Today
is Reformation Sunday!
Growing
up in a Congregational Church, I don’t believe we ever marked Reformation
Sunday - which is probably true for most UCC churches. It came as a bit of a cultural shocker that
fall when I interned at St. Luke’s Lutheran
Church of Logan Square. My total
ignorance and blank question – “wait, why do we have to wear red Sunday?” was
met with staggering astonishment; kind of like asking a Nebraskan, “wait, who
is Tom Osborne?”
In deference to those among us who grew up
Lutheran, I felt it was important to note that today is the 500th
anniversary of Luther’s declarative action of nailing 95 thesis, or a list of 95 questions and
propositions for debate, to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church.
The main thrust of Luther’s objections were about
the practice of buying indulgences to assure forgiveness from the church. Just as in Jesus’ time, the requirement to
pay for forgiveness became a financial barrier to God’s Grace. And in fact, the
date wasn’t arbitrary: Luther nailed his protests on the door on October 31,
1517. Halloween, which began as a pagan ritual, was adapted to fit Christian
intentions – like many holidays on our calendar – and from that we got All
Saints Day on Nov 1 and All Souls’ Day (or the Day of the Dead) on Nov
2. All Saints Day was dedicated to the
Christian martyrs – and hence why we wear red on Reformation Sunday – and All
Souls Day was dedicated to prayer and almsgiving in memory of ancestors who
have died. This prayer, in the Catholic tradition, was for the souls of the
dead, as an effort to hasten their transition from purgatory to heaven by being
purged and cleansed from their sins.
This was another way that salvation was purchased, for money was involved
in the rituals of All Souls Day.
Reformation Sunday draws our attention to times
in our history when the religious establishment has gone astray and was met
with courageous response of reformers who have been willing to challenge the
abuses within the body of Christ and lift up the love and freely-given grace of
God.
Luther
himself had no intention of starting a new church, let alone an entire movement
of people emboldened to express how to best worship God. He was a devout Catholic and living fully in
accord with religious teaching, but his conscience was bothered that the church
was putting too much emphasis on enforcing religious law rather than living the
principles of that religious law. Kind
of like Jesus…
In
our scripture this morning, we hear the classic, bedrock declaration of how we
are to respond to God’s love for us; the root from which a life with God
sprouts. The greatest commandment is to
love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength. And the second is like it; to love your
neighbor as yourself. On these commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Clear,
concise, good instruction. But then he
goes on to say something else, an obscure reference to David’s Son, and manages
to trap the Pharisees, again, in a question with a twist. And because of this, no one ever dared to
question him ever again. Why are these
two verses placed together? And why do
they seem so different?
Jesus
is proving himself to be absolutely orthodox, as in someone who is learned in
scripture and Torah law. For the latter
question, the Pharisees answer him accurately and biblically, citing Isaiah,
Jeremiah and Ezekiel where the Messiah is said to be the Son or descendant of David. Jesus then quotes the first line of Psalm
110, presumably written by King David, with a confusing verse that infers his
descendent will also be his Lord and will be greater than him. In so doing, he
tangles the Pharisees in a conundrum, and also shows the Pharisees, those who
are considered experts on the theological law, that he knows his stuff. It seems that the differences of
opinion between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day might be the
difference between knowing scripture and law, and living according to those
principles.
But more importantly, when the
Pharisees ask about the greatest
commandment, Jesus answers by referencing the Shema, or a daily prayer recited
by Jews of the time, but reinterpreting it by adding a verse from Leviticus
about loving your neighbor as yourself.
Theologians might say this is the
difference between Orthodoxy – reverence for the correct belief and rituals - verses
Orthopraxis – commitment to ethical conduct embodied within faith. Perhaps the
Pharisees felt that they were faithfully holding true to the traditions and
doctrines of the patriarchs and prophets in their strictest Orthodox manner. However,
with most of his life Jesus admonishes these leaders to recognize God’s grace
and truth in their lives and with their authority in the Temple. Many felt
somewhat confused at Jesus’ admonition. It is quite possible that they, like
most of us, assumed that the right ideas and beliefs were enough. Apparently,
Jesus saw it differently. He saw them as being enslaved to their “Orthodox”
theology -- one of repetition and restraint rather than a “lived” theology.
