102906 Reformation Day
Reformation Day (Observed), October 29, 2006
In Bondage to Freedom
Text: John 8:31–36
Other Lessons: Psalm 46; Jeremiah 31:31–34; Romans 3:19–28
Theme: Who is this man? A slave or free?
Goal: That the hearers believe in that God who out of the freedom of his love gave his Son that they might live in the freedom of love.
Introduction: WHAT WAS THE REFORMATION ALL ABOUT? In one of his earliest Reformation writings, Martin Luther wrote On the Freedom of a Christian Man. Indeed, the Reformation was about the question “What does it mean for man to be free?” In our culture and society, freedom is usually associated with choice; a person is free who has the right and power to choose as he wills. We often, therefore, hear of the freedom of choice. However, such freedom arises from the idea that man is free by way of detachment from persons and things; such freedom arises from the idea of the person as independent and autonomous. The Bible knows of no such freedom of man. The Bible rather reveals man as entrapped, dead in sin, and destined to death. That man can live only if he is freed from that slavery and is reborn to the servanthood of love.
Illustration: At the beginning of Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ, Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, being tempted of the devil. The devil tempts Jesus to reject the way of the cross that the Father has given to him. The scene climaxes when Jesus determines to follow the will of his Father and indicates that resolve by crushing the head of the snake with his foot. Is Jesus, by submitting to the will of the Father, therefore accepting, settling for, resigning himself to slavery, or is he indeed free? Just
Who Is This Man? A Slave or Free?
I. Who is this man who willingly goes the way of the cross for the sinner? A slave?
A. To die is his purpose; for this reason he has come (Jn 12:27).
1. Someone had to come; someone had to die, for we needed someone to set us free (vv 31–32).
2. Though the Jews didn’t want to admit it, everyone who sins is a slave of sin (vv 33–34).
B. This man, Jesus, is the One who is sent for this purpose (12:28b—the Father’s voice).
1. Jesus does nothing but the will of his Father (8:28).
2. What Jesus does is by the authority of the Father (10:18).
C. He is the Son of Man sent to be “lifted up” (12:32; 3:14).
1. This lifting up is light; it reveals (12:35, 46); Jesus is himself light (8:12–20).
2. This lifting up reveals the Father (12:45 ESV—“Whoever sees me sees him who sent me”).
D. He is the man crowned with thorns, robed in purple—a king (19:1–5).
Illustration: Here the preacher might refer to Gibson’s movie, specifically the scene of the flogging where Jesus is tied down to the flogging pole and the scene of his being nailed to the cross. Reflect on these two scenes—tied down, nailed—as symbolic of Jesus bound to the will of God.
E. Does that mean this man, Jesus, is a slave? No! To die the death of the cross reveals the freedom of the Son (freedom to do the will of his Father).
II. Who is this man who gives over his life? Absolutely free!
A. He is the Lamb of God (1:29, 36).
B. He is the Son of God who freely does and reveals the Father’s will (5:30–38).
1. What the Son does makes known the Father (1:18; 5:30–38).
2. The Son is loved by the Father (5:20), and what the Son does is a vision of the Father (5:19).
C. He is the Word of God, that is, the manner in which God speaks and is spoken. (See also Col 1:15: “the image of the invisible God.”)
D. The Father and the Son are one (Jn 14:20; 17:11).
E. The love of the Father for the Son is the gift of love for the world, sent in the coming of the Son (3:16), who freely gives over his life.
III. Who is this man whose life is given so that others might live? A slave? Free?
A. He is the Son who is no slave, but remains in the house forever (v 35).
B. Therefore, he is the Son who made us free indeed when we were baptized into him (v 36).
1. In Baptism, we have received his Spirit (3:3, 5; 20:21–22; 1 Jn 4:13–14).
2. In this Son, then, we are created anew as new men baptized into the man, Christ (Rom 6:1–14).
C. But these new men, free men, are also slaves.
1. We are no longer slaves to sin, but we are slaves of righteousness (note the discussion of slavery and freedom in Rom 6:15–23).
2. In him we are bound to the commandment of love, given to him by his Father (Jn 14:15–21; 1 Jn 4:7–16).
IV. Who, then, is this man whose life is willingly given over for others? A slave and free?
A. This man is the baptized—you and I—who is invited freely to pray “our Father” (Rom 8:12–17).
B. This man is the baptized—you and I—who gladly lives as a slave the life of Christ (1 Jn 3:16–18).
C. This man is the baptized—you and I—who is bound to the law of love (Jn 15:12–17).
D. This man is the baptized—you and I—who lives in the perfect freedom of God’s own love.
Illustration: Here the preacher might refer to the scene in Gibson’s movie in which there is an outpouring of blood and water from the side of Jesus on the soldier beneath, who then kneels.
Baptism! Jesus is Lord whose will and way have become our own.
Conclusion: The Reformation preached the God who is known in the crucified Christ (see 1 Cor 1:23–24). The Father gave up his only Son out of the freedom of his love (sola gratia). It is impossible to receive that which is freely given except through the freedom of a thankful reception (sola fidei). This is the Gospel that is proclaimed through the Scriptures (sola scriptura).
