Here's more Luther writing about being "justified by the Law." He really presses the point.
Luther uses many different and strong expressions when describing the "Sisyphus character" of the "righteousness of the law." For example:
" Trying to be justified by the Law is like counting money out of an empty purse, eating and drinking from an empty dish and cup, looking for strength and riches where there is nothing but weakness and poverty, laying a burden upon someone who is already oppressed to the point of collapse, trying to spend a hundred gold pieces and not having a pittance, taking clothing away from a naked man, imposing even greater weakness and poverty upon someone who is sick and needy, etc."
And yet, we try again and again. The word of life that announces to us that we are justified before God and we are free to begin again - just as we are...with nothing to do but be who we are (already) in the eyes of God. To live within such confidence and assurance and promise is a grand gift that is ours for the living! It seems to me that as we come to trust that word of life, we will begin to trust that we do not need to spin our lives trying to justify our existence to one another. Rather, we can be who we are. That doesn't mean "to hell with everyone else...I'll do what I want to do." I think it is more as though we are free to be a part of the whole. We need others and others need us. We are part of a community of hope and therefore, each of us helps to shape the life of grace and freedom by living such a life. We each stand within the whole as one who is to play his/her part in the life of the Reign of God.
Connection: Remember whose you are...it is the beginning of a renewal that we have not yet experienced to its fullest.
Lord God, dress us up with your love. Remind us that it is within your blessed Reign that we are called to live and begin this day. Encourage us to walk within the freedom and blessedness that is already ours for the living. Amen.
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