Sermonon John 8:31-36

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

I find something in our Gospel story puzzling.

Jesus had been teaching in the Temple, and it says that “As he was saying these things, many believed in him.”

Then, our reading today opens right after that, saying that Jesus was talking to “the Jews who had believed in him.”

But then, they objected to Jesus saying that the truth would make them free, saying: “’We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone.’”

Now, the Gospel of John is the latest written of our Gospels and makes a strong effort to make a distinction between the early Jesus followers and the non-Jesus-following Jewish community, even though Jesus was Jewish.

Over the next couple millennia, the way the Gospel of John talks about “the Jews” has led to an atrocious amount of antisemitism, even though it never means “all Jewish people.” So, we have to be careful how we read the Gospel of John when it says: “the Jews.”

And another thing to remember is that Jewish people are not and never have been a monolith, any more than Christianity is. Think for just a moment about the variety within Christianity and how very little we all agree on.

But still, it seems so strange that the Gospel of John would record a conversation where any Jewish people would forget the Exodus!

Arguably the most important event in the Hebrew Bible involves God’s people being freed from enslavement.

So, were these Jewish people forgetting their history? Were they speaking metaphorically? Ironically? Was the writer of the Gospel of John simply using them as a literary device to allow Jesus to elaborate on his teaching about freedom?

I don’t know. And that’s frustrating.

But,Jesus said in our reading that “the truth will make you free,” and the truth that we can glean from Jesus’ teaching and from the Exodus is this:

God frees God’s people.

Whether God freeing the Israelites from Egypt or Jesus freeing us all from the power of sin and death in his death and resurrection, God frees God’s people.

And especially on this Reformation Sunday, we remember that it is God who frees us. It’s God’s work, not ours. There’s nothing we can do to make God love us any more or any less. God already loves you infinitely.

We are freed from having to try to be good enough. We are freed from having to try to live up to some inhumanly impossible standard, because God loves us as we are.

Jesus has set us free, and so we are free indeed!

And still we forget—I probably forget multiple times a day—that we are free.

A primary theme in Martin Luther’s work during the Reformation is that we don’t have to earn our salvation. Again, it’s God’s work, not ours.

But so often we live like that’s not true.

We sometimes forget our history—where we’ve come from as people of faith.

We move so fast through our lives, powering through our to-do lists and striving toward the next thing.

It’s hard to slow down enough to look back.

But the past can help us in so many ways:

1.    We see whose shoulders we’re standing on when we honor the struggles and accomplishments of those who have come before us.

2.    Looking back helps us get in touch with our values. We see the values our ancestors held, and we get to decide whether we want to continue that work or live differently.

3.    Looking back helps us decide the legacy we want to have. We see where we’ve come from and look ahead at the path we’re on. We see the legacy of those who came before us and imagine how we want to be remembered in the future. That informs how we live now.

That’s important reflective work. And it’s hard to find the time and energy to actually do it.

One of the gifts of Sabbath is that it gives us time and restores our energy.

The point of Sabbath isn’t so that we can work harder the other six days of the week. It’s not something we have to earn by working hard, and it’s not a productivity tool.

But it can give us the time we need to slow down and reflect and make sure we’re going in the right direction those other six days.

Sometimes we work so hard trying to get through our to-do lists that we don’t stop to wonder if those things even need doing or if they’re contributing to the way of life we want to live.

It takes rest to remind us that we’re humans, not machines. We have agency and the Holy Spirit to guide us in creating our way of life and our legacy.

We’ve been contemplating and practicing Sabbath throughout this year. I hope it’s been giving you some time to reflect, play, take life a little less seriously, and at the same time, do the serious practice of orienting your life toward God.

Sabbath can give us time to remember our past as we journey into the future.

The stewardship team has invited us all to write down our stories about this congregation—whether from last week or fifty years ago. Let’s embrace it as part of our Sabbath practice this season.

Take some Sabbath time this week and reflect on the past. You can do it while sitting quietly, journaling, drawing, walking, talking with a loved one—whatever lets you settle and just be.

Take that time, reflect on the past, and see how it informs your future.

Our Lutheran tradition was birthed from and is steeped in reform. Knowing our history, examining our present, and deciding what we want the future to look like is an important part of our tradition.

When you reflect on your ancestors’ stories and your own life story, what do you want your legacy to be?What do you want this congregation’s legacy to be?

What do you want your life and the life of this congregation to say about God?

There is much generosity, service, love, and hope in stories of this congregation, and I’m looking forward to hearing more of those stories on Thankoffering Sunday next month. Generosity, service, love, and hope sound like a pretty good legacy to me. We can decide how to contribute to that into the future.

Don’t forget: we are free in Jesus.

Now, let’s slow down enough to reflect.

That reflection may lead to reformation—a new way of being in the world that better reflects our values and what God is calling us to.

On this Reformation Sunday, I want to close with part of a prayer from our Presbyterian siblings:

"O Lord our God, on Reformation Sunday we remember the complex legacy of our church. Grant us the internal space to view the ancestors of our faith as their whole selves, gifts and sins together.

We give thanks for the beautiful legacy of the Reformation: for the resurgence of the humanities and the gift of reading Scripture and offering our prayers to you in our own tongue, for the examples of those who resisted government overreach and abuse of power, for those who stayed true to their conscience in the face of great loss. We carry these lessons with us knowing they came at a great cost.

Through the gift of baptism, you have not only called clergy or special Christians or only some of us, but you have called each one of us to use our God-given gifts to reflect your grace and glory, to impact this world for Christ’s sake, and to engage in activities that enable our neighbors to thrive and flourish in this world you so love.

Help us to rejoice in the legacy of the Reformation, according to your Word, Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen."[1]

[1]https://pres-outlook.org/2022/10/a-prayer-for-reformation-sunday/?utm_source=EDLARJ+Newsletter&utm_campaign=1ef8849459-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_10_05_06_11&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-1ef8849459-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D