The Story of the Nun Who Escaped to True Freedom

Reformational Themes

As a mother, is it extra honoring to God to take a seat and have devotions within the morning or to alter my child’s diaper? As a mom, am I extra holy if I examine my Bible three hours a day as a substitute of thirty minutes? What if which means my youngsters watch extra TV? Does it grow to be much less holy then? As my kids are rising older and vocations, ought to I encourage my son to farm together with his dad, feeding the world, or grow to be a pastor? Does God prioritize the religious over the bodily? When can we apply the regulation, and when can we apply the gospel?

These are literally main Reformational themes that come out within the lifetime of Katharina Von Bora Luther. She was within the first group of nuns that escaped their cloister after Martin Luther wrote his “Freedom of the Christian” and the comply with up writings that proclaimed that monks and nuns who have been compelled to take monastic vows in opposition to their will have been allowed to depart. As soon as he wrote that, a number of monasteries emptied out—together with Luther’s (besides one older monk who stayed with him).

It was years earlier than any nuns tried the identical feat. There have been further authorized hurdles they confronted as girls, and the primary group—a dozen nuns from a strict, silent cloister—bravely smuggled themselves out throughout Easter vigil and arrived matted on Luther’s doorstep as if to say, “Right here we’re. What’s subsequent?”

In concept, what’s improper with being a nun? They spent hours a day in prayer and worship. They led disciplined lives. Was Luther in opposition to prayer? Was he in opposition to worship? Why would you pull somebody out of a “holy” life? That’s what the world needed to know.

Katharina, “Katie,” was the final nun to get married, and Martin Luther married her not out of affection, however out of responsibility—satirically, to make some extent about Christian freedom.

The deal with good works as a part of the Roman Catholic religion had grow to be a sport of “one up” the subsequent individual in being holy.

“I’m extra holy as a result of I learn one hour of the Bible.”
“Oh yeah? Properly, I learn two hours.”
“I learn six hours.”
“I quick as soon as every week.”
“I quick twice every week.”
“I solely eat bread and water.”
“I solely eat and drink the Lord’s Supper.”
“I quick from sleeping.”
“I quick from speaking.”

Ladies whose households couldn’t afford a dowry, like Katie’s, would usually drop them off at these cloisters to be cared for for the remainder of their lives. After her mom died, Katie was dropped off at a cloister faculty at age 5 to be educated. When she was ten, her father misplaced all of his cash, and she or he was despatched to a charity cloister for the aim of changing into a nun.

As a younger lady, she was put on this rat race of “who can do probably the most,” which had in fact grow to be a state of affairs ripe with abuse—getting not more than 1,000 energy a day, being sleep disadvantaged, and being crushed for utilizing your voice for something in addition to prayer or worship and generally confession, all within the identify of being “holy.”

Luther fought in opposition to this abuse, saying we aren’t saved by our works however by the works of Christ alone. So what did that imply? What’s the “acceptable” quantity to do these items?

What Is Christian Freedom?

Christian freedom, as Luther taught, wasn’t about moderation in these items. It was about resting in Christ and serving and loving your neighbor. Nothing we do could make God love us extra. However God has put us on this earth to like our neighbors in his identify. Whether or not that’s in church or out of church. He taught that “Devil is the essence of self-righteousness in all of its fury.” In different phrases, self-righteousness is Devil’s language. The righteousness of Christ is God’s.

For the Christian, Luther taught, there have been two sorts of righteousness: righteousness given by Christ (for us) and righteousness that’s the outpouring of God’s love by way of us (for the neighbors round us). The self-righteousness of making an attempt to work our approach to please God was a lie from the satan.

After her marriage to Martin Luther, Katie instantly started working. She spent cash given as wedding ceremony items to wash down the previous monastery the place Luther lived, changing it from his previous monastery (subsequent to Wittenberg College) to what we’d name a convention middle or boarding home.

They have been unusual. In that pressure between the sacred and the unusual, they lived a really unusual life that was fueled by the sacred.

Given a free hand from her husband, she whipped the place into form. She housed a number of college college students, took in orphans and widows, and at instances throughout plague outbreaks, transformed it right into a hospital. She had six kids—4 of them reaching maturity, and a miscarriage that almost killed her. She reworked Martin Luther’s matted and disorganized home right into a shelter for the entire neighborhood, enabling him to work increasingly successfully.

She grew to become one in every of his greatest confidants. It was well-known that when Luther’s co-workers couldn’t get by way of to him about a problem, they might usually go to Katie to persuade him, as he not often mentioned no to her. Politicians would generally maintain grudges in opposition to her as a result of as they sought Luther’s help on points, he would search her counsel and do no matter she really helpful—which generally was to remain out of it.

They’d a really public life, and so they allowed students and college students from the college to take notes at their supper desk, the place theology was commonly mentioned, which meant their fights have been generally recorded too. The Luthers weren’t good.

However that’s simply it—they weren’t good. They have been unusual. In that pressure between the sacred and the unusual, they lived a really unusual life that was fueled by the sacred. Their aim wasn’t to show to God that they have been holy in order that he would look favorably on them. Their aim was to have such confidence within the blood of Christ making them holy that they reserved their energies for his or her neighbors. Listening to the phrase preached and partaking in baptism and the Lord’s Supper have been how God constructed you in your religion. They have been all items obtained passively. Katie cherished learning the Bible and memorizing the Psalms, she cherished singing reward, and she or he was some of the disciplined folks in Wittenberg.

However none of that made her holy. Solely Christ made her holy. She did that each one for her neighbors. Memorizing the Psalms fueled her coronary heart and helped her grieve with others in horrific outbreaks of dying. However she additionally did the unusual work of binding wounds, cooking meals, and doing dishes. All of it was made holy in Christ, as Christ was utilizing her as a method to like the folks round her.

Gretchen Ronnevik is the creator of The Story of Katie Luther: The Nun Who Escaped to True Freedom.

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