The Story of the Nun Who Escaped to True Freedom

Reformational Themes

As a mother, is it extra honoring to God to sit down and have devotions within the morning or to alter my child’s diaper? As a mom, am I extra holy if I research my Bible three hours a day as a substitute of thirty minutes? What if which means my youngsters watch extra TV? Does it change into much less holy then? As my youngsters are rising older and vocations, ought to I encourage my son to farm together with his dad, feeding the world, or change into a pastor? Does God prioritize the religious over the bodily? When can we apply the legislation, 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 had been compelled to take monastic vows towards their will had 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 extra 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 idea, what’s mistaken with being a nun? They spent hours a day in prayer and worship. They led disciplined lives. Was Luther towards prayer? Was he towards 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—sarcastically, to make some extent about Christian freedom.

The concentrate on good works as a part of the Roman Catholic religion had change into a sport of “one up” the following particular person in being holy.

“I’m extra holy as a result of I learn one hour of the Bible.”
“Oh yeah? Nicely, I learn two hours.”
“I learn six hours.”
“I quick as soon as per week.”
“I quick twice per 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 typically 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 he or she 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 essentially the most,” which had in fact change into a scenario ripe with abuse—getting not more than 1,000 energy a day, being sleep disadvantaged, and being crushed for utilizing your voice for something moreover prayer or worship and typically confession, all within the title of being “holy.”

Luther fought towards 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 title. 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 us (for the neighbors round us). The self-righteousness of attempting to work our technique 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 clean down the outdated monastery the place Luther lived, changing it from his outdated monastery (subsequent to Wittenberg College) to what we might name a convention heart or boarding home.

They had been abnormal. In that pressure between the sacred and the abnormal, they lived a really abnormal 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 youngsters—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 group, enabling him to work increasingly more 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 to him about a difficulty, they’d typically go to Katie to persuade him, as he hardly ever stated no to her. Politicians would typically maintain grudges towards her as a result of as they sought Luther’s help on points, he would search her counsel and do no matter she advisable—which typically was to remain out of it.

They’d a really public life, they usually 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 had been typically recorded too. The Luthers weren’t excellent.

However that’s simply it—they weren’t excellent. They had been abnormal. In that pressure between the sacred and the abnormal, they lived a really abnormal life that was fueled by the sacred. Their objective wasn’t to show to God that they had been holy in order that he would look favorably on them. Their objective 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 had been how God constructed you in your religion. They had been all items acquired passively. Katie cherished finding out the Bible and memorizing the Psalms, she cherished singing reward, and he or she was probably the most disciplined folks in Wittenberg.

However none of that made her holy. Solely Christ made her holy. She did that every one for her neighbors. Memorizing the Psalms fueled her coronary heart and helped her grieve with others in horrific outbreaks of loss of life. However she additionally did the abnormal 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 writer of The Story of Katie Luther: The Nun Who Escaped to True Freedom.

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