Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – St. Katharina Luther – Dec 20, 2022

20 December 2022 - St. Katharina Luther

Text: Rev 8:1-13

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Today we remember St. Katharina, the wife of the Reformer, St. Martin.  The Luthers lived in perilous times of plagues: of black death, of cruel wars, and of religious persecution.  Katie knew well the theology of the cross, and the fact that Christians are not exempted from suffering in this fallen world.

In our readings from the Book of Revelation, we see a globalized version of the plagues of Egypt, prophesied to come to pass at some point in the future.  These plagues are presented figuratively as “trumpets.”   There are ecological disasters, calamities by what seems to be something like an asteroid strike, a global fouling of fresh water, and something that happens that restricts the sunlight and moonlight. 

These plagues will cover the entire earth, and some one-third of the earth’s population will perish.  And it will get even worse: “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow.”

Even though Katie Luther did not live in the period of these plagues, she lived in a time and place of disease, warfare, and the constant threat of her husband’s execution by hostile princes.  In spite of this Sword of Damocles that constantly threatened the Luthers, they raised six children in a joyful and happy family according to their calling.  Their home was a place of hospitality and love.  An apocryphal quote of Martin Luther was that if he were told Christ would return tomorrow, he would plant a tree.  For we Christians live in the fallen world, and yet we have hope.  We do not despair, even in our suffering.  We know that God is often “masked” behind suffering, even as the Lord Jesus suffered crucifixion and death in order to save us.

St. Katharina died as a penniless widow as a result of an accident while fleeing yet another plague.  She died in the faith, according to witnesses, saying, “I shall cling to Christ like a burr on a coat.”  And in spite of her hardscrabble, cruciform life, she was blessed by the Gospel, by the gift of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ!

Dear friends, we live in crazy times in which the secular world is directly attacking not only our Christian faith, but the very concept of truth itself.  We Christians are increasingly targeted.  But what a glorious opportunity to confess, to point people to the stability of the cross, even though the world is spinning out of control!  Let us read these accounts of the suffering that must take place before our Lord’s return with an emphasis upon holding fast to the faith, come what may, knowing that our Lord will return to save us, or we will return to Him in a blessed death.

Let us likewise confess with St. Katharina, “I shall cling to Christ like a burr on a coat.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.