After my homily a couple of weeks ago comparing the relationship of David and Saul to the relationship of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches, someone asked me about the significance of David taking a piece of Saul’s mantle. This tearing of the mantle represents the division in the Kingdom of God.
We see this theme again in our reading today. The cloak of Ahijah, which represented the Kingdom of God, separated into the 12 tribes of Israel. Jeroboam takes 10 of the tribes into rebellion against the house of David, the other 2 remaining faithful.
Again, there are a lot of parallels in our first reading to Church history. This time the parallels are between Jeroboam and Martin Luther.
Both men recognized the abuses that were occurring and wanted to do something about it. Some of these abuses were well intentioned such as financing the building of Solomon’s temple in the Old Testament and financing the building of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Church history. Still, abuses existed, none-the-less.
Before they became rebels, both Jeroboam and Martin Luther were highly regarded. King Solomon made Jeroboam responsible for the workers within the Tribe of Joseph. Martin Luther was named provincial vicar within the Augustinian order.
Neither men initially intended to rebel, and the story of both men is far more complicated than I can do justice today…perhaps I’ll get into that in future homilies. Ultimately, both men were pleading for fairness, but when the pleas were denied, both men crossed the line denouncing authority entirely. Pride vs humily…how many times does that contrast come up in salvation history?
However, there are some important points we can be call out. Both men were threatened with their lives. King Solomon threatened to execute Jeroboam upon learning about the potential rebellion. Similarly, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V gave permission for anyone to kill Martin Luther in the Edict of Worms.
Despite the bounties placed on their heads, both rebellions started without military response. Unfortunately, both rebellions would lead to wars later.
Recall the 10 fragments from Ahijah’s cloak. The 10 northern tribes rejected the house of David and followed Jeroboam into a modified religion. The 2 southern tribes stayed faithful and continued the authentic worship prescribed by God. Similarly, for all intents and purposes, northern Europe followed Martin Luther into a modified religion. Southern Europe stayed faithful and continued the authentic worship prescribed by God in the Eucharist.
As part of the modified religion, Jeroboam presented two golden calves as the true gods of Israel and led many to sin as they frequented the calves. Meanwhile, Martin Luther introduced two new religious doctrines: Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide. Through their religious inventions, both men separated their followers from the true faith.
Both men broke from the priestly line. Jeroboam made "priests" in his new religion, but none of them were from the tribe of Levi as prescribed in the book of Deuteronomy. Martin Luther did not have a way to validly ordinate priests through a duly consecrated bishop. Therefore, apostolic succession was broken and there are no holy orders in Protestantism.
Jeroboam’s new religion rejected many of the Old Testament scriptures as authoritative and often changed the wording in their books in an attempt to legitimize their religion. Martin Luther did similar. In his new religion, he rejected seven books of the Old Testament (and threatened to reject several New Testament books). Further, he added the word “alone” to his translation of Romans 3:28 in an attempt to legitimize Sola Fide.
Understanding this history gives us better perspective of the place the Catholic Church has in Salvation History and how the non-Catholic ecclesial communities around us fit into it.
Let us thank God today that we have remained faithful to His household, which is of course the Catholic Church (as Saint Paul says in his letter to Saint Timothy). Let us pray that the mantle of our High King (the cloak of our High Prophet) will become whole again in that our separated brothers and sisters will come home. Home, where through the Eucharist, we can hear the Lord say, “I am the Lord, your God: hear my voice.”
Thanks be to God!
No comments:
Post a Comment