times. It’s not my lone judgment. Yet even if we are persecuted in Christ’s name, facing death, Jesus asked us to respond in love. And if we are already victorious because of what Christ did and will do (Romans 8:37), why let fear define our actions.
As a pastor, would I like to have everyone share faith in Jesus Christ? Yes, it changed my life for the good and it still is transforming me. It has brought much joy and many deep friendships. Yet, the idea that we can force others to live by our beliefs or become Christian by obligation or threat as some with access to the White House profess openly is counter to the Way of Christ. Any political thought that castigates humans as sub-human or irredeemable is an enemy of the Gospel. It is not biblical but requires the Church to respond clearly – yes, while hoping for their repentance, not destruction.
Such views are always counter to Christ’s teaching who himself would have historically been of color and ministered to all – Gentile and Jew, representatives of the Empire and those marginalized including the worst of sinners. Jesus came to draw all people to himself (John 12:32), and yet some claiming Christ want nothing to do with those who disagree with them or who look or worship differently.
Martin Luther is said to have argued, “Anyone who is to find Christ must first find the Church. How could anyone know where Christ is and what faith is in him unless he knew where his believers are?” Drawing lines between “us” and “them” is both concretely and potentially eternally hurtful to our neighbors and the Gospel. To deny the humanity of others, people created in God’s image, in word or deed is sin.
To argue and campaign for one’s values is one thing, not evil in and of itself even if one is wrong, but how we do so can be profoundly evil. Fear of others doesn’t wash this sin away, but it usually magnifies it. Certainly fear at times can protect us from dangers, but like any emotion (all gifts from God), it can lead us far astray. We can get stuck without realizing it or be led to accept a false Gospel.
As a Christian, we are asked to turn to Christ in one’s fears or sins, not run away from him like Adam and Eve in the garden. Love all those he died for as best as one can, recognizing the cost (Luke 14:28). And when we struggle with love. Confess it and ask the Spirit for help. We might stumble, but we won’t fall…because Jesus loves us too.
The day after my sermon, this cartoon showed up in my social media feed. “Bless your heart” might not mean what we first think it means. And the Beatitudes also invite our reflection. What does it mean to be blessed by our faith in Jesus?
Many of you who enjoy late night television may remember this name, James Corden. He is a performer and comedian who became a late-night talk show host. You might have heard of him from his Carpool Karaoke with different celebrities still on YouTube and elsewhere. He is from the United Kingdom, and he once shared a story about his difficulty parking a car in the United States. If I remember correctly, this one incident that he brought up was when he was trying to complete the dreaded three-point turn.
After parking and going into his destination, Corden mentioned this difficulty parking to a Southern woman in the shop. The woman said in response, “Oh, darlin’, bless your heart.” Not familiar with this phrase, being totally new to him, he thought about it for a while and decided, “That’s the nicest expression you could ever have.” He thought it wonderful, but two friends from the South, hearing the story later, had to break it to him, “No, it’s not.”
For any of us who have lived in the South for any length of time, we have probably heard this phrase directed toward us at some point – “Well, bless your heart.” It is sort of a mixed blessing, isn’t it? As someone else noted, “In the South, where politeness reigns among good people, you have to put your judgments somewhere. It’s not polite to speak ill of people if you were raised right.”[i] And so, you might use this phrase…which, true, could be a sign of sincere empathy or blessing…but it is most often not intended in that way. It frequently proves a subtle critique if not a criticism. For example, someone might say, “That was a great sermon, Pastor Lou. Bless your heart.”
So, perhaps we should consider what Jesus means when he tells us that we are blessed: blessed when we are poor in spirit, mourning, meek, or hungry…blessed when we are merciful instead of demanding our rights or retribution…blessed when we are pure in heart or trying to be peacemakers. Even when facing persecution for his sake, Jesus says we are blessed. He’s got to be joking right? This doesn’t sound like much of a blessing to me.
Yet Jesus isn’t trying to fool us. He’s being up front. Conforming and submitting to God’s will often has costs in a very real, harsh and fallen world. Yet we are promised that there’s no better road than the one which leads to heaven[ii]…one that allows us to share in Jesus’ purpose, promise, and mission…one where signs point to God being with us!
