Christ's Church Militant

Reformation Day seems to have lost its teeth, which is another change I don’t understand, in the list of new things we had to endure with the new hymnals that the LCMS produced in the last half century.

What the ‘updates’ did to Reformation Day were, first, provide new readings. Now we get John 8:31-36 for the Gospel, which includes Jesus’ promise, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” In itself it’s a fitting Gospel for the Reformation, but what it replaced is Matthew 11:12-15: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” In making this change, the imagery of fighting is removed, as “violence” and “violent” are replaced.

Similarly, the Collect has been changed. The updated Reformation Collect removes the reference to Christ’s Church Militant. Now it’s just “bestow upon the Church your saving peace” in place of “Bestow upon Christ’s Church Militant Thy saving peace.”

These changes are hardly insignificant. The Reformation is supposed to be all about the militancy of a confessional faith! It’s about Luther boldly retorting to the emperor, Here I stand! It’s about being faithful unto death. But alas, the changes tone that all down, and in so doing, they have removed the fangs.

So, in the original spirit of the Reformation I offer my own meditation on Matthew 11:12-15, from Every Day Will I Bless Thee (Sussex, Wis.: Concordia Catechetical Academy, 1982):

The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force, said Jesus.  For the suffering of violence is seen in the persecution and martyrdom of John, who had already been cast into prison and was soon to be beheaded.  The necessary response to such violence is a faith which must also be violent, that is, violently stubborn in confession.  The violent take it by force, that is, Christians with faith born of the word of God who will not back off from their confession by the threat of violence against them. For Christian violence is not the same as the violence of the world, but is, rather, a violence of the heart and mind, “captive to the word of God,” as Blessed Martin Luther declared when placed on trial before the Emperor at the Diet of Worms.  Such violence is not the product of willpower, but of the word.  As Jesus Himself declared, He who has ears to hear, let him hear!  For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.