by The Rev. William Cwirla
Philipp Melanchthon was born this day in the year 1497 at Bretten near Karlsruhe, the son of Georg Schwarzerd, armorer to Count Palatine Philip. At the age of ten he was sent to the Latin school of Pforzheim where he studied the Latin and Greek poets and the philosophy of Aristotle. At the age of 13, he entered the University of Heidelberg where he studied philosophy, rhetoric, and astronomy. Refused the master’s degree on account of his tender age, Philipp went to the University of Tübingen where he studied law, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. After receiving his master’s in 1516, he began to study theology under Reuchlin and Erasmus. He went on to the University of Wittenberg where he taught alongside Martin Luther.
In 1521, at the age of 24, Melanchthon published his Loci communes, a collection and commentary on Scripture texts under various topical headings. He was the author of the Augsburg Confession (1530) and its Apology (1531), which became the chief confession of the Reformation and the pillar of the Book of Concord. Though later vilified for his “variata” edition of the Augsburg Confession (1540), his compromised views on the Lord’s Supper, and his concessions in the Leipzig Interim, Melanchthon remains one of the chief architects of the Lutheran confessions and one of its most articulate spokesmen and scholars.
Of Melanchthon, Luther wrote, “I had to fight with rabble and devils, for which reason my books are very warlike. I am the rough pioneer who must break the road; but Master Philipp comes along softly and gently, sows and water heartily, since God has richly endowed him with gifts.” Luther called Phlipp “a divine instrument which has acheived the very best in the department of theology to the great rage of the devil and his scabby tribe.” It is well known that the quarrelsome Luther and irenic Melanchthon did not always agree or get along personally. Melanchthon described his stormy relationship with Luther as “Promethius chained to the Caucasus.” In spite of his strong attacks against Erasmus and Bucer, however, Luther never spoke directly against Melanchthon.
Melanchthon is described and depicted as a small and frail man, of poor health and subject to episodes of melancholy. He was a devoted family man, calling his home “a little church of God.” A visiting French scholar once observed him rocking the cradle of his child with one hand and holding a book with the other. To a fault, Philip was a quiet, peaceable man who despised jealousy, envy, slander, and sarcasm. He was a true academic, more comfortable in the company of scholars than the rough common people of his day, yet a man of prayer and deep personal piety. Though he never preached from a pulpit, he did teach homiletics and wrote sermons for his classes. He said, “Every theologian and faithful interpreter of the heavenly doctrine must necessarily be first a grammarian, then a dialectician, and finally a witness.”
For Thy servant Philipp, scholar, teacher, humanist, theologian, confessor, whose fluid pen set down the great confession of the Reformation and its defense before the the church and the world, we give Thee thanks and praise, O Father through Your Son in the Holy Spirit. Amen.
It’s time to report to Spring Training!
People often think that the parables that Jesus tells are simple little stories about familiar things that He tells to illustrate a point. Except that the people in Jesus’ parables are always crazy and don’t do things like the real world at all! For example, what farmer sows seed willy-nilly all over the place? The farmers I’ve heard of plant the seeds in rows but the farmer in Jesus’ parable just throws seed everywhere, like he’s wasting it! And then there’s the story of the guy who owned the vineyard and rented it out and then sent his servants to collect his cut. But the tenants beat them up and even killed some. So what does the owner do? Send his son? What was he thinking!? Or how about the Father who gives his son his inheritance—before he’s even dead! Usually a parent says, “No, you have to wait ’til I’m dead to get whats coming to you.” Today we have a parable of the kingdom of heaven that does the exact same thing: It isn’t at all like real life. Today, companies are laying off! But here’s this guy who not only goes and hires people all day long but pays them all the same at the end of the day? That’s crazy! But crazy is what our Lord does! What He teaches us with the parable of the workers in the vineyard is, once again, that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. The Lord doesn’t think like we think and He doesn’t do things the way we do them. No, His way is what we call “The Gospel!”
And what happens when the Lord gives such generous gifts? What happens when the owner of the vineyard is gracious and generous with his money? What happens when those who work an hour are given the same as those who work all day? Well, what God’s people usually do: they complain! They grumble! They murmur and mumble. Do those who work all day look see the generosity of the vineyard owner and give thanks? Do they say, “Wow! We’ve never seen such a thing! He’s given us all the same! No one has heard of such a thing before! What a generous, kind vineyard owner!” No, they complain. They grumble, “Hey! They only worked an hour! You made them equal to us! That’s not FAIR!” What happened when the Lord led the Israelites out of Egypt? When by His mighty power He brought them through the Red Sea and destroyed their enemies? What do they do? They grumble: “Did you bring us out into the wilderness just to kill us? So we can die of thirst?” Wah, wah, wah! How about us? We come week after week and receive the forgiveness of sins and do we go out rejoicing or grumbling? Are we happy to receive the forgiveness of sins are annoyed at the pastor for doing something we don’t like? Are we full of joy at having heard God’s Word or are we upset about how the church is being run? Do we rejoice at being together with our brothers and sisters in Christ or are we angry or annoyed or upset with someone else for what they’ve said or done to us. Do we run in the door with our sins to let Christ have them or do we go back out, still grumbling about all the things wrong with our lives and all the troubles and irritations the Lord seems to send us? There’s repentance, there, brothers and sisters! For, after all, the vineyard owner finally tells the grumblers: “Is your eye evil because I’m good? Take your pay and get out of here!” Wow!
Calling all college students!
Just when Peter thought it was good to be on the mount of Transfiguration with Jesus, Moses, Elijah, James, and John, he heard a voice coming out of the cloud that surrounded them: this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him! The next thing Peter knew, he looked up and saw no one but Jesus only. Jesus then commanded Peter, James, and John to tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.
If you think the preceding glimpses of Christ’s glory were something, then the best is yet to come. What the unbelieving world describes as a cunningly devised fable we will see to be the prophetic word confirmed, which [we] do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place. Lent cannot extinguish the light of the world. Holy Week cannot extinguish the light of the world. These two solemn seasons prepare us to lament our sins, repent, and once again believe in the Good News that Jesus conquers the old evil foe once again, once and for all.
