"Forgiving the deep nails" - Sermon for Reformation Sunday 2015

Sermon: Reformation Sunday

Text: John 8:31-36, Romans 3:19-28, Psalm 46, Jeremiah 31:31-34

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who forgives us.

            When I was in college my campus pastor, we had a very good relationship with the catholic campus ministry on campus to start, well, one reformation took 95 post-it notes and went over to the Catholic Newman center, their campus ministry, and put all 95 of them on their front door. It’s a neat 20^th century way to post the 95 thesis out there, but maybe today we would put them on Facebook or Twitter.

            But, Martin didn’t really have any of those things, he just had a hammer and paper. So, on that Oct. 31st 1517, he took to the door of the church in Wittenberg to post his 95 theses on the power and Efficacy of Indulgences. The Ninety-Five Theses questioned the Catholic Church of that time’s practice of selling indulgences and viewed skeptically the notion that a papal pardon rather than penance or genuine contrition can achieve forgiveness of sins. Luther argued that Christians were being falsely told that they could obtain absolution for souls in purgatory by buying indulgences. When these people came to confession, they presented their plenary indulgences for which they paid, claiming they no longer had to repent of their sins, since the document promised to forgive all their sins. Luther was outraged that they had paid money for what was theirs by right as a free gift from God. That’s where it all started.

            It should be noted here that the Catholic Church now has accepted most of these topics and no longer goes against them. But, in Luther’s time, these were not taken very well. Luther, when he wrote them, was not attempting to antagonize the church leadership, but that is exactly what he did. They saw this as an attack on Catholicism, and told Luther to repent of what he said, he did not, they threatened him more, and he fought back more, and then the pope excommunicated him. Luther founded his own church, and many people followed after him. At the time, the Catholic Church never acknowledged the 95 theses nailed to them, they never repented for the sins that Luther was calling them out for, and in so doing, relationship was severed.

            I chose the post it notes purposely when talking to the kids today. Not just the resemblance to the 95 theses and my own story of using them in place of a paper and nail. I think it shows a very accurate example of sin. Sin is the thing that sticks to us, and causes relationship to be broken, if left unacknowledged it severs ties between peoples. And it can be even deeper than post-it notes on the surface, our sin can be like nails driven into us. But, when we turn to God, and ask forgiveness, God indeed takes those post-it's, takes out those nails, and rips them up, throws them away, heals up our wounds. Like it says in Jeremiah, “For I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.”

            God will truly forgive us, and remember our sin no more, and as Luther discovered in studying scripture, this is not done by paying indulgences, nor is it even through doing various tasks or works to receive God’s forgiveness, God forgives simply because we respond to God’s love through faith. Romans says, “For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith.”

            This is all absolutely wonderful, amazing and great. God’s forgiveness is so wide and grand, it encompasses so much and so many. But, there’s more to forgiveness than just between us and God. There is the deal with forgiveness between each other. And well, we are not as good at that.

            Do we actually forget when we forgive?

            Do we put things behind us? Throw them away and rip them up?

            It’s easy to do with post-it note things, but with nails? With those deep things that hurt us so much? We may say we forgive someone and we may remove the nail, but as soon as they turn away, we nail it right back again.

            Yes, it’s crazy hard to forgive people for things like that, but here’s the thing. It’s needed so much. And it’s not for the other person’s feelings or to say that what they did was right. We need to forgive others so that we can put those things aside ourselves. Because when we put that nail back into the other, they don’t feel it, but we continue to feel the sin that they caused.

            Does it make the thing go away? No, does it mean that what someone else did to us didn’t happen? No, of course not, if only it was so. But, it does help us to say and see that the sins that others have done to us do not define us. What that person said or did to you is not who you are.

            All forgiveness comes from God, and what that means is that all forgiveness declares that you are a beloved child of God. Christ says in our Gospel. “Anyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” Well, it’s equally true if we hold on deeply to the sin that others did to us, because we allow that sin to define us. We forget that Christ has made us free. Free from the sin we ourselves do when we ask forgiveness, but also free from the effects and feelings that others sin has upon us.

            You are not what sin says, you are what God says.

            And God says you are loved. God says I am your mighty fortress, when the world shakes around you, when people harm you, hurt you, sin against you, God will be there, forgiveness will be there.

            Undo the nails of sin, of your own doing, and those that still deep within you from others. Let God heal you, let God’s love flow around you, let God’s forgiveness free you.

            From our Psalm, “Be still, then, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold.”

            Let us pray,

God of stronghold, God of forgiveness. Be with us. Help us to forgive others, help us to hear when others tell us our sins, and help us to be able to let go of all that weighs upon us. Help us to know that we are loved, that we are free, that we are forgiven.

Amen.