|
March 19, 1998
|
Ephesians 2: 4-9
|
Amazing Grace
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
This passage from Ephesians is very familiar in church circles, maybe especially so in Lutheran church circles, since the theology of it was at the heart of Martin Luther's disagreement with the practices of 16th century Roman Catholicism.
Christians of the time were told that their status in the afterworld was determined by their goodness on earth. Like most of us, most of them didn't quite qualify for sainthood. Maybe they didn't rob a bank or kill their neighbor, but they had these nasty little tendencies to sell a pig for more than it was worth, or gossip by the fire, or exaggerate their golf score. With these sins on their score card, they could not go to Heaven.
Only the really pure could go to Heaven. So the saved included only priests and a few others, identified after the fact as saints. Run-of-the-mill people, such as you and me, went to Limbo where we would float for a few decades or centuries until we got out on parole.
Surviving loved ones of the deceased couldn't do much about the presence of virtue or lack of sin in the Limboed one's life, but they were encouraged to give all they had -- literally -- to redeeming him or her through intercessory prayer. It was thought that if you cared enough about that beloved soul floating in Limbo, you would sacrifice much, to ensure their eternity in Heaven. You could buy these intercessory prayers for a fee. They were called indulgences, and surely if you bought enough, your grandmother would be propelled out of Limbo into the outskirts of heaven. Intercessory prayers, by the way, were acceptable only if offered by priests and other saints.
Martin Luther, himself a priest, was troubled by this teaching (among others). He said, "No! The Bible teaches us that we are saved by grace, through faith." It is not what we do that saves us. It is not prayers offered on our behalf when we are gone. It is the love of God, through Jesus Christ, that redeems us. And, said Dr. Luther, it's perfectly fine for us sinners to talk to God one-on-one while we're still alive, without benefit of saints and clergy.
Prayer: Let us pray today for ourselves, for those we love, our church, our community, and our nation. We have a direct line to God. Amen.
[Yesterday |Lenten Index | Tomorrow]
