During the time of the Reformation, there was a group of people that Martin Luther regularly made as his targets. Granted, you could say that there were quite a few groups that he targeted, but for today, I want to focus on the monastic orders of his day. There seems to have been a prevailing thought that, if you offered your life to God and then went away to a convent or abbey, you were serving God in a far "higher", holier way than anyone else.
The problem with this, as Luther saw it, was that the individual who did this basically left the rest of society in order to focus on God. While the focus on God part wasn't bad in and of itself, Luther did take exception to a couple of things that this gave birth to. First, such an action started to be seen as far higher and holier than any other act of faith. Second, it took people away from their relationships with their neighbors. Their faith, in essence, started to become a thing between them and God, without any interaction with those that the Bible rightfully would call their neighbors.
Faith was becoming spiritualized. Your "rightness" with God came to be seen as how much you could focus on Him rather than in living out your faith in the relationships that God has given in life. So Luther went to battle against this idea. He would point out that, for example, a husband who loved and cared for his wife and family was fulfilling God's will and commands far greater than the man who left society behind to focus only on God. The milkmaid who milked her cow to provide for her family and neighbors was doing far more in fulfillment of God's law than those in the convents and monestaries.
What was Luther's basis for this? It basically boiled down to one major point. God tells us in the Bible that we are to care for our neighbor and to love our neighbor as ourselves. One can hardly do that by separating oneself from the neighbor. God's Word doesn't command us to go off and live life separated from everyone, but does speak much about our relationships with one another. From that basis, Luther asserted that it's far better to do the things that God's Word does say rather than to invent things that may seem more holy, but aren't actually spoken by God.
We can still find ourselves in this same dilemma, though. It's far easier to tell someone that we will pray for them than to actually find a way to help them in their need. And this is part of the reason why I think Luther explained the commandments in his Small Catechism the way he did. For almost all of them, he doesn't just explain what God wants us to avoid, but he then adds a part of what it actually means that we do in fulfillment of the commandment. Not murdering doesn't simply mean that we don't kill our neighbor, but that we lift up our hands to help him in every physical need. Not bearing false witness doesn't mean simply that we don't lie about our neighbor, but that we seek to build him up with our words and how we talk about him.
In many respects, our faith is between us and God. However, the realm in which that faith is lived out is always in the context of our neighbor. So I encourage you today to think about how God gives you the opportunity to put flesh and blood to your faith in your relationships with your neighbors.
The problem with this, as Luther saw it, was that the individual who did this basically left the rest of society in order to focus on God. While the focus on God part wasn't bad in and of itself, Luther did take exception to a couple of things that this gave birth to. First, such an action started to be seen as far higher and holier than any other act of faith. Second, it took people away from their relationships with their neighbors. Their faith, in essence, started to become a thing between them and God, without any interaction with those that the Bible rightfully would call their neighbors.
Faith was becoming spiritualized. Your "rightness" with God came to be seen as how much you could focus on Him rather than in living out your faith in the relationships that God has given in life. So Luther went to battle against this idea. He would point out that, for example, a husband who loved and cared for his wife and family was fulfilling God's will and commands far greater than the man who left society behind to focus only on God. The milkmaid who milked her cow to provide for her family and neighbors was doing far more in fulfillment of God's law than those in the convents and monestaries.
What was Luther's basis for this? It basically boiled down to one major point. God tells us in the Bible that we are to care for our neighbor and to love our neighbor as ourselves. One can hardly do that by separating oneself from the neighbor. God's Word doesn't command us to go off and live life separated from everyone, but does speak much about our relationships with one another. From that basis, Luther asserted that it's far better to do the things that God's Word does say rather than to invent things that may seem more holy, but aren't actually spoken by God.
We can still find ourselves in this same dilemma, though. It's far easier to tell someone that we will pray for them than to actually find a way to help them in their need. And this is part of the reason why I think Luther explained the commandments in his Small Catechism the way he did. For almost all of them, he doesn't just explain what God wants us to avoid, but he then adds a part of what it actually means that we do in fulfillment of the commandment. Not murdering doesn't simply mean that we don't kill our neighbor, but that we lift up our hands to help him in every physical need. Not bearing false witness doesn't mean simply that we don't lie about our neighbor, but that we seek to build him up with our words and how we talk about him.
In many respects, our faith is between us and God. However, the realm in which that faith is lived out is always in the context of our neighbor. So I encourage you today to think about how God gives you the opportunity to put flesh and blood to your faith in your relationships with your neighbors.
Thanks for Sharing Scott. I think this speaks well to our ideas about serving in particular "vocations" and our career choices. Keep on writing . . . .
ReplyDeleteScott, as a lutheran (raised baptist) who recently discovered the awesome and freeing understanding of Vocation, I find this blog article a bit skewed. I do not understand why lutherans harp on the monastics (past or present). I do understand why Luther did, because he experienced the life of one, and is entitled to his opinions and experiences.
ReplyDeleteHere is where my problem comes from ... (1)"started to be seen as far higher and holier than any other act of faith. [2]Second, it took people away from their relationships with their neighbors. Their faith, in essence, started to become a thing between them and God"
1) anything good can be turned into or SEEM to be negative ...by being abused.
2) Not historically acurrate. Have you read the life of St. Anthony of Egypt or any of the Desert Fathers ? (fx. writings of Cassian). Do you realize how much advice and contact - spiritual they had with the regular population seeking GOd and having questions they had ? Move ahead in the middle ages ... do you realize how important the monastary was to the local economy ? (Brother Lawrence "Cultivate the Presence of God" speaks so much about the contact with others in his trips to the market to sell the goods made in the monastery).
I think lutherans, unfortunately have an ax to grind with the monastics. Charity (1.Cor 13:13)
Inga,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts. I was speaking in a more general sense about what I understand Luther's "problem" with the monastic orders to be. I recognize that this broad brush simply cannot be a blanket statement about all of them.
The point I wanted to make was that God's intent has never been for His people to withdraw from the people and communities in which He places them in order to seek a more "pure" or "holy" relationship with Him. God speaks much more highly about the love we show toward our neighbor than in taking ourselves out of that realm to focus purely on Him. I would suggest that we all still find an element of that in our lives, and that we need the reminder that our love for God is primarily demonstrated in our love for our neighbor. Thanks for the thoughts!
Scott, I forgot to mention that I agree with you 100% on the last paragraph, "I will pray for you" ... my experience in American Evangelicalism is that this cliche is a CUP OUT, allows someone to listen to a problem, spit out the regirgitated memorized short phrase, and make themselves good about "helping" their brother/sister ... SPIRITUALIZING the situation, instead of doing what Jesus did ... PRAGMATICALLY helping/feeding/clothhing/visiting and then forgiving sins/praying with.
ReplyDeleteGabriel (from Denmark)
Scott, on your last point, I do agree with you about the general thoughts about the NEED for emphasis of loving neighbor. But when you say/construct a statement such as "to withdraw from the people and communities in which He places them"... I am not sure how to judge the last part ... "in which He places them" because I believe the sometimes God can also place people in the monastery ...
ReplyDeleteIf my son would be gay but loved God and wanted to serve his neighbor, the monastic life would be perfect (he is only 2 years old).
I consider the monastics as "athletes for Christ", whose incessant intercessions/prayers is their "sport", a vital part of Christendom. They are not & do not claim (see Mt.Athos) to be holier than other Christians. They want to serve God and neighbor in this way. And they are an inspiration for other faithful (visitors, etc.). The fact that other Christians outside revere or honor them higher than other VOCATIONS, is purely WRONG, but does not make monastic life in itself wrong.
When I was a baptist (growing up in Communist Romania, majority is nominally Eastern Orthodox), the Evangelicals would use the verse in Luke 8:16 ("No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.") to speak against monasticism. Interestingly enough Evangelical turn a blind eye on other verses ... such as 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; 1 Peter 4:7, and a verse that I cannot find right now (Hebrews or the other little epistles Jude, etc.) mentioning Christians going into the mountains, hiding from persecution ... maybe you know what I am talking about.
Anyhow, to end on a positive note--- 1 Thes.5:17 "PRAY without ceasing" is greatly unpacked in the russian orthodox 19th century devotional called "The Way of a Pilgrim, and The Pilgrim continues his Way." Highly recommend.
Gabriel (LCMS member living in 2 kingdoms: Gods and oldest kingdom in Europe - Denmark)