For weeks now the Gospel lectionary readings have come from the Gospel of Luke. But today we encounter an intruder. Our journey through the last chapter of Luke's story is interrupted by another Gospel writer, John, who drops us into the middle of a debate between Jesus and "the Jews."

It is well known that the Gospel of John differs in many ways from the other three Gospels. Robert Kysar's book on the Gospel of John is called John: the Maverick Gospel. This is how his introduction begins: There is a delightful little film about a small boy who learned to walk on his hands instead of on his feet. The story is done in animation and stresses the pressures toward conformity in our society. The little boy's strange behavior had the most pleasant results for him. Walking on his hands gave him a radically different perspective on the world. He could smell the fragrance of the flowers without bending down. He was close to the earth where he could see vividly the beauty of grass, and he met the butterfly eyeball to eyeball as it skimmed along the ground.1

Kysar concludes that the Evangelist John walks on his hands because he has a different perspective on the story of Jesus than do the other Gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the "Synoptic Gospels" because they "see together." They follow the same general outline of Jesus' story, and share much of the material with each other.

John, on the other hand, rearranges the synoptic chronology. For example, he has the cleansing of the Temple early in Jesus' ministry (John 2:13-22). The Synoptics place the cleansing during the last week of Jesus' life. John has Jesus going to Jerusalem at least three times; the Synoptics record only one such journey. John has no parables, but he has Jesus give long discourses, many of them dealing with Jesus' own identity. "I am ... the good shepherd ... the door ... the bread of life," and the like.

This characteristic of being a maverick, of nonconformity, makes John an appropriate Gospel to provide a text for Reformation Sunday, for the early reformers were the mavericks of their day. Luther, Calvin, Knox, and others who struggled against the rigidity of the church walked on their hands.

Of course, they did not suddenly decide to begin walking on their hands and lay the foundations for a new Church. They were faithful Christians and desired above all else to reform the Church according to what they believed was the biblical order of the community of faith.

Nor were they the first to challenge the status quo of the Roman Church. Others had preceded them. Some, like Patrick Hamilton of St. Andrews, Scotland, had given their lives for the cause. Finally Luther, Calvin, and Knox came to the point where they felt that they were compelled to walk on their hands.

Martin Luther walked on his hands when he nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenburg and railed against the sale of indulgences, which was like obtaining forgiveness for a price. John Calvin walked on his hands when he wrote his Institutes of the Christian Religion in which he set forth his interpretation of scriptures and the Christian faith and criticized doctrines put forth by the Roman Church. John Knox walked on his hands when he preached boldly in St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, and chided Mary, Queen of Scots to her face.

But the all-time champion of walking on one's hands is Jesus Christ himself. He walked on his hands all the way to the cross. He challenged all the powers that be: religious authorities, political powers, and many of the cultural mores of his time.

He nearly drove the priests and scribes crazy by healing on the sabbath and violating in other ways their interpretation of the laws of Israel.

He went around talking about the kingdom of God and implying that he himself was a king. This did not sit too well with the Roman authorities. For them the Roman empire was the only legitimate kingdom, and Caesar the supreme lord and king.

Jesus knew what some people said of him: "Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners" (Luke 7:34). Pharisees and scribes said, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them" (Luke 15:2). Jesus stated the purpose of his mission: "I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32).

In the matter of the people to whom he ministered and with whom he associated, he walked on his hands. By doing so, he offended the respectable members of society.

Our Gospel Lesson takes us into the middle of a debate between Jesus and the religious authorities whom John often refers to as "the Jews."

One obvious point of contention in the argument is whose testimony is true or valid and whose is not. At the beginning of the debate Jesus says of himself: "I am the light of the world." His hearers counter: "You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid." Jesus comes back with, "My testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going" (John 8:12-14). He then cites the law: "In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid" (John 8:17).

Jesus states that the two witnesses in his case are the Father and Jesus himself. "I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf" (John 8:18).

The most familiar phrase in the lectionary passage is "you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:32).

Freedom is such a precious commodity that it comes as something of a surprise that Jesus' hearers take offense at his offer of freedom. They must think to themselves: "Who does he think we are, a bunch of slaves in Egypt? And who does he think he is, Moses?"

They depend on their ethnic and religious tradition for their status. As descendants of Abraham they think they are already free. "We have never been slaves to anyone."

The tradition of being descendants of Abraham is a proud and valuable tradition which should not be dismissed lightly. Jesus himself is a descendant of Abraham. The first book in the New Testament begins: "An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1).

Commenting on our passage, Fred B. Craddock writes: Tradition gives security, direction and identity. Tradition provides the narrative into which one is enrolled. Whoever cannot remember any farther back than birth is an orphan, dislodged in the world. Tradition provides an agenda for a community's life. Tradition offers some criteria by which to evaluate the fads and claims of each generation. Tradition brings the past into the present, making the past alive and available and nourishing ... One does not relinquish tradition easily.2

But Jesus' opponents had perverted their tradition. It had become hardened and impervious to change. It served the past rather than being open to the present and the future. They had become slaves to the very system they claimed as the source of their freedom.

Their fierce loyalty to their descent from Abraham had enslaved them. Since they believed that physical descent from Abraham was all that was needed to put one into right relationship with God, their ears were deaf to Jesus' call to discipleship. They did not recognize his word as coming from God the Father. "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples ... There is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father's presence" (John 8:31, 37-38).

In John's gospel the greatest sin is unbelief in Jesus as the Son of God. These arrogant descendants of Abraham were already slaves to that sin. They were plotting to kill Jesus. Later in the debate Jesus said to them: "Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad ... Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:56, 58). Unlike his descendants who were enslaved by the past, Abraham was always moving toward the future. He was open to God's surprises like the birth of Isaac and the coming of One who was the fulfillment of all the promises God had made.

Reformation Sunday is not a time to pillory the Pope nor to bash the Catholics. It is not a time to proclaim "We are descendants of Luther, Calvin, and Knox, and have never been slaves to anyone."

Rather it is a time to recognize and celebrate our heritage and traditions as Protestants. A vital part of that recognition and celebration is to have the same openness to further reformation, growth, and change, as did our ancestors in the faith. Our foundation is still secure and solid, based unapologetically on the Word of God and the revelation in Jesus Christ.

As the writer to the Hebrews puts it: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Is that not an invitation to a wild and exhilarating freedom? "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36). "