A Tale Of Misplaced Trust

A Tale Of Misplaced Trust

Trusting the wrong person can be a fatal mistake.

JUST ASK Jan Hus. Jan Hus took his last name from Husinec, the town in southern Bohemia where he was born in 1373. He followed his mother’s desire that he be a priest, primarily because it would bring him money and prestige. However, as he studied at the University of Prague, he felt his spiritual ardor growing.

After his ordination in 1402, Hus was appointed preacher at Bethlehem Chapel in Prague. He also taught at the University of Prague. Shortly before Hus’s appointment to his church, the writings of the English Reformer John Wycliffe had reached Prague by way of returning Czech students who had studied at Oxford. As Hus read the works of Wycliffe, he was drawn to the Reformer’s views.

Hus preached godliness and vigorously attacked the sins and indiscretions of the clergy, claiming, “These priests . . . are drunks whose bellies growl with great drinking and are gluttons whose stomachs are overfilled until their double chins hang down.” Needless to say this did not sit well with his fellow priests. But the people loved it and thronged to hear his controversial preaching.

Finally the pope published a papal bull, a decree calling for an investigation of the heresies of Wycliffe and Hus and condemning Bethlehem Chapel. Hus spoke out publicly against the bull with two thousand of his congregation expressing their willingness to stand behind him in his conflict with the pope.

Although excommunicated by the archbishop, Hus continued to preach since he had much more support in Prague than the archbishop did. As the pressure on him increased, Hus finally went into voluntary exile in 1412.

In 1414 Emperor Sigismund called a church council to be held in Constance in southern Germany. He invited Jan Hus, promising him safe conduct. Although warned by his friends not to go, Hus trusted the emperor’s promise of protection and accepted his invitation.

Hus arrived safely in Constance, but three weeks later, on November 28, 1414, there was a knock on his door, and two bishops appeared to arrest him. Beyond the bishops, Hus could see that the house was surrounded by soldiers.

He was taken away and locked in a dark damp cell next to the latrines in the dungeon of a convent. Beset with fever and vomiting, Hus was soon near death. He was saved by a visit from the pope’s physician and a move to a better cell.

Hus’s supporters implored the emperor to honor his promise of safe conduct, but instead the emperor declared Hus to be the greatest heretic in the history of Christendom and therefore deserving of no protection.

Hus was brought to trial, and thirty charges were leveled against him. Many were completely frivilous, such as the charge that Hus claimed to be the fourth person of the Godhead. He rejected all the charges, but his denials were shouted down. The council found him guilty and sentenced him to be burned at the stake the same day. As the bishops ripped his vestments from his body, they cried, “We commit your soul to the devil.”

When he was tied to the stake, he was given one last opportunity to recant. Hus replied, “God is my witness that . . . the principal intention of my preaching and of all my other acts or writings was solely that I might turn men from sin. And in that truth of the gospel . . . I am willing gladly to die today.” As the flames shot up around him, he could be heard singing, “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy upon me.”

The followers of John Hus down through the centuries developed into the Moravians through whom John Wesley and tens of thousands of others were converted. He may have lost the battle but not the war.

Reflection

Have you ever trusted someone, as Jan Hus trusted the emperor, who then let you down? What did you learn from that experience? The only One who is totally trustworthy is God, and it is only through his guidance that we can discern who around us is trustworthy.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6