"It's not fair!" We sometimes hear such complaints about Lent Madness. And..of course it's not fair. Which is why we call this little devotion Lent MADNESS and not Lent FAIRNESS. Thus, we end up with matchups such as today's that pit a well-known Reformer of the Middle Ages against a lesser known late 19th, early 20th century Native-American convert to Christianity. So while all may be fair in love and war, all is decidedly not fair in Lent Madness.
Yesterday, to further illustrate this point, was the Battle of the Augustines aka Augustine Anarchy. Going into this matchup one thing was crystal clear: Augustine would emerge victorious. In this case Augustine of Canterbury bested Augustine of Hippo 57% to 43% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen.
And if you missed yesterday's epic edition of Monday Madness, you can watch it here. Tim and Scott discuss the week ahead and answer some very pertinent viewer mail.
Martin Luther
Just before the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Arts & Entertainment Network (A&E) compiled a list of the 100 most influential people of the millennium. A sixteenth-century former monk from a small town in Germany would have been very surprised to find himself ranked number three on this list!
Born in 1483, Luther’s parents encouraged him to study law. But in 1505, he was caught in a terrible thunderstorm while returning to the university from a trip home. Fearing for his life, Luther pledged to become a monk if his life were spared. He survived the stormy night and honored his commitment.
Luther served as a monk, university professor, and parish priest. As he studied, taught, and preached, he became increasingly distressed by what he saw as pernicious failures of the Roman Catholic Church. Among the most troubling were the selling of indulgences (paying to receive pardons for sins), a focus on vocation as being under the sole purview of those called to religious life, the insistence upon clerical celibacy, and the crippling lack of faith formation among the common people.
The posting of his 95 Theses on October 31, 1517, is commonly regarded as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Five hundred years later, we can clearly see his legacy. He was intent on making worship the center of the life of the Church, including excellent preaching and music, and focused his teaching and preaching on God’s grace. He admonished priests to teach parents how to make their homes the center of childhood faith formation by using his Small Catechism. Luther called for an end to corruption in the Church, especially through the sale of indulgences, and translated the Bible into the German vernacular, allowing common, literate people to read the word of God in their mother tongue.
His marriage to former nun Katarina von Bora and the lively home they created together offered a space for Luther and other scholars to debate around the kitchen table while enjoying Katarina’s generous hospitality. Martin Luther died in 1546, but his influence continues to echo mightily across new generations, as they discover his theology of a grace-filled God.
Collect for Martin Luther
Almighty God, gracious Lord, we thank you that your Holy Spirit renews the church in every age. Pour out your Holy Spirit on your faithful people. Keep them steadfast in your word, protect and comfort them in times of trial, defend them against all enemies of the gospel and bestow on the church your saving peace, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
David Oakerhater
Making Medicine (O-kuh-ha-tuh), also known as David Pendleton Oakerhater, was born into the Cheyenne nation (Oklahoma Territory) around 1847. He participated in his first war party at a young age, and over time, he gained a reputation among the Cheyenne as a skilled warrior.
Making Medicine first came into conflict with the United States after a retaliatory raid on poaching settlers. The US government responded to the Cheyenne with a war of attrition to deprive the Cheyenne and other affiliated tribes of food and supplies. By 1875, Making Medicine and several fellow warriors surrendered to the United States at Fort Sill. A group of seventy-four of those who surrendered were arrested, detained without trial, and moved to Saint Augustine, Florida. Making Medicine and his fellow captives were forced to assimilate into American society. At Fort Marion, he and his fellow captives learned English, taught art and archery lessons, and had their first encounters with Christian missionaries. By 1877 Episcopal deaconness Mary Douglass Burnham made arrangements to sponsor the remaining Cheyenne prisoners for positions of service in the church.
Making Medicine was sponsored by Alice and George H. Pendleton and brought to Paris Hill, New York, where he became affiliated with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Under the guidance of the parish priest, he was educated in the scriptures and baptized in 1878, taking the name David from the Bible and Pendleton in honor of his sponsors. His theological formation continued, and in 1881 he was confirmed and ordained as a deacon.
Not long after, Oakerhater returned to Oklahoma as a missionary and took part in the founding of schools and missions, including those in Bridgeport and Whirlwind. He continued serving his people until his death in 1931. Upon his return to Oklahoma, he told the Cheyenne, “You all know me. You remember when I led you out to war I went first, and what I told you was true. Now I have been away to the East and I have learned about another captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is my leader. He goes first, and all he tells me is true. I come back to my people to tell you to go with me now in this new road, a war that makes all for peace.”
Collect for David Oakerhater
O God of unsearchable wisdom and infinite mercy, you chose a captive warrior, David Oakerhater, to be your servant, and sent him to be a missionary to his own people, and to exercise the office of a deacon among them: Liberate us, who commemorate him today, from bondage to self, and empower us for service to you and to the neighbors you have given us; through Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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269 comments on “Martin Luther vs. David Oakerhater”
Despite Martin Luther's greatness and importance, I voted for David Oakerhater for the nobility of his life and his faithfulness to Christ in spite of the cruel sufferings inflicted on him and his fellow Native Americans by many who no doubt claimed the name "Christian."
