I generally post on Mondays and Thursdays, but I just read something a little out of the ordinary, so I thought I’d schedule a short bonus weekend post. I don’t have any deep insights, but some of you may find this interesting.
I was clearing some things off my (very messy) desk late Friday afternoon. Working down through a pile of books that had been lying there, much too long, waiting to be read, I came upon volume 43 of Luther’s Works, a volume of “devotional writings.” I knew immediately when I’d acquired it: four years ago, during covid. I got it for one specific essay it included, a short letter from 1527 on “Whether One May Flee From a Deadly Plague.” Which I then failed to read. Until yesterday evening.
In 1527, the bubonic plague hit Wittenberg—not the only time it did so in Luther’s lifetime. John the Steadfast, the Elector of Saxony and Luther’s prince, ordered the university faculty to leave the city in order to remain safe. Along with his own pastor and friend Johannes Bugenhagen, Luther refused. Instead, he stayed in the city in order to minister to the people in their distress.
Luther wrote the letter in response to a request for advice. Clergy in particular wanted to know from him: Are we required to stay in a plague-stricken city? Or is it permissible to flee?
Luther’s advice was sensible and straightforward. Pastors and civil magistrates—those responsible, respectively, for the spiritual and temporal health of the city—must remain unless others can take their place. People need them to fulfill their duties, especially in times of great tragedy. Even ordinary citizens must remain if their assistance is needed in order to nurse the sick and care for the dying. The command to love our neighbors requires this.
But if our services are not needed, it is permissible to flee. Taking appropriate precautions for our health and safety is reasonable and morally appropriate. Luther criticizes those who are “rash and reckless, tempting God and disregarding everything which might counteract death and the plague.” He has sharp words for them:
They disdain the use of medicines; they do not avoid places and persons infected by the plague, but lightheartedly make sport of it and wish to prove how independent they are. They say it is God’s punishment; if he wants to protect them he can do so without medicines or our carefulness. This is not trusting God but tempting him.
They act as though “a house were burning in the city,” says Luther, “and nobody were trying to put the fire out.”
We should take ordinary, prudent precautions not only for our own sake but also to protect our neighbors. Luther offers up some pretty sound common sense:
Use medicine; take potions which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons wherever your neighbor does not need your presence or has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city.
If we sum that up, what have we got? Something like this: (1) If, like pastors and magistrates, you have special responsibilities for the health and welfare of others, fulfill them. (2) Take appropriate precautions for your own health and safety. (3) Always attend to the needs of your neighbor; indeed, put those needs before your own.
Seems like pretty good advice.
Hope you enjoyed this bonus post. If so, share it with a friend! Thanks for reading, enjoy the weekend, and see you next week for another installment From My Bookshelf.