I have been doing a lot of reading on Martin Luther lately. The book HERE I STAND is a classic biography and THE WIT OF MARTIN LUTHER gives insight to his lighter and naughtier side. But the two shocking discoveries were his encouragement to use violence against peasants in the early 16th century as well as his vehement and bold anti-semiticism. I have spent many hours grappling with these events; trying to reconcile that this is the great Luther of the Reformation. The hero. The changer and uplifter of society and religion.<\/p>\n
As of yet I have not been able to personally reconcile these events. It is a painful chasm in once again realizing the world that history is perhaps not the same as we were brought up to believe. Here are the thoughts of Nadine E. Ridley on the same issues. This is a sermon she gave on November 20, 2005 at The King Lutheran Church in Vestal NY called “Things They Didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Teach Me About Luther In Sunday School\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n
She tidies up the end with a happy ending which I think can work well for a Sunday sermon. But the truth may be that in reality the end is not so tidy after all….<\/p>\n
I was also raised Lutheran, and went to Lutheran Confirmation, attended Pacific Lutheran University and a summer at St. Olaf; was even an acolyte in the Order of St. John in my youth. And yet this side of Luther is nothing that I remember ever discussed. Thank God for the internet.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Things They Didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Teach Me About Luther In Sunday School\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nA Sermon Preached by Nadine E. Ridley
\nChrist The King Lutheran Church, Vestal, NY
\nNovember 20, 2005
\nRomans 13:1-5<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been a Lutheran all of my life and I come from a family of life-long Lutherans. My parents were active in Luther League, they served on Church Council and were members of the Adult Fellowship. In fact, in his eight-seven years of life, my grandfather served 49 of those years on Church Council.<\/p>\n
I attended worship every Sunday until I went off to college, taught Sunday School when I was too old to attend Sunday School, and had three years of confirmation classes. I memorized Luther\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Small
\nCatechism, learned the books of the Bible, passed tests on what Lutherans believe. And I even took all the required Lutheran courses from well-known Lutheran scholars in seminary to make sure I really knew what being a Lutheran was all about.<\/p>\n
I learned about Luther and the ninety-five theses, I heard about the Diet of Worms and Luther being hidden in the castle at Wartberg, I read about indulgences and learned that Luther believed we are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153saved by God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
However, in spite of being a life-long Lutheran, in spite of three years of confirmation and ten years of Sunday School, in spite of being taught by the best Lutheran scholars in seminary, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve recently discovered there are some things about Luther that people rarely talk about. Well this morning we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to learn some of the things about Luther that you and I never learned in Sunday School.<\/p>\n
Everybody has heroes \u00e2\u20ac\u201c people we hold in high esteem, people we want to emulate, people we want to be like when we grow up. But even heroes have a side to them that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not always heroic, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not 2 always their best side, that tends not to be talked about by their followers.<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case with Martin Luther. Luther did do some pretty heroic things. He stood up to the pope and the princes because he believed that what they were teaching and the ways they were getting money from people was wrong. He risked his life for what he believed in \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he stood before a tribunal of men ready to excommunicate him and burn him as a heretic and when they asked him to recant his writings, to say they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t so, he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is neither safe nor honest to act against conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other. May God help me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
He translated the Bible into a language the common people could understand. He told people they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to earn or buy their way into heaven \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they were \u00e2\u20ac\u0153saved by God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Those were heroic acts on the part of Luther and he risked his life for what he believed in.<\/p>\n
Luther knew how worldly power could corrupt. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d seen it firsthand. He knew how dangerous it could be when the pope meddled in politics, and he warned his friends that they could be harmed if they used force in trying to change the Catholic Church. Luther said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We must go at this work despairing of physical force and humbly trusting God;… The more force we use, the greater our disaster.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And that is very good advice.<\/p>\n
However, Luther didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always pay attention to his own advice. Let me give you a little history here. Back in Luther\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time, there was a real disparity between landowners and peasants. Landowners were in control, they made decisions about government, about where people could live or hunt for food, about the economy . They ruled the unions or guilds. They were in control and the peasants \u00e2\u20ac\u201c tradesmen, farmers, shopkeepers, as well as the people who worked the land pretty much lived under the thumb of the landowners. They didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a voice in government, some of the peasants were extremely poor and were virtual slaves of the landowners. There was no escaping \u00e2\u20ac\u201c once a peasant, always a peasant.<\/p>\n
