Unintended Consequences of the Reformation
Author: Pastor Mike Gutzler
Power, corruption, greed, selfishness, jealousy, rivalry. No I am not talking about modern-day politics, I am talking about the next moment in our journey though the sacred scriptures and more specifically our conversation about leadership and the divine.
In case you missed it last week, we transition into the section of the Hebrew scriptures and Old Testament where God moves from the leader of the people to the divine counselor of Israel’s king. Last week, we got to take a close look at David’s leadership and how he was able to unite all of the tribes of Israel under one kingdom. We also recognized David’s deep love for God and a desire to be silly and dance as the Word of God made its way into the center of the worshiping community in Jerusalem. Maybe most importantly we see a God who answers prayers for unruly and self-centered people. What was that prayer? To have a king.
Yes, God gave the people their first king Saul, and his successor David – and with all of David’s faults – he helped the Israelites reorient themselves back towards God. But now, two kings later –the kingdom is falling apart and ultimately torn into two.
What happened? David brought the ark into Jerusalem last week. His son Solomon, the king who prayed for wisdom, grew the kingdom by leaps and bounds. But its growth by leaps and bounds was at the expense of the people who were forced to labor for long hours and in rough conditions. And while the people worked, the leadership was distracted by foreign gods and strategic marriages.
Now the new king, Rehoboam, not having any part of the people’s cries for mercy replies with: “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”
As you can imagine, this did not sit well with the people and his kingdom was divided into two. Both kings in the two regions moved away from God and built temples to new foreign gods while erecting new idols for worship.
Particularly this week, this story is less about God and more about our human nature, especially our human nature in places of power and authority.
If we wanted, we could track the undesirable elements of leadership starting from the handover from God to the Israelites first king to leadership today. There is a consistent pattern that when we humans are given more power and authority over people, we can easily use that power and strength in ways that end up harming or hurting those who are in vulnerable positions. And God warned us about this too. God warned the people when they asked for a king. Here again, is the conversation God had with the prophet Samuel before Saul was selected as king:
10 So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 God said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; 12 and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. 15 He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. 16 He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle[b] and donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
God was right and it did not take long for the people to see watch these events unfold.
By the time Jesus arrives on the scene, a foreign entity is occupying Jerusalem and once again the people are looking to Jesus to be the new king, the one who will rule over the people and send the Romans away.
But this was not Jesus or God’s intention. God is not about ruling over the people, instead, God uses the community (the church) to serve the neighbor in ways the secular leadership will never do – as a servant leader.
But then what happens? The leadership of the church becomes its own monarchy and king. When Martin Luther arrives 1500 years later after Jesus, the church with a capital C is the new kingdom with power and authority. The Pope is the new king and he asked the same demands of the people. You may recall, the Pope wanted a new church in Rome and it took the labor and burden of the people in the form of indulgences to pay for their own forgiveness to cover those costs.
With Martin Luther’s theological clarity, and more importantly a carefully rereading of scripture, he came to appreciate two key points that were a catalyst of the Reformation: 1) we are not the agents of our own salvation – only God, and 2) as a result, God is our only hope for the future.
Now, as we sit here on Reformation Day, 502 years later, we may be able to celebrate these theological doctrines to be true, but something else has happened over the same course of time that has had an even greater influence on humanity as a result of Martin Luther’s reforming acts. We can think of this as the unintended consequences of the reformation, and would include:
1) Martin Luther’s reforming efforts sparked a new way to think about our relationship to authority. Without the Pope leading the Church, there was new empowerment of the laity in leadership – a very good thing.
2) Martin Luther translated the Bible into vernacular German so all could read the text and no longer need the priests to understand and interpret church teaching on behalf of the people.
3) Martin Luther removed the Church’s forgiveness system, putting forgiveness back in the hands of God, and removing it from the those in authority.
4) Martin Luther sparked a movement of new interpretations from other teachers, theologians and leaders who not only questioned the larger church but questioned Luther’s teachings resulting in new denominations and expressions of the Gospel.
All of these additional reformations sparked new independence in thinking and new empowerment of individuals to know one’s self and the world around them.
Slowly, over time, we as humans have made radical changes to the way we come to know leadership, but more importantly, since Martin Luther, we have made incredible progress. New leaders, thinkers, scientist and more have cured disease, stopped famine, found new ways to heal the sick, and produced goods to the masses in ways Luther could have never imagined.
But with all of this progress another doctrine developed, a new idea and movement that has taken over our culture and made its way into our congregational lives. This new focus of the masses is something called humanism.
Humanism is the belief that we humans are unique and sacred in nature, and that we are fundamentally different from all other living things. Humanism believes we humans and our unique nature are the ones who establish meaning to the world and everything that happens in it. The greatest good in this world for Humanism is the greatest good for us humans, and that the rest of the world and its resources are here for that benefit. And lastly, humanism believes humans are and will be able to work, solve, invent, or think our way out of any problem we face – especially the biggest ones today like climate change, income inequality, racism, and more.
The golden calves of our ancestors have been replaced with either a larger mirror or simply a statute of humanity.
So, what are we do, especially as educated Lutherans who know that if we cannot even secure our own salvation, we are not going to be able to solve the world’s biggest problems by ourselves? What will keep us in check, and where will we find hope?
The first thing we can do is keep ourselves in check by embracing a bit more humility whenever possible. A good way to do that is to read Luther’s introduction to his Small Catechism, his little instruction book for our faith life:
Luther writes in the second paragraph of the introduction:
The deplorable, miserable conditions which I recently observed when visiting the parishes have constrained and pressed me to put this catechism of Christian doctrine into this brief, plain, and simple form. How pitiable, so help me God, were the things I saw: the common man, especially in the villages, knows practically nothing of Christian doctrine, and many of the pastors are almost entirely incompetent and unable to teach. Yet all the people are supposed to be Christians, have been baptized, and receive the Holy Sacrament even though they do not know the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, or the Ten Commandments and live like poor animals of the barnyard and pigpen. What these people have mastered, however, is the fine art of tearing all Christian liberty to shreds.
Once we realize we are not the solution to the world’s problem, then we can look to the true source of life and hope which is Christ.
As Luther always said, our focus and center should always be found in scriptures and in the Gospels.
What do we see there? We see a God who denies an earthly throne, crown and leadership in order to die on a cross so all who are in pain and suffering or burdened by sin can be set free and see new life in this God.
We also see a Jesus as healer, caretaker, lover and feeder of those in physical and spiritual need.
And lastly, we see Jesus as one who continually sees through our false sense of self and offers us love in all elements of our brokenness, shame and disgrace. And in seeing past our false selves we see God’s greatest love for a humanity in need.
With that, then and only then in a new state of existing. Once we know we are loved with a new humility, then and only then we can see opportunities of leadership in a servant capacity as individual followers of Jesus. That walk of servanthood then opens our eyes to hope in love for the other.
Servant leadership is about giving what we have so others can be lifted up. God has provided everything we need, and with God’s help, and not with top-down authority, will we see how God has already answered our prayers and helped us see the solutions to our problems God has already provided.
Amen