Through these succinct phrases, Jesus is providing us with a spiritual attitude and ethics where the rubber can meet the road in the very the real world. Trying to embody these precepts are how we retain our saltiness or reflect the light which Jesus Christ taught about. In Matthew’s mind, today’s Gospel writer, there’s nothing more important than this teaching.
And yet, the Beatitudes are not meant ultimately to be about what we do. These aren’t prescriptive or imperative statements (“if you do this, then you are blessed” or “Thou shall or shall not…”). That’s not what Jesus is getting at here. Jesus uses them to describe. They are declarative representing what God does in the world…His Kingdom values and realities are breaking in. They appear in opposition to what we find in our fallen world.
Thus, the beatitudes have been associated with All Saints Day since the medieval period if not earlier because interpreters saw them as naming both the virtues and the rewards of the holy. These sayings become the lens to view and interpret all that comes after in Matthew’s Gospel. Again, there’s no hidden message here. It isn’t a punishment, a critique, nor a joke. To love God and others in this world can be hard and result in backlash, division, and loss…crosses to bear…sacrifices to make in Jesus’ name. As I said, he will repeat this message throughout the Gospels.
Indeed, as we join Jesus this morning, he has just called his first disciples. This is his first major teaching recorded in Matthew. He has just settled in Capernaum for his base of operations. His teaching and preaching in the region of Galilee is already making a stir among the populace for its authenticity and the promises he shares. It is touching and transforming hearts…blessing them.
And as the crowd grows, he goes up a mountain and sits down. That was a common way that teachers and philosophers of his day taught, and his disciples come to him. And from that mountaintop, almost reminiscent of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, he speaks to his people. But here, Jesus shares his own sayings…for he is God. Jesus doesn’t receive something as Moses did…there’s no stones to accept as a gift. Jesus is the one giving to his disciples…something to shape and direct their lives as only God could. He is declaring them blessed as they seek to follow him.
To the Hebrews, we read that righteousness is “the fulfillment of all legal and moral obligations. Righteousness is not an abstract notion but rather consists in doing what is just and right in all relationships; ‘…keep justice and do righteousness at all times,’” urge many of the Hebrew scriptures (Ps. 106:3; cf. Isa. 64:4; Jer. 22:3; Ezek. 18:19–27; Ps. 15:2). “Righteous action results in social stability and ultimately in peace: And the work of righteousness shall be peace (Isa. 32:17; cf. Hos. 10:12; Avot 2:7).”[iii] “Righteousness requires not merely abstention from evil, but a constant pursuit of justice and the performance of positive deeds (Deut. 16:20; Jer. 22:3; cf. Prov. 16:17; Gen. R. 30:9; Job. 7:20; Tob. 3:2; Kid. 40a).”[iv]
As no human can be fully righteous, only God can be, and the world is often unfair if not in opposition to our God, the righteous will often be treated unfairly or misunderstood, if not persecuted. And so, those called to be righteous (whether the Jewish nation as a whole or the individual) understood in Jesus’ time that they often might need to wait for their vindication and reward. They might have to wait for the blessing to come in fullness. “For there is not a righteous man upon earth that does good and sins not” (Eccles. 7:20; cf. Ps. 143:2; Job 4:17; 15:14; Dan. 9:18), declares the word of God over and over again. Yet, as a faithful people trusting in the steadfast love of God, the Hebrew people expected and still expect that striving for “righteous action within a righteous society will ultimately help restore peace in the world and will reestablish Jerusalem as the citadel of righteousness.”[v] That’s the context of the people listening to Jesus at the time.
Jesus and his teachings come to us wrapped within this eschatological, or End Time, hope. It is new, but not completely new. It is rooted in other teachings. It is here but not quite yet in fullness. We must wait. Linked to the past, pointing toward the future, reminding us that God is in the midst of the fight now…even as Jesus has won the battle…these phrases stretch us toward new possibilities, if not risks, even as it seeks to comfort those who suffer or wait in the present.
