The other reading referenced is Romans 3:19-28.
El
santo evangelio según San Juan (8:31-36)
31Then Jesus said to the Judeans who had believed in
him,
"If
you abide in my word,
you
are truly my disciples;
32and
you will know the truth,
and
the truth will make you free."
33They answered Jesus,
"We
are descendants of Abraham
and
have never been slaves to anyone.
What
do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free'?"
34Jesus answered them,
"Very
truly, I tell you,
everyone
who commits sin is a slave to sin.
35The
slave does not have a permanent place in the household;
the
son has a place there forever.
36So
if the Son makes you free,
you
will be free indeed.
El
evangelio del Señor.
-----
As
we celebrate the 500th Anniversary of the beginning of the
Protestant Reformation, there has been a lot of reflection throughout our
denominations on identity and meaning as people of faith. Where is our identity rooted? What does it mean to be Christian,
Presbyterian, Lutheran, Protestant?
Throughout the country and the world, Lutherans and Catholics especially,
as well as a variety of people from different Christian denominations, have
been gathering for ecumenical worship services. Well, that’s old hat for us—we worship ecumenically every
single week!
But
as Jesus talks to those who believe in him—that is, us—in today’s gospel, the
source of identity comes into play.
Jesus is talking to his community—his followers. They believe in him, and yet when he
questions their identity, they respond with the identity they’ve always had, “We are descendants of Abraham.”
They
may believe in Jesus, and even want to follow him, to be his disciples, but
their identity is not rooted in him.
It’s rooted in their ancestor, Abraham. So then we are left to ask the question: what does it mean
to believe in Jesus if it doesn’t reshape—or re-form—your identity?
In
Paul’s letter to the Romans, he focuses on the power of faith, using a phrase
in the Greek that can mean both a faith in
Jesus Christ and the faith of Jesus
Christ. Because the original Greek
can be both, it lets us explore the potential meanings. A faith in Jesus Christ is our trust in
the Word made flesh who has come to abide with us. And the faith of Jesus Christ is Jesus’ faith in and for us,
a love for all of creation and a faithfulness to all of creation, even when we
are unfaithful.
And
as a Lutheran who cherishes the theology that affirms a both/and God who can
hold paradox in tension together, even in the midst of our either/or world; and
as a queer person for whom binaries, especially around gender and attraction,
don’t fit, what I find most compelling is that Paul can mean both senses of the
word. It is not only our “faith in Jesus Christ,” but also and
especially the “faith of Jesus
Christ” in and for us that manifests God’s righteousness.
This
divine entanglement of faith, where the two are entwined into informing each
other, makes the difference between believing or trusting in Jesus and being
entangled with Jesus so that our identity cannot be separated out, but must
necessarily be rooted in Jesus, who makes us free.
As
we are entangled with Jesus, we change.
Throughout this month we have been learning about different reformers
throughout history and even into today.
One
of the common characteristics of these reformers and others that we’ll name today
during our communion liturgy is that their faith in and of Christ re-formed
their identity. As they took to
heart Jesus’ invitation to “abide in my word,” Jesus also re-formed their
identity, rooting it so deeply in Christ that they could live out of it,
reforming the world and the church, Christ’s own body. This divine entanglement re-forms not
only individuals, but the whole body of Christ as well.
Argula
von Grumbach, Catharina von Bora Luther, Katharina Schutz Zell, Marie Dentière (Dahn-tee-air), and Olympia
Morata all challenged the common identities their cultures held for what it
meant to be a woman as their identities reformed around faith in Christ and the
liberating theology that the Protestant Reformation brought about.
Theologians
and pastors like Jehu Jones, Vine Deloria Jr., Soren Kierkegaard, Mama Leo, and
Darnell Moore were all informed by their faith to a deeper call and identity in
Christ, which entangled them with others and the world in such a way that Jesus
had to make change through the power
of the Holy Spirit.
The
list is endless. And it raises our
question again today. Where is
your identity rooted? A great
upheaval,
or reformation, takes place in the Church about every 500 years. It is a time for us to dig deep and
wonder about what our faith means, where our identity is grounded, and what
needs to change.
This
is the time to ask as individuals, as a community of faith, and as a whole body
of Christ, who believes in the resurrection: what needs to die for resurrection
to break in? What parts of our
identity are we trying to keep separate?
How is faith with Jesus entangled in our past, present, and future?
The
Holy Spirit is alive and active in this community of faith. I have seen her at work throughout
these last two years as we have struggled together to make sense of where she
is leading us. The Holy Spirit
calls us all to new things—to death and resurrection.
This
500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation is
the perfect time to take seriously our identities in Christ—identities
entangled in the cycles of life, death, and resurrection.
Identities not rooted in false ideas of
the past or what could have been, but instead rooted in the liberating work of
the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Identities grounded not in a specific building or location, but instead grounded
in the way this community lives out God’s love for the world.
Identities not held back by fear or
anxiety about what the future might hold, but instead willing to risk for the
sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
There
is no guarantee of comfort or ease in our walks of faith, but there is a
guarantee of Christ’s presence and faithfulness. The Holy Spirit is calling us all into the death and resurrection
of a life of faith. She
entangles us forever with Jesus, the One who makes us free.
Thanks be to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment