On a beautiful summer day in early July 2009, my parents,
Kelly, and I walked the streets of the quaint German town of Wittenberg. We
took a walking tour of the city that led us into churches and homes, and
concluded our day there at a restaurant eating pizza. Oh, but to have walked
that city in the 1520s! What would it have been like? Who would we have seen?
What would the mood have been in that important little town?
In two days we celebrate the 500-year anniversary of Martin
Luther’s bold statement to the Catholic church when he nailed his 95 Theses to
the church door in Wittenberg. These theses stated that salvation was by faith
alone, not through the practice of indulgences (paying money to the church to
attain salvation for oneself or another). Though Luther did not mean this to be
a monumental event, it was, and it became the recognized start of the
Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther continued to remain faithful to the Word
of God in his teaching as he elevated the Word over the edicts of the pope and
the corrupt church. In 1521 in the city of Worms, Luther took his stand before
the Holy Roman Emperor and other notables and would not recant his teachings on
salvation or on the false practices of the church. Labeled a heretic, he then
had to hide away for ten months. During this time, he worked on the translation
of the Bible into the German language, because of his belief that all should
have access to a Bible in their own language and be allowed to read and study
it for themselves. In 1522 he returned to the city of Wittenberg and took a
large role in leading this reformation movement that had spread throughout the
country and Europe. He was still single, but was not to remain so for much longer.
A group of 13 nuns escaped from a convent in 1523 in the
darkness of night and made their way to Wittenberg, having received Luther’s
help in escaping. They had read his writings and were convinced of the truth of
them. One of these women was 24 year old Katharina von Bora. As a 6 year old
child, she had been sent away from her family to a cloister school; at age 16,
she’d taken her vows to become a nun. Having now escaped the convent and
arrived safely at Wittenberg, she had to
figure out how to make a living for herself. Luther took a part in helping the
nuns get settled and find husbands, and he actually tried to find one for Kate.
She did not like his choice and told him so. However, in 1525 she ended up
marrying Martin Luther himself.
Although Martin Luther did not originally marry Katherine out
of love, he learned to love her dearly and depended upon her as a faithful
partner in life. In speaking of Kate and in his letters to her, he addressed
her as “my dear Kate,” “Kate, my rib,” “my most beloved Lady of the House,” “my
true love,” and “my sweetheart.” He depended on her as she supported him,
challenged him when she felt him to be in the wrong, and encouraged and nursed
him in his times of illness. The story is told that at one time Luther was depressed,
and Kate’s counsel was not able to lift his spirit. She put on a black dress,
and when Luther asked her if she were going to a funeral, she replied, “No, but
since you are acting as though God is dead, I wanted to join you in your
mourning.” Luther got the point and recovered.
On that day in 2009, we saw the rebuilt church where Martin
Luther nailed the theses (the original one burned down), the church in which he
preached, and the home of his well-known friends, the Cranachs, among other
sites. But my favorite part of the day was visiting the “Lutherhaus,” that
large former monastery that Katherine Luther had turned into a home in which
many found a welcome place to stay and converse. There she had worked
unceasingly as a manager of her household to put food on the table and provide
beds for her guests. There she had born six children and sorrowed alongside her
husband as two died young. There she supported her husband in the work he was
doing for the progress of the gospel. She fulfilled her
role as a "helpmeet," which allowed her husband to do what he did.
There is much more to say about Katherine Luther, but my hope
here is simply that we may be encouraged and challenged by other women who have
gone before us, women who faced great challenges yet walked with the Lord and
served others sacrificially. Our daughter Katherine was named in part for
Katherine Luther with the prayer that she, like Kate Luther, would be bold in
her faith, a strong woman, a dedicated worker for the good of others, and a great
support to her husband if God grants her one.
*
Information taken from Katharina von
Bora: A Reformation Life by Rudolf and Marilynn Markwald
--Amy O'Rear
