Encore Post:
On a chilly October morning, Martin Luther left the Black Cloister to walk to the Castle Church. A light breeze blew a few leaves across his path. When he passed Saint Mary’s Church, a few students hurried to join him. As they walked along, they asked questions about their last lesson. The town was busy that morning. Children played in the street. Farmers came to sell their crops and goods. Pilgrims walked along the same street. They hoped to see the relics on display at the church. Relics are parts of a deceased holy person’s body or belongings that are kept as objects of reverence. Luther walked up the stairs to the Castle Church door. He moved several notices nailed there to make room for his announcement. After nailing his call for a disputation—a conference—to discuss the power of indulgences, he headed to his classroom. It was an ordinary day, but one that would change the world.
Luther’s announcement on that ordinary day, October 31, 1517, touched off an explosion throughout the Western Christian Church. Known as the 95 Theses, Luther’s announcement seemed to suggest that the pope did not have the power to offer indulgences. Luther did not intend to start a new church or a religious revolution. He wanted a discussion about repentance, forgiveness, and the abuse of indulgences. Luther’s announcement on that ordinary day,
Pope Leo X sent representatives to persuade Luther to apologize and remain silent. Instead, Luther studied the Scriptures more carefully. Finally, during a disputation with Johann Eck at Leipzig, Luther publicly admitted that some of Jan Hus’s teachings had been correct. In the months that followed, Luther concluded that the Church had erred in other important teachings as well.
In 1520, Pope Leo X condemned Luther’s teachings as heretical and threatened to excommunicate him. Undeterred, Luther burned the pope’s letter, along with many of the church’s books, in a bonfire in Wittenberg. Later, at the Diet of Worms in 1521, an assembly of officials of the Holy Roman Empire condemned Martin Luther as an outlaw.
The 95 Theses themselves were not the heart of the Reformation. Years later, Luther even wished people would stop talking about them. They were only the spark that ignited a much larger discussion. As Luther continued to study Scripture, he rediscovered the precious truth that sinners are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by their own works. Like lighting the fuse on a great explosion, the theses set in motion events that brought the Gospel back into the center of the Church’s life.
That is why we thank God for Martin Luther on October 31.
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Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana
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