Today is Reformation Sunday which is basically the Lutheran church’s birthday. We’re not all “cradle Lutherans” here, so here’s a somewhat quick history lesson.

In the 1500s, there was a man named Luther who was a monk and priest in the only Christian faith around, the Catholic Church. He was also a theological scholar, a bit crass, loved his beer and his wife (once he could get married), and was the head of a movement that confronted the many sins of the Catholic Church at the time. He, and his fellow reformers, challenged the pope and leadership directly, calling out greed, destructive theology, and the all around sloppy and corrupt practices of the church.

The ramifications of the Reformation were massive and it all took place during a time of massive upheaval in every other aspect of life. At the time, Europe was still recovering from the Black Plague, which had killed approximately 1/3 of Europe. This was also the  beginning of the Renaissance and with the Enlightenment to come after that. In addition, the economic system of feudalism was on the decline with early capitalism emerging. And the nation state system was also emerging during this time.

At the time of Luther, the medieval world order was ending, and the modern era was dawning. In this wild mix, the church was also undergoing massive change.

In this time and place, the separation of church and state was unthinkable. So, the reformers splitting away from the Catholic church basically blew up society. Nowadays, people in the Protestant world are accustomed to churches splitting or people leaving this church to go to that church, etc. We think this is kind of normal, but back in the day, this was tantamount to civil war across Europe with everyone’s souls (physical and spiritual) hanging in the balance. Not to mention the money, assets, and power that came up for grabs. There’s a lot of money in church property and a fusion of church and state power. These are big stakes for a monk to get pushy about theology and grace.

So, quick recap. During the Reformation, we also had:

• Cultural reorientation with the Renaissance (big deal)
• Political reorientation of Europe with the emergence of nation states (big deal)
• Economic reorientation with the transition from feudalism to early capitalism (big deal)
• Recovery from the devastation of the Black Plague (big deal)
• And, I didn’t mention this before, but the Ottoman Empire was knocking on Europe’s back door.
• And, there was a new technology on the scene that allowed everyone who could read to read all about it, the printing press.
• And, this was also the beginning of the mass literacy in Europe, instead of only an elite few being able to read.

These are all big deals that we read about as big deals in history, but seldom do I hear people talk about the fact that this was all happening at the same time. I share all this history with you today because I think it is helpful to remember that there are times when massive change happens…perhaps like today. We too are living in days of transition and change in multiple aspects of life, perhaps just like the people of 16^th century Europe. That makes it an interesting time to think about the Reformation.

This week, Pastor James of Grace posed the question to fellow pastors at our text study, “What particular gift does the Lutheran church brings to the world at this time?” We had Luther back then. What’s our claim to fame now? My answer was the gift of paradox.

Whether we talk about it a lot or not, we are a church that embraces paradox. The Bible is full of paradoxes and Martin Luther spent a good amount of ink in writing about particular paradoxes that we hold tight to as a denomination, such as sinners and saints, law and gospel, or bondage and freedom of the will. These are very Lutheran ideas, but the Bible is full of paradoxes and inversions, as well, such as what we hear in our text today. The one who is full of sin, the one who is participating in the oppression of their own people as a tax collector for Rome, is the righteous one, not because he does the right things, but because he acknowledges his sin. This is a paradox. He is both a sinner and a righteous man at the same time.

Our outgoing bishop of the ELCA, Elizabeth Eaton, has said that the ELCA is a “both/and” church in an “either/or” world, meaning we’re a church that values paradox. The man in our text is both a sinner and a saint, to use Luther’s language. When Bishop Eaton says we live in an “either/or” world, she means we live in a world where we hear things like “either you’re with us or you’re against us.”

Truth is, we live in a society that seems quite dualistic and incurious. For example, when we meet someone new these days, we can’t help but listen for key phrases, words, and opinions to suss out what “kind” of person this is. And then we put them into cultural boxes that real humans don’t actually fit into, for the most part. This is the either/or world Bishop Eaton talks about.

Either/or thinking allows us to simplify the world into binary realities, which works great when there really are only two choices. Do you want tacos or Thai food? This is a common question in my life and only one of these two options is the answer. I can’t go to Mai Lee Thai and ask for Thai-fusion tacos. Now, if some visionary wants to do that, I’ll be there for it, but that’s not on the menu.

Very few things in life are this simple that a binary choice makes sense, particularly during times of massive change, such as 16^th century Europe and now.

Both/and thinking allows us to think creatively and expansively by holding open the tension between seemingly opposite realities to open up new vistas of understanding. A lot of Jesus’ teaching guides us in this direction, such as the Good Samaritan. Afterall, the Samaritan was not the right kind of person in Jewish society, but he was the good neighbor. Strict binary thinking for a “good” Jewish person at the time would have dictated that the Samaritan would simply be understood to be “bad” and that the “good” Jewish men who crossed on the other side of the road must have done so for good reasons, because they were good.

Either/or thinking can close us off to reality. The Samaritan is the good one, after all! So, the both/and thinking (both Samaritan and good) opens us to see God’s action and inspiration in surprising ways.

Paul’s writings, as well, speak to this movement from dualistic, binary thinking to both/and thinking when he speaks about strength perfected in weakness or when he teaches that there is no more Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. With both/and thinking, the distinctions are no longer the main story, making room for our commonalities to come forward.

So, what are the distinctions that we take so seriously? Can we challenge our own thinking that might be either/or and move towards both/and? What might open up for us if we don’t embrace our own judgements so thoroughly? What might this Pharisee have experienced if he wasn’t so busy congratulating himself and rejecting the other? Afterall, the one he was rejecting, Jesus was embracing. What do we miss when we let our judgmental, either/or thinking rule?

I speculate that Luther’s writings were full of paradox because the world he lived in would have demanded the flexible, complex thinking that paradox encourages. So, in honor of the Reformation, here’s a list of the main Lutheran paradoxes at the core of our teaching as a church, which describe many of the tensions we live in.

• Sinner and saint – We are simultaneously sinners and saints. We are part of a world of both goodness and brokenness.
• Bondage and freedom of the will – We are both captive to sin and yet freed in Christ to serve one another.
• Law and gospel – The Word of God both helps us to see our sin (the Law) and assures us that we are saved by God’s grace.
• Servant of none, slave to all – In Christ, we are freed from servitude. We are the same as any other with human dignity. And yet, our freedom in Christ means we are “slaves” to the needs we see around us.
• Strength perfected through weakness – God’s power is most revealed in Christ on the cross.
• Doubt and faith – Faith without doubt is not really faith.
• Already and not yet – The Kingdom of God is both already here and not yet here, meaning the Kingdom is already true, already real, already available for glimpses, and is yet still hidden.

Holding on to these paradoxes is an antidote to simplistic thinking that we may use to condemn others, condemn ourselves, or condemn the world. These paradoxes help us to think beyond winning and losing or other dualities to open us up to new, beautiful possibilities. Holding on to paradoxes can help us accept that all our complication in ourselves and the world somehow still fit, still belong. We are both sinners and saints. We are both broken and wonderfully whole. So is the world. So is everyone else, even the ones we don’t like! We can ask the hardest questions and still be as faithful as a rock. All of this is true.

Our world is complex. You are complex. Relationships are complex. God wants us to be that way, go figure. So, be blessed and assured in your complexity. You are loved, whole, and so very perfect as you are with all your imperfections. That, too, is a paradox and yet totally true. So for the gift of paradox, we say…

AMEN.