Skit: Tetzel and Luther
written by Frank Schaefer

Props needed: a collection box, perhaps a cardboard box with a slit in it

The actors could dress up for it (perhaps wear a monk habit). The actors may also want to speak with a slight German accent

Play:

Tetzel enters the sanctuary, all dressed up, trying to sell indulgences to the people in the congregation.

He tells the people that he has the official spiritual authority by the Holy See of the church of Christ to redeem people from purgatory. If they give generously to the church any or all of their dead relatives who didn’t measure up and are now in purgatory would be released and send to God’s glory immediately ("as the dollar hits the collection box, the soul out of hell’s fire hops")

He contemporizes it by saying: "give a substantial $ amount into the general fund in your inactive relative’s name and we’ll keep him or her on our church membership list (ouch!).

"For only $49.99 you’ll get an indulgance that would allow you to miss the Sunday service for three weeks in a row without harming your faith in the least (in fact, it may even grow a little)--only $49.99!"

Luther enters (visibly upset)

Luther: what in God’s name are you telling these people? You, of all people, must know that you cannot buy your way into heaven!

Tetzel: And you my dear friend don't seem to know that I am on a mission of the Vatican. My authority to pronounce redemption comes from God himself. Besides you are twisting the facts. Who on earth are you, by the way?

Luther: My name is Martin Luther and I will go down in history and the father of the Reformation. But let me ask you this: how am I twisting the facts?

Tetzel: You know perfectly well that God honors stand-ins; after all, that’s what Jesus did for us--he stood in for us and his righteousness is attributed to us.

Luther: Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong. God only attributes Christ’s righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ.

Tetzel: That’s where you’re wrong, works count more than faith!

Luther: No, no, no, without faith no good work would follow!

Teztel: Without works faith is null and void. It’s works!!

Luther: No: faith!

Tetzel: Works!!

Luther: Faith!

Tetzel: Now you’re overstepping your bounds; I am going to report you to the highest church authorities and have your salvation yanked. we're talking Ex-communication!

Luther: O you cannot threaten me with the E-word. In fact, because of people like you, I will have to go through the trouble to write 95 theses against the Roman church and even start my own church--the Lutheran church!

Tetzel: O yeah....?

Luther: Yeah!!!

Tetzel: Well, we’ll see about that!!!

At this point they depart in opposite directions, steaming mad.

 

Background information:

Tetzel, Johann (1465?-1519), German Catholic preacher of the Dominican order, born in Pirna, Saxony, and educated at the University of Leipzig. An unusually effective preacher, Tetzel was entrusted by the Holy See with the proclamation of indulgences, notably in support of the rebuilding of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. In opposition to the preaching of Tetzel, Martin Luther issued his celebrated 95 theses on October 31, 1517. Tetzel responded the following January with a series of more than 100 countertheses and in April set forth a reply to Luther's sermon on indulgences. Despite his vigorous denunciation of the Lutheran heresy, Tetzel was severely rebuked by the German papal legate, Karl von Miltitz, for exceptionable language and improper procedure in the presentation of his theses.

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Luther, Martin (1483-1546), German theologian and religious reformer, who initiated the Protestant Reformation, and whose vast influence, extending beyond religion to politics, economics, education, and language, has made him one of the crucial figures in modern European history.

Early Life

Luther was born in Eisleben on November 10, 1483. He was descended from the peasantry, a fact that he often stressed. His father, Hans Luther, was a copper miner in the mining area of Mansfeld. Luther received a sound primary and secondary education at Mansfeld, Magdeburg, and Eisenach. In 1501, at the age of 17, he enrolled at the University of Erfurt, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1502 and a master's degree in 1505. He then intended to study law, as his father wished. In the summer of 1505, however, he suddenly abandoned his studies, sold his books, and entered the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt. The decision surprised his friends and appalled his father. Later in life, Luther explained it by recalling several brushes with death that had occurred at the time, making him aware of the fleeting character of life. In the monastery he observed the rules imposed on a novice but did not find the peace in God he had expected. Nevertheless, Luther made his profession as a monk in the fall of 1506, and his superiors selected him for the priesthood. Ordained in 1507, he approached his first celebration of the mass with awe.

After his ordination, Luther was asked to study theology in order to become a professor at one of the many new German universities staffed by monks. In 1508 he was assigned by Johann von Staupitz, vicar-general of the Augustinians and a friend and counselor, to the new University of Wittenberg (founded in 1502) to give introductory lectures in moral philosophy. He received his bachelor's degree in theology in 1509 and returned to Erfurt, where he taught and studied (1509-11). In November 1510, on behalf of seven Augustinian monasteries, he made a visit to Rome, where he performed the religious duties customary for a pious visitor and was shocked by the worldliness of the Roman clergy. Soon after resuming his duties in Erfurt, he was reassigned to Wittenberg and asked to study for the degree of doctor of theology. In 1512 he received his doctorate and took over the chair of biblical theology, which he held until his death.

Although still uncertain of God's love and his own salvation, Luther was active as a preacher, teacher, and administrator. Sometime during his study of the New Testament in preparation for his lectures, he came to believe that Christians are saved not through their own efforts but by the gift of God's grace, which they accept in faith. Both the exact date and the location of this experience have been a matter of controversy among scholars, but the event was crucial in Luther's life, because it turned him decisively against some of the major tenets of the Catholic church.

The Beginning of the Reformation

Luther became a public and controversial figure when he published (October 31, 1517) his Ninety-Five Theses, Latin propositions opposing the manner in which indulgences (release from the temporal penalties for sin through the payment of money) were being sold in order to raise money for the building of Saint Peter's in Rome. Although it is generally believed that Luther nailed these theses to the door of All Saints Church (Castle Church) in Wittenberg, some scholars have questioned this story, which does not occur in any of his own writings. Regardless of the manner in which his propositions were made public, they caused great excitement and were immediately translated into German and widely distributed. Luther's spirited defense and further development of his position through public university debates in Wittenberg and other cities resulted in an investigation by the Roman Curia that led to the condemnation (June 15, 1520) of his teachings and his excommunication (January 1521). Summoned to appear before Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in April 1521, he was asked before the assembled secular and ecclesiastical rulers to recant. He refused firmly, asserting that he would have to be convinced by Scripture and clear reason in order to do so and that going against conscience is not safe for anyone. (The statement "Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise," traditionally attributed to him, is most likely legendary.) Condemned by the emperor, Luther was spirited away by his prince, the elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony, and kept in hiding at Wartburg Castle. There he began his translation of the New Testament from the original Greek into German, a seminal contribution to the development of a standard German language.