For love in this world is always a choice and a risk. And as much as Jesus has already quoted from scripture, particularly Deuteronomy, a central lens of Jewish faith, he is here drawing further truth out from it. Remember, Deuteronomy calls us to love as God loves. It draws us to reexamine what it means to love God with all that we are and our neighbor as ourselves.
Jesus stretches these previous commands and teachings out, and he reconfigures them. He seeks to unite us more closely with his own heart. We learn of his Kingdom, not of this world. Jesus declares what is breaking into our world with his love and ministry, but it will not become fully evident until he returns once again in victory. Through these blessings, we come to better understand the mystery of what it means to become and live as the Children of God.
Any one of these Beatitudes could prove the seed of a long sermon in its own right. Fortunately, the Beatitudes reflect the reality that we are only human. We need blessing, and although the Beatitudes can be interpreted as Happiness, of Shalom (which means Peace), or even Luck…you will see these translations…blessings from God proves the heart of the matter. They aren’t about our ability to be perfect any more than the Ten Commandments are. They are really about our perfectly loving God who wishes to have his words reside – not on stone tablets – but in our hearts.
In each of our vocations, within our unique nature and call, the Beatitudes open for us a new way to see our world and new possibilities for relationship. An inspiration and role model of mine, Br. Roger of Taizé, formed his ecumenical community in France based primarily on the vision of the Beatitudes.[vi] So, the Beatitudes prove very important to my life, and I think they must remain important to the Church.
In living such a life, many others have been attracted to join in that journey. Thousands…tens of thousands of young people come each year to this little village in France. They come from across denominations and continents to worship God and learn from one another. Some are inspired to stay…to commit their lives concretely to that work. They become brothers.
The community focuses on a radical trust in God’s love, but also commit to a particular work of reconciliation and love of others…no matter the cost. After Br. Roger was murdered during worship by a mentally ill person in 2005, Br. Alois, who I know, the new prior wrote:
Brother Roger often referred to the Beatitudes, and he sometimes said about himself: Je suis un pauvre, “I am a poor man.” He called us, the brothers, not to be spiritual masters but people who listen. He referred to his ministry as prior as being a “poor servant of communion within the community.” He did not hide his vulnerability. Now, our little community feels impelled to continue along the way he opened up. It is a way of trust. For him the word “trust” was not a facile expression. It contains an appeal: to welcome very simply the love that God bears towards everyone, to root our lives in that love, and to take the risks that that implies. To lose that intuition would lead us to impose burdens on those who come seeking the living water. Faith in this love is a wholly simple reality, so simple that everyone can receive it. And this faith can move mountains. Then, even if the world is often torn apart by violence and conflict, the way we look on it can be filled with hope.[vii]
Yes, through the Beatitudes, a door opens for each of us – alone and together in community. Do we dare enter in? Do we risk loving as Christ love us with all that we are…as best as we can? Even as it is simple, it won’t be easy. There will be sad and difficult days. We will be called to die to ourselves, so that God’s will may reign. Still, not one step will be taken, not one tear shed, which will not prove sacred in God’s hands. We will remain blessed. For we will be trying to walk the way of Jesus, and we will never be walking alone. Jesus will meet us on our road to bless us…Through Christ in faith, we share in his victory even now…and that proves the ultimate blessing for each of us who believe. Amen.
Several years ago, while I was Dean of the Richmond Conference, the Church celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. (Today, we mark 509 years.) I felt fortunate to preside at a special worship with All Souls Episcopal and Messiah Lutheran where I served as pastor. (We shared a building and ministry by that point.) Yet, I also had the opportunity to preside at the Lutheran–Roman Catholic event at Epiphany Lutheran and the Lutheran Episcopal regional gathering at St. James the Less Episcopal in Ashland. The momentous anniversary served as a time where we tried to reemphasize the truth of the Gospel that called us to be one in Jesus. Amidst very real differences, we chose to look beyond our woundedness.
And yet, plenty of differences and sin remains. These continue to separate us as Church, family, and community. At the time of the big anniversary, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, shared a personal reflection with the Church of England and the Anglican Communion about the Reformation that challenged a too common view that the Reformation was solely a Lutheran thing.[i] He understood the Reformation story as a Christian and world story, not just for Lutherans. And he recognized there is still work to do.
