Oct. 26, 2025 - John 8:31-36 - Reformation Sunday

Jigsaw puzzles have always been something we’ll do every once in a while. They’re good mental activities that require a certain amount of problem solving. Figuring out where each piece goes is a combination of looking for the pattern and shape of the piece itself as well as the picture of the puzzle as a whole and seeing how the individual piece you have fits into it. It’s nice because it’s also something we can all do together. Everyone takes their portion of the project and builds it until it can find a home in the puzzle and then moves on to a different chunk.

More recently we’ve dabbled in a new kind of jigsaw puzzle. These puzzles work the same, in that you have to put the puzzle together with all of the pieces. But, once you’re done, you’re given a bit of a story. One of the ones we did recently said that we had been walking in the woods when a fog came up and when the fog cleared we were in a magical amusement park that moved all on its own. The problem was that you couldn’t leave unless you figured out how. In the puzzle were hidden riddles that you’d have to solve. Solving the riddle would then tell you to take out specific pieces of the puzzle that you would then put together that would show you how you got out.

The added riddles are an interesting take. It means, even when the puzzle itself is done, there’s more to do. You get a little more mileage out of the work you did to put the puzzle together in the first place.

Jigsaw puzzles probably weren’t a big concern for Luther, here on Reformation Sunday, or for Jesus back in our Gospel reading today. No, here Jesus is talking about truth. The word “truth” doesn’t come up all that often in the New Testament, or even in the Bible in general, yet nearly everything revolves around it. Going back to the beginning Genesis 3, the sin of Adam and Eve had numerous different facets to it, but one of them was the issue of truth. “Did God really say...?” From that point forward, every person in the world is engaged in the constant need to sift truth from lies.

In the reading for today, Jesus has been debating truth with the Pharisees and the crowds since verse 12, where Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” The Pharisees respond, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Then Jesus launches into a discussion about how they can judge the truth of his words. The Father himself verifies the truth of Jesus’ words.

Some believed him. They understood what he meant and saw how he spoke the truth, even if it sometimes meant he said things you didn’t really want to hear. It’s in this context that we get to another of the often misused quotes from Jesus, “...the truth will set you free.” It sounds so peaceful. It sounds so calm and assuring. If I know the truth, then I am free, or at least I will be. Free from what? Well, just about anything. The name of the game here is freedom. If I know the truth, then I will be free from whatever is keeping me down.

That’s where things start getting a little dicey. What does Jesus mean by, “truth?” Figuring out the answer to this question is where we get ourselves into all sorts of trouble. Jesus makes a nice connection for us. “The truth will set you free.” So, whatever sets me free must be the truth. So we’re back to whatever keeps me down, whatever restricts me, whatever prevents me from doing whatever it is that I want must then be false. It’s lies. It’s ungodly and must be done away with. Not only does that sound pretty good, but Jesus said it. That means God is fully onboard with the notion of throwing off restrictions. The truth is on my side.

There are whole church bodies out there who are very much in line with this. Episcopalians, the United Church of Christ, the ELCA, and lots of smaller churches out there will tell you this day in and day out. God wants you to be happy. God wants you to feel fulfilled. That means getting rid of anything that might prevent that.

We don’t do that kind of nonsense here. Obviously there are rules that God wants us to follow. There are responsibilities we are meant to keep. You can’t just say everything that stops you from doing what you want is keeping you enslaved. There are a lot of rules that are good, even necessary. We have some standards here and aren’t going to allow God’s Word to fall by the wayside like that.

It is true that we hold God’s Word in high regard and that we acknowledge that God’s laws are not to be dismissed out of hand. There’s a reason why many Christians think we’re snooty and don’t play well with others. It isn’t necessarily a pride thing, though sin does sometimes lead us that direction. It’s more that we disagree on the nature of sin and salvation. We aren’t going to give in to all of those kinds of ideas. The Old Testament is full of examples of people who wanted to be free of all of God’s laws and it didn’t go well. There’s no reason to expect anything to be different today.

