A Goose and a Swan

“Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.” — Matthew 10:28 (KJV)

Wycliffe’s writings travelled across Europe, and in Prague, in what is now the Czech Republic, they inspired a brilliant young pastor and university leader named Jan Hus (Foxe spells it “Huss”).

Hus was born around 1380 in a village in Bohemia. He studied at the university of Prague and became pastor of the Bethlehem Chapel there, where he preached to huge crowds in the language ordinary people spoke, not Latin. Like Wycliffe, he spoke out against corruption in the church, and he insisted that the Bible was the final authority.

In 1414 the church leaders called a great council in the city of Constance and summoned Hus to answer for his teaching. The emperor gave him a “safe-conduct,” an official promise that he could travel there and back safely. Crowds lined the roads to cheer him as he passed. Hus was amazed: “I thought (said he) I had been an outcast. I now see my worst friends are in Bohemia.”

But when he arrived, the promise was broken. He was arrested, imprisoned, put on trial and condemned. He was told to take back what he had taught. He refused, because he would not deny what he believed the Bible said.

When they chained him for execution, he said with a smile: “My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this for my sake, and why then should I be ashamed of this rusty one?” Offered one last chance to recant, he answered: “What I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood.”

Then he said something that people would remember a century later. “Hus” means “goose” in his language. He told his executioner:

“You are now going to burn a goose, (Huss signifying goose in the Bohemian language:) but in a century you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor boil.”

About a hundred years later, a German monk named Martin Luther started the Reformation. The book’s editors point out that Luther came “about a hundred years after, and who had a swan for his arms.” Whether or not Hus meant it as a prophecy, the point is clear: you can kill a messenger, but you can’t kill the truth he carried.

Foxe records that Hus sang a hymn as he died, so loudly that he could be heard over the crowd. Jesus said not to fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Hus believed him.

One thing to do this week: is there something you know is true about Jesus that you find hard to say out loud around certain people? This week, find one natural opportunity to say it, kindly and honestly.