christ the redeemer

this past week in my theology of martin luther class we discussed luther's christology, that is to say, what luther had to say (or write) about jesus christ.  for luther, jesus is the ultimate self-revelation of god's heart (although god is still hidden, never fully known by us).  this then informs luther's understanding of god as luther explains the second article of the apostles creed to mean that jesus as lord is redeemer. 

christ redeems us.  christ frees us from being slaves to sin and death.  we are freed to choose life abundant.  this choice is not always easy, but in god we are always invited into life-giving relationship.  we receive love and hope in our redeemer so that we can go into a broken world and bring that hope to the hopelessness of the world.  christ is good news to the oppressed, because christ redeems the oppressed from situations of oppression, joining the outcasts and welcoming them at the table.  christ redeems the oppressors from systems of oppression, inviting them into a new way of being that is safe from domination, where they are free to be themselves without holding power over others.

luther's christology helps in interpreting scriptures.  the bible is authoritative, yet within the bible there are contradictions.  because god is ultimately made known to us in jesus christ, the gospels are the scripture used to interpret the rest of scripture.  the story of god at work in the world in jesus is the lens through which we understand god's saving actions throughout human history.  this is also why we stand during the reading of the gospel in worship; the gospels account for jesus' life, death, and resurrection.  by standing for the gospels, we are standing in reverence and respect for christ our redeemer.

so, as we set about interpreting scripture, we also interpret it through the lens of the gospel.  in a practical and personal way, this means that when verses from leviticus are tossed around, we go back to a redeemer who sat with the tax collectors and outcasts.  we go to a god who preached love for all of god's children.  we go to a god of love and justice to boldly proclaim that that love in our lives and in the world trumps the levitical law.  we rejoice in the freedom to respond to and trust in god's love for us and for all god's children.  we are freed to make christ known through our lives seeking love and dignity for all people.