Follow the Money

The Rev. Joseph Winston

October 28, 2007

Sermon

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
It is not hard to believe that we are in the middle of the campaign season. Just
about everywhere, you can find constant reminders of this fact. Our daily mail is
full of advertisements that tout the strengths of candidates. Near the polling places
and around areas where people normally congregate, we can already see signs that
ask us to vote for a party or a person. The billboards and the bandit signs along
the major highways implore us to cast the deciding ballot on the specific issues
of the day. And if you think that all this politicking is bad now, just wait until the
presidential primaries begin in a few months.
One does not need to make an in-depth analysis of all the issues to see that
the two major political parties have significant differences between them. One is
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3

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more liberal and the other is more conservative. One supports the concerns of
small business while the other is more interested in the needs of big business.
One expects the government to solve problems and the other one tells us that the
government is the problem.
While the two political parties and the innumerable talk show hosts on each
side of the aisle agree on practically nothing, there is one constant message found
in all of this debate. “Follow the money.” They all tell us to see who is doing what
with the capital that they receive from the campaign contributors, the political
action groups, and the lobbyists. In reality, the so-called “donations” from all these
different sources precisely tell the statesmen who really supports them. Or as a part
of the well-known saying goes, “Money talks.” It is these people who give gifts
to a campaign that will be asking for favors in the future. It might be as benign as
an honest desire to influence the candidate’s view on certain issues or it could be
as problematic as a bribe that sends business to an unworthy recipient. No matter
what the reason, everyone realizes that all politicians, no matter what stripe they
happen to be, are beholden to those who give them money.
Even though Martin Luther never said, “Follow the money.” it might have
well been the rallying cry of the early Reformation. After his first pilgrimage to
Rome, Luther was convinced that the veneration of relics and the trust in the merits
of the saints did not help in obtaining salvation. Even before the Reformation,
Luther had preached against these practices and had incurred the displeasure of
the ruler of Saxony since Frederick the Wise counted on the relics for income.2
2
Justo L. González, A History of Christian Thought From the Protestant Reformation to the

2
However, Luther was not silenced by Frederick and Luther continued as a pastor
in Wittenberg.3
The Archbishop Albert of Mainz wanted to combine the offices of the Arch-
bishop of Magdeburg and the administrator of the see of Halberstadt, but this
action required a special dispensation from Rome.4 This move involved Luther’s
parish because Wittenberg was in Albert’s original archdiocese.5 Since Albert did
not have enough money to purchase Rome’s dispensation and thus become a more
powerful archbishop and personally richer, he borrowed money from Fugger of
Augsburg, a great banking house in Germany.6 Albert offered as security for this
loan, a portion of the indulgence that Pope Leo X had enacted for the building
of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.7 This meant the poor people of the combined
archdiocese not only had to pay to have sins forgiven but they also financed Al-
bert’s grand life. A Dominican priest, Johann Tetzel, was hired by the archbishop
to preach this indulgence. Even today Tetzel is still famous today for the quote,
“As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul out of purgatory springs.”8
Luther was very upset when his parishioners, who purchased the indulgences
from Tetzel, claimed that they had no further need of penance.9 They stayed away
from mass, they did not go to confession, nor did they receive Holy Communion.
Twentieth Century, Volume III, (Abingdon Press, 1987), p. 35.
3
González, A History of Christian Thought, p. 35.
4
Owen Chadwick, The Reformation, (Pegiun Books, 1990), p. 41.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
7
Ibid., p. 41-42.
8
Eric W. Gritsch, Fortress Introduction to Lutheranism, (Fortress Press, 1994), p. 6.
9
Chadwick, The Reformation, p. 42.

3
In response to his parishioners’ actions due to this indulgence, Luther composed
the Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, what we normally call
The Ninety-five Theses, and posted this document on the door of the castle church
at Wittenberg on all Saints Eve on October 31, 1517.
The Ninety-five Theses were not an exposition of Luther’s theology; instead,
they were directed toward preachers of indulgences since these priests caused the
laity, in Luther’s opinion, to ask questions that dramatically undermined the pope’s
power.10 In one hypothetical question (eighty-second), the laity asks why the pope
does not free the souls from purgatory out of love since the pope obviously has
power over purgatory, but instead the pope demands payment from the laity to
build St. Peter’s Basilica.11 The laity continues this line of reasoning (eighty-six)
and asks why, the pope, one of the richest people in the world, is not using his
own money to build St. Peter’s Basilica rather than taking money from the poorer
believers.12
Ultimately, the act of “following the money” by Luther caused the tragic divi-
sion of the Roman Catholic Church into multiple groups, which generically would
be known as Protestants.13 The separation by the followers of Luther was not over
money itself. Martin Luther, just like any of the informed electorate of today,
10
González, A History of Christian Thought, p. 36.
11
Ibid.
12
Ibid.
13
Jaroslav Pelikan writes in The Riddle of Roman Catholicism of the “tragic necessity of the
Reformation.” Jaroslav Pelikan, The Riddle of Roman Catholicism, (Abingdon Press, 1959), p. 46.
Most Roman Catholics would agree that the Reformation was tragic but few see it as necessary.
Likewise, almost all Lutherans would see the Reformation as necessary but almost no one would
see it as tragic. Carl E. Braaten, Mother Church: Ecclesiology and Ecumenism, (Minneapolis, MN:
Augsburg Fortress, 1998), p. 13

