Friday, October 31, 2014
Acts 2:6-8,11 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear ... them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God."
WE HEAR THEM TELLING
In 1511, when Brother Martin Luther's superior told him he must preach, he quickly came up with 15 reasons for not preaching. Staupitz's answer: "My dear fellow, don't try to be wiser than the whole convent and the fathers." Luther preached.
"No one believes how frightened one is the first time he enters the pulpit. He sees so many heads before him. Oh, how I feared the pulpit! Still I had to go in. They forced me to preach to the monks ..."
Then he was ordered to study for his doctorate in Theology. "Herr Staupitz, you will kill me; I will not last a quarter of a year." But Luther became a doctor of Theology and swore to teach and preach the Scriptures faithfully. Later, after he had learned to know the mighty works of God, he saw it as his sworn duty to preach and teach them. "I have begun it publicly in the discharge of my doctorate and the office of the ministry and have brought it thus far with God’s grace and help."
As with the miracle of Pentecost, so also in the Reformation -- it was really God who was seeing to it that His truth be known.
Preserve Your Word and preaching, The truth that makes us whole,
The mirror of Your glory, The power that saves the soul.
Oh, may this living water, This dew of heavenly grace,
Sustain us while here living Until we see Your face!
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 264:5)
