A Look Back

by Marvin Bublitz

Once again we are at that time when we look back and consider the Reformation. Looking back can be a beneficial exercise. Recently, I have been looking back as my siblings and I have been going through my mother’s house to settle the estate. This has made me look back remembering things from childhood.

One memory is Saturday morning cartoons. The one that stood out was Bugs Bunny standing at a cave saying, “Open Sesame.” Suddenly, the cave opened revealing a mound of golden treasure. I think I spent the rest of the day at every door saying, “Open Sesame.” I recall my older brother saying something like, “You don’t have the power, Marvin.”

Those words are important for us to keep in mind. They cut to the heart and expose our thinking. We want the power. In a real sense that is what happened in the Garden of Eden when Satan enticed Eve to “be like God.” That same temptation hounds the people of God every day. In our sinfulness, we want to call the shots, tell everyone what to do, and run the show. We poor miserable sinners want the power. We will try to wrestle it from anyone we can—even God. When someone says something we don’t like or agree with, we claim the power to decide they are wrong.

Now, think what that means for our relationship with the Lord. He tells us we are sinners. We each disobey Him, doing our own thing and ignoring His holy Word. We sin, but we don’t like to hear that, so we try to assume the power to declare what is right and wrong. Just look at society around us and you will see what I mean. Thankfully, the Lord does not leave us to wallow in our sinfulness. He continually comes to us with His Word of Law to convict and condemn the sinner. His desire is that the sinner repent and live.

Sadly though, even when we are brought to repentance our power struggle does not end. It shifts to our setting the method of forgiveness. Think how often you have heard someone ask for forgiveness. Then the other person sets out various conditions to show they are truly repentant and deserving to be forgiven. In a real sense this is just a power grab, making oneself judge, jury, and God.

Consider how the prophet Nathan replied when King David confessed his sin. Nathan declared, “The Lord has taken away your sin” (2 Samuel 12:13). There was no long list of things for David to do in order to prove repentance or earn absolution. It was God in His divine power who would earn this forgiveness, through a descendant of David.

When His Word of Law drives us to the foot of the cross in repentance, all there is for us to say is “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” There is nothing we can say or offer to the holy God to earn His mercy and grace. Rather, He has shown us the extent of His mercy and grace upon a cross.

We desire to be in heaven with our merciful Lord. Yet, once again, we want to have the power to determine when and how we get there. But it is the Lord in His divine wisdom and power who determines the length of our days, and He has determined how we enter. We can only enter through and for the sake of His Son. Jesus paid the price with His lifeblood, but so often people want to set their own terms of entrance. Throughout history we see many claim that you must do this or that if you hope to enter into the Lord’s eternal rest.

This takes us to our consideration of the Reformation. As we observe its anniversary, we must ever do battle with our own sinful nature, a nature that wants to wrest for ourselves the power of salvation. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves worthy of forgiveness or salvation. God has done it all in His Son. If we try to add anything from ourselves, we are really saying, “Nice try Jesus, but you don’t have the power. I’ll handle my own salvation.” Those who reject Jesus this way will find the doors of heaven shut to them.

As we commemorate the Reformation with its return to the true Gospel of salvation in Christ, let us give all praise to the Lord for all He has accomplished through His chosen servants, then and now. Let us rejoice in the true Gospel: “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

Rev. Marvin Bublitz is Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC)'s East Regional Pastor.