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Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:31-36)
Tomorrow, October 31, 2017, marks the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The gospel passage to mark this anniversary is the one above. It's about truth and it's about being free. It started in Germany by a monk named Martin Luther, whose quest for truth and honesty came when he was assigned to a school to teach Bible. This came about because as a monk he was required to confess his sins every day. Martin took hours in the confessional trying to cover all his bases; what sin, where, why; and this drove his brother monks crazy and they had him reassigned. Martin Luther had never owned his own Bible and had to confess to himself that he needed to read it in order to teach it. It was in the reading of the Bible that he did come to truth, and the truth, as Jesus said in the passage, set him free. The Catholic church had been in the business of selling forgiveness of sins, and a variety of other misguided practices, and the more Martin read, the more he learned about what God requires through His word.
Growing up in Kingsville, at an early age I came to appreciate and love God and God's word. I owned my own Bible and I took great pleasure in attending Sunday school. I clearly remember the Monday at school after a great Sunday in church and I went up to some friends and wanted to discuss the stories we had learned. I was saddened to hear that none of my friends, who were all Roman Catholic, owned their own Bible. "Why?" I wanted to know. "Well, the priest has one and he read it to us, but it's in Latin." was the reply I heard. "What?" was my second question. Vatican II came along in the late 50s and early 60s, and the formal meetings began in 1962, and one of the changes the church adopted was permission for their members to own their own Bibles. Notice what Jesus says, true disciples are those who "continue in My word," and as a result, believers "know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Most Protestant pastors would say, "Don't take my word for it, you have a Bible, look it up!" Martin Luther did, and started this movement that led to the start of many of the denominations we call Protestants. It was a Protest against ignorance and the slavery to practices that could not be questioned; the truth made us free.
PRAYER: Loving God, in honor of this important day, may our commitment be to continue in Your Word like never before. Help us all to set aside time to read and pray and understand Your teachings. We want to know the truth about Your love and the salvation freedom that comes through Your Son, Jesus. May it be son as we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Give a Bible to someone who doesn't have one. Start with yourself.
Eradio Valverde
Prayer Updates: Pastor Matt Pennington is back from Korea and we could tell yesterday that he was richly and deeply blessed while there. Larry Ehrig went home from the hospital on Saturday and is resting and recovering there. We should continue to pray for Charlotte Wilson who is still at Nix Hospital in downtown San Antonio fighting infection on her wound from surgery.
