500 Years Ago

October 31, 2017

Most of the people in our village tonight observe Halloween. A bit earlier, little kids went door to door, accompanied by parents hanging back on the sidewalks. When we lived in the center of town, it was not uncommon to have upwards of 200 children knocking on our door. Living at the edge of town now, it’s just five of our grandkids and another five children of some dear younger friends. They stop in after combing the neighborhood; we have cider and donuts for the adults and hide bags of candy for the kids. After an hour of conversation and laughter around our dining room table, everyone heads for home to get their kids in bed. They have school tomorrow.

Similar scenes are played out all around our country, with the addition of adult Halloween parties and balls, with grownups all dressed up in full costume regalia (something I never could quite understand). For those not inclined to trick or treat or go to parties, there are always a full complement of dark and ghoulish movies on tv. There is one thing however, that will not even enter the minds of these celebrations.

On this day 500 years ago, a Catholic monk used the era’s equivalent of Facebook or Twitter and posted 95 Theses to the door of the Castle church in Wittenburg, Germany, not knowing at the time that he was igniting an ecclesiastical civil war. His name was Martin Luther, and he was protesting the selling of indulgences, essentially “get out of purgatory free” cards by Johann Tetzel and others, unscrupulous peddlers of these items. Luther insisted that our sins are remitted solely on the basis of Christ’s death on the cross, and that these indulgences were not worth the paper they were written on.

Luther’s ideas gained traction, leading to the Protestant Reformation and his excommunication in 1521. He was joined by clerics and heads of state, ultimately transforming the religious and political map of Europe. Lutherans, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Methodists are among those who trace their spiritual lineage back to Luther. And even the Roman Church owes him a debt, for it was due to his initiative that the Pope Paul III called Catholic clerics together for the Council of Trent, beginning the Counter Reformation which in turn, corrected many of the abuses that had crept into the Latin Church. 

With the exception of the Eastern traditions represented by the various Orthodox churches, almost everyone who claims salvation from our sins by grace through faith alone, is indebted to Martin Luther. It was 500 years ago today that it all began, and I for one, am thankful for this bold monk who changed the course of history, and ultimately, the course of my life.