19 In Luther’s day the home Christmas tree had not
yet been invented. Only in the 19th century do we fi nd this practice spreading—fi rst in Lutheran and Roman Catholic lands, and then in the U.S., from German and Scandinavian immigrants to others. Because of his well-known Christmas hymn “From Heaven Above” (ELW, 268), Luther was oſt en associated with Christmas practices he had never heard of—the tree, the Advent wreath and, in this country, even “Away in the Manger” (ELW, 277).
Luther once said, “Even if I knew the world was going to end tomorrow, I would plant a tree today.” T is is one of those cases where even though he didn’t say it, the saying itself matches his theology—in two ways. First, Luther very much assumed that the end of the
world was near. Although he rejected speculation about the “day and hour” of Christ’s return, he was convinced that the time was near. Second, rather than not caring for this world because
it was ending, Luther thought the opposite and treated creation as a giſt entrusted to us to care for—not to exploit or escape from. In 1525, when he faced the Peasants’ War and attacks
from many foes over human captivity to sin (against Erasmus of Rotterdam), over the effi cacy of infant bap- tism (with so-called Anabaptists) and over the presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper (with the Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli)—and therefore thought the world was ending—Luther didn’t plant a tree. But he did get mar- ried. One can hardly imagine a more positive statement about the goodness of creation and about how faith in Christ’s coming as savior frees us to serve our neighbor. Knowing the world was ending, Luther formed a family. T ere are other statements attributed to Luther
that he never uttered or wrote—and the Internet has increased their number. One favorite of mine: Luther said that every day when you wash your face you should remember your baptism. Despite it sounding “like Luther,” it doesn’t really match 16th-century hygiene, where the notion of washing your face wasn’t necessar- ily a daily chore. Moreover, Luther made clear that the water of bap-
tism wasn’t merely a “Bath-keeper’s baptism,” something those who rejected infant baptism oſt en said. T at is, the diff erence between baptismal water and regular water is the word and promise of God. T us, washing your face is good for your face, but returning to your baptism daily is always a matter of trusting God’s promise of
20
www.thelutheran.org
forgiveness, life and salvation off ered there. Luther, in fact, placed baptism at the center of the
Christian life. We never lose God’s baptismal promises to us but may always return to them. Perhaps what he says in the Large Catechism on bap-
tism is even better than what we attribute to him: “Baptism is not a work that we do but … a trea-
sure that God gives us and faith grasps. ... In baptism, therefore, every Christian has enough to study and practice all his or her life. ... T us, we must regard baptism and put it to use in such a way that we may draw strength and comfort from it when our sins or conscience oppress us, and say: ‘But I am baptized! And if I have been baptized, I have the promise that I shall be saved and have eternal life, both in soul and body ….’ ” (Book of Concord, edited by Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert; Fortress, 2000). T erefore baptism remains forever. Even though
someone falls from it and sins, we always have access to our baptism so we may again subdue the old creature. But we need not have the water poured over us again.
Even if we were immersed in water a hundred times, it would nevertheless not be more than one baptism, and its eff ect and signifi cance would continue and remain.
Luther had problems with constipation throughout his life. In 1958 a famous psychiatrist, Erik Erikson, wrote a psychological biography of Luther in which constipa- tion and toilet training played a large role, in line with the author’s Freudian convictions. In reality, despite all of the other physical ailments that fi ll Luther’s let- ters (kidney stones, ringing in the ears, palpitations, etc.) only for one brief time did he suff er from severe constipation. In 1521, aſt er being condemned as an outlaw at the
Imperial Diet (parliament) meeting in Worms, Luther was whisked away into protective custody at the Wart- burg Castle, an impregnable fortress belonging to the Elector of Saxony, Frederick the Wise. His diet changed dramatically from the rather rough fare of an Augustin- ian friar to the relatively rich food he encountered at the table of the castle’s warden, where he ate meals fi t for a prince. In letters to his best friend, Georg Spalatin, he revealed his miseries, but never before or aſt er.
Bibles were chained up in Luther’s day so no one could read them. In Sélestat, an old town in Alsace, France, the 16th cen- tury library of a famous scholar, Beatus Rhenanus, has
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