Fruits of the Spirit: Galatians 5:1, 13-25 497 years ago, on October 31st, 1517, a young professor of Old Testament, Martin Luther, posted ninety-five theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Nailing theses on the door of a church was an accepted way for a professor to bring his thoughts to a larger public. Luther wanted Christianity to be a pure and holy endeavor, the opposite of what it had become, a factory of fine art and architecture built on the sacrifices of the poor through the sale of indulgences. The idea was that if you paid a small sum to the church, a loved one’s period of suffering in purgatory before going to heaven would be shortened. Luther knew in his heart that the sale of indulgences was a cruel joke. He sent a hand-written copy of his theses to the archbishop Albert of Mainz, in charge of the sale of indulgences, and to the bishop of Brandenburg, the superior of Luther at the time. It was Luther’s way of confronting a church badly in need of change and reformation. Like Pope Francis today, Luther did not hesitate to speak the truth. For this he got himself into a heap of trouble. Martin Luther’s ability to put his finger on yawning contradictions in the life of the most powerful institution of his day made him the right person at the right time to trigger one of the great turning points in world history. His prophetic gifts are evident in Thesis 86. He poses the question: Why does the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of Saint Peter with the money of poor believers rather than with his own money? This was not a popular question among many, who preferred to hear no evil and see no evil. Today is Reformation Sunday. We celebrate one of the greatest movements of reformation and change the world has ever seen. The very possibility of things like freedom of opinion and freedom of religion as these are understood in Western civilization are unthinkable without the Reformation that Luther and Calvin and Knox spearheaded five hundred years ago. We all stand on the shoulders of the sixteenth century Reformers. Luther treasured Paul’s letter to the Galatians above all other parts of Holy Scripture. Like Paul, Luther knew that religion could damage people and leave them worse off than they already were. He also knew that true faith is freeing and becomes the securest foundation of a life in which the fruits of God’s grace will flourish. In his first thesis therefore, Luther emphasized that our whole life is meant to be about inward and outward change. In his second and third theses, he pointed out that what is required of us is not a confession of error that changes nothing, but an inward change of heart that leads to an end of life-destroying behavior. Inward change was not enough. Change that matters makes a difference for all to see. Can you see why Luther was not well-liked by powerful prelates and wealthy princes? For them, the system that benefited them was best for everyone. For Luther, the system needed to be changed. Back to Paul’s letter to the Galatians. He wrote to a divided church. He warns them, “If you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.” He lists the impulses we have which hurt others and hurt us, the patterns of behavior we need to leave behind. Here are a few examples: strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, divisions, and envy. Those who do such things, warns Paul, will not inherit the kingdom of God. That is, they will know nothing of the sense of wellness, peace, and joy which God would give us. Those who belong to Christ Jesus, Paul claims, crucify the flesh with its passions and desires. They live by the Spirit, and they keep in step with the Spirit. And the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, says Paul, there is no law. Alan Brehm summarizes the meaning of Galatians 5 beautifully: The only way to truly find freedom is to give yourself away in love, and the only way to truly give yourself away in love is when you are free. St. Augustine said it this way: ‘Love, and do whatever you please.’” That is how I want to live my life. I hope you do, too. Luther put it this way: “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” No one has put it better. “I am a poor man,” said Luther. “I have no other gift to offer,” he said, than his understanding of true freedom. Luther offered the same gift Paul offered to seekers in his day. The question endures: who in fact is interested in true freedom? I would say: all those who know themselves to be broken. All those who know themselves to be troubled, a work in progress. Luther was in fact a troubled soul. He longed for healing. The subject that interested him was true selfhood, the possibility of personal integrity. He desired to know, as have countless seekers before him, by what means a man becomes a free and true human being, with a sense of being in tune with the right, the good, and the beautiful. He desired to know by what means we acquire a spiritual, new, and inward man. The answer we find in Scripture is clear: we are called to live by the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit. And, as the song says, they shall know we are Christians by our love. Let us pray.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 12:13:26 +0000
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