In the bio of Luther the term "Roman Catholic Church" is an anachronism. Luther wanted reform of "the Church," the only one he knew, or that existed in the West at that time.
I voted for Medicine Man, because Martin Luther supported the mass murder of the peasants by the German aristocracy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Peasants%27_War
When I first saw today's protagonists, I thought, "oh no!" I was raised Catholic, left that church because of several reasons, including their over-emphasis on money to line their pockets, and the abuses I witnessed by nuns in the parochial school I attended. Now I'm very active in my Lutheran church. I admire Luther a great deal for standing up to corruption and wanting to reform the church, so, I thought, how can I vote otherwise without feeling guilty about the Native American underdog. Then, though, I read how David was forced into conversion, made to turn away from the culture of his people. Although the teachings of Jesus are, of course, absolutely valid, the way he was first brought to them turned me off. Maybe that's crazy, but it helped with my decision to vote for Luther.
Making Medicine's story is so poignant, and he is so important to his people. Next year make sure the Bracket Czar puts him up against someone less famous! Seems like he hardly had a chance with this matchup, and I think his story is truly compelling. Here's a true American!!!
NATIVE AMIRACAN people! How could I not vote for David Oakerhater!
We have Luther the Reformer, Luther the rebel, Luther the author of some documents we Lutherans need to apologize for and acknowledge, but let's not forget Luther the translator. Luther who loved, read, and massaged both Greek and Hebrew into German. As some one who has struggled with, delighted in, and been changed by wrestling with both Greek and Hebrew, I will always have a soft spot for Luther. He didn't get it all right, but he took time to sit with the language. I call that prayer.
"He took time to sit with the language. I call that prayer." Very nice.
David Oakerhater deserves better but I didn't arrange the brackets. A long ti e ago when I wrote a paper on Luther I found this stat--The only person who exceeded Luther's citations in the Library of Congress card catalog was Jesus Christ. (And Jesus never wrote any books.) I think it was 1519 when there were over three hundred books printed in Ger any--and Luther wrote all but 3 of the . (Apologies, the I just lost the use of the 13th letter of the alphabet.)
Luther was no fan of women. I am therefore no fan of his.
Interesting case in "Babylonian Captivity of Church" where Luther considers marriage, specifically a case in which a husband is impotent. He argues the wife is free to leave the man and find a new man, remarry. "Is not the sin of a man who wastes his wife's body and life a greater sin than that of the woman who merely alienates the temporal goods of her husband?" He says the man "defrauded" the woman "both of life and of the full use of her body," besides having tempted her to commit adultery. Not saying Luther is a modern feminist, far from it, but do think Luther is approaching a sort of modernity in affirming the body and its needs and rights--both men's bodies and women's bodies. I could IMAGINE this Luther awakening in the 21st century and applying that same logic to defend the rights of transgender people to the pleasures and needs of the body, their bodies. Just saying, I could imagine that capacity to develop, based on some of his commitments and logic in his own, medieval (soon to be early modern) time. And perhaps some of our other saints could, as well.
Nyc, I think the reality is a bit more complicated than your definitive comment indicates. You might like to read Luther on Women: A sourcebook. As many men of his time, he certainly wrote comments we today would consider ridiculous, but in the end, the lot of women improved as did the concept of marriage. He grew to deeply love his wife, Katerina, and they had a strong partnership.
I voted for Martin Luther, sinner-saint. Psalm 130:3 (I'm a former Roman Catholic, liberated by much of his theology, with ancestors who were Jewish. Saints aren't perfect, and the church as a whole is responsible for much antisemitism as the current Archbishop of Canterbury clearly stated. His near end of life turn against the Jewish people is heinous, and it shouldn't be ignored. Yet it doesn't cancel out what was a gift from God.)
That is always the case with Lent Madness. All these saints were flawed. None of them fully showed forth the glory of God, but all of them did as much as they could and in all of them we can see the glory of God. I voted for David, but love Martin.
David Oakerhater deserves to win! Martin Luther has had more than his share of publicity already. A Christian should be humble, right? Luther is an attention hog!
Funny! Did you know the Pope of Martin's time alluded to him being a "boar (hog) in the vineyard" (Psalm 80:13) in his bull of excommunication? Luther burned the bull on December 10, 1520.
Oakerhater is from Oklahoma and belongs to us
I voted for Oakerhater because I am Native, but I checked first to make sure Luther was winning. Luther has impacted my life in many ways by being a leading reformer but I had to make sure Oakerhater put in a strong show!
I vote for David Oakerhater, he was a man who truly loved his lord and his neighbor. He never stopped bringing those teachings to his people throughout his life