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Just as trick-or-treaters arrive at doorsteps as beggars, we come to the Lord’s table with nothing to offer but our sin and need for forgiveness.
As the crisp fall air sets in, patios flicker with the warm glow of jack-o-lanterns. Shadows are cast against the darkened night sky. Skeletons, ghosts, and eerie creatures guard yards in spooky quietness. Fear and our imaginations run wild as haunting sounds fill the cool fall air. Halloween is a season haunted by superstition, magic, and fear of the unknown.
Halloween is more than just a night of tricks, treats, and spooky fun. It’s the eve of All Saint’s Day (November 1), a day dedicated to celebrating God’s promises and faithfulness to his saints. This day of Halloween also marks another historical day. It was on this eve of All Saint’s Day that Martin Luther approached the church door of Wittenberg to challenge the church’s superstitions and departure from the promises of Christ.
Yet Luther was not haunted by plastic skeletons and straw-filled creatures used to decorate Halloween lawns. He was haunted by a much deeper darkness—his sin. Day after day, Luther lived in terror of God’s righteous judgment. His sin was continually lurking around his conscience. There was no amount of penance or indulgences by which he could make himself acceptable to such a righteous and holy God.
As Luther read the Scriptures, one truth became clear: salvation does not come through rituals, human effort, superstitions, or indulgences—salvation comes through Christ alone.
Through his writing, Luther unpacked the Scriptures by clinging tightly to the promises of Christ. As an Old Testament professor, he diligently studied Scriptures looking for and pointing to Christ in every text and line. He pointed to where Christ was promised for us. And, as he approached the doors of Wittenberg, he took up his 95 theses and hammer to refute the darkness of a belief void of this exclusive promise and comfort of Christ for us.
Like Israel’s first King, the church had begun to seek spiritual guidance apart from the means established by the Lord. In the Old Testament, we read of a strange account of King Saul, who turned to a forbidden medium to summon the ghost of the prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 28:1-25). Instead of listening to God’s Word, Saul took matters into his own hands, summoning a ghost for spiritual comfort and guidance.
Salvation does not come through rituals, human effort, superstitions, or indulgences—salvation comes through Christ alone.
As the church began to dismiss the Word of God, superstition, magic, and fear crept through its doors. The gospel became clouded by the sale of indulgences. Salvation was no longer a gift but a marketplace. Spiritual security was bought and sold with the sale of indulgences. Relics and pilgrimages gave a bit of extra credit to pull ahead of the curve of the rest of the sinful class.
The Mass, the Lord’s Supper, the very place in which Christ had promised to be present for us with forgiveness, life, and salvation, had even become tainted with superstition. The words of Christ were misunderstood to have magical power. The words of institution in the Latin Mass, “Hoc est corpus meum” (in English, “This is my body”), became shortened to hocus pocus.
These words of institution, however, do not impart magical abilities. They are not magic spells or supernatural tricks. The words, “This is my body,” mean just that. It is what Christ says it is. These words are a promise—for you. In this sacrament, we receive the true body and blood of our Lord for the forgiveness of our sins, just as he promises.
Luther writes of these words of institution, “if the words remain, as is right and necessary, then in virtue of them they are truly the body and blood of Christ. For as we have it from the lips of Christ, so it is; he cannot lie or deceive.” [1] Luther continues, “Christ bids me eat and drink in order that the sacrament may be mine and may be a source of blessing to me as a sure pledge and sign, indeed, as the very gift he has provided for me against my sins, death, and all evils.” [2]
Through this sacrament, we receive salvation—not by our works, superstitions, rituals, or effort, but solely because Christ made a promise. Our sins cannot haunt us anymore. Death no longer has power over us. Just as trick-or-treaters arrive at doorsteps as beggars, we come to the Lord’s table with nothing to offer but our sin and need for forgiveness. Only, at the Lord’s table, there are no tricks. There is no magic. There is only a promise from our crucified Lord of forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
At the altar, we commune not only with those around us; we join together with the whole Christian Church on earth and all the saints who have fallen asleep in Christ. We do not need to seek out our loved ones who have died through medium or superstitious acts. We have fellowship with them as they are with Christ, as we all gather around the Lord’s table, celebrating his gifts and promises.
We are free in Christ to celebrate the spooky season with Halloween decorations in our lawns and homes. We can mock the works of the devil and be reminded that we are baptized and need not fear or look to superstitions, magic, or the unknown. Our Lord has made himself known to us and where he will be for us with his gifts and promises. Amid our fear and sin, our Lord comes to us with his very body and blood for the forgiveness of all our sins. There is no need to seek out spiritual guidance apart from the Word of God. We approach the house of the Lord as beggars and leave, not with a bag weighed down with candy, but with the overflowing gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation in Christ our Lord.
