The Flame Keeper of Zurich

In 1519, Huldrych Zwingli stood in the pulpit of the Grossmünster in Zurich and did something almost no one dared. He set aside the prescribed lectionary readings and opened the Gospel of Matthew, chapter one, verse one, and began preaching straight through the text. Week after week. Book after book. His congregation had never heard anything like it — the scriptures in their own language, taught with clarity and conviction.

Zwingli was not looking for a fight. He was a parish priest who loved music and learning. But when he saw the faith being buried under layers of tradition that contradicted the apostolic witness, he could not stay silent. He contended — not with swords or political maneuvering, but with the slow, steady work of opening the scriptures and letting them speak.

It cost him friendships. It cost him his reputation among former allies. Eventually it cost him his life on the battlefield at Kappel in 1531.

Jude never intended to write a letter about conflict. He wanted to write about the salvation he and his readers shared — that joyful common inheritance. But the situation demanded something harder. He urged them to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

That word "contend" carries the weight of an athlete straining every muscle. The faith is not a museum piece to admire from a distance. It is a living trust, handed from the apostles to us, and it requires people in every generation willing to guard it with their whole lives.