Reflections on Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation

October 31 is highlighted in my diary every year because it is my son Matthew Acemah’s birthday, but this year it has an added significance because 500 years ago, German theologian and scholar Martin Luther did something whose impact continues to loom large and reverberate worldwide.
October 31 is also the third anniversary of a popular uprising which rocked the West African country of Burkina Faso in 2014; triggered by a shameless and treacherous plot by former president Blaise Compaore to cling to power after 27 years in office and thus entrench himself as president of that poor and least developed country.
Compaore was chased in broad daylight by angry Burkinabe youths who burnt down parliament in protest and forced Compaore to flee and take refuge in Ivory Coast. I hope and pray that the long arm of international law will soon catch up with this evil crook who committed many heinous crimes against humanity, including the assassination of the popular and admired president Thomas Sankara!
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther did what was unthinkable in ages past. He nailed on the door of the Roman Catholic Church in Wittenberg Castle, Germany his famous “95 Theses” which launched the Protestant Reformation, a religious revolution. Unlike many 20th Century revolutionaries whose hands are soiled with human blood, Martin Luther was a peaceful and peace-loving revolutionary whose hands were clean as snow.

Who was Martin Luther?
The first time I heard of Martin Luther was in 1957 during a P5 Religious Education class which was conducted by a guest teacher, Rev Levi Ruakoa (RIP) who was our parish priest and who baptised me in 1954.
Martin Luther was born in 1843 in Eisleben, Germany. He was a renowned professor of theology who published “95 Theses” on October 31, 1517, in which he attacked the Roman Catholic Church’s corrupt practice of selling “indulgences” to absolve sin.
Luther propounded two beliefs. First, that the Bible is the central authority of the Christian Church; second, that salvation is a free gift given by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not earned by good deeds or works. Luther’s ideas sparked the Protestant Reformation and his writings caused a fundamental change in religious and cultural history of Europe. He insisted that the Bible should be translated in languages other than Latin and made available to all Christians, not only priests.
Martin Luther, one of the most influential figures in European history, was a product of social and economic revolution - a period of turbulence which was fertile ground for the emergence of a prophet with an apocalyptic vision.
Luther’s message is rooted in the New Testament (NT) and his mentor is one of the greatest and intellectually fascinating minds in the Bible namely, the apostle Paul who wrote 23 per cent of the NT.
According to Luther, a Christian is perfectly free lord of all, subject to none, but a committed and dutiful servant or slave of all, subject to all. A Christian is a voluntary servant or slave to his neighbours and empties himself like Christ, but must part company with the established (Catholic) Church. He or she identifies spontaneously with God.
For Luther, being a servant of all is the highest form of freedom. I hope this will embarrass and make some self-centred people feel guilty. Luther further argues that in the spiritual kingdom all are equal, conform to the will of God and do the will of our in Father heaven.
In his seminal work titled: On the freedom of a Christian, Martin Luther attacked oppression and tyranny of the Roman Catholic Church. This publication is considered to be the credo of German Protestantism.