Matthew 7:24-25 (ESV)
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

499 years ago today Martin Luther posted his 95 theses that were set upon the biblically based reality that we need to acknowledge and want to abandon our sins and that salvation comes through faith, not works.

And here’s the church selling indulgences. What an amazing twist of reality to think that the church could sell indulgences. Ah, for a little cash, we can do what we want to do and it’ll be OK with God. Indulgences.

That points to two things (many more too): one, that things haven’t changed much over the years – we still want to do what we want to do and we’ll do it, and two, that we’ve lost the connection that we even think it’s wrong. By buying indulgences a person was at least admitting that what they were doing was wrong and needed to be corrected one way or the other.

We’ve lost that. Over time, we continue to find more and more wrong to be acceptable as we become more sophisticated, as we know more, as we evolve more. What was wrong 20 years ago is right now. What was unacceptable before is acceptable now. And it sure seems to this old man that we’re definitely getting better results where it matters – the poor aren’t as poor, nor are their homes violent as before, the sick always get healed (as long as you have enough money), education is equal among rich and poor, institutions give inmates the training they need to break the cycles. I mean, we’re a whole lot more caring now than we were before and our morals are far superior to our fathers and grand fathers. I’m being facetious here.

We’ve all stopped buying indulgences and are just living them – thinking we’re putting off the consequences of our decisions a little while longer – whether we’re Catholic or not. We aren’t. Injustice is with us, though it’s deplored more than ever. Even those who rail against injustice use injustice to achieve their ends. It’s messed up.

Indulgence or a rock? What are you going to build your house on? 499 years ago, what was made of man was called out and brought back in line with what Christ has left us in the bible. The Church, our lives, the world around us, if left to man’s ideas, is nothing but indulgence. The Rock though, a foundation on the words of Christ, lasts forever.