It takes a certain amount of courage to fight against a system that is corrupt and wrong from outside that system. It takes even greater courage to fight against a system that is corrupt and oppressive when it is the system you love and engage in everyday.
Martin Luther was a man who has shaped the look of the church forever. A man who would rather stay true to the theology God had awoken in his heart than keep the church together. He was born on the 10th of November 1483 to a mining family. His father Hans possessed qualities such as zeal, determination and passion, which he passed on to his son Martin. Hans within a decade became the owner of a number of smelting furnaces, which then put Martin into the wealthy echelon of society in his teenage years.
Martin’s father had a strong, strong desire for Martin to become a lawyer, and sent Luther off to be educated. Luther compared his schooling to purgatory and hell. When Luther went to university he described university to be a beerhouse and whorehouse, where each day was a day of rote learning and often wearying spiritual exercises.
At the age of 21 as Martin was walking he was gripped with the conviction that God wanted him to be a monk and to his father’s dismay he entered an Augustinian monastery.
As a monk Luther was vigilant in following the rule of the monastery. He would fast for long periods of time, spend long hours in private prayer. Due to his desire to please God he would record every minor lapse or sin in his life so that he could ask for forgiveness at weekly confession.
But all this work made him feel worse rather than better. His sense of guilt increased instead of decreased.
After spending significant time meditating on the book of Romans God revealed to him that righteousness wasn’t something he could achieve by trying harder, but it was a gift which God gave people because of Jesus’ work on the cross.
Luther said:
The righteousness of works and hypocrisy, are the most mischievous diseases born in us, and not easily expelled, especially when they are confirmed and settled upon us by use and practice; for all mankind will have dealings with the Almighty God, and dispute with him, according to their human natural understanding, and will make satisfaction to God for their sins, with their own strength and self-chosen works. For my part, I have so often deceived our Lord God by promising to be upright and good, that I will promise no more. But will only pray for a happy hour, when it shall please God to make me good.
Due to his passion for this doctrine the church’s practice of selling indulgences. Certificates that reduced the time a person would spend after death in purgatory being punished for their sins. Absolutely enraged him. How could the church sell that which God gave freely?
So on October 31 1517 Martin Luther Pinned 95 theses on the door of a church at Wittenburg. Spelling out in exact detail, his issues with indulgences.
Theses number 86 reads: Since the pope’s income today is larger than that of the wealthiest of wealthy men, why does he not build this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of indigent believers?
Needless to say, this was not exactly popular. So after refusing to recant on his beliefs he was excommunicated. And set out on constructing a new reformed church.
I resonate with Luther’s story.
I know the feeling of disappointment a family can feel when you chose a path that is not what they desired, especially one of serving a God.
I believe that the doctrine of salvation by faith and not works is so incredibly important.
I love Luther’s passion for the written word of God, he translated the Bible into german so that everyone could read it, and not just clergy.
I also see that the evil in Luther even after doing all these great works is also in me and that I must cling to God and Godly counsel.
See what I haven’t mentioned yet is Luther’s incredible anti-Semitism. His writings about the Jewish people were used by the Nazi’s to bolster credibility for their diabolical cause. Which makes me realise that you can resist some detestable systems of oppression, poverty, racism, and hatred, but in the same lifetime support something just as bad. His story brings it home for me that yes he is a hero in many senses, but he is also human. As is Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abendigo, Dorothy day, Soren Keirkegaard and anyone else that is spoken about during this series. They are human as are we, and we can put them on a pedestal all we like, but we are just as capable of resisting the empire, whatever the empire may be, as they are, and their stories should be told not for us to go ‘well that is great…for them’ but for us to be inspired and realise what God can do with a life, and to draw us into prayer that God would use our lives similarly, not for our glory, but his.
(Nicholas Patselis)