Our church body certainly doesn’t go along with those ideas. Publicly, we don’t support the idea that freedom and truth are all about escaping from what God wants and commands his people to do. Privately, well, that’s a bit different. What we say we should do and what we actually do are often quite different. God’s laws as they apply to the world are one thing. God’s laws as they apply to me, that’s not always the same thing.

God tells me that if I want a serious and intimate relationship, I should get married. But, getting married is restrictive. It ties me down. I should be free. I should be able to have the fun while still being free to live how I want. The rest of those laws and commandments might still apply, but this one is getting in the way, so God must not want me to follow it.

God tells me I shouldn’t steal, but I can do much more important things with my money than the government can. If I just make some adjustments here and there on my tax filing, then I’ll get to keep more of my money. They won’t know the difference, but it’ll let me do more of the things I want. It’s not really stealing anyway, since I was the one who earned the money. God wants me to be happy, so the law probably doesn’t apply in this instance.

God tells me I should spend time in his house, hearing his word and receiving his gifts, but I don’t really feel like I need to right now. I’m pretty good on the whole “salvation” thing and I don’t think my salvation is in any immanent danger. I’ve got lots of other things, more productive things, I can be doing on Sunday morning. I’m not going to give up church entirely, but I’ve got some higher priority stuff going on right now. God wouldn’t want me to put a hold on all of these other things I want to do, so the law is probably more like a suggestion here.

I can go on. There are plenty of sins we commit that we don’t really think about. They are things that just happen in the heat of the moment or without us realizing what we’ve done. There are a lot of other sins we only do when we can find a way to excuse them. Unless we can find a good excuse, a valid loophole, we might not do it. But we really, really want to do it, so we’re very motivated to look for a way to go ahead with it.

We will argue that there is an objective truth, a truth that exists whether anyone likes it or not, whether anyone believes it or not. We will argue that God says what is and what is not true and he alone decides that. We’ll also argue, at least to ourselves, that we have our own personal truth. It’s true for me and that truth sets me free from all of those things that might hold me back and restrict me from doing what I really want to do.

Luther didn’t argue for his own truth. He didn’t argue for anyone else’s truth. He argued for God’s truth, the truth declared by the Creator who created the very concept of truth. When other reformers, like Calvin and Zwingli argued Jesus couldn’t possibly be present in the bread and wine of the sacrament, Luther pointed to the words that Christ himself spoke. He would be there whether they believed it or not, whether they understood it or not. When the Catholic church came up with indulgences, purgatory, and the greater holiness of the monastic life, Luther pointed to Scripture again, where none of these things could be found.

When Jesus is talking to the crowds here, he isn’t discussing generic wants and desires. He isn’t interested here in what might make you happy or feel fulfilled. He is talking about sin. He knows very well what sin does to people. He knows how it traps us and pulls us down. He knows that, without help, you will never escape from its clutches. Jesus doesn’t give you a truth. He doesn’t tell you to find your own truth. He comes to you as the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. He speaks the truth about sin. He speaks the truth about whatever conclusions you may come to on your own about the world around you.

Jesus doesn’t come into the world to give you the illusion of freedom. He comes to point out sin’s lies, the lies that tell you you can find peace, happiness, life, and any other good thing without the truth, without Christ. He wants people to see what is actually holding them down. He wants to break the chains of sin so people will know true freedom.

Hear Christ’s words and see how sin drags you down into death. Hear his words and see how the world offers no escape from sin and the death it brings. Hear Christ’s words and do not be afraid to repent. Do not be afraid to bring your sin to him so that he can break sin’s hold on you. We repent and hear his words that forgive us and set us free from the condemnation sin brings. We repent and ask him to keep us steadfast and righteous so that we never feel the urge to return to the sin that enslaved us. A life of daily repentance is a life that never needs to fear lies or condemnation. One who lives in daily repentance knows the truth, that Christ has taken the condemnation, becoming subject to death to set all free from death. One who lives in daily repentance knows that forgiveness, grace, and mercy are there every moment of every day and nothing has the power to enslave him again.