That Luther decided to go to Worms gives some indication of how he read the invitation from Emperor Charles. He did not think he was being called solely to recant what he had written, but to provide “information about certain doctrines” and discuss what he taught from the Scriptures. On April 2, he left Wittenberg for the 320-mile, two-week journey to Worms. Crowds of people received him enthusiastically at many places along the way, a testimony to the fact that his writings had been circulated widely. Many thronged to meet Luther, “in some ways the first celebrity of modern culture,”[1] in Metaxas’ words, to see with their own eyes “the miracle-man who was so brave as to oppose the Pope and all the world, who held the Pope to be a God against Christ,”[2] as Friedrich Myconius, a colleague of Luther, described it. During the trip Luther preached to large gatherings in Erfurt, Gotha, and Eisenach. Luther himself spoke of the journey to Worms as a triumphal procession, like Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.[3]
At the same time, Luther faced several challenges during his journey to Worms. In Weimar, he learned that the emperor had issued a mandate that all of Luther’s books were to be sequestered. Anyone who dared to sell or share his books would be subject to punishment. More troubling to Luther than the sequestration of his writings was that the emperor’s decree indicated that “the condemnation of Luther’s cause was already a fact.”[4] In addition, Spalatin sent word to Luther regarding the discussion occurring among at least some at Worms, that the safe conduct would only have to be honored if Luther recanted. Concerned that condemnation and death awaited Luther at the diet, Spalatin advised the professor not to enter Worms.[5] Though Luther must have wondered how impartial a hearing he would receive and how open his inquisitors would be to the information he would provide, he nevertheless chose to continue the journey. He did so trembling.[6] At Eisenach, Luther had such a high fever that some of his colleagues feared he might die. Perhaps, as Lyndal Roper suggests, “Anxiety over the looming trial took its toll”[7] and showed itself in the various sicknesses he experienced during the journey.
Heiko Oberman, in his book Martin Luther: Man Between God and the Devil, dismisses the picture of a conquering hero traveling to Worms with “unshakable resolve,” with no fear of anyone or anything. Luther was rather “a sorely tested man,”[8] who recognized that the devil was hounding him with sickness and harassing him with fear to turn him away from a clear confession of the truth.[9] Luther knew his struggle was “not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12 NIV). In a letter to Spalatin written just a few days before he was to arrive in Worms, Luther wrote, “Satan has done everything to hinder me with more than one disease. All the way from Eisenach to here I have been sick; I am still sick in a way which previously has been unknown to me.”[10]
The devil’s repeated attacks, however, did not stop him. Luther entered the city of Worms, despite his own weakness and fear, under the Lord’s protecting hand. “But Christ lives,” he wrote to Spalatin, “and we shall enter Worms in spite of all the gates of hell and the powers in the air.”[11] His confidence rested not in the promise of the safe conduct granted by the emperor or the protection of Elector Frederick, but the Risen Savior’s promise to be with him and to rule over everything for the benefit of his people. On April 16, around 10:00am, Luther and his traveling companions finally reached Worms. A trumpet from the church tower announced their arrival and some two thousand people greeted him loudly in the streets, much to the chagrin of Aleander, who thought Luther ought to be burned at the stake, not cheered.
[1]. Metaxas, 204.
[2]. As quoted in Lyndal Roper, Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet (New York: Random House, 2017), 166.
[3]. Bainton, 179. After the positive reception in Erfurt, Luther said: “I have had my Palm Sunday. I wonder whether this pomp is merely a temptation or whether it is also a sign of my impending passion.” Bainton does not provide a reference for the statement. Brecht speaks of Luther being “moved by the possibility of an impending martyrdom.” Brecht, 449.
[4]. Brecht, 446.
[5]. Roper, 450, note 27.
[6]. Selderhuis, 153, referring to something Luther said at table in 1533 as he recounted the situation. WA Tischreden 3:3357a.
[7]. Roper, 166.
[8]. Heiko Oberman, Martin Luther: Man Between God and the Devil, translated by Eileen Walliser-Schwartzbart (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 199.
[9]. Schilling supports Oberman’s view: “As Luther understood his travelling to Worms as a mission in the cause of salvation, he saw the devil behind every and all misfortunes that occurred along the way.” 175.
[10]. LW 48:198.
[11]. LW 48:198.