Nobody likes me

Everybody hates me
I’m gonna eat some worms.
~Childhood song (unknown origin)

After Martin Luther disseminated his 95 theses to reform the Catholic Church, he was called to appear before the Diet of Worms council.  A “diet” was a formal conference of princes from the Holy Roman Empire.  “Worms” was the name of the German town where the convocation was held.  Thus “The Diet of Worms” council was peculiarly named.  

The Church at that time was in dire need of Reformation.  It had dissolved into a corrupt institution that poorly served the people and wielded its religious and political power to oppress the citizenry.  It exercised its control through superstitions and threats of eternal damnation if its hapless followers did not ante up by purchasing “indulgences.”  In essence, the Church had become spiritually dead. 

The term “worms” in the Bible is the word equivalent of maggots…insects that feed on the rotting flesh of the dead.  So, metaphorically speaking, this “Diet of Worms” council wanted to continue feeding on the rotting corpse of their spiritually dead practices.  Like worms or maggots, they were threatened by Luther’s challenge to take away their food source.

I wonder if the council ever noticed the irony in their bizarre name.  I doubt it.   Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.  

To call someone a worm in Biblical times would be the equivalent of labeling someone as the lowest of low.  Yet in Psalms, we see a fore-mention of Yeshua/Christ in this verse: 
But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

~Psalms 22:6

Yeshua/Christ…while equal with God…did not exalt Himself.  

During the height of the Roman Empire, war victors were honored by a great triumphal chariot parade through town.  At the same time, a slave would ride in their chariots and whisper continually in their ear that they were not gods, but mortal human beings, destined to ultimately lie with maggots and worms.

Just a matter of days after entering Jerusalem on a donkey, with throngs hailing Him as King and Messiah amidst Hosanna shouts of praise, Yeshua/Jesus was brutally crucified.  The juxtaposition of these two events in such close proximity cannot be misinterpreted.  Yeshua/Jesus was well aware of the fickleness of popularity and the unpredictability of men’s opinions.  This was also foretold of in the Old Testament: 

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey

~Zechariah 9:9

We know the end of the Jerusalem story.  Yeshua/Jesus overcame Death.  His Body was never consumed in the grave but Resurrected so that we might all have Eternal Life. 

Today our churches are in danger of becoming spiritually dead once again.  This time our enemy is the evil social forces that would seek to feed on the decaying flesh of our once great Judeo-Christian societies.  Nations need to seek another Reformation through National Repentance.  Instead of a “diet of worms”, maybe we ought to consider this menu item…

Humble pie.

It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the Offended power, to confess our national sins, and pray for clemency and forgiveness.

~Abraham Lincoln

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

~2 Chronicles 7:14

~Posted by Permission of Pastor Jeff Daly