As he began, the Archbishop noted the Reformation’s many positive, lasting, and powerful effects. Among them, we know how the Reformation further developed our language and communication technologies, opening access to books of all kinds including the Bible. It even helped institute our modern educational system with all the arts and sciences. Our modern political and legal systems and our modern nation states all owe something directly to the Reformation. Scholars agree that the Reformation took us out of the Dark Ages and led us into our modern age.
Still, in that same article, the Archbishop recognized the Reformation challenges and imperfections: the political wars and divisions of the church that continue to impact us today. I agree…for even the idea of denominations did not exist in the Christian church until after the Reformation began. We humans, in seeking to know and follow God, have a knack for boxing God in within our understanding and casting others aside who do not agree with us. This has concrete effects on not just church relations, but communities (such as in Northern Island or locally), and even more intimately with families and friends.
Continuing, the Archbishop spoke about the pain which comes from not being able to share in communion with those our Lord has explicitly commanded us to love. To abide in the Lord, we must love one another in the Church especially. And one day in worshipping with his dear friend, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, brokenness became all to evident.
The Archbishop writes, “At that solemn moment in the service I lined up at the front with everyone else. But because I could not put my hands out for the bread and wine, I knelt down to be prayed for by Cardinal Nichols. He took my hand and lifted me to my feet. Both of us had tears in our eyes. We are the closest of friends, and being reminded of the divisions in the global Church pains us both very deeply.”[ii]
As we struggle as human beings for the truth of the Gospel, we often stumble or make others stumble too. It is not that none of these hot button theological issues are important. And the truth always remains the truth. Yet our capacity to listen, contemplate, discern, and understand remains all too human…limited.
Even the brightest of us or most faithful struggles with God’s word. We need God’s help and the help of one another in community to best understand it. With such a communal approach, hopefully, we will grow in intimacy with God and the Church as we grow in clarity of understanding about Christ’s teachings.
In today’s Gospel from John, Jesus is starting to address the growing antipathy of the religious powers gathering around him but also the fickle, questioning nature of his disciples. People are struggling to believe in Jesus. Jesus is pushing the envelope of their understandings about faith, hope, love and community. Jesus confronts the unbiblical lack of grace that is rampant. Rather than simply condemn, Jesus uses this as an opportunity to teach and to call. Jesus is not just a teacher of the truth, he is the Truth, and as the voice from heaven said at his baptism, we should listen to him. He wants to help us follow him.
And so, over and over again, we are to return to the well of Living Water which is Jesus and draw from it. We are to seek to reform and conform our lives to that Truth. It is a truth that is dynamic even as it never changes; alive among us and at work. It speaks to each of us today as much as it did to disciples over 2000 years ago or at the time of the Reformation. And yet, we are still learning. As a pastor friend once said as he retired, “There’s a reason we are called the children of God.”[iii]
Today’s passage reveals only one of Jesus’ interrelated promises shared within chapter 8. In verse 8, Jesus declares, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” He doesn’t promise an easy path, but he will become the lamp unto our feet as the Psalmist sang (Psalm 119). His words, example, and presence will shield us from the greatest darkness and help us rise when we fall into sin. We are only to ask (or seek), knock, and follow. Jesus promises that despite any confusion and lack of vision on our part, he will show us a way out and forward. (See 1 Corinthians 10:13 for Paul’s understanding of this.)
Then later in verse 32, Jesus declares another promise. He says that trusting him, “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” The tense in Greek (Future-Indicative-Middle) for the word “will” denotes a prediction. He is the Way, the Light, the Bread of Life and more. If we trust in him, follow him, and stand up in faith while under persecution, all will be made known to us. This is most certainly true.[iv]
But for those standing before him, they aren’t too interested in the future. They immediately think of their past ancestors in bondage in Egypt. They deny they are slaves any longer even if the heal of the Roman Empire hovers above their heads waiting to crush them and their nation. In contrast, Jesus is talking about more than political and economic freedom. As will become clear, he is speaking about freedom from sin and death.
