What would Luther do? Really, I wonder what Dr. Luther would preach this morning if he were standing in this pulpit with these three texts before him…

Luther was a conservative guy. Evangelical catholic is what he called himself (certainly he didn’t call himself a “Lutheran”!) He wanted to retain nothing but the catholic, that is the universal Christian faith as it has been held by all believers of all times and places. He and his friends wanted nothing either added to the catholic faith nor subtracted. And in a day and age when most Christians had their catholic faith defined by the Roman imperial structure that traces back to Emperor Constantine, Luther and his friends said: “Hey. It isn’t a quasi-emperor in a palace in Rome who defines the faith for us. It is the Evangel, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So evangelical catholics they were. Reformation of their own lives is what they sought…

So it was that they retained the traditional liturgy and practices of the church, simply purged of Roman imperial or Greek philosophical accretions. Their test was simple: if it was biblically sound, Christ-centered, and the church had been doing it time out of mind, then Luther and his colleagues would keep it. In this way, they ended up with old liturgies, vestments, prayer books, candles, sanctuaries, and a calendar of the church year and feast days of the saints.

They were reluctant to add anything to that calendar of their own—until a century or so after the “Reformation”, when it became clear that Dr. Luther indeed belonged in the company of the ancient fathers, with the great teachers of the church like Irenaeus, Ambrose, Augustine, Athanasius, Cyril, John of Damascus and the others. But even so his friends were reluctant to add a feast day just for Luther the man. Luther would hate that. So they decided to add a day to remember the reformation of the church that Dr. Luther’s preaching and teaching had renewed. So we have Reformation Day. Today.

Those Reformation minded folks puzzled for a while what readings you should have on “Reformation Day”. By the mid 19^th century they’d settled (uneasily) on the three before us. And which would Luther choose for the sermon? Well, I think his 18^th and 19^th century friends who set up a “Reformation Day” could be justly worried Luther might not even show up to preach on this day. He’d worry such a day might be focused on him instead of the Lord Christ where our attention belongs. The fact we let ourselves be called by Luther’s name would not ease his mind any. He told us “don’t go there!”

Well, we didn’t listen to him on that one, though I myself sometimes think we should have and maybe should still rethink the name thing. So that’s one thing about this day I know Luther wouldn’t like—if the focus is on him as the man. I don’t know he’d have been a lot happier with a “Reformation Day” focus either. If you let Luther preach on “Reformation Day” he’d tell you no mere human being can reform the church! Oh, the church will always have troubles that need fixing. That’s true. And most of the troubles will come from the inside actually, of our own making. Because our church is filled with sinners. And you know how sinners are. Luther’s sermon would start by reminding us that Reformation is something God will do at the Last Day when our Lord Christ returns and makes all things new and right. That’s the real Reformation Day of the Church. It’s not something Luther or Augustine, or Paul or Matthew can or has done. It’s something Jesus alone can and will do!

So right away, honestly, I think Luther would need a lot of coaxing just to get him up into a pulpit on our “Reformation Day”. It would be a tough ask. But if you could get him to come by your “Lutheran Church” and preach a sermon on “Reformation Day” (and good luck with that I say!) and he saw these texts, which would he choose? What would he preach?

Well, I can tell you he wouldn’t be preaching on Revelation! (He didn’t think Revelation was even part of the canon. Revelation and James he thought weren’t biblical—because that’s what the ancient fathers said—lots of people questioned those books in the early days and many fathers did not have them in their canon. Luther was conservative. He’d only have the books in the Bible all the Christians had always had from the start). Also they put this reading from Revelation in here because, in the 19^th century, some thought Luther himself was that angel with the Gospel of whom John was speaking. Luther would be so embarrassed by that he’d yell at you all over again for using his name and thinking too highly of him (I’m pretty sure). So I cross Revelation off my list for texts on which to preach today.

What about Romans? Now that’s a good book for Dr. Luther! He loved that one. A lot of his best lines, justification by grace alone, through faith alone, for Christ’s sake alone, without works of our own, are just quotations, right out of Romans. A sure and certain book of Holy Scripture, and a great one. But as much as Luther loved it, I don’t see him preaching on it today. Because for him the Gospel, the very words of our Lord Christ are the purest Gospel and that’s what the church needs to hear each and every Lord’s Day.

Luther was a Gospel preacher, so he’d give pride of place to the Gospel, Jesus’ very words. He’d preach the Gospel text. And he’d preach this one from St. Matthew’s Gospel because it’s such a difficult text. First off, it’s not a good translation you have. Luther would correct that. The Greek doesn’t say the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force (though you can get that reading by inference). Literally, Jesus says the kingdom of heaven “is rushed” and “the rushers seize it”.

Luther would like that, I think. John threw open the doors of heaven to sinners. And Jesus invited them all in by the forgiveness of sins. And the hard-core sinners rushed in and seized the Day, seized the Kingdom of Christ as their own. That offended the good people, the Pharisees, the upstanding church people who wanted everyone to line up and come in one at a time (after the guy in the palace in Rome had signed off on you). But Jesus says the kingdom is rushed, by rushers who seize Him and His Gospel as their life and salvation.

That’s what it’s all about, Luther would say. Christ has flung open heaven’s door. There is nothing you need to do or become to enter. The Gospel is your ticket. Grab it by faith; seize the Day; rush the Kingdom. Jesus is giving it away, free. Take the best seat! Some will refuse, sitting in the marketplace and trying to get Jesus to dance to their own tune. They’ll try to use Jesus to raise money for their causes, to back up their morality, or their plans for a new Christian empire. But Jesus won’t dance to our tune. He plays His own song. And you either rush the stage to get close to Him and sing along, or you are left out.

“Don’t be left out,” Dr. Luther would say. Don’t let pride and pretension keep you from rushing heaven’s halls. You’ve heard the Word. And here, at the Table, heaven itself is there for the taking, in the body and blood of the Lord. Rush on up. Seize the Kingdom Christ is giving. Eat His body. Drink His blood. Just so, He brings you to His place. There you will find the real Reformation—the Peace that surpasses understanding and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.