Interestingly
enough, Jesus wasn’t the only learned Jewish person to say this in his
time. There’s a Jewish legend about
Rabbi Hillel, a Jewish sage who died 6 years before Jesus was born. Hillel was
born in Babylonia in the first century BCE. As a young man he came to the Holy
Land to study Torah at the feet of the sages of
Jerusalem. He was initially a very poor, but
brilliant student, and became a famous Torah scholar before gaining a
following. Eventually Hillel became the Nasi (or
president) of the Sanhedrin, that body of Jewish
leaders that is part clerical and part congressional. For those of you who heard our Israeli guest
Jared preach about the art of constructive disagreement, you might remember
that Rabbi Hillel is often mentioned together with his colleague, Rabbi Shammai, a scholar who also had a following but who
tended toward a stricter interpretation of scripture than Hillel.
One famous anecdote about Hillel
recounts how a gentile wanted to convert to Judaism, but this individual stated
that he would accept Judaism only if a rabbi would teach him the entire Torah
while he, the prospective convert, stood on one foot. He went first to Rabbi
Shammai, who, insulted by this ridiculous request, threw him out of the house. But
when we went to Hillel, the gentle sage accepted the challenge. Once the man was standing on one foot, Hillel
simply said:
"What
is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole of the Torah;
the rest is commentary--go and study it!"
Hillel
responds the same way as Jesus, but with one important addition. When Hillel says, ‘the rest
is commentary’, he’s not being sarcastic or flippant. In Judaism, the entire Talmud is filled with
commentary; the opinions and interpretations of Jewish leaders commenting on
the realistic interpretation of scripture.
Like in those books in the Old Testament that detail exactly when, how,
and to what extent to judge or punish people – this is because the Law and
Torah are not meant to be taken in the abstract. Jews spent centuries thinking,
debating and writing down how to interpret what is fair. Discerning what it means to love God and to
love your neighbor is not so easy. It’s
incredibly simple and straightforward in words; but it requires a lifetime of
seeking, study, and understanding to do it well. And, in every culture, in every community, in
every relationship or interaction, showing love to your neighbor may need a new
interpretation.
We
as a church have done a good job of loving our neighbor. Just in the last few months, I can list off
many important, loving and generous actions we have taken to love our
neighbors, near and far.
Because
of FCUCC’s youth, and your generosity, we turned in nearly $500 in donations to
Church World Service when our group of 10 showed up to walk. That was $90 more than our goal – and now
that I know how much you all exceed expectations, don’t think I’m not going to
remember that.
When
one of our members suffered a fire, this community jumped into action with
food, clothing, furniture, shopping trips, transport to appointments, and every
other manner of emotional and material support.
A
few months ago, one of our new members brought a suggestion to Women’s
Fellowship: would we consider purchasing and packing a suitcase for a child now
in the Foster Care system. When children
are taken from their home, even temporarily, not only do they lose the sense of
security and stability that home provides, they more often than not lose all
their belongings, or those that remain get thrown into garbage bags to go from
residence to residence. CASA is running
a program that provides a filled suitcase for each kid, and 3 women in our
fellowship group shopped, filled, and delivered that suitcase in short
order. The effort was so inspiring that
all of Women’s Fellowship has now voted to fill 5 more suitcases this
Christmas, to help provide a slightly more comfortable holiday for 5 more
children.
And
two weeks ago, our church began a Fair Wage Discussion Group. A small group of us joined together to hear
from each others’ experience, and opinions, and learn more about what it means
to live at poverty level or work a low-wage job in real terms. How is this about loving your neighbor? As Rabbi Hillel points out, sometimes it
requires diligent study to fully understand how to love your neighbor. Since we only know our own lives, it may
require research and seeking to understand others in order to love our neighbor
– or not be hateful to them.
There is a lot written about Rabbi Hillel. Apparently later in his writing, Hillel was
documented saying, “Do not judge your fellow man until you reach his place.”
This, from the President of the Sanhedrin – that it is fundamentally impossible
for one human being to judge another, because no one ever occupies the same
“place.” That is, no person ever experiences exactly the same circumstances as
another. That’s why Hillel told the
convert to go and study. That is why the Hebrew scriptures and commentary are
so very long. The years of study Hillel
recommends are designed to reach the ultimate level of fairness that a human
being can reach, at times through occupying someone else’s ‘place’ – i.e.
walking in their shoes.
We cannot profess to love God if we don’t love
the things God loves – as in, other people.
It is never easy, or simple, and often requires the lens of God-given
grace. As Martin Luther said, Grace that
is freely-given by God cannot be refused, and it cannot be earned; yet because
it is given to us freely and abundantly, it is required that we would give that
grace to others just as freely and abundantly.
And that is not simple at all, but it is necessary.
Let us pray;
God, help us to love you with all our heart,
with all our mind, and with all our strength.
And God, please help us to also use all our heart, all of our mind and
all of our strength to understand how best to love our neighbors, near and far.
Amen and amen.
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