As Zina Jacque writes, “To these sons and daughters of Abraham, Jesus’s use of the word ‘freedom’ implies captivity, and captivity is their invisible wound.”[v] As much as Babylon exacted tears from the ancestors, Rome does so now. “Every time they walk past a Roman soldier, every time they hold a coin bearing the image of Caesar, every time they negotiate their lives inside an occupied land, the wound throbs and the pain intensifies.”[vi] And yet, this, too…this oppression…shall pass. They need to look beyond their pain to focus on Jesus and all the possibilities he brings including true, eternal freedom.
Still, stuck in their woundedness, they cannot bear the truth. Healing could be there’s if they admit their predicament and trust in Jesus. Yet, they deny Jesus as much as someone who says their pain, sin, faults and failures are just too grave for the cross to transform them…to free them. In doubting Jesus as savior, we remain trapped. We remain slaves to Sin, Death and the Devil.
And so, we get to the third promise. Jesus explains that every human being who sins is a slave to sin. Many back then as with today, do not want to admit they need grace. We don’t want to think of ourselves as sinners, wretched, or as Martin Luther left in a note as he died, beggars. We sin and cannot save ourselves. At the best, we are simultaneously sinner and saint. This can be a bitter pill to swallow with our human pride.
And so, with the third promise in verse 35, Jesus draws from real world images. As he does elsewhere, Jesus speaks again of his contemporary household, a mansion of sorts with many rooms for grandparents, parents, children, servants, and yes, slaves. In the ancient world, the first son often inherited everything. As a result, his words are binding. Thus, Jesus says, “if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” The power and penalty of sin, the sting of death, has no hold over us when we trust in the Son’s promises…not even a little bit.
Indeed, Jesus closes in verse 51 saying that if we keep his word…not perfectly (which is impossible) but by grace through faith…as we are able to with God’s help…we will never see death. His words will act in and upon our lives to save us. He’s not saying that we will not experience death, but that we will not face eternal judgement…permanent destruction or separation from God. In trusting in Jesus as the truth…even if we do not understand everything or struggle to follow…we will be looked upon as righteous. His word will claim us as his own.
As noted by a bible professor and songwriter, Michael Card, “Jesus promises light, freedom, and eternal life” in this chapter.[vii] Will we accept his promises, or will we hold onto our woundedness like the crowds before him? Abraham was looked upon as righteous because he trusted God. He did not know everything. Those who followed him faced loss, family brokenness, and hardship, and yet, they affirmed the same faith despite all they had left to learn about God. Moses and his people, the prophets that followed, and even John the Baptist did not fully understand God or God’s ways. We know this partly because they, too, are human like us, but also because scripture indicates that Jesus, coming and serving as he did, surprised everyone.
If the Apostles and disciples struggled with faith and had more to learn, why are we surprised when we have questions? Or when we have wounds that need to be healed, why deny them? Or when we struggle with sin, why pretend that we are ok? The faith of Abrham, the faith of Israel, the faith of the Reformation, and of today proves the same. We need to turn toward God in trust in order to live. In modern Protestant parlance, we might say, we are always reforming and being transformed. We are saved by grace through faith.
The Letter to the Hebrews (13:8) tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” His promises are eternal, and as Martin Luther quipped, Jesus does not lie. Amidst ongoing theological disagreements, we can choose to be patient, forgive, and love one another. As we struggle with sin, we can confess and repent. As we strain within a lack of hope, we can seek to become living signs of hope to one another and the world through word and deed anyway.
For despite our doubts and darkness, we now know the Lord and his light. And it is Jesus who has ultimately declared, “I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more” (fulfilling Jeremiah 31:34). So, do not be afraid to ask, seek, and knock. With his cross and resurrection, Jesus has opened the door to you and to all.[viii] He’s left his light on for you, and a room has been prepared.[ix] Amen.
[vii] Card, M. (2014). John: The Gospel of Wisdom. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. p. 115
[viii] In John 10, Jesus will declare he is the Door, “if anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
[ix] A famous commercial campaign for Motel 6 included the phrase, “We’ll leave the light on for you,” originally an ad lib by Tom Bodett. In John 14, Jesus speaks of heaven being like a mansion with many rooms.
Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 29:15 minute mark.