Liturgical Setting
The Festival of the Reformation is rightly celebrated by the Protestant Church, for through the Reformation, the Gospel of the righteousness of God was restored in its purity to the Church (Epistle). The Psalm proclaims the God of Jacob as “our refuge and strength” (Ps 46:1) and “our fortress” (46:11). It invites us to “come, behold the works of the Lord” (46:8 ESV) and to know that he is God and “will be exalted in the earth” (46:10). But who is this God, and how is he exalted in the earth? This was the real question answered by the Reformation. The answer was that this God is the Christ, Son of the living God, who by the work of his death forgave sin and gave life to men. This work is the “righteousness of God” apart from the Law, but to which “the Law and the Prophets [bore] witness” (Rom 3:21 ESV). The demands of the Law were fulfilled in him who is the Word made flesh. In him, the old covenant of stone was replaced by the new covenant of the flesh (Old Testament Reading, also Ezek 36:26). In him, sin would be replaced by the obedience of faith, and in him the faithful would “know the Lord” (Jer 31:34). Therefore, according to the Gospel of John, Jesus says that “when you have lifted up the Son of Man [that is, on the cross], then you will know that I am the one [egō eimi]” (Jn 8:28). The crucified Jesus is the vision of God. The point is sung in Luther’s great Reformation hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”: “But for us fights the Valiant One, Whom God Himself elected. Ask ye, Who is this? Jesus Christ it is, Of Sabaoth Lord, And there’s none other God” (TLH 262:2).
Relevant Context
Jesus is speaking within the context of the Feast of Tabernacles (Jn 7:2–8:59), which commemorated Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness after having been freed from the slavery of Egypt. During this sojourn, God gave to Israel the way of the Law. This section continues the theme of John’s Gospel that Jesus is himself the true Torah of God, the Word of God who is the way of discipleship that leads to the Father. Jesus has just indicated that he does nothing “on [his] own” but does only that which the Father teaches him, and so he pleases the Father “always” (Jn 8:28–29). The Jews understand their identity as grounded in Abraham and in their loyalty to Moses (cf. Jn 9:28). True discipleship, however, is found in Jesus, who is the way to the Father.
Textual Notes
Vv 31–32: John’s language is suggestive. ean humeis meinēte en tōi logōi tōi emōi, “If you abide in my word” (ESV). But Jesus is himself “the Word” (ho logos, Jn 1:14). “You are truly [alēthōs] my disciples” (ESV). In the next verse, Jesus says that “the truth [hē alētheia] will set you free.” But Jesus is himself “the truth” (Jn 14:6). alēthōs has the meaning of “authentically,” “truly,” “not only in appearance.” To be truly the disciple of Jesus is to be to Jesus as Jesus, who is the truth, is to the Father (8:28–29). As the truth, Jesus is the perfect expression of the Father’s will. Those who are truly the disciples of Jesus are those who follow the way, which is Jesus himself.
meinēte indicates perseverance, steadfastness, and immovability in purpose. As Jesus remains in the Father, we are to remain in his Word. gnōsesthe, “you will know,” is not to know cognitively with the mind but experientially with the will and the heart. To have faith is a close synonym of to know. The language of truth occurs frequently in John’s Gospel; the language of freedom only in this context.
V 33: Jewish texts could say that the Torah brings freedom from worldly cares or from the slavery in the coming world (Genesis Rabbah 92.1; Numbers Rabbah 10:8). The Mishnah (R. Akiba) says: “Even the poorest in Israel are looked upon as freemen who have lost their possessions, for they are the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Adolf von Schlatter, Der Evangelist Johannes [Stuttgart: Calwer, 1975], 212; used by permission). The Jews understand the identity of Israel in terms of their sonship to the patriarchs.
V 34: Jesus defines the reality of slavery and freedom in terms of spiritual status (condition). To be a slave is to have a lord who governs and directs. Those who sin have sin as their lord. Here it is not so much a question of sinful acts as it is of the condition of will and heart, which is sinful and therefore sins.
V 35: Although slaves were regarded as members of a household, they were not necessarily permanent, for they could be sold or otherwise separated from the household. Sons, on the other hand, were the permanent recipients of the father’s inheritance. They stood to receive the inheritance because of their filial relationship with the father. One’s status determined one’s destiny. “The Son,” v 36, must refer primarily to Christ and not generally to any son. Elsewhere in John’s Gospel, the term son refers only to Christ.
V 36: Jesus is here implicitly referring to his own Sonship with the Father as the basis of his authority to free from sin. Freedom from sin does not come from one’s natural attachments, but from the Son, who is himself the free gift of the Father’s love for the world (cf. Jn 3:16). Important is the idea that it is the Son who frees. He is the instrument of the Father’s grace and love. The Father works only in and through the Son. Important, too, is the implicit allusion to Baptism, through which we are made to be sons of God in him who is the Son of the Father. In the Son, the Father of the Son becomes and is also our Father.