Jesus didn’t tell his disciples from the very beginning that the hour would come when the religious establishment would excommunicate them and even seek to kill them. There was no need to because He was with them. But when harming them, the accusers would believe they were serving God in their actions. Martin Luther saw the biblical text speaking directly to reformers in the sixteenth century. This was no Scripture reading stuck in the first century. In hindsight, we can see how he would apply it in his own setting.
The real question is - can we apply it in our setting today? Is persecution happening in the 21st century where we live? Let’s address the same comments Luther made in his sermon: “The world defends God by killing the Truth itself (1-#4)” and today’s “religion is a human institution that cannot accept the Gospel (1-#11)” and “The Gospel is a teaching that offends human rationality/reason and will be condemned as the devil’s gift from hell (2-#10)” and “It is the church who suppressed the Gospel and compelled submission to the point of burning dissenters at the stake (2-#13)”. Enough. What is at the heart of the dissention?
The heart of the dissention is the Gospel. What is it and how does the church kill the Truth? The Gospel is the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is God and the “Christian faith is founded upon Christ alone, who accomplishes all for us (1-#12)”. Christ is a gift to us, and “to know Christ died for me and transferred the load of my sin on himself is to realize that what I do makes no difference (1-#20)”. The Gospel is that we don’t need indulgences, commandments, or holy living to bring us salvation. To kill Truth today is to promote law as the means to the end. This is wrong because Christ is the only means to the end.
The Holy Spirit has testified, witnessed, convicted us of this truth in Christ. With this knowledge infiltrating our being, we are comforted in facing any challenge before us…even if it leads to death.
We still have churches, denominations, today who require submission to certain doctrines, practices, obedience, even to the Holy Scriptures, before declaring the words of salvation to their members. Luther hits the nail on the head when identifies “those holy ones who call themselves Christian leaders persecute Christ’s people because they have not know the Father or Christ. They follow Moses in their doctrine (2-#24).” They promote putting the Ten Commandments in public places instead of the cross, and they call that Christianity.
Faith and the confession of faith, which Luther says is saying Jesus is Lord/God expresses itself and witnesses to the truth in godly actions. And the Spirit gives us courage and strength to live our faith. We no longer fear persecution, but only grow stronger.
Peace – PWM
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