Jan Hus
Rev. Mike Browder
October 30, 2011
Today is Reformation Sunday. We celebrate Reformation Sunday each year at this time because we remember that it was on October 31, 1517, that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg cathedral. This event was the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Those who spoke out were protesting the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church and trying to reform it. Eventually, the Protestants broke off and formed separate churches. The United Methodist Church is a Protestant denomination, so we share this heritage. [I do want to say that the Roman Catholic Church has also changed and reformed itself, so that many of the abuses from 600 years ago are not relevant today. Locally, I have a good relationship with Fr. Frank at St. James Catholic Church next door to us. ]
In the course of the last three Reformation Sundays, we have talked about three great reformers: Luther, Calvin and Zwingli. Today I want to go back in time a little. There were two other important reformers who actually lived before the Reformation itself and who inspired it. One was John Wycliffe, and the other was a martyr, inspired by Wycliffe, whose name was John Huss.
John Huss was born in 1369 in Bohemia, part of the modern Czech Republic. There are a lot of Bohemians who settled in the Hopewell area when they came to America. We even have the village of New Bohemia. So, I am dedicating this sermon today to our local Bohemians. Also, since John Huss was a great champion of the Czech language, I am spelling his name in the Czech way, Jan Hus.
By the way, his name was originally Husinec, which means “goose town.” He shortened it to Hus, which means simply “goose.” So, Jan Hus means “John the Goose.” A hundred years after Hus’ martyrdom, Martin Luther would say, “The goose was cooked,” but it was as a martyr for Jesus Christ.
Jan’s parents sacrificed for him to have an education. He was so poor that he used to have to make a spoon from bread to eat his peas. And then he would eat the spoon.
He attended Charles University in Prague. In 1393, he received his B.A., in 1395 B.Th., and in 1396 M.A. In 1400, he was ordained a priest, and in 1401, he became Dean of the Theological faculty. It was during this period that Jan developed a deep love for the scriptures. He said, “[I desire] to hold, believe, and assert whatever is contained in them as long as I have breath in me.”
About this time, the writings of English theologian John Wycliffe were becoming known in Prague. Wycliffe believed that the Bible, not the pope, is the final authority for the church. Christ, not the pope, is the head of the church. Furthermore, the people should be able to read the Bible in their own language. Wycliffe disputed the doctrine of transubstantiation, saying that the bread and wine are not changed in substance during communion. As Protestants, we take these principles for granted today. We must remember that we have inherited these truths because Wycliffe was willing to stand up for them, and Jan Hus even gave his life for them.
In 1402, Hus was made the preacher of the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague, a church which could hold 3,000 listeners. And Jan Hus was one of the great preachers in the history of Christianity. Years later, when Martin Luther discovered Hus’ sermons he said, “I was overwhelmed with astonishment. [He] explained the Bible with so much depth and skill.”
Jan described his own calling when he said, “By the help of God, I have preached, still am preaching, and if His grace will allow, shall continue to preach; if perchance I may be able to lead some poor, tired, blind, or stumbling soul into the house of Christ to the King’s banquet.”
Jan Hus lashed out at the corruption of the church in his day. At that time, there were actually three popes! One held captive by the French in Avignon,
another rival back in Rome, and a third compromise pope, being promoted by the Holy Roman Emperor. There were other abuses of the church that Hus preached against including simony, the purchasing of church offices, and indulgences, the selling of pardons for sins. Jan called the corrupt clergy of his day “fat swine.”
If it was Wycliffe who first brought the Bible into the vernacular, it was Jan Hus who brought worship into the language of the people. He not only preached in Czech, but he had the congregation sing hymns in their own language. He even wrote hymns for that purpose, and published a hymnal. We are told that he had a great voice.
Here are the words to one of his hymns:
Let us never forget
His great love on us bestowed
All who sick and needy are
May receive in him a share
Hither each afflicted soul
May repair, though filled with grief;
To the sick, not to the whole,
The physician brings relief:
Fear not, therefore, but draw nigh,
Christ will all your wants supply.
Up until this point, the majority of the faculty in Prague had been German professors. They were of a different philosophical school than Hus.
In addition, they supported both the pope and the use of Latin. Eventually, they were forced to leave the university in frustration. But they responded by putting pressure on the bishop and the king to condemn Hus.
Meanwhile, Jan Hus was very popular with the people. His followers, the Hussites, were clambering for independence of the Czech nation and church. These followers were called Lollards, which means “mumblers,” as in those mumbling against authority.
Hus was taken out of office and sent into exile. There he was busy publishing Wycliffe’s ideas. And he said, “I have preached in towns and market-places; now I preach in villages, castles, fields and woods. If it were possible, I would preach on the seashore, or from a ship, as my savior did.”
Meanwhile the Catholic Church was busy condemning the deceased Wycliffe as a heretic. Not only did they burn Wycliffe’s books, but they dug up his bones and burned them too. It was about this time that the church authorities declared Jan Hus a heretic as well. When his friends asked him to compromise, Jan said that “even if stake were raised up in front of me” for punishment, he could not agree with what he knew to be wrong.
The church leaders decided to deal with Hus and the rebellious Czechs by convening the Council of Constance. The emperor promised Hus safe passage to attend and defend his views. Unfortunately, when Jan arrived, he was arrested. His teachings were condemned. Hus was given the choice of recanting or being burned at the stake. He believed that he was rightly teaching the word of God and he refused to recant.
When they condemned his work as heresy, Hus exclaimed, “O God and Lord, now the council condemns thine own act and thine own law as heresy, since thou didst lay thy cause before thy Father as the judge, as an example for us, whenever we are sorely oppressed.”
Before he was led away, he said a prayer to forgive his enemies. As they chained him to the stake, he said, “God is my witness that the principal intention of my preaching and of all my other acts and writings was solely that I might turn people from sin. In that truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and preached, I will die today with gladness.” He sang the hymn, “Christ, thou Son of the living God, have mercy upon me.”
On July 6, 1415, as Jan Hus was burned at the stake, he died uttering the prophecy: “In 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.” It was 102 years later that Martin Luther nailed up his 95 theses. The result is that the principles that Jan Hus died for will live forever in the hearts and lives of Protestants.
The followers of Hus lost their short-lived political independence. On the other hand, the Catholic Church did yield to their demand that Holy Communion be served “in both kinds” so that lay people could receive the cup as well as the bread. It is said that Hus carried a chalice to the stake to be burned with him. This symbol of Hussite churches to this day is a flaming chalice.
The followers of Hus did continue as a religious movement, the unitas fratrem. One of the principal descendants of these Brethren is the Moravian Church. [Moravia is the other province of the Czechs, together with Bohemia.] This fact should interest us Methodists because our founder, John Wesley, was with the Moravians when he felt his “heart strangely warmed,” and gave his life fully to Christ, and found the assurance of salvation.
We have to be inspired by the life of Jan Hus. This is particularly true when we ask: “Would I be willing to lay down my life for my faith in Jesus Christ?” So let us not take our faith for granted. When we acknowledge the Bible as the final authority for our life and faith and church, when we read the scriptures and sing the hymns in our own language, let us remember that these privileges were paid for at a price. And that price included the life of Jan Hus, and the other great martyrs of the faith.
Let us pray. “Dear Lord, we thank you for the example of Jan Hus. We thank you for his preaching and teaching. We especially thank you for the powerful witness of his death. May he inspire us, dear Savior Jesus, to give our lives fully and completely to you. Amen. + + +