The month of March is behind us and so is another Lenten Season. On Sunday, March 31st, we celebrated the ancient cry, “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” as we engaged in worship on Easter Sunday, the day of Resurrection! Truly, our Living and Reigning Saviour, Jesus Christ, is Christ the King! He rose victorious from the grave!  He is alive for evermore. He is our victorious Lord and King!

In a very personal and practical application of His resurrection, the words of the old hymn come immediately to mind, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; No merit of my own I claim but wholly lean on Jesus’ name” (Lutheran Service Book, hymn #293). That word “my” as used by the hymnist means you and me. You and I now, by grace, claim that “my hope” is built on Jesus Christ’s blood and righteousness. We are His and He is ours! Glory to God!

During this Easter Season, the preaching of the empty tomb, the power of the Gospel, and the transformation of lives are openly proclaimed. In our words and deeds, the victory of Christ over all His enemies is our victory as well. During this year’s Easter Season, we focus on the power of the Gospel as recorded in John’s Gospel and his First Epistle, I John, for our lessons and Gospel readings this month.

This truth underlines the centrality of preaching. Matthew wrote, “John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea” (Matthew 3:1). He also tells us that Jesus began His earthly ministry by preaching and proclaiming “the good news” with these words, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

Following the Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord, the early church took seriously the need to engage in preaching the Gospel. Luke wrote in Acts 5:42, “And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they [the apostles and disciples] did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.” Paul encouraged the Christians in Corinth with these words, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God … it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe” (I Corinthians 1:17-18, 23b).

According to retired seminary professor, Dr. Fred Meuser, Martin Luther was well liked as a preacher. He “spoke slowly but with great vigor and often had a moving effect upon the hearers.”  Given what we know about the character and person of Luther, it would be hard to imagine that his preaching was dull or lacked passion. Luther was a man of passion. He wrote:  “Anger refreshes all my blood, sharpens my mind, and drives away temptations . . . I was born to war with fanatics and devils. Thus, my books are very stormy and bellicose. I cannot deny that I am more vehement than I should be…But they assail me…these monsters are carrying me beyond the bounds of moderation.”

When it came to preaching, it was not uncommon for Luther to chastise those who fell asleep and even snored during his preaching. One contemporary Luther scholar commented, “Times do not seem to have changed very much.”

To seminary professors, students, pastors, and theologians the writings of Luther have been described as complex, at times difficult, and deep. Ideas, thoughts, and notions such as Luther’s theology of the Cross, the doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and the exact distinction between Law and Gospel continue to challenge today’s theological thinkers today.

Therefore, it may be surprising to learn that Luther’s preaching was particularly simple. According to those who heard him, it was plain and unpretentious. Dr. Hughes Oliphant Old said, Martin Luther “made no attempt to be a great orator. He had none of the rhetorical culture that Basil, Chrysostom, or Augustine. Luther was a popular preacher with a natural mastery of language. He taught preachers of the Reformation to preach in the language of the people.”

Although Luther had been thoroughly taught the disciplines of classical rhetoric, he seemed to have deliberately avoided their use in preaching. He employed a conversational style of expression. His sermons were designed to be heard, understood, and challenging. They were centered on the application of God’s Word to the hearts and minds of the common people, not theologians.

Yet, Luther remained committed to the scholarly and thorough study of the original languages of the Holy Scriptures. He possessed a strong conviction that a proper understanding and working knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek languages were essential for the preacher. Luther urged and even demanded that all preachers have this same passion for God’s Holy Word. He said, “Though the faith and the Gospel may be proclaimed by simple preachers without the languages [Hebrew and Greek], such preaching is flat and tame, men grow at last wearied and disgusted and it falls to the ground. But when the preacher is versed in the languages, his discourse has freshness and force, the whole of Scripture is treated, and faith finds itself constantly renewed by a continual variety of words and works.”

At another time Luther made his passion for the biblical languages even stronger, “It is a sin and shame not to know our own book or to understand the speech and words of our God; it is a still greater sin and loss that we do not study languages, especially in these days when God is offering and giving us men and books and every facility and inducement to this study, and desires his Bible to be an open book. O how happy the dear fathers would have been if they had our opportunity to study the languages and come thus prepared to the Holy Scriptures! What great toil and effort it cost them to gather up a few crumbs, while we with half the labor—yes, almost without any labor at all—can acquire the whole loaf! O how their effort puts our indolence to shame.”

The Word of God was the single passion motivating the life of Martin Luther. He was called to preach the Gospel! This was his calling, the divine task of preaching. For the Great Reformer, nothing was more important than the proclamation of the Word of the Living God as revealed in the pages of the Holy Bible. For him, preaching was nothing less than the exposition of the Divine message to mankind.

In his letter to the Christians in Rome, St. Paul asked, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” (Romans 10:14-15).

To proclaim the message of Law and Gospel in accordance with the Divine purpose and with the power of the Spirit is your calling as well. In word and in deed we are all ambassadors for Christ. His Word is our only rule in all matters of faith and life. Luther understood this truth like no other. This is why he embraced the “priesthood of believers.” Not all are called to preach in the formal sense of the word, but all are called to preach the Gospel in our daily lives. You and I are called to proclaim the message of the Gospel in our thoughts, our words, and our deeds. This was the way of the early Christian church. In daily conversation or in formal worship, we know that “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). During this Easter Season, let us follow the example of the early church, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). Strive to make your life a living sermon to the glory of our Risen Lord and Saviour-King!

 

God’s peace,

 

Pastor Jim