The Real Wittenberg Door

John 10:9 (ESV)

“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”

Well the 500^th anniversary of the start of the Reformation is now just two years away.  498 years ago Dr. Martin Luther, troubled by the church’s practice of selling indulgences, wrote a document called “The Ninety-five Theses.”  To make a long story short, these indulgences were pieces of paper that promised forgiveness of sins to the person who purchased it.  Luther strongly objected to the idea that the forgiveness could be bought or sold.  Having written his theses Luther is said to have then posted them on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg.  He did this in order to invite other church theologians to debate the whole issue of indulgences.    In the coming months Luther’s theses were translated into German, reprinted and spread all over the German states.  They proved to be the spark that started the protestant reformation. 

Right now Germany is getting ready to celebrate this anniversary.  Luther sites around Germany and in particular in Wittenberg are in the process of being renovated and renewed.  The expectation is that over the next two years Christian and in particular Lutheran pilgrims will be coming from all over the world to visit these sites.  We here at Trinity are planning to sponsor one such tour next summer for the members of Trinity and our partners in the US.  One sight I am sure many will hope to see is that famous door of the church in Wittenberg.  What they will find however is that the original doors from Luther’s day no longer exist.  They were long ago destroyed by fire and/or war.  In their place are beautiful bronze doors that have all 95 of Luther’s Theses engraved upon them. 

Now I know there are many who lament that the original door is long gone.  I, however think it’s okay that it’s gone.  Because that door is not what the reformation is all about.  The real Wittenberg door of the reformation, the one I believe Martin Luther would want us to focus on is the one described in the words of Jesus from John 10:9.  Jesus points to Himself saying, “I am the door.  If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”  Jesus is the true door of the reformation, not the one in Wittenberg. Faith in Him alone as the only assurance of salvation is the heart of what Luther sought to preach and teach. Jesus is the heart of the Bible and it’s message.

All the other doors which you and I might try are either fakes or are closed to us.  The forgiveness for sale in the indulgences was a lie.  You and I cannot afford the cost of our sin.  Promising to change, to do better, while laudable, does not in any way make up for your sins or mine. You and I by our efforts cannot undo our guilt.  The fact that we might be a nicer person than our neighbor does not open heaven’s door any wider for you or me.  I remember once trying to get into a church building through what I thought was the front door.  I was told the church would be unlocked.  So I pushed and I pulled and I knocked. The door wouldn’t open. No one answered.  It was really frustrating.  It was also embarrassing when I learned that it wasn’t even a door.  It was just decoration. There was no getting in that way.  The real door was on the other side of the building.

It’s the same with salvation.  You can push and pull on the other doors.  You’ll just get frustrated.  They won’t open.  There is only one door – faith in Jesus. It’s a cross shaped door.  Our Lord was nailed to that door.  Nails were driven through His hands and feet that our sinful debt might be paid in full by Him.  Because He died on that cross and rose again, that door is wide open.  That’s what Jesus did so that your sins and mine might all be forgiven.  Because of Him that forgiveness is free to all who believe in Him.  This is the Gospel message at the heart of the reformation – In Jesus God has opened a doorway to life and salvation that no one can shut.  “I am the door.”  Jesus promises, “If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”    Yes the original doors from 1517 are long gone.  However the real Wittenberg door still stands.  His name is Jesus.  Because of Him, the way to salvation stands wide open to all.  Jesus invites you to enter through Him.