For it is by grace you have been saved, though faith- and this is not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.

It is a good time of year, lots of people in town for the Feast of All Souls Day. It is good that they’ve been brought up to observe such feasts. Good for them, good for my Prince Fredrick, good for their dearly departed, good for their loved ones for whom they will be praying…. “And it doesn’t hurt that it is good for business,” says Dr. Luther, our priest and professor at out little university here in Wittenberg.

Of course, I must admit it is good for business- all these people in town. I have to pay my taxes, I have to provide for my family, but Dr. Luther has created such a stir. It started when he challenged the teachings and traditions of the church on the sale of indulgences. He challenges as to whether one even needs an indulgence, that the sacrifice of Christ was all sufficient… that our good works are done not to merit God’s favor and thus our release from Purgatory, but our good works are done in response to what has already been done for us by Christ. This has created quite a stir. I fear Dr. Luther has hit a hornet’s nest called Rome.

Everyone is talking about his challenges to the teachings of the church. Posted them on the church door, he did. He wrote, “Those who believe that they can be certain of their salvation because they have an indulgence letter will be eternally damned.” Dr. Luther tells us that salvation is not found in pieces of paper, Pope’s seal or not, but forgiveness is found in faith in Jesus as our high priest, and the sacrifice he made on our behalf. From the writings of St. John, Dr. Luther reads Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2.2) In Jesus’ sacrifice is our full forgiveness. That forgiveness he daily and richly pours out upon us, when we honestly and earnestly confess our sins and receive God’s full forgiveness spoken in and through the words of holy absolution. Dr. Luther teaches, “Any truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of the penalty and guilt of sin without an indulgence letter.” (from the 95 Theses which Luther posted on the church door)

Dr. Luther reads to us what the Psalmist wrote, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord. (Ps 20.7) Dr. Luther tells us that many have come to trust in pieces of paper upon which men scribble indulgences. They trust in those scribbles rather than in the inscribed Word of God. Many have come to trust that they will be saved if they only have their names written on a church role or they have attended Mass on the prescribed days, even though their hearts and minds have grown cold to the things of God.

Dr. Luther says if there are pieces of paper that we should trust in they should be pieces of Holy Scripture for on those papers are written the promises of God. Dr. Luther teaches us as St. John wrote, These (Words of Scripture) are written that you may believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you have life in His name. (John 20.31) It is not enough to just possess the paper; we must believe the words on it; to be believed one must spend time with them, wrestling with them, as Jacob once wrestled with God. Just as flour, yeast, and water do not become bread unless they are kneaded so too our faith will not grow unless it is worked, turned over and over and at times pounded flat. But all the while the yeast, that is the Holy Spirit is working in us and through us. A little yeast can leaven the whole loaf that is our lives.

This yeast of the Holy Spirit is given to us in our baptism for Dr. Luther teaches us that He saved us through a washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit whom He poured out generously through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Titus 3.5)

Just as the water I use in baking my breads must be “just right” so too these waters of baptism must be just right. When it comes to baptism the water is just right when the water is combined with Jesus’ Word. “Certainly not just water, but the Word of God in and with the water that does these things, along with faith which trust this Word of God in the water. For without God’s Word the water is plain water and not baptism. But with the Word of God it is a baptism that is, a life-giving water rich in grace.” (Luther’s Small Catechism “The Power of Baptism”)

If there is a paper that I should cherish, Dr. Luther says I should come by the church, and he will give me one on which he will write the day on which I was baptized. It is faith in all that God has promised me there that I should cherish. In baptism, God removed from me the curse of sin, brought me into a relationship of forgiveness, bestowed on me faith. This piece of paper proclaims real promise for it is not of men nor of popes, but of God. For by and through baptism, just as by and through the hearing of God’s Holy Word, we have become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is, as St. Paul writes to Timothy, a trustworthy saying. (Titus 3.7,8)

Dr. Luther does not know this but I, too, had purchased one of Tezel’s indulgences. We could not buy them here because our Prince had amassed thousands of relics and if they were all properly venerated one could, I am told, be granted a dispensation of nearly two million years. If people were going to buy indulgences they could buy them here from him and good German money could stay in German pockets… I had crossed over the river to buy one.

There they beat the drum with much pomp and circumstance. I heard from the Pope’s own spokesman. A round bellied monk harangued us with the benefits, no the privilege, of buying such an indulgence. We participate in the building of St. Peter’s and we would benefit from every mass said in St. Peter’s from now until Doomsday. Not only that but he proclaimed, “No sooner does the silver clink into the chest but that a soul from Purgatory to heaven springs.”

Dr. Luther has since taught us that forgiveness is neither bought nor sold. The true treasure of the church is not an indulgence but the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The treasures of the Gospel- merciful forgiveness, eternal life and God’s saving grace- are the nets with which one fishes for a wealth of men. It is by that Gospel that Jesus could say to Peter come and I will make you a fisher of men. (turning the indulgence over in his hands) I now understand that these indulgences are nets of another kind- ones, which fish not for men but for men’s wealth.

I once asked Dr. Luther how much could it hurt to mix in a few questionable teachings with my faith: a little superstition here, a weak teaching or misleading tradition of the church that conflicts with Scripture there, a little of my reason here and there…what could it hurt? After a thoughtful moment Dr. Luther got up and took my broom. He swept up the floor where some mice dropping were, he swept up some of that gray Wittenberg sand and manure that people carried in on their shoes, and he swept up some of the hair from the cat that collects in the corners. He swept it all up into a dustpan, looked right at me and he poured it in to my mixing bowl…. Before I could protest he said, “What can it hurt?”…. “What can it hurt?” Watch your doctrine closely, a few false teachings can ruin the whole loaf, a few false teachings can ruin your eternity.” And with that he left….

There is much to ponder, much to pray about, and much to study. I know NOT what others may put their trust in but as for me and my house, we will trust only in the Lord. Unless I can be proved wrong by scripture my conscience is captive to the world of God.

Amen