Andy and Sarah to Lawrence to Leo to Luther to Kilgo to this free audio book
It all hangs together somehow.
1/ I was recording with Andy and Sarah for the Coffee Hour. We talked about the Feast of St. Lawrence and the things we learn from the martyrs.
It was great. (Listen here.)
St Lawrence was martyred under the persecution of Valerian (258 AD). He is famous for (1) when asked to bring out the treasures of the church, brought to the emperor the poor and outcast, saying, “Here are the riches of the church”, and (2) when they were roasting him, saying, “Turn me over. I’m done on this side.”
2/ I found this quotation from St Lawrence Day sermon from Leo the Great:
IV. Lawrence has conquered his persecutor
You gain nothing, you prevail nothing, O savage cruelty. His mortal frame is released from your devices, and, when Laurentius departs to heaven, you are vanquished. The flame of Christ's love could not be overcome by your flames, and the fire which burnt outside was less keen than that which blazed within. You but served the martyr in your rage, O persecutor: you but swelled the reward in adding to the pain. For what did your cunning devise, which did not redound to the conqueror's glory, when even the instruments of torture were counted as part of the triumph?
Let us rejoice, then, dearly-beloved, with spiritual joy, and make our boast over the happy end of this illustrious man in the Lord, Who is wonderful in His saints, in whom He has given us a support and an example, and has so spread abroad his glory throughout the world, that, from the rising of the sun to its going down, the brightness of his deacon's light does shine, and Rome has become as famous in Lawrence as Jerusalem was ennobled by Stephen.
3/ That reminded me of this quotation from Luther, and the spiritual wisdom that even the devil can only bless the Christian:
Thus we also read that when St. Agatha, a girl fourteen or fifteen years old, was being led to imprisonment and torture, she went cheerfully and said that she felt as though she were being escorted to a dance. These are surely words of comfort and defiance from a young girl who regards the torment and death to which she is being led as no different from a wedding and an occasion for the greatest joy. This is due to faith, which has averted the eyes from the physical appearance and sensations and has directed them upward to the life beyond.
It has concluded: “What can they accomplish, even if they do their worst and afflict me with every misfortune? They only usher me quickly from this misery to Christ in heaven.” It is the sole purpose of all the sufferings of Christians to promote our Christian life and to bear fruit for a fuller knowledge and a stronger confession of the Word, a more certain hope, and a wider expansion of the kingdom of Christ.
The world, to be sure, intends to do us harm, but it really accomplishes no more than what the church sings about the martyrs: “Unknowingly they lead us into eternal joys.” Unknowingly and involuntarily the world leads the Christians through torture and death to eternal joys. Such tortures are nothing else, as St. Agatha said, than taking our arms in a friendly way and leading us to heaven as a bride is led to a dance. Whatever harm is done to Christians by the world, God turns back their anger and lets the harm redound to their advantage.
(LW 24:196-197, On John 15:2 c. 1537)
And Take They Our Life: Martin Luther’s Theology of Martyrdom, Bryan Wolfmueller, 45
4/ Which reminded me of two things.
First, Sean Kilgo found the original text of the hymn Luther is quoting. (I’ll try to get that to you tomorrow.)
Second, I’ve been meaning to get the audiobook version of And Take They Our Life: Martin Luther’s Theology of Martyrdom on the website. So I did.
You can now:
Listen to me read the entire book, for free, and
download the book to read for yourself, for free, and
buy the book for $10, or $3 Kindle, all here:
We need this theology. And, I think you’ll like it as well.
Lord’s Blessings,
PrBW