Then the Reformation came along, and some changes started to occur. The peasants began to realize they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to spend their money on buying their way into heaven, they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to buy indulgences, or pay the church for certain favors or privileges. And once the peasants got a little taste of freedom, they wanted more. They weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happy living under the thumb of the princes or the church. They wanted freedom, they wanted food to eat, they wanted their children to have an education, they wanted a better life than what they had. And so, they started to revolt.<\/p>\n
And revolts are hardly ever peaceful. There was violence and bloodshed and looting. They were fighting for their freedom and they were tired of the princes trying to control their lives. And here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where I think Luther made a mistake. Instead of trying to work with the princes whom he had good relationships with and negotiate with the peasants whom he had good relationships with, Luther supported the German princes and encouraged them to use force to subdue the peasants.<\/p>\n
In fact, he even wrote a booklet called, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Against The Murderous and Thieving Hordes of Peasants.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In that tract, he urged the government to use unrestrained violence in subduing the peasants.<\/p>\n
Listen to what he wrote,
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u009dIf the peasant is in open rebellion, then he is outside the
\nlaw of God, for rebellion is not simply murder, but it is like
\na great fire w hich attacks and lays waste a w hole land. …
\nTherefore let everyone who can, smite, slay, and stab,
\nsecretly or openly, remembering that nothing can be more
\npoisonous, hurtful or devilish than a rebel. It is just as
\nwhen one must kill a mad dog. If you do not fight the
\nrebels, they will fight you, and the whole country with you.
\nThese times are so extraordinary that a prince can win
\nheaven more easily by bloodshed than by prayer.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The princes of Germany read Luther\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words, took them to heart,
\nand struck back against the peasants, and tens of thousands of them were
\nkilled.<\/p>\n
Did Luther\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words add fuel to the fire? Most scholars think they
\ndid. Could Luther have spoken to stop the bloodshed and would he have
\nbeen listened to? Most likely \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he had earned the trust of the peasants,
\nand he had connections among the princes. But Luther refused \u00e2\u20ac\u201c refused
\nto stand up with the peasants and demand a better life for them. Refused
\nto confront the princes and work to find a better way to solve the
\nproblems society was facing. And tens of thousands of people died as a
\nresult.<\/p>\n
Every hero has their dark side, every hero has their enemies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c
\nreal or imagined \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and that w as true of Luther, as w ell.
\nThe Jews were another group that attracted Luther\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attention.
\nLuther believed that the Old Testament Jews were a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stiff-necked
\npeople\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because they rejected Christ. Jews of his time couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be
\nblamed for not accepting Christ, he thought. After all, the pope had
\ncorrupted Christianity so much, according to Luther, that it was no
\nwonder the Jews rejected the teachings of the church.<\/p>\n
So, Luther made it his mission to convert the Jews. He thought if
\nhe did aw ay with the abuses of the church, if he approached the Jew s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in
\nChrist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s love,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d they would see that Jesus was the Messiah and convert.
\nBut they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. And this really angered Luther. In fact, it angered him
\nso much that he wrote a book called, ‘On the Jews and Their Lies and
\nbegan preaching that the Jews were practicing evil, anti-Christian ways.
\nHe called the Jewish religious leaders \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a brood of vipers and children of
\nthe devil,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and said that all Jews needed to be expelled from Germany.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Failing this,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153this is my sincere advice: First set fire to
\ntheir synagogues or schools and bury or cover w ith dirt whatever will
\nnot burn…<\/p>\n
Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed.<\/p>\n
Instead, they should be lodged under a roof or in a barn like gypsies…
\nThird, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings
\nbe taken from them.
\nFourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach on pain of
\nloss of life and limb,..
\nFifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished for
\nthe Jews…
\nSixth, I advise that borrowing money be prohibited to them, and
\nthat all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them and put
\naside for safekeeping…
\nSeventh, if we are afraid that they might harm us or our wives,
\nchildren \u00e2\u20ac\u201c servants, cattle, etc., let us eject them forever from the
\ncountry. For, as we have heard, God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anger with them is so intense that
\ngentle mercy will only tend to make them worse and worse, while sharp
\nmercy will reform them but little. Therefore, in any case, away with
\nthem!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nThose are the words of Martin Luther against the Jews. Luther
\ndidn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t invent anti-Semitism. But he practiced it, he preached it, and his
\nwords and his teachings against the Jews had a major influence in
\nGermany not only in his own century but centuries later. Four centuries
\nafter Luther wrote those words, Adolph Hitler listed Martin Luther as
\none of the greatest reformers in the world. The N azi plan to create a state
\nchurch was based on the works of Luther.
