Commemoration of Martin Luther, Doctor and Confessor, +18 February 1546

Prayer of the Day

O God, our refuge and our strength, You raised up Your servant Martin Luther to reform and renew Your Church in the light of Your living Word, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Defend and purify the Church in our own day, and grant that we may boldly proclaim Christ’s faithfulness unto death and His vindicating resurrection, which You made known to Your servant Martin through Jesus Christ, our Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Martin Luther, born on November 10, 1483, in Eisleben, Germany, initially began studies leading toward a degree in law. However, after a close encounter with death, he switched to the study of theology, entered an Augustinian monastery, was ordained a priest in 1505, and received a doctorate in theology in 1512. As a professor at the newly established University of Wittenberg, Luther’s scriptural studies led him to question many of the Church’s teachings and practices, especially the selling of indulgences. His refusal to back down from his convictions resulted in his excommunication in 1521. Following a period of seclusion at the Wart­burg castle, Luther returned to Wittenberg, where he spent the rest of his life preaching and teaching, translating the Scriptures, and writing hymns and numerous theological treatises. He is remembered and honored for his lifelong emphasis on the biblical truth that for Christ’s sake God declares us righteous by grace through faith alone. Luther died on February 18, 1546, while visiting the town of his birth. (from The Treasury of Daily Prayer, published by Concordia Publishing House)

Lessons: Isaiah 55:6-11 Psalm 46 Romans 10:5-17 St. John 15:1-1

Here you can see what it means to believe. It may indeed seem an easy matter, but it is in fact a high and great art. Therefore when you feel your sin, when your bad conscience smites you, or when persecution comes, then ask yourself whether you really believe. At such times one is wont to run to saints and helpers in cloisters and in the desert for succor and relief, crying: “O my dear man, intercede for me! O dear saint, help me! O let me live! I promise to become pious and to do many good works.” That is how a terrified conscience speaks. But tell me, where is faith? If you believe in the words of Christ, “None of them is lost whom Thou hast given Me” (John 17:12), then, as a Christian, you must say: “I acknowledge no saint here. I am a poor sinner deserving of death; but in defiance of sin and death I cling to Thee, and I will not let Thee go. I have taken hold of Thee, dear Lord Christ. Thou art my Life, and this is the Father’s will, that all who adhere to Thee have eternal life and be raised from the dead. In the meantime let my fate be what it will. I may be beheaded or burned at the stake.” No other life—whether it be called the monastic life or the life of St. Augustine or of St. John the Baptist—will arm a person for victory. Only faith in Christ can do so.—Martin Luther

Reflection:  When Luther died on this date, a friend looked through his cloak and found a piece of paper with this written on it:   “It is true.  We are all beggars.”  We are all beggars with the Lord Who has given us all things and above all things: His beloved Son Jesus Christ.  In the quote above, Fr. Luther makes that clear we only cling to Jesus Christ.  We cannot go running to and fro to ‘saints’.  I realize that sounds in our 21st ears so antiquated:  it is, in a literal sense.  Yet, in our day and time, we do go running to ‘saints’, but we would not call them ‘saints’.  They are powerful personalities, preachers, presidents, especially on TV and in their number 1 bestsellers.  We do go running after the Rick Warrens, the Joel Osteens, the Robert Schullers, the Joyce Meyers, etc and if we do then we think we will really live,(so we think) and then we will have our best lives NOW, we will be purpose driven, we will be positive in all we do and win, we are the ones we have been waiting for.  We still say as Luther said in his day about such ‘seekers’, “I promise to become pious and to do many good works”, that is, the ‘good works’ the Warrens, the Osteens, the Schullers, the Meyers, etc. say we must do in the book we just plucked down $19.95 to be ‘spiritual’.  We still buy indulgences to get our lives out of our self-made purgatories, even hell (!), but we just spend our way deeper into the debt…of the devil.

Luther’s question haunts, “But tell me, where is faith?” It is found where the Lord said He is found: “When two or three are gathered together in My Name, there I am” (St. Matthew 18). Where the Word of God is preached and taught in all its purity (1 Timothy). “This is My Body, this is My Blood”(1. Cor. 11).The One in Whom you are baptized and believe, however weak your faith, did not sell you a book but has written your name in the book of life as He has made you His own.  He did not sell you nor sell you out, but has bought you, not with gold or silver, but His own precious blood.  (Romans 5:9, 1 Corinthians 11:25, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:20, Hebrews 9:10-12, 1 Peter 1:18-20, 1 John 5:5-7)   No, I acknowledge I am no ‘saint’ like them. I am a poor sinner, deserving of death.  It is true, we are all beggars.  Oh, for a love that will not let me go. He won’t…Luther knew quite well that when he wrote the words above, he could have been burned at the stake.  He had no armor, save faith in Jesus Christ  (Ephesians 6:15-17) and it is more powerful than all the ‘spiritual’ books of self-chosen works piled together.  Here I stand.