The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence. And yet this fact is nothing new. From the times of the earliest prophets, even against Jeremiah, the weeping prophet who lamented for God’s people Israel, God’s church has known violence.

And John the Baptist was no exception. The Baptizer preached the truth, even when it seemed untimely to do so. He condemned the lifestyle of the adulterous Herod who married his brother’s wife Herodias, saying, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” King Herod feared John. He knew John was a righteous and a holy man. When Herod heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly.

Herod’s unlawful wife Herodias hated John. She held a grudge against him and wanted him put to death, but she could not because Herod kept John safe in prison. The Baptizer was safe until a deceitful plan was devised on Herod’s birthday.

Herodias’s daughter pleased King Herod and his guests in a dance. For this, King Herod vowed to give her whatever she wished. Herodias saw her chance. An execution was in order. Before long, the mouth and throat which spoke condemnation against her was severed from its body. John the Baptist’s head was on a platter, and yet the truth he proclaimed was heard more clearly than ever.

Today we commemorate the Reformation of the Church. Today we celebrate the great Reformer Martin Luther as well as the Augsburg Confession. But most chiefly today, we laud and honor something that was lost- a treasure hidden in a garbage heap. For in the theological trash landfill that was the Roman Catholic Church there shined a brilliant jewel beneath all the refuse. Buried underneath mounds of unjust Papal decrees, priestly celibacy, and indulgences (the pieces of paper one could buy to forgive sins), buried under all this was the Eternal Gospel.

This Eternal Gospel was proclaimed by the angel (or ‘messenger’) in the book of Revelation. A messenger of the Eternal Gospel was most assuredly Martin Luther who brought to light the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ which had long been obscured. For the Reformation was not a protest to change the church into something else, rather it was a restoration to that which was truly catholic and whole. The Reformation was not something new, but a return to that which renews you- that is the Eternal Gospel.

For even as Luther came to seek out and find the Gospel, God seeks you out as a hidden treasure. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field.” Jesus found you, a priceless treasure, in the garbage heap of your life.

He sells all that He has, even His very life, and He buys your soul with His Holy Precious Blood and innocent suffering and death. “Jesus … who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

God seeks you out as a priceless pearl. “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding a pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Our Lord chose each of you individually and called you by name to be His priceless pearls. He went and sold all He had, His very life, and bought you. A fine necklace of pearls finds ownership in Christ’s church.

Christ’s church is the one that is violently attacked. The church suffers violence for the sake of her Husband, the Bridegroom Christ Jesus. His ring you wear, His truth you declare. “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own.

Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” The world hates you and is violent toward you because Christ has loved you.

How do we respond to violence? What must the church do to defend herself? We must also be violent, but not as the world sees violence. In faith, we must violently and stubbornly cling to our confession.

We must be violent in taking the kingdom of heaven by force, that is to say, we should not back down from our confession, even in the midst of threats. We remain captive, not to our willpower, as world leaders might do, but captive instead to the Word of God. He who has ears, let him hear! For faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

We sing this evening that “the old evil foe now means deadly woe” and “this world’s prince may still scowl fierce as he will.” The devils are eager to devour us along with our life, goods, fame, child, and wife. We are helpless on our own, but for us fights the Valiant one. Jesus Christ it is, of Sabaoth Lord and there’s none other God; He holds the field forever. Our victory has been won and the Kingdom ours remaineth.

This Victor, Christ violently loves you. With violence He battles the enemies who would try to overpower you. In violence, Our Lord defeats your enemies of body and soul. And yet His love for you is gentle. His love for you is simple, just as He attends to you with the simple means of His Body and Blood in bread and wine. This Eternal Gospel is proclaimed here this evening of the Festival of the Reformation to give you life. Come and receive the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Amen.

The Peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

✠BJF✠