Why We Celebrate Reformation Day
Most Christian holidays and festivals are based on something that happened in Jesus’ life. The big ones are of course; his birth at Christmas, his death on Good Friday, his resurrection on Easter, and his sending the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. So, you might ask, do Lutherans also celebrate Reformation Day? The reformation isn’t in the Bible–it happened 1500 years after Jesus walked on this earth. Why is this something that we celebrate today?
This is a good question. It may lead to other good questions. Let’s address a few of those.
What does Reformation Day Celebrate?
Reformation Day celebrates the beginning of the Reformation. We celebrate on October 31 because it was on October 31, 1517 that Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. This was the place that theses for scholarly debates were posted, which made sense for Luther, since he was professor of theology at the university there.
Rather than start a local debate, the 95 Theses quickly spread. The printing press was a relatively new invention and it helped ideas like Luther’s do the sixteenth century version of “going viral”. Instantly, he had the world’s attention.
What did the 95 Theses address?
The 95 Theses addressed the use of indulgences in the Roman Catholic Church. The idea was that Jesus, Mary, and the saints had more than enough good works and merit stored up that they could share with the rest of us. Who was in charge of making sure that sharing happened? It was the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church! When these merits were applied to people, they could automatically get into heaven. This was a great deal for anyone who died and they believed they were waiting in purgatory.
How were these merits getting awarded? It wasn’t out of love, as the 95 Theses suggest. The Church would have people do certain things (pray prayers, go on pilgrimages, or other sacred acts) and also pay money. This became a useful fundraising technique. At the time, money was going (in an indirect way) to help build St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
What happened to Luther for challenging the Church like this?
In the conversations and disputations that followed, Luther realized the problem was much deeper than the sale of indulgences. It was sort of like when you have one loose string on a sweater. Once you start picking at it, the whole thing starts to unravel. That’s what happened for Luther.
As he studied the scriptures even more, he realized that God wasn’t only an angry judge who wanted to damn him. Luther learned to see God as a loving Father who sent his Son to save the world by taking the punishment for the sins of the world on the cross and rising again from the dead.
Once Luther realized that this, the Gospel, was the heart of the Christian faith, it changed everything for him. He was willing to stand up to the church and the emperor and confess the truth of the Gospel. He boldly proclaimed this good news in his writings and teachings for the rest of his life.
How does this play into our Reformation Day Celebration?
The reason we celebrate is because we are thankful that we have God’s Word purely taught and the sacraments rightly administered. The best way to be thankful for God’s Word and his gifts is to receive it over and over again. We also do this because we know that the truth of the Gospel was obscured and we never want to see that happen again.
Why celebrate a man like Martin Luther?
Luther would not want to be celebrated. Indeed, he would be the first to confess that he was a sinner in need of God’s grace. And therefore, we can be honest about his flaws (for example, his writing later in life about the Jews are flat out wrong).
Rather than celebrate a man, we celebrate what God does through his word. In fact, this is the way Martin Luther himself described what was happening in the reformation. Here’s what he said in one of his sermons from 1522:
“I simply taught, preached, wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And then while I slept, [cf. Mark 4:26-29] or drank Wittenberg beer with [his friends] my Philip and with Amsdoff, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy, that never a prince or emperor inflicted such damage upon it. I did nothing; the Word did it all.” (AE 51:77)
What does a Reformation Day celebration look like?
As always, our worship is focused on delivering the gifts that God has for us in his Word and sacraments. Our first reading is from Revelation 14:6-7 which describes the proclamation of the eternal Gospel. Romans 3:19-28 is our Epistle reading. Luther translated verse 28 as “So we hold that man becomes righteous without the works of the law, through faith alone.” Finally John 8:21-36 is our Gospel reading. In this text Jesus says, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” In Greek, the word for “free” (eloutheroi) sounds a lot like “Luther”. Luther embraced this connection.
Besides receiving God’s Word, we respond with praise. On Reformation Day we usually sing hymns by Martin Luther and people who worked with him. Of course, A Mighty Fortress is Our God will always be one of the hymns that we use.
I would like to personally invite you to join us on Sunday, October 25 as we celebrate Reformation Day at 8:00 or 10:30. Or, if you’re reading this after the fact, you can view the service here. Either way, we hope that you treasure the good news of Jesus that we proclaim because this is how God takes away our sins, gives us eternal life, and gives us real hope right now.
Peace in Christ,
Pastor Jacob T. Mueller