Matth. 1, 1-16.
This is the book of the birth of Jesus Christ, who is the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac. Isaac begat Jacob. Jacob begat Judah and his brethren. Judah begat Pharez and Saram of the Thamar. Pharez begat Hezron. Hezron bore witness to Ram. Ram bore witness to Aminadab. Aminadab begat Nahasson. Nahasson begat Salma. Salma begat Boaz, by Rahab. Boaz begat Obed, of Ruth. Obed begat Jesse. Jesse begat King David. King David begat Solomon, by the wife of Uriah. Solomon begat Roboam. Roboam begat Abia. Abia begat Assa. Assa begat Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat begat Joram. Joram witnessed Osia. Osia begat Jotham. Jotham begat Achaz. Achaz begat Ezechia. Ezechia begat Manasseh. Ma-
**) This sermon appeared in a single print from 1522 and 1523 and in the 14 sermons from the year
wet witnessed Amon. Amon witnessed Josiah. Josiah witnessed to Jechonia and his brothers around the time of the Babylonian prison. After the Babylonian prison, Jechonia bore witness to Sealthiel. Sealthiel bore witness to Zorobabel. Zorobabel begat Abiud. Abiud bore witness to Eliachim. Eliachim begat Asor. Asor begat Zadoch. Zadoch begat Achin. Achin begat Eliud. Eliud begat Eleazar. Eleazar bore witness to Matthan. Matthan begat Jacob. Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
1 Today we celebrate the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as she was born; for this purpose we have read the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, which tells of the members of the great ancient fathers of Jesus Christ, as you have just heard. But you know, my friends of Christ, that the honor that is done to the Mother of God is very deeply formed in the hearts of men; so deeply also that one does not like to hear people speak against it, but only increases and makes it greater. Now we also let it happen that she is honored, because according to St. Paul's words Rom. 12, 10. we owe it to one to precede the other with reverence for the sake of Him who dwells in us, Jesus Christ; therefore we also owe Mary honor. But one should see to it that she is honored properly. Unfortunately, I am concerned that we have fallen too deeply into honoring her, that we hold her higher than we should.
(2) From this have come two damages. One, that Christ is diminished in that hearts are set more on Mary than on Christ Himself, so that Christ is set right behind in the darkness and completely forgotten.
The other pity is that one has forgotten the poor, the saints here on earth. I let it happen that you think much of Mary, praise her highly, but only so that your good delusion does not break out and make a law out of it, that one must honor her at the loss of our souls' blessedness. Therefore, the Scriptures have not written anything about their birth or life, lest one set one's heart on them and raise them higher than one should. But the monks, who wanted to praise the honor of women, used Mariam for this purpose, and had to invent so many lies to confirm their deed, dragged the scripture by the hair on Mariam, and forced it there, where it does not belong. For the gospel, so
The things that are read today refer to the birth of Christ and not to the birth of Mary. Behold, thus lies are customary; now this is not to be suffered in any way. I allow them to be honored, but in such a way that the Scriptures are not made into lies.
4 Item, today's epistle, Prov. 8, has also been applied to her, which only refers to the divine wisdom, which is Christ, who was before the world, in whom all things were created. To apply these sayings to the Mother of God is a complete lie and blasphemy against God. For this reason, I would like to leave her feasts, for there is nothing about them in Scripture; it is not right to drag Scripture where it does not belong, it is not right.
(5) This, then, is the first abortion and pity, that with the deep honor of the Mother of God Christ's honor and knowledge have been weakened; for we are called Christians by Christ, that we should cling to him alone and be God's children and heirs through him. For by his blood we are all cleansed from sins and set apart for heavenly possessions. If this is so, as it certainly is, then we are as holy as Mary and other saints, as great as they are, if we believe in Christ alone; for this faith makes us all sisters and brothers, even Mary herself. But that she has a greater grace is not of her own merit, but of God's mercy. For we cannot all be God's mother; otherwise she is equal to us, having had to come to grace through the blood of Christ as much as we. So now you can judge for yourselves how far we should extend the glory of the saints, namely, that we do not harm Christ. This happens when we accept his blood and suffering and set our heart on it alone and on no other saint. For this
Honor the Mother of God, so that you do not stay on her, but go to God and set your heart on her, and do not put Christ out of the way, knowing that we are brothers and sisters in Him, because He Himself says that He is our brother.
(6) The other harm, which follows from the deep honor of the Mother of God, is that Christians lift up their eyes to heaven and make a noise, forgetting the saints who are here on earth. I do not forbid you to honor the saints in heaven: but yet I would that there were a difference, that you might know which ones you are commanded to honor. For the saints that are taken from this life, there is none commanded thee to honor: but they which are here, they are commanded thee to honor, the living Christians which are here on earth, which are the saints indeed: as Paul saith, 1 Tim. 5:9, 10, Let a widow be received, which hath been a man's wife, and hath cried a good cry, and brought up her children well, who hath washed the saints' feet etc. Behold, here Paul calls "saints" the pious Christians who live here on earth, to whom God wants honor to be given, which He also wants to look at; as Christ will say on the last day: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me", Matth. 25, 40. And these are also the friends we should make of the unrighteous Mammon, Luc. 16, 9. The same should be honored, the poor should be taxed with good, the ignorant should be taught the truth, and what other works are more, so that they can be helped; therefore St. Paul also says to the Romans Cap. 12, 13: "Take care of the saints' needs."
