MARTIN LUTHER, THE PEASANT REBELLION, AND MINNEAPOLIS

In May 1525, Luther wrote Against the Rioting Peasants against the Peasant Rebellion (1524-26), whose leaders had even been appealing to the Scriptures and the Reformers to justify their violence in the pursuit of “justice”:

·       The peasants have taken upon themselves the burden of three terrible sins against God and man; by this they have merited death in body and soul... they have sworn to be true and faithful, submissive and obedient, to their rulers... now deliberately and violently breaking this oath... they are starting a rebellion, and are violently robbing and plundering monasteries and castles which are not theirs... they have doubly deserved death in body and soul as highwaymen and murderers... they cloak this terrible and horrible sin with the gospel... thus they become the worst blasphemers of God and slanderers of his holy name.

Luther justified the use of lethal force by the German princes against the peasants, citing Paul’s teaching on the role of the civil authorities to maintain order:

·       Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. (Romans 13:1-5)

According to Luther, God had placed the sword into the hands of the princes to keep order and not into the hands of the mob. In an open letter to Caspar Muller, entitled An Open Letter on the Harsh Book Against the Peasants. Luther also advised that it is the duty of a Christian to "suffer injustice, not to seize the sword and take to violence."

How does this apply to Minneapolis? The murder of a cuffed black man by a police officer is horrible, but this does not justify mob violence. Instead, as imperfect as justice and the courts might be, they remain the far better solution than the judgments of the mob.

“Stand-down” orders represent the betrayal of public trust and welfare. Instead, it is the justice system that must maintain peace, order, and to protect the innocent against the violence of the mob and rogue cops. When the justice system betrays this trust, it longer has the authority to insist that the public should not defend themselves.

A system which refuses to fulfill its role extends an invitation to a run-on-guns, vigilantism, civil war, and a breakdown of everything that God values. What then must the justice system do? Far more than they have been doing! Any form of unlawful violence must be effectively addressed.

It is not a matter of compassion to stand-down before the mob. It is insanity, the destruction of a city and even of a society. Instead, in this case, the highest form of compassion is the maintenance of justice and the protection of the innocent in the face of a blood-thirsty mob. Compassion then is a matter of using the least lethal force to accomplish justice, peace, and protection, whatever the cost. Anything less is a betrayal and an encouragement to mob destruction.