\nIn fact, the first physical violence against the Jews came on
\nNovember 10th, Luther\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s birthday, the night called Krystalnacht or
\nCrystal Night when the Nazis killed Jews, shattered glass windows, and
\ndestroyed hundreds of synagogues, just as Luther had proposed
\ncenturies earlier.
\nThe words that Luther wrote against the Jews were hateful words
\nand they had a devastating impact on the world.
\n6
\nSo what do we do now? What does this teach us? Luther was a
\ngreat reformer \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no denying that. Luther freed people from the
\nbelief that they had to earn their way into heaven, he opened up the
\nwhole idea that we are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153saved by God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grace through faith in Jesus
\nChrist.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nBut what do we do with the hate? What do we do with the
\nprejudice? What do we do with the sense of self-righteousness that leads
\nto the death and destruction of people who are different from us?
\nIs what Luther said about the ways to treat the peasants and the
\nJews any different than what we hear people saying about how we
\nshould treat members of Al Quida, or Muslims, or people suspected of
\nbeing terrorists? Is what Luther said about the ways to treat the peasants
\nand the Jews any different than the way we treat people who are
\ndifferent from us, people who practice different religions, people whose
\nsexual orientation is different from ours, people we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand,
\nmaybe even people in our own communities who we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re afraid of
\nbecause they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re poor, or homeless, or mentally ill, or speak a different
\nlanguage, or come from a different country?
\nWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all a minority group in one culture or another. I was a
\nminority in the ministry for a long time. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a minority in certain parts
\nof America. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a minority when I travel to foreign countries. Does that
\nmean I should be persecuted? Does that mean I should persecute others?
\nJesus paid a high price for my freedom. He paid a high price so I
\nwouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to live a life of fear or a life of shame, or a life of thinking
\nI am better than someone else, or worse than someone else. He paid a
\nhigh price so I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to buy indulgences for my salvation off a
\nstreet corner vendor.
\nThere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an inner voice inside of each of us, each child of the
\nReformation that is always weighing our good deeds against our bad
\ndeeds, always comparing our virtues to our vices, always judging our
\nstrengths against our weaknesses, and all the while we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re hoping that we
\n7
\ncan make ourselves right in the eyes of God. But we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. And God
\ncan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be fooled.
\nThe grace of God can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be bought or sold. It can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be seized by
\nforce or negotiated. True freedom is a gift and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a gift that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not within
\nthe power of the church or government to give.
\nThis is the good news that Luther leaves us with. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only
\nnews that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sufficiently good to make up for all the bad news in the
\nworld. True freedom is ours for the asking; all we really need is the
\ncourage to open our hearts so that we may receive this gift that God is so
\nwilling to offer us. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the gift of the Reformation.
\nWe need to be aware that there is sin and evil in the world. We
\nneed to be aware that we will fall prey to it \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that we will be tempted to
\ntreat others unkindly, or unjustly, or with ridicule or malice. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of
\nthe human condition. And we need to fight that evil and those
\ntemptations with all our strength, because, in the end, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what the
\nReformation was all about. Freedom to see every person as a child of
\nGod, made in God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s image\u00e2\u20ac\u201c Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Bible-thumping
\nChristian, or contemplative monk, rich, poor, gay, lesbian, divorced,
\nmarried, death-row inmate or the kindest soul we know.
\nThat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the good news of the Reformation. Luther made some
\nterrible mistakes. But he also left us with the knowledge of a marvelous
\ngift \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that true freedom is ours for the asking: all we really need is the
\ncourage and the willingness to open our hearts to God and receive the
\ngift of God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grace. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have been doing a lot of reading on Martin Luther lately. The book HERE I STAND is a classic biography and THE WIT OF MARTIN LUTHER gives insight to his lighter and naughtier side. But the two shocking discoveries were his encouragement to use violence against peasants in the early 16th century as well […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3C0LX-XD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3697"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3699,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3697\/revisions\/3699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}