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knew that money is a necessary part of the machinery needed to run a church or
a government. Luther had to know this fact because he was raised in a prosper-
ous copper mining family and he was planning to become a well to do member
of society: a lawyer. The problem that Luther had with the money was its prior-
ity. The traditions, the early councils, the first theologians of the Church, and even
Scripture itself had become secondary with the Roman Catholic Church’s need for
money. This action of placing God’s Word behind money is dangerous because it
places our trust in something that can never truly save us.
If we are honest with ourselves, we would have to agree with the assessment
that we are just like the Roman Catholic Church of Luther’s day. We are under the
control of something more powerful than we are.
Five hundred years ago, the primary focus from the top of the Roman Catholic
Church was on money rather than the Gospel. That is why Luther did not blame
the ordinary people for purchasing indulgences. The people in the pews were only
doing what they were taught and what they believed was true. The problem that
Luther attacked came from the top because it was the Archbishops, the Cardinals,
the Roman Catholic Church Councils, and the Popes that allowed this misdirected
trust in money to continue.
Our situation here at Trinity is exactly the same. The center of our attention
is on the wrong things. We are more concerned about our appearances rather than
telling others about the God who saves them. Really, this behavior of focusing on
what others think about us is not our fault. This is something that the Lutherans
have been taught through the years by their pastors, the seminaries, and the church

5
leaders. Through the entire United States, we have tried to make a good impres-
sion. Rather than focusing our precious resources in areas that have rapid growth,
like the south, we have continued to invest our money in traditional Lutheran ar-
eas that for the most part have a declining population. Lutheran seminaries have
not been moved to major southern metropolitan areas. In this state, we have at-
tempted to maintain decorum. Instead of demanding that local churches open new
missions to serve some of the fastest areas of growth in the nation right outside
their doors, we have ever so politely asked these churches to please consider doing
the work of the Lord. This has happened not only in our synod but in those two
synods directly north and west of us. Here in our town, we continue to do what
we have been taught. We want to look good to anyone who happens to drive by
our building. By our own choice, we spend more money on the care of our lawn
than on the care of people outside the door of this nave. Our grass is lovely but the
eighty percent of people who have not heard the Good News do not know that in
God’s eyes they are beautiful.
In the middle of the mess that we find ourselves in today, yesterday, and five
hundred years ago we find Jesus bringing us the precious gift of freedom. Jesus
tells us in today’s Gospel lesson, “the truth will make you free” (John 8:32b).
In this bold declaration, Jesus is not talking about some abstract concept about
giving us liberty but instead He is specifically telling you and me that Jesus, He
Himself, makes us unshackled from whatever enslaves us. Perhaps concept this
is best illustrated a little bit later in the Gospel according to St. John. Here Jesus
proclaims, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6a). It is clear here

6
that the truth is Jesus. The way that truth, or Jesus, makes us free all throughout
the Gospel is that the L ORD of life becomes our slave. And by being our servant
for life, we now can live like humans. No longer do we have to worry about what
is happening to us because Jesus will take care of it. He will protected us as He
has done in the past, He will forgive us as He as already done, and He has already
given all of us eternal life. We know this to be true because we know the One who
is Truth.
The truth that the political parties and prognosticators state over and over again
during this election season is “Follow the money.” See what they are doing with
the gifts that they have been given. If you do not like what you see, the other side
will at least welcome your vote because you know that they will always want your
pocketbook.
On November 11, we will be having our annual congregational meeting. In
addition to electing the president of the church council and our representatives in
this council, we will be approving our financial budget for the next year. Take a
careful look at how we are spending our money. Follow its use from the offering
plate and see how it is used. Are we getting our worth in the proclamation of God’s
unconditional love of the unacceptable? Or is the money only being spent to keep
up the appearance that everything is just fine in this house of prayer? If you do not
like what you see, please speak up because we may never have another chance to
spread God’s saving message in this place.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and

7
minds through Christ Jesus.”14

References

Braaten, Carl E., Mother Church: Ecclesiology and Ecumenism, (Minneapolis,

MN: Augsburg Fortress, 1998).

Chadwick, Owen, The Reformation, (Pegiun Books, 1990).

González, Justo L., A History of Christian Thought From the Protestant Reforma-
tion to the Twentieth Century, Volume III, (Abingdon Press, 1987).

Gritsch, Eric W., Fortress Introduction to Lutheranism, (Fortress Press, 1994).

Pelikan, Jaroslav, The Riddle of Roman Catholicism, (Abingdon Press, 1959).

14
Philippians 4:7.