It’s all about Jesus!
As we near the end of October, the shops are stocked with pumpkins and other merchandise to help people celebrate Halloween.
Sadly, Halloween seems to be quickly overtaking a church festival that also falls on 31st October – the Festival of the Reformation. Lutherans (and some other Christian churches) commemorate the Festival of the Reformation on a Sunday toward the end of October.
On ‘All Hallows Eve’ - the day before the Christian festival of All-Saints Day and from which the name ‘Halloween’ is derived – Martin Luther, a priest and teacher of theology, is said to have nailed 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The theses were points for discussion about the teaching and practice of the church of his day.
Many of Luther’s theses centred on the question of how human beings can be and remain in a right relationship with God. Luther argued from the Bible, saying that being right with God is not about us or what we do. It’s all about Jesus! Although all human beings rightly deserve God’s condemnation because of our sins, God in his mercy sent his only Son Jesus to pay the penalty we deserved and to present us completely holy or sinless before God.
Jesus shows us that God is ‘for us.’ He is on our side. He is rich in love, mercy and forgiveness. God has done what it takes to put us right with him forever. He is the one who gives us his word of promise, and faith to trust in what he has done for us.
So, the Festival of the Reformation isn’t all about Luther. It’s all about Jesus! Our Lutheran schools and churches are not about Luther. They are all about Jesus! We simply acknowledge Martin Luther as a person God has used to reawaken the Christian Church to the simple truth that our relationship with God is all about Jesus!
Can I encourage us all to focus less on the festivities of Halloween and more on the good news that God has done all he needs to do to make us completely holy and right with God. And may we pray for him to give us the confidence to believe that he has done this for each one of us. It really is all about Jesus!
A Bible verse to consider: ‘It is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this is not from yourselves; it is a gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast’ (Ephesians 2:8, 9)
Bishop Lester Priebbenow
Lutheran Church of Victoria (including Tasmania)
