The Little Monk in Us All (Or: A Maid Is More Godly Than A Monk)

 Martin Luther’s excellent emphasis on vocation and the Christian life is something worth studying.  Since monasticism and spiritual retreats are becoming more and more common even in Protestant circles, we should be familiar with the biblical reasons why the Reformers rejected popish monasticism and Anabaptist world-flight.  There are a few reasons, of course, but here’s one good one by Martin Luther.  It, of course, has to do with vocation and love for our neighbors.  This is from a sermon on Matthew 22:34-46:

“…Christ gets right to the point…and immediately responds [to the Pharisees]: the first and greatest thing one can do is not adorning the temple or offering sacrifices, but to love God with all one’s heart and the neighbor as oneself.  I know that you Pharisees would have been very happy if I had answered that what the priests perform in the temple is the highest thing.  But I will not do that; rather, I shall cite as foremost the basic, ordinary things which God has commanded for everyone to do, namely, to love God and one’s neighbor, in keeping with what he commanded through Moses.”

“The Lord’s reply is especially irksome, that the everyday routine works which people are commanded to do, namely, that they are to love God and the neighbor, supersede all other works, regardless of how they shine and glitter.  The fact is, not only the Pharisees among the Jews, and the hypocrites under the papacy, have regarded human traditions as more important than God’s commandments; for there is a little monk that sticks in all of us from youth on.  We, too, regard the ordinary works God has commanded as insignificant, but the special, diverse works done by the Carthusians, monks, and hermits, about which God has commanded nothing, as especially noteworthy.”

“However, our Lord God is averse to such distinction.  He does not prefer one [person] before another, nor does he exclude anyone from serving him, no matter how lowly he might be.  Instead, he enjoins upon everyone to exercise love to God and his neighbor.  Since God seeks nothing extraordinary from us and tolerates no distinctions, we must conclude that when a maid, who has faith in Christ, dusts the house her work is more pleasing to God than that of St. Anthony in the wilderness.  That is Christ’s meaning here.  This is the highest commandment: to love God and one’s neighbor.  God is not concerned about the rules of the Franciscans, Dominicans, or other monks, but wants us to serve him obediently and love the neighbor.  They may consider their monastic rules to be something wonderful and special, but before God they are nothing.  The very highest, best, and holiest work is when one loves God and neighbor, whether a person is a monk or nun, priest or layperson, great or small.”

The dimensions of Luther’s thought here are many.  This has to do with justification by faith alone (not human merit); it has to do with freedom of conscience and Christian liberty (not following man-made religious rules).  It has to do with sanctification (obeying God by loving him and others).  This also has to do with ecclesiology (the church cannot legislate rules of piety).  You’ll have to read this whole sermon!  It is found in volume 7 of the Baker 7 volume set of Luther’s sermons.  It was preached in 1534 on the 18th Sunday after Trinity. 

shane lems

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