7 This honor has been cancelled out with the noise and honor of the saints above in heaven: that so many churches and altars have been founded and so much foolish work has been done, that when one looks at them in the light, they are precisely those where nothing is commanded. They built a church for St. Peter, for St. Paul, for St. Catherine, for Our Lady, for St. Nicolas, for St. Thomas, and finally came to the point that almost every corner is filled with churches. What may the saints in heaven churches? Behold, with the good
poor virgins could have been married off and other more delicious, more necessary works could have been done. All this has now fallen by the wayside with the honor and service of the saints. For this reason I have said that I do not forbid you to honor them, but I still want you to make a distinction and know that you do more for your neighbor than when you build churches of gold. And according to these works God will also judge: if we come and have done nothing good for the poor, and boast, "I have built a church, yes, I have made a great hole in heaven," God will say, "Who told you to do it? If then thou sayest, I meant well, and methought it should please thee; God shall answer, Methought it not well. Then he will have lost all his food, all his effort and all his confidence. Behold, therefore, let the honor of the saints which are alive be divided from them which are dead, as the precious stones and the wood; and let it be known, that if a man give one florin to the poor, he deserveth more than a hundred to the saints. This seems strange to us; it makes one too low in the honor of the saints. Therefore, one must teach and practice, and it will fall away.
Yes, they say, many saints have appeared, such as St. Lawrence with the rust, who trampled the devil; as one preaches in Merseburg of a bishop, whose sin, which the devil had put on the scales, far outweighed his good works; St. Lawrence should have appeared with a chalice, which the bishop had made in his honor, and thrown it on the scales, so that the good works outweighed the evil ones. Such poems, dreams and lies must be heard by those who do not want to hear the truth. I think it was the devil rather than St. Lawrence. Therefore, beware that they do not deceive or seduce you with such fables and lies. Now you must judge for yourselves. For you have no commandment to build churches, but to help the poor we are commanded. And these are the friends, as Christ says in Luca Cap. 16, 9, who take us into the eternal tabernacles.
(9) Here I must speak of the hymn called the Salve Regina, which is a great blasphemy, for so it reads: Hail, O Queen of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope. Is this not too much? Who will answer for this, that she should be our life, our sweetness and our mercy, when she is content to be a poor vessel and, as she says, a servant of the Lord? Well, the prayer is sung throughout the world and large bells are rung for it, and has, unfortunately, come to the point that there is almost no church, in which the Salve Regina is richly endowed to sing.
(10) It is the same with the Regina caeli, which is not much better, since she is called a queen of heaven. Is this not a dishonor done to Christ, that one ascribes this to a creature, which belongs and is due to God alone? Therefore, let us refrain from ungodly and unchristian words. I would gladly have Mariam pray for me, but I do not want her to be my comfort and my life. Your prayer is as dear to me as hers. How so? For if you believe that Christ dwells in you as well as in her, you can help me as well as her.
(11) Therefore keep the honor of the dear saints, as we owe it to one another to honor them as children of God; but beware of the two harms, lest we obscure Christ; yea, let him be our life and comfort, and honor them thus, that thou mayest give a hundred pennies to the living rather than one. For you are not condemned if you do not honor Mary ever again, even if you never remember her; but here, if you miss the saints here on earth, you are condemned. For here you have a commandment from God; there you have none. Then you must throw yourself down and say: My dear brother, you are my brother, but still I shall spread myself among you, because you are more than I am. Thus the saints should also have been held in heaven, as namely, for God's children and our sisters and brothers; thus the Scriptures would have remained in their dignities.
But now the reckless spirits have fallen, and have seen above themselves, and have made the saints wholly gods; but if they had been Christian hearts, tasting and feeling the faith, they would have said thus, Behold, I have one baptism with thee, one faith, one God, one Christ, as St. Paul saith to the Ephesians, Cap. 4, 5, therefore you must be my brother; so now I will take you for God's child and put myself under your feet. And this they would have done again. For if they were still walking on the earth today, they would not be so hopeful; they would put themselves under my feet and under the feet of every man, and they would consider themselves to be lords, because Christ dwells in us as well as in them. For thus Christ commanded us, "If any man will be counted mighty among you, let him be your servant; and if any man will be chief, let him be your servant." And set himself as an example, saying, "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life for the salvation of many," Matt. 20:26-28. This he also did, going among his disciples, serving them at table, pouring out, laying on bread, washing their feet, and taking them for masters; for they were God's children. Yes, he still considered himself the least of all and lowered himself to the lowest of all, as St. Paul said to the Philippians Cap. 2, 7. Just as he served us all and was our servant, giving his blood and flesh for us, taking our sin upon himself, and serving us both with his life and with his death, so it should be that every Christian should serve the other, considering him to be his Lord and honoring him.
