Calvin Synod Herald, 1984 (84. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1984-04-01 / 2. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD — 8 — REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA “Christ’s body is in heaven. How could his body be present then in the sacrament at the same time?” “He said: ‘I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.’ ” “Yes, but not with his body, but with his soul! How could a body exist without occupying space?” Then violent shouts rose on the side of the Swiss: “You are a second Eck! The Protestant Eck!” “You are Carnivora, like the Romanists!” “Drinkers of Blood! Eaters of body!” “Letter worshippers! Doctrinarians! Conservatives!” Then the side of the Wittenbergers shouted towards the Swiss with equal harshness: “Sacramentalists!” “Defamers of Sacrament!” “Deniers of the Lord’s Body and Blood!” “Radicals! Revolutionists! Modernists!” The Luther’s sudden outburst stopped the vehement and fargone battle of words: “Highborn Prince! Serene Highness! My gracious Lord! We cannot and will not unite or cooperate with radicals and sacramentalists!” Then Zwingli exclaimed with emphatic words: “Illustrious Lord! We will never waver from spiritual religion and never accept worshipping of letters, yet we are ready to cooperate for the common cause against the common foe!” The Landgrave seeing that the controversy was wholly irreconcilable, and the colloquy must terminate without arriving at unity, bid the contestants at least to sign the Marburg Articles placed before them on the table, in order to have some tangible result of the futile attempt for unity. Then all the principal divinities signed the paper containing fifteen articles, fourteen of which were accepted by both parties as a statement of their common belief. But to an amendment placed under the fifteenth, defining the eucharist, the subscribers were unable to agree “on the bodily presence of the body and blood in the elements.” Philip of Hesse rose from his seat after that and urged earnestly and warmly that the two great leaders recognize each other as brethren and give each other the right hand of fellowship. Zwingli promptly offered his right hand to Luther in a friendly gesture, saying: “There are no people in the world with whom I would rather unite than you Wittenbergers.” But Luther rejecting the hand of the Swiss reformer exclaimed “You have a different spirit that we! I cannot consider you as brothers and members of Christ until you grow wiser on this point of the sacrament.” Zwingli stood motionless like a marble statue, holding his rejected right hand for a few impressive moments, while his eyes filled with transparent tears, that were true like pearls of the bottomless deep seas. Likewise, a few drops of tears appeared in the eyes of the Prince, who, watching the melancholic scene full of such great and historic meanings, was burying a grand dream in the deep of his soul among visible signs of true hidden emotions. The evening star rose in the sky, and its rays breaking through the colorful leaded Gothic windows of the castle, fell upon the Persian rug on the table, on which was placed the wax figure of Christ on the iron crucifix. The sorrowful face of the figure seemed to be looking painfully upon the four little words placed by Luther on the table, which commanded such a blind obedience in the Wittenberg reformer, and which could be clearly read in the glistening light: “Hoc est corpus meum!” Dr. Stephen Szabó BRIEF MEDITATION Scripture reading: Matthew 23:13—15, 27—28 Text: Luke 24:36—43. “. . .And while they still disbelieved for joy,..." (Revised Standard Version) . . . And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, . . (New International Version from the 41st verse) Introduction: The scripture reading deals with the disappointing behavior of the scribes and the Pharisees. In this passage our Lord severely criticized and denounced the scribes and the Pharisees who rather hindered than helped the people. Our text, on the other hand, speaks of the great joy of the disciples over Jesus’ resurrection. Although both passages are totally different in contents and mood, yet at one point they are very close to each other. Let this one point become the source of God’s message. "... They still did not believe . . (Luke 24:41/a) — Just imagine the great joy the disciples had when they became certain aboutJesus’ resurrection as our Lord had appeared in the midst of them. There was no need for proof any more that He was alive since the disciples could see and talk to the resurrected Christ. — This joy was so great that it overwhelmed their expectation and their happiness was so overflowing that it dominated their whole thinking including their faith in the predicted resurrection. The joy, for the time being, did not let the disciples’ faith come alive. — The disciples’ shortcoming was typical; they just could not believe, could not accept the truth about Jesus, although it was clearly predicted, Matthew 16:21. But what was the trend? Not yet! “And while they still did not believe . . .” that is they could not accept the reality yet, but it was coming. “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypokrites! Because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in." (Matthew 23:13) — Did the Pharisees, who had meticulously observed the law, forbid the people to pray or believe in God? No! Then how could they not allow the people to enter into heaven who would have done it otherwise? If the scribes and Pharisees did not speak against religion, law or the tradition why did they become stumbling blocks for the faithfuls? — The clue is given by this word: hypocrites! Because of their behavior, action, two-faced policies the people just could not believe any more. The believers became disappointed and immune to honest teaching. Even that little honesty, good faith and thirst for righteousness what people had possessed were lost because of the scribes’ and Pharisees’ dishonest dealings. — What was the trend here? Not any more! It is all over, once it existed but now it is ruined, once it flourished but now it is dead. It is too late to help because the destruction was so great. * Conclusion: Now you see in what way are our scripture reading and text of meditation similar? In both passages the obstacles of faith are mentioned. In the first case people could not believe yet because of joy and in the second one people could not believe any more because of hypocrisy. Is not the lack of faith a serious problem in our generation also? But the appropriate question is this alternative: Not yet or Not any more? Nobody is a perfect believer, but which group do you belong to? Let us hope and pray that you and I belong to the first group, that is we still do not believe with that strong faith we should, and we will successfully present our petition to the Lord as the disciples did: “Increase our faith." Luke 17:5. Rev. Alexander Jalso Consultation on Church Union The Executive Committee of the Consultation on Church Union, meeting here in preparation for the autumn plenary session of COCU, announced that a cable television documentary, describing the work for the unity of the Church by COCU, will be carried on the Satellite Program Network on April 29. Dr. Gerald F. Moede, general secretary of the Consultation on Church Union, said the 28 minute program will be fed by the network at 4:30 p.m. (EDT), but any cable system can pick up the program free of charge and carry it at another time. Pastors are encouraged to inquire ab out it from their local cable system. “That the World May Believe” is the title of the program. The Consultation on Church Union includes nine member denominations, and is working to bring these churches into greater visible unity. After April 29, the program will be available in various video tape formats from Ecufilm at 810 Twelfth Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee 37203.
