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To live is Christ…
“God is my witness that the evidence given against me is false. I have never thought nor preached save with the one intention of winning men, if possible, from their sins. In the truth of the gospel I have written, taught, and preached to-day I will gladly die.”
– Jan Hus, July 6, 1415 moments before being burned at the stake in Prague. (1)
An unexpected benefit of being a scientist is the global nature of my profession. It is an expectation that any practicing scientist be integrated into a worldwide community of researchers attempting to advance human knowledge in a specific discipline. Travel, therefore, is part of the job and often enjoyable, particularly so when I can bring family along.
Last week I had the privilege of traveling to Prague for a technical conference and the family joined me for a long weekend to explore a beautiful and exotic city. Although Levi had to suffer through exams at MSU, the rest of us enjoyed a little vacation. The cathedrals, castles, and other architecture of Prague were magnificent, the food excellent, the people friendly, and the travel smooth.
Thankfully, Daniel Springfield recommended to us that we visit the Jan Hus memorial in the main old square of Prague. Without his recommendation we would have likely missed it because I knew nothing of Hus before our visit. Hus was a pre-reformation priest in Bohemia (now, the Czech Republic, or Czechia) who was influenced by John Wycliffe and by Scripture to come to the conviction that the Word and the Lord’s supper were for all people, not just those in the church magisterium. Similar to Martin Luther to come some 70 years later, Hus was a priest who wrote in support of reform of the church in an effort to place ultimate authority in the Word of God instead of men. Hus’ position and preaching made a significant impact on the believers in Bohemia and started a reformation movement that earned Hus an invitation to defend his position before the Council of Constance (located in present-day Germany). Unfortunately, at that meeting, Hus was burned at the stake as a heretic.
However, by God’s sovereign wisdom, the influence of this faithful brother endures. Even in Hus’ short ~45 year life, however, his influence on the reformation is likely underappreciated. It is said that Martin Luther read Jan Hus’s sermons and stated, “I was overwhelmed with astonishment” and that he “could not understand for what cause they had burnt so great a man, who explained the Scriptures with so much gravity and skill.” Luther had such reverence for Hus’ writings that he translated them from the Latin into the common people’s language of German, as he did with Scripture. (2)
I felt blessed to be able to stand in the place in which Hus invested his life to ensure the common man (a.k.a, you and me!) could have access to the Word of God. I pray that we all will live today to its fullest, as Pastor Rich reminded us, making the most of our freedoms to boldly proclaim, preach, teach, and live Christ visibly before the spiritually blind, poor, and needy with whom we daily interact. What tomorrow brings, we do not know, but we stand on the revealed Word and trust that our just Father will fulfill His great plan and give us the reward due a faithful servant, to His glory.
In conclusion, I leave you with some parting words from Jan Hus, written to the believers at the University of Prague approximately two weeks before his execution.
[D]early beloved in Christ Jesus, stand in the truth whereof you have knowledge; for it wins its way before all else and waxes strong even for evermore. Let me tell you I have not recanted nor abjured a single article. The Council desired me to declare the falsity of all of my books and each article taken from them. I refused to do so, unless they should be proved false by Scripture. I mean that whatever false interpretation should be found in any article whatever, I abhor it, and commend it to the correction of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who knows my real intention and will not interpret in a wrong sense which I do not intend. I exhort you in the Lord to abhor any false meaning you may be able to discover in any of these articles, but always to preserve the truth that is intended.
I, Master John Hus, in chains and in prison, now standing on the shore of this present life and expecting on the morrow a dreadful death, which will, I hope, purge away my sins, find no heresy in myself, and accept with all my heart any truth whatsoever that is worthy of belief. (3)
May we live with such boldness.
Pastor Aaron
(1) https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/huss-the-letters-of-john-huss?html=true#Huss_1328_823
(2) https://www.hgst.edu/hgst-blog/2018/02/19/the-influence-of-jan-hus-on-martin-luther
(3) https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/huss-the-letters-of-john-huss?html=true#Huss_1328_852
