Re-formation

 Deuteronomy 34:1-12; Matthew 22:34-46

Today we remember our brother Martin Luther, who sought to reform some practices and teachings he believed the church had wrong. The first practice he wanted to change was the sale of indulgences. Indulgences are a piece of paper that presume to get a person out of purgatory and into heaven faster. Because some folks agreed with him and many more disagreed with him, the result was a break, a schism, in the church.  

We call this the Protestant Reformation, and we often describe it as the church reformed, always reforming. Always reforming means always changing.

… Last week I asked the council to consider these two connected statements: “We do not fear change. We fear loss.” When we think about reformation, we think about what will probably change. There are changes we like and changes we don’t. We grieve the loss caused by some changes and we celebrate the newness of changes we appreciate.

Some practices in the Church have been evolving for several decades, since many of us older folks were students. Fewer people attend worship; younger people who do participate can’t afford to be as generous with their time or their money. Music preferences have changed. COVID did a number on us, forcing us to change sooner than would have normally happened.

Church people have lost a lot, when we compare what Church was with what it is today. And yet, many of us have learned to be flexible. We have learned that change can be a good thing. We have adopted the saying, “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.”

… Flexibility was a lesson Moses had to learn, quickly and repeatedly. Over the decades between his birth and rescue by midwives and a princess, to his leadership over the Exodus, to his work to reshape, to re-form, the Israelites from Egyptian slaves into a united people, faithful to one God. In today’s reading Moses’ life journey ends before he can enter the Promised Land.

For the last several years, Moses has been training Joshua to take over when Moses’ time ends. Here, Moses gets to see the land spread before him, ready to be invaded and split into sections, one for each tribe.

Back then it seemed like a great plan, God’s plan. Today, we say, “But there were people living there already.  They had no right to do that!” We can’t change history or the attitudes of those in the past.

We can only reform our own attitudes today to make sure such injustices don’t happen again. But that is such a difficult task. Redlining, new road construction, territorial disputes, eminent domain are all modern methods for claiming someone else’s land as our own. Reformation with justice is hard work!

… In the Gospel reading, Jesus is trying to reform hearts and minds to see God’s love is for all people, not just those who live in a certain way. He argues in a very Jewish way with Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes. The various leaders ask Jesus to interpret a passage or principle in the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible) or a saying by one of the prophets.

Jesus answered some questions in a way that pleased the leaders and demonstrated that he really knew his Bible. But he answered other questions in a way that challenged traditional interpretation.  This was an important way that Jesus was seeking to reform some of the Jewish faith traditions.

We have two examples of this in today’s Gospel reading. God gave Moses 10 Words, which we call the Ten Commandments. By the end of Torah, there are 613 commandments, which describe the proper ways to have a relationship with God and with each other. The Pharisees want to know which of these 613 commandments is the most important, in Jesus’ view.

Jesus uses two common sayings in his response. He quotes the Shema, a prayer observant Jews say daily. And he quotes an often-cited verse from Leviticus. Jesus says, put simply, You shall love God and you shall love your neighbor.

The conversation then continues about the identity of the messiah. Of course, by now many are thinking that Jesus is the messiah, so they want to know if that’s who he says he is, too. Jesus asks a question as a way to change the way they think about the messiah. The way he phrases the question demonstrates that Jesus believes the Pharisees and Sadducees and others don’t know how to properly interpret scripture. It’s a sort of mic-drop moment. The Pharisees don’t dare ask him any more questions.

… Today, a popular way of interpreting scripture includes the insistence that we behave in certain ways in order for God to love us, and that our goal in life is to gain entrance into heaven.

The difference between this belief and Luther’s teaching is who the main actor is. In the popular teaching, humans are the main actors. In Lutheran belief, God is the main actor. When God is the main actor, we are free to believe what Jesus tells us, that we are already and always beloved and forgiven. God sees our hearts, wounded, broken, imperfect as they are, and loves us despite our defects.

This week, I pray that you think about change and how it has affected your lives. Have they been small, easy to manage changes, or significant reformations? Amen