In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

     When I was in youth group, many, many years ago, one of the most popular youth group games was to put someone, sitting cross-legged on the floor in the middle of the room, covered under a heavy blanket--with a single spotlight, or floodlight shining on them. Then, you told them to imagine that they were sitting, alone, in a far-off desert--with the scorching sun, (the lamp) beating down on them. We would say, "You're hot, and getting hotter. You're dripping with sweat. The sun is more and more intense. Now, take off the one thing that would relieve the heat and make you cooler." Inevitably, the first thing that would come off, would be shoes, and then socks. But we would say, "No, that's not what would relieve the heat you're feeling. There's something else--one thing that would make you feel cooler, in the intense desert sun. And then, out would come a shirt, or sweater. The group would keep prodding the person, urging them on, urging them to take off the one thing that would relieve the heat.while the person under the blanket struggled with whether they really ought to take off--pants or blouse--because that's about all they had left. And then, all of sudden, you'd pull off the silly blanket and say, "If you were sitting on a hot desert under a blanket--why not take off the blanket?! And that would end the game, hopefully to the embarrassment of the person sitting on the floor in the middle of the circle.

     Funny, how you can sit there for a relatively long time, under that blanket, sweating profusely, with the light making you quite uncomfortable--and you never get it. Funny how you just don't see it--how you just don't realize the one thing you could take off and be immediately cooler and refreshed, would be that stupid blanket! But that's how it is with us human beings. Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees. Sometimes, we are so close to something, we fail to recognize it for what it is.

     Sin is like that, if you think about it. All kinds of sin. We get so used to our own sin--we might say we get so comfortable with our sin, that we often fail to see it for what it is. A husband can get so caught up in an adulterous affair, that he fails to see that it's wrong. And then, when caught in it, and confronted by his wife, he says, quite convincingly, "What? What's wrong? I wasn't hurting you--this affair didn't have anything to do with you." A teenager can get so heavily into abusing pot or crystal meth that they fail to see themselves as addicted.they fail to see their addiction as a problem--even though they've stopped going to school, stopped associating with their family, and begun stealing from their parents to support their habit. Even a mass-murderer like the BTK killer in Wichita becomes so immune to his violence, that he can talk about it as calmly and dispassionately as if he were talking about cutting up a chicken for dinner.not seeing, not realizing his grotesque, ungodly sin.

     But then, that's not the only kind of sin we fail to see. Yes, there are the sins that we commit by disobeying God and failing to follow His commandments--but there is also the sin of unbelief. Robert Kysar, a Lutheran pastor and professor at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, says that in the Gospel of John, from which our gospel lesson is taken today--sin is often related to unbelief. And indeed, that may very well be at the root of our sinfulness. Not that we would call ourselves "unbelievers" necessarily--but even we baptized, confirmed Christians, struggle with unbelief. We struggle with trusting God to be God. We struggle with our own place in God's kingdom--and whether we have a place in God's kingdom. We wrestle with God, feeling, at times, we know better about our lives, and how things should go for us, than God does. We worry, we fret, we are anxious in life, because of unbelief. It holds us down, and holds us captive as surely as would a blanket tied around us on a hot, steamy desert.and yet, we fail to see it for what it is. We trudge through life weighed down by it, and yet, we can't seem to throw it off. We carry the heavy burden, often failing to realize it is a burden. So, in life, we are enslaved by sin--sins of disobedience and sins of unbelief, yet carrying it so close to us, so deeply inside us, that we neglect to see it for what it is. We think we are free, and in failing to realize and recognize our enslavement, we are never able to finally, throw off the blanket that entangles us. Just like the Jews Jesus was speaking to in our gospel lesson.

     There are times in the ministry of Jesus when you wonder why he even bothered? The Jews Jesus was talking to in our gospel account, John tells us were Jews who had believed in him. Now, they are not trying to trap Jesus--these Jews are here to listen and learn. But the more Jesus teaches, the less they seem to understand. Because what Jesus is teaching them here, is that they are not yet free.that they are enslaved by sin, and that only He, Jesus, can make them truly free. And do the Jews who believed in Jesus understand? No.they answer, "But we are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free?" And here, Jesus explains it to all of us. And what Jesus tells us is--everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. Jesus says everyone who commits sin is not just bothered by sin, not just tripped up by sin now and then--Jesus says everyone who commits sin is a SLAVE TO SIN--in other words, we are in bondage to sin, and cannot save ourselves. In fact, our sin is so pervasive, so much a part of us, that we fail to recognize we are sinners. Like the Jews who believed in Jesus, because we are children of God, we think we are free, and have never been slaves to anyone--and that causes us to be blind to our slavery to sin--that causes us to miss the signs around us that point to our sin--our broken-ness, bitterness, guilt, self-centeredness--our self-destructive behaviors and imbalance in our lives--all of these point to our enslavement to sin--which we could see, if we were willing. Which is what Jesus is trying to get us to see, through his words in our gospel lesson for today.

     In our gospel account, Jesus is trying to help all of us--everyone who commits sin, to see that we are indeed, slaves to sin. Enslaved to sin in such a way that we just cannot throw the blanket, the chains, the disobedience and unbelief off, to get on with our lives. Jesus says, the only way to be truly free, is by abiding in--living by His words, so that knowing the truth of Him, and us, we will be made free. This, Jesus proclaims, is how we may be made free--by continuing in His word, knowing the truth, that the truth will make us free. Jesus' word, and words, help us to see the truth, and when we see the truth, we come to faith, and it is faith that works our freedom. And what is this truth, that leads to faith, and that wins our freedom?

     Martin Luther wrote about this coming to faith and freedom, in a sermon on January 1540 when he said, "Faith is the yes of the heart, a conviction on which one stakes one's life. On what does faith rest? On Christ, born of a woman, made under the Law, who died and was raised, as the children pray. To this I say yes with the confession of my heart. Christ came for my sake, in order to free me from the Law, not only from the guilt of sin, but also from the power of the Law. If you are able to say yes to this, you have what is called faith; and this faith does everything...this faith the Holy Spirit writes on our hearts."

     This is the truth that is proclaimed by Jesus' words, and truly by every word of Holy Scripture. This truth first, convinces us that we are sinners, and then, convinces us of our need for a Savior--Christ, born of a woman to die on the cross and be raised for our forgiveness and salvation. To this truth, we simply say "yes"--and this is called faith--and this faith sets us free, because it regards God, as God, and frees us to be only the sinful, forgiven people we are--not God, not supreme, not perfect--but children of God who see ourselves as we truly are--sinners, in need of salvation. Sinners, who need, continually, to be set free; sinners who need help to see ourselves as we are; sinners who need Jesus to grab hold of the blanket, to unloose the chains, to throw off our guilt and unbelief, that we may be truly free, free indeed--free to live our lives as the forgiven people we have been created and redeemed, to be!

     This is the good news, proclaimed by Holy Scripture, rediscovered in the Reformation; the good news to which we firmly cling as Lutheran Christians, because it is the only truth which brings people to faith, and sets people free. And while we are surely not the only ones who know the truth, Reformation Sunday calls us to commit ourselves, anew, to joining with all other Christians to proclaim loudly and clearly, these words of Jesus--which set people free. Because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.because everyone who sins is a slave to sin.because only the Son can make you free, so that you will be free, indeed! May God keep us in Jesus' word, that we may truly be his disciples!

     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.