Breathe
A New Commentary on Luke 21:18-19
But not a hair of your head will perish. Stand firm, and you will win life. -Luke 21:18-19
It has finally been decided. Trump is going to be the next President of the United States. Some of us are feeling fear and dread about our future. Others are experiencing relief and even excitement about the next four years. Whatever we are feeling, we need to get into H.G. Wells’ time machine for a reality check.
We arrive on the banks of the river Eure, in 16th-century France, and see Caspar Olevianus and a fellow student sitting in a boat about to launch. He and his friend, Herman Louis, moved from Germany to Bourges to study law. As the boat is about to launch, a group of drunken students piles into the boat with the twenty-year-olds. Caspar and Herman laugh it off as their journey begins. But the boat capsizes midway across. Olevianus emerges from the water and sees drunk students lashing around him. But he doesn’t see his friend. He holds his breath and dives under the water to search for him. But he can’t find him. Herman Louis, Olevianus’ friend, had drowned. All he could think to do was write a letter of condolence to Herman’s father, Frederick.
Frederick was devastated when he heard the news. He would become a very influential man, but at this time, he and his family were living on the border of poverty. Since his privileged birth, Frederick had been caught up in the political battles of his day between Catholics and Protestants. His childhood home was deeply Catholic and his father, John II, was friends with the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor. When Frederick met and married Maria van Anspach of Brandenburg, a devout Lutheran, he committed to Protestantism. Out of anger and disappointment, his father reduced their annual income. He and Maria persevered through economic hardship. One of their joys was raising five children. But now one of his son’s, at no fault of his own, drowned.
Yet somehow, years later, Frederick would defend a statement of faith that included this affirmation of God’s mercy:
“…he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head.”1
Why would he do this?
After the tragic loss of his friend, Caspar Olevianus began rethinking his life direction. He completed seven years of study as a lawyer. But after graduating from law school in Bourges, he started on a different path. He moved to Switzerland to study theology with leaders of the Reformation: Peter Martyr in Zurich, Theodore Beza in Lausanne, and John Calvin in Geneva. Later, another reformer, William Farel, persuaded him to return to his native city of Treves and pursue the cause of reform there.
Following almost a year and a half teaching theology in Treves, Olevianus decided to celebrate his twenty-fourth birthday with a bang. Days before he had invited the citizens of this primarily Catholic city to a public assembly. At 8 a.m. he stood and addressed the crowd in a speech lasting more than two hours. He spoke against the mass, against the worship of saints, against religious processions, and a host of other Roman Catholic practices. He concluded by urging people to cast aside the “erroneous teachings and customs” of the Catholic Church and to “follow the Word of God.” He continued to stir controversy until the Elector of Treves, a political/religious leader of the region for the Holy Roman Empire, stormed the city and arrested Olevianus, the mayor, and twelve other prominent men who had sided with the preacher.
Herman Louis’ father, now Frederick III, heard about Caspar Olevianus’ imprisonment. After the death of Frederick’s father and the demise of an even more powerful childless relative, he became one of the regional rulers of the Holy Roman Empire.2 His life had changed dramatically, but he had not forgotten Olevanus’ attempt to save his son. Frederick sent a trunk filled with 3,000 Dutch Guilders (approximately $180,000 today) to the elector who had imprisoned Olevianus with a note promising that Olevianus, once freed, would never return to the Catholic section of Treve.
Olevianus left for Heidelberg where Frederick III made him the new pastor of the Church of the Holy Spirit.
While pastor of Heiliggeistkirche the Heidelberg Catechism was written.3 It begins in this way:4
1. Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?
A. That I am not my own, 5 but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, 6 to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. 7 He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, 8 and has set me free from all the power of the devil. 9 He also preserves me in such a way 10 that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; 11 indeed, all things must work together for my salvation.12 Therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life 13 and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him. 14
Now, if Frederick III and Caspar Olevianus can make this affirmation after all they went through, surely we can take our feelings about the Presidential election in one hand and the first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism in the other and… breathe.
From the Heidelberg Catechism.
When his father died in 1556 Frederick III succeeded him as governor of the Upper Palatinate and lived briefly at Simmern. Three years later at the age of 44 years he was called to Heidelberg to succeed Otto Henry. On February 28, 1559, Frederick III became the new Elector of the Palatinate.
There is scholarly debate about his role in writing this statement of faith. Some argue that he was the co-author. Others dispute this. But it can be said that he was involved in some way. At the very least affirmed what the Catechism said.
“'No praise is too great for the simplicity of language, the accord with Scripture, the natural order, the theological restraint and devout tone which characterize this Catechism'.” Curtis, William A. (1911). A History of Creeds and Confessions of Faith in Christendom and Beyond. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark., p. 232-233.
1 Cor 6:19, 20.
Rom 14:7-9.
1 Cor 3:23; Tit 2:14.
1 Pet 1:18, 19; 1 Jn 1:7; 2:2.
Jn 8:34-36; Heb 2:14, 15; 1 Jn 3:8.
Jn 6:39, 40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess 3:3; 1 Pet 1:5.
7.Mt 10:29-31; Lk 21:16-18.
Rom 8:28.
Rom 8:15, 16; 2 Cor 1:21, 22; 5:5; Eph 1:13, 14.
Rom 8:14.