there's the way i was before

but i can't recall how i was those days anymore

The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark!

Jesus comes back home, but after everything he’s been up to, the hometown crowd isn’t so sure about him. In fact, there are even some who are accusing him of being out of his mind; or more literally, outside of himself…

That’s the way the life of faith always looks from the outside, though. Just ask Paul; as he says, the life of faith is a life spent looking toward what cannot be seen; to the world that kind of life looks crazy.
Or, for that matter, just ask Martin Luther.

Luther lived with the acute awareness that he could not get himself to do the will of God; that deep down his and God’s will were at odds…

Faithful fellow that he was, though, he did everything the church had to offer in the way of doing God’s will. The problem, as Luther came to find, was that nothing from the blasted religious-project actually worked, nothing could reconcile his will to God’s. Luther would either do some thing and then resent God, or do some thing and then be proud of himself. 

No matter how Luther tried, he couldn’t get himself to do a rotten thing because he had the will of God within him. 

Until, that is, until he had his castle experience, as he called it. Reading Paul, Luther came to find that the solution wasn’t in getting ourselves to finally do God’s will; but rather in having God’s will done to us. 

God’s will done to us…

Once Luther actually listened to what Paul had to say, he found that the Bible wasn’t directives about how to do God’s will.
Rather, the Bible is the book that actually does God’s will to us. The Bible does God’s will to us when it reveals that God’s will is to be God for us. 

Well, once that break through occurred, Luther couldn’t keep quiet about it!

Luther was going on about this revelation; teaching it, getting into debates about it, refusing to keep quiet about it upon threat of death. 

In his insistence, Luther bested all the theologians the church of his day dispatched to silence him. Then, finally, Erasmus stepped into the ring…

Erasmus was the most famous scholar of his day. As far as Erasmus was concerned, Luther had gone too far with his constant drumming upon this teaching that it isn’t a matter of doing the will of God, but having God’s will done to us.
When Erasmus finally wrote against Luther, it seemed to be a giant victory for the official church. In fact, it even took Luther a while to respond…

Erasmus put the question to Luther; if it’s all only God’s work, God’s will being done to us, why then would God give commandments. Furthermore, even if Luther was right, it wasn’t prudent to be that public with this proclamation. After all, if the general population heard about it, they’d never get their lives in order and behave. For Erasmus, Luther’s teaching rang of immorality and chaos.

With that, Erasmus figured he has settled the debate and silenced the unruly Luther.

When Luther did finally respond, he began with an apology for taking so long. The problem, Luther explained, was that he hated Erasmus’ work so much, he couldn't force himself to read the darn thing in a timely manner. 

That wasn’t all, though; because after explaining why it took him so long to reply; he thanked Erasmus. 

Yeah. Luther thanked Erasmus for two reasons. First, Erasmus was the only one to touch upon the heart of the issue. Second, if Erasmus was the best Luther’s opponents could do, and their best was so pathetic, Luther was more sure than ever about the validity of this proclamation; that God’s will isn’t something we do, but rather something that is done to us.

Luther began his defense by pointing out that giving a command does not imply the ability to keep it, it’s just a command.
Then, and most importantly, Luther chided Erasmus for being such a lazy theologian. He reminded Erasmus theologians must begin with God; not theories. Luther reminded Erasmus that what we know about God is what the Bible reveals, that God became flesh in Jesus and died on the cross to reconcile all flesh. 

So, Luther replied, if God expects fleshy folks like us to gin ourselves up and finally do the will of God, why would Jesus need to die on the cross?

Luther drove the point home, Erasmus’ reasoning made God into a lair by pointing away from the cross to our own so-called ability. Erasmus made the problem of doing God’s will worse, but pitting our wills against God’s!

That, finally, was the reason Luther bothered replying to Erasmus at all; as a theologian he had an obligation. 

See, Erasmus had framed his argument with Luther in terms of our will. He attacked Luther for insisting our will is never free, that we don’t have it in ourselves to do God’s will.

To which Luther replied, ’exactly.’ Poor old Erasmus’ knee-jerk reaction, only served to prove Luther’s point. Our insistence that we’re free, only shows that we’re not, that we’re bound; bound to ourselves, bound to insist upon our own freedom. 

As long as that’s the case, though, we will never actually do God’s will; which was Luther’s whole problem in a nutshell!

Erasmus had assumed we have it in ourselves to finally do the will of God on our own. Luther knew for himself, though, that isn’t how it works. Luther knew, left to our own, our will is always going to be at odd’s with God’s will to one degree of another.

Luther knew that the only way God’s will was going to get done; would be if God did it to us. 

…Isn’t that what today’s Gospel is all about?

Jesus tells this terrible sounding parable, describing God as some kind of thief; a crook who breaks into a house, subdues the resident and then cleans the place out!

For Erasmus, who imagines himself to be the ideal homeowner, getting everything in order and just so, this is bad news. For Luther, though, that finally is the only Good News that can actually deliver, that can get God’s will done. 

This parable of Jesus’, is the solution to Luther’s problem in a nutshell!

That’s God’s will gets done, not by us to finally get our moral houses in order; but rather by God just showing up, ransacking our life, cleaning us out and capturing us; by doing it to us! 

As long as we imagine we’re in control of our own fate, like Erasmus, this will always ring of bad news. But for those who know they’re in bondage to sin and can’t do a rotten thing to free themselves, this is the best news you can get - it’s the only news that finally reconciles humanity’s will and God’s.

That’s all God’s will is, sisters and brothers, to actually show up to you; show up in your own home even, out of order and under water though it may be, and to go so far as to capture you if needs be. God’s will is to be the One you can trust, love and adore, the One you look to for every good thing; in other words to be your God, for you!

That’s how God’s will gets done, by having the promise made to you, done to you, so that you can stop trying to be God and let God do that for you - and when that happens, well when that happens, the battle of the wills is finally over.

Yes, as Paul says, it is a life spent looking toward what cannot be seen; but it also is the kind of life you can’t help but never lose heart living. Yes, the world will look upon you as it did Jesus, as if you are out of your mind, or more literally outside of yourself. 

For us who have had God’s will done to us, though, what better place can there be, outside ourselves, in Christ?