Luther’s Dearest Eisenach and Wartburg Castle

Here is a Martin Luther quote for the day: "We are not made righteous by doing righteous deeds, but when we have been made righteous, we do righteous deeds." Oh how he lived that and challenge us to do the same.

 

It was off from Erfurt to Eisenach. Now, if you are like me, I have no German background, and these names are a little hard to get used to. Thankfully, I can check the spelling, and you probably won’t know if I am wrong. Ah, but I waste time.

 

Eisenach has two important roles in Martin Luther’s life. As an older child and young teenager, he attended Latin school in this city. His family expected that Martin could stay with family while there, but that was not to come to pass. As a result, Martin had to earn his lodging by joining a traveling boys coral group that would sing throughout the city wherever they could perform and people would play. Often that would entail singing for wealthy citizens outside their homes.

 

One particular benefactor was so taken by this bright young student with the wonderful voice that she welcomed into her home to stay for free. This was a wonderful time in his life, and this was one of the reasons that later in his life he would call this place “his dear Eisenach.” This time certainly contributed to his love of music and his skill that he would use to compose hymns later in life.

 

We spent the morning looking at the Luther House and the museum associated with the home where the benefactor had invited Luther to live. We saw what would have been his room and saw exhibits highlighting his role in transforming education for young boys and girls. That later led to women studying to become pastors in the Lutheran church. We saw pages from a Gutenberg Bible and a New Testament that Luther had written from hand.

 

We visited the St. George Church where Johann Sebastian Bach had been baptized and Luther had attended as a young teen and preached as a later reformer and priest. Some from our group remained in the church to hear a morning organ concert. For others, there was time to walk the marketplace or to visit Bach’s early home and the added museum. Those who did were able to hear samples of his music and see and hear ancient instruments that were played in Luther’s time.

 

Of course, Luther would later leave here to study law and receive his call to become a monk and study theology in Wittenberg. Interestingly, Fredrick the Wise also controlled the area in Eisenach. In fact, it was years later, after the Diet of Worms where Luther refused to recant and the emperor branded him a heretic that again Luther returned. On the way back to Wittenberg, Frederick arranged to have Luther kidnapped and taken to the seldom used Wartburg Castle in Eisenach.

 

People did not know he was there, assuming that he had been taken and possibly killed as a result of the emperor’s actions. There were as few as three people living in the seldom used castle, but Luther remained busy.

 

The castle has been renovated since and is quite impressive. It was steep hike up to the castle from our bus. One man counted over 800 steps. I believe it. You’d be proud of Pastor Craig and Kristine; they led the way. Some rode a van a bit closer to the castle entrance, but it was understandable, as we needed to save strength for the tour through the castle and the many steps there. There is no question that the walking and cobble streets added a strain on those not use to it.  

 

We saw the impressive Festival Hall on the top floor where to this day they do special concerts and local graduations. We saw the room dedicated to St. Elizabeth who, in her short life, transformed her position as a princess into a platform to serve the poor and build hospitals for those less fortunate. There were some 99 documented miracles involving Elizabeth. When her husband died, she left her children with the family in the castle and went into service to God in the few years before she died. As a result, she was canonized and honored by many in the area.

 

Being on a Path of Luther Tour, we took time to see the small room, Luther’s tube, where he lived in hiding for ten months. It is during this time that Luther translated the Bible from the original Greek into German in eleven weeks. That translation was to fuel the Reformation and become the formal tool for transmitting a common German language for the next 400 years. God used Luther at the right time and in the right place to bless a religious and secular transformation. 

 

What comes up has to come down, so we returned down the 800 steps to the bus. It went much easier going down, but time will tell which muscles will be sore tomorrow. We took off on a 170 kilometer trip to Frankfurt for our next hotel. We were ready for a restful night of devotions, eating….and sleep!