(13) Behold, you have the honor of the mother of God, that she is a special child of God, gifted or graced above all women, and you will call her a gracious woman, a mother of God, and place her in the honor where God has placed her. But we will not make her an idol, nor shall we. We do not want her to be an intercessor, but we would like her to be an intercessor, like the others.
Saints also. But they have set them above all the choirs of angels, and have done dishonor to their dear child, and have taken away: this is unjust. Therefore, let her remain in her rightful honor and consider her God's child, and look more to the saints who live here. Do not run to and fro to Grimmenthal, to the oak tree*), to the pear tree, to Einsiedel, to Sternberg, and to all the other places called, but run to your neighbor's house, who may be yours. And what you would give there, give here: in this you please God and Christ. That is enough, let us say a little about the gospel. So Matthew begins his gospel and speaks:
This is the book of the birth of Jesus Christ, who is the son of David, the son of Abraham.
14 This is the preface, in which he concludes what he has in mind, namely, to write of Jesus Christ, and tells two and forty members from Abraham to Christ, dividing them into three parts, as archfathers, kings or princes, and those who still were when David's lineage began to decline; thus leading the lines and members from Abraham to Joseph. Then he turns his tongue, and says not, Joseph begat Christ; but: Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
(15) First of all, in the line of Christ, the evangelist indicates four women who are almost infamous in the Scriptures, as Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. But the notorious women, as Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel, are not mentioned. Jerome and others were concerned about why this happened. I think that it happened because they were sinners, and that Christ also wanted to be born in the great generation, where harlots and boys are inside; so that he shows what love he has to
*This oak tree was located near Grimma in Saxony. There Maria should have appeared in the year 1450 to a carter who had got stuck in the dung. Cf. Erl. A. 15, 504.D. Red.
carries to the sinners. For true holiness, the holier it is, the closer it makes itself to sinners. This is why he smites himself and puts himself in the midst of the generation of sinners and is not ashamed of them at all, yes, he leaves them in his register and makes them sing on the altar before the whole world. If Christ had been a Pharisee, he would not have almost boasted, yes, they would have stunk before him and he would have wrinkled his nose; but because he was holy, they also had to be told here among his grandmothers. Now this has happened, as has been said, that he showed himself to be kind to poor sinners, so that the conscience might rebel against him, saying, "Alas! Christ is such a man, who is not ashamed of sinners; indeed, he keeps them in his register.
16 If the Lord does this here, then we should not despise anyone, for otherwise he could have pointed out the righteous, honorable women, Saram, Rebekah, Leam and Rachel. Now, if one had wanted to despise these women told here in the past, God would have said, "Defy me, let me have them, and I will bring them to the honors where the pious shall not go. This also happened; for they gave birth to great patriarchs afterwards, and came into the line of Christ and became his grandmothers, so that we now have to say: Grace woman Rahab, grace woman Ruth. This Ruth was a Gentile, of the family of Moab: nor did God honor her by taking her into His family. By this we shall see God's mercy and grace toward sinners, that he does not despise them; and we shall have respect, that we also follow him, and are not ashamed, but go into the midst of sinners, and help them, as ye have often heard.
17) Among the kings, some were pious, such as David, Josiah, Ezekiel (Hezekiah). Some of them were wicked, and some of them were Roboam and others. Manasseh was a wicked king, who killed the prophets and cut Isaiah in two with a saw, who also filled the holy city of Jerusalem with blood up to the mouth; nor did he come in the line of Christ. What wicked men the kings have been in part,
is found in the books of Kings and Chronicles. Now therefore, behold how Christ hath taken all these upon himself, and covered their sin; and as he doeth unto them, so will he cover our sin also. Now this is an example and sacrament or mystery, that Christ so kindly takes care of sinners.
18) Two and forty members of the grandfathers of Christ are told here, which also has its secret interpretation; for the two and fortieth number is mighty common in the Scriptures, and goes to this: The children of Israel made two and forty camps or journeys out of Egypt, as Moses describes them. With this he indicates the increase of a Christian being.
19 For this reason also the evangelist here puts Christ at the end and the beginning, that man is born two and forty times before he comes into Christ. The beginning is in Abraham, the increase in Isaac, and so on until one comes into Christ. So this is the sum of it: Whoever wants to be saved and come to Christ must still take two and forty leaps; so often he must be broken and born again, until he comes to Christ: and as often as he is born, so often must he be broken and born again.
Once he is broken, he has gone a limb. At times, when the cross is so great, as when death comes, it can tear through all the limbs, so that we come to Christ in one leap; and therefore Christ stands behind. For all that is in the old Adam must be killed and broken.
(20) It should also be said here of birth, if we had time, that Christ alone is born pure here, but we are all born in sins of male and female, he alone without a man, of a virgin; so that his birth alone may remain pure, that we may all be born again through him and become pure and accept his pure birth alone. For as few as pure virgins bear children, so few are pure births among men on earth. Now there is no more than one virgