The Commemoration of Martin Luther, Doctor and Confessor
18 February Anno + Domini 2008
"We Are All Beggarsâ€
John 15:1-11
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dr. Martin Luther's last words upon his deathbed in 1546 were a combination of German and Latin: "Wir sind alle bettler. Hoc est verum†("We are all beggars. This is true.â€). That was Dr. Luther's assessment of himself before Almighty God. We are all beggars, having nothing at all to offer God for our sins. We are all beggars, fully dependent upon the grace and mercy of God for forgiveness, life, and salvation. We are all beggars. This is most certainly true!
It had taken Dr. Luther many years to come to that point in his life. He began his life intending to become a lawyer, and was plagued and hounded by the Law until such time that he was compelled to become a monk, so that he might work his way out of the fix in which the Law had placed him before God. But, the more Luther tried to work his way out of God's wrath and into His favor, the deeper he fell into the pit of despair. As he would later confess in one of the many hymns he wrote:
My own good works all came to naught, No grace or merit gaining;
Free will against God's judgment fought, dead to all good remaining.
My fears increased till sheer despair Left only death to be my share;
The pangs of hell I suffered. (LSB 556:3)
That was where the Law of God drove Dr. Luther, and no amount of prayers, fasting, self deprecation or good works could save him from such a fate. He was a beggar, with nothing to offer God to atone for his sins.
But the saddest part of this story is that the Church of Rome did not point Him to Christ and the Sacrament for forgiveness and hope. Luther followed all their rules. He prayed the hours, used his rosary, he even made a pilgrimage to Rome to follow in the footsteps of Saints Peter and Paul. If ever there were a devout monk, surely it was the monk Martin Luther. But, all the works the Church of Rome exhorted him to do to make peace with God only left him more and more hollow and empty. Only Christ could fill his soul, and Christ was not found in the self-righteous works he was prompted to perform.
But God beheld his wretched state, and sent His only Son to die on a cross so that Luther the beggar would have peace for his troubled soul. He sent a preacher to Luther named St. Paul. Of course, St. Paul used another preacher named Brother Spalatin to send his message, but between Luther's tortured meditation of God's Word and his own father confessor's ministrations, God gave Luther the Gospel. He gave him Jesus.
This is what Jesus talks about when He says in our Gospel, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing†(John 15:5). There is no true life apart from Jesus Christ, the Vine. All those who seek to please God and earn His favor by their own works are disconnected from the Vine; they are dead branches to be thrown into the fire. Only those who realize how futile are their works and trust and rely solely in the salvific work of Jesus Christ are living branches connected to the Vine, bearing much fruit. These living branches receive the necessary nutrients for true life through the Holy Word and Sacraments of the Vine.
So it was with Dr. Luther, and so it is with you even today. Your life is bound to Christ's so tightly that your very life comes from Him. Everything that is good in you comes through Him. Apart from Him you can do nothing. But the good news is that you are not apart from Him. You are in Him and He is in you. He forgives your sins and sets you up in the highest of places, at His eternal banquet table.
Before Dr. Luther spoke his famous last words, he was asked as he lay on his deathbed whether or not he wanted to take back anything he had taught or change his position. He refused. He clung to the truth that we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone to the end. He considered himself a beggar completely reliant upon His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ until he drew his last breath.
And so he was, just as you and I are the same. That realization of the Law, which we call contrition or repentance, comes as a gift from God, for God cannot work in you all of the great things He has planned until you realize that you are the branch and He is the Vine. He works that in you so that He can graft you into His side and His flesh becomes your flesh, His blood your blood. And when that happens, dear friends, then you have life.
So come, little branches, and receive your life from Jesus Christ, the true Vine who makes the Church His own. Remember Dr. Luther and all of the branches who have gone before us, and rejoice in the life which only Christ can give to you, His Church. We are all beggars. This is true. Come, then, as beggars to the Lord's Table, and receive the nutrients you branches so desperately need from the very Body and Blood of the Vine. In His Holy and Precious Name. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting. Amen.