John 8:31-36
When Columbus lived…people thought that the earth was flat.
- They believed the Atlantic Ocean to be filled with monsters large enough to devour their ships…
- And with fearful waterfalls over which their frail vessels would plunge to destruction.
- Columbus had to fight these foolish beliefs to get men to sail with him. He felt sure the earth was round.
You might think that Columbus went out on a limb by assuming the Earth was round…or that it was Magellan who proved it for certain a few years later with his global circumnavigation.
Magellan said:
- “The church says the earth is flat…but I know that it is round…for I have seen the shadow on the moon…and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church.”
- With those sentiments and other words like that the Church Inquisitors went to work with their terror and torture.
But contrary to popular belief…this question wasn’t settled in the 1400s and 1500s but more than 2,000 years ago.
- It was solved in the ancient world by scholars and scientists from Egypt and Greece.
- All over the Mediterranean these scholars went to work at the Library of Alexandria.
- One of these scientists was the Ancient Greek Astronomer…Eratosthenes of Cyrene.
- He proved the earth is round!
- Jesus said: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
Well…a few years later the Passover of the Jews was near.
- And Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
- In the temple he found people selling cattle…sheep and doves and the money changers seated at their tables.
- Jesus drove all of them out of the temple…with the sheep and the cattle.
- He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
- He told those who were selling the doves:
- “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
It wasn’t really the money or the animals that angered Jesus.
- It was the extortion.
- It was the lying.
- It was the deceit.
- Making the poor purchase sacrificial animals that they could not afford to buy.
- Having to change their money into temple currency and being charged an outrageous exchange rate.
- The Jewish elite hoodwinking the poor into believing that you had to pay money and offer sacrifices to be saved.
- Hoodwinking the poor into believing that Jesus Abba…his daddy kept a torture chamber.
- And if you wanted to stay out of it…well…pay up!
- This so outraged Jesus.
- Because salvation…grace…is a priceless gift.
- Jesus said: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
Well…1500 years later…here we go again.
- 1517 Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the castle church door in Whittenburg, Germany.
- Why? Because he realized that the church was lying to the poor people.
- They were simply being deceitful.
- He wrote them to challenge church officials on certain issues in the church.
- Among these were the peddling of indulgences.
- Selling receipts to forgive sins to get out of Purgatory sooner and go to heaven.
- The money collected would go to build St Peters Cathedral in Rome…one of the biggest in the world.
- Well…we all love great cathedrals.
- But why must the poor pay for them?
- Do not the rich…the elite…have enough money to build them?
Okay then…the poor must pay money to buy indulgences to lessen their time in purgatory.
- Once again…its like the establishment believes that God is dumb.
- That our loving Lord would make us purchase something that is priceless.
- That God is a sadistic…loving to see his beloved creation suffer.
- Loving to see his beloved creation miserable…hungry…cold…and homeless.
- Martin Luther said NO to all of this nonsense.
And the church went after him for it.
- Thank goodness…Prince Frederick hid him away at in the Wartburg Castle.
- Here he translated the Bible into the German vernacular language.
- And the church killed people for writing the Bible in the peoples own language.
- And that’s another story for another time.
- Now isn’t it interesting that church leaders…as smart as thay are…would believe that God only communicates in Latin.
- What a world!
- Here…at the Wartburg Castle…Martin also threw his inkwell at the wall…in the room he was staying in…to keep the devil at bay.
Now isn’t it interesting…2000 years later…we must continue to keep the “powers and principalities” (St. Paul’s words) at bay.
- The poor are still messed with.
- The hungry are still sent away empty and malnourished and dying.
- The little ones are still cold and naked.
Jesus said:
- “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…because he has anointed meto bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind…to set free those who are oppressed…to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” - And when they heard this…all in the synagogue were filled with rage.
- They got up…drove him out of the town…and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built…so that they might hurl him off the cliff.
- But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Jesus said:
- You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
Martin Luther said:
- “Lord Jesus…You are my righteousness…I am your sin. You took on you what was mine…yet set on me what was yours. You became what you were not…that I might become what I was not.”