On April 17, 1521, the German priest and Augustinian friar Martin Luther appeared before the Diet of Worms.  The Diet was a gathering presided over by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in the Imperial Free City of Worms, located in present-day Germany.  Luther was called to appear and either to recant or reaffirm what he had written in response to Pope Leo X’s Papal bull, which had outlined 41 purported errors and heresies found in his Ninety-five Theses and other writings.  Luther refused to recant and stood by his writings, knowing there would be consequences.  As a result, Emperor Charles V issued the Edict of Worms, making Luther an outlaw, banning his writings, and declaring him an enemy of the state who could be killed by anyone without consequence. 

Thirteen years later, on April 17, 1534, Catholic Saint Thomas More, an advisor to King Henry VIII and staunch supporter of the Pope and opponent of Martin Luther, was imprisoned in the Tower of London on charges of treason.  Facing the king’s commission on April 13, More had refused to acknowledge “the spiritual validity of the king’s second marriage,” (to Anne Boleyn), and also held fast to the Catholic church’s teaching of papal supremacy, so that he would not take an oath of supremacy to the Crown over the church.  Eventually More was tried and found guilty, and was subsequently executed, declaring that he “died the king’s good servant, and God’s first.” 

Luther is regarded as the father of the Protestant Reformation, persecuted by the Holy Roman Emperor for his refusal to recant criticism of the Pope and the church; More was martyred at the hands of a protestant monarch for his refusal to recant a defense of the Pope and the church’s teaching.  Today, it is not likely that any of us will face arrest or execution for simply saying what we believe to be true.  But my question for us this morning is this: If we were in Luther’s or More’s shoes, would we recant?  Do we believe anything with enough conviction to truly suffer for it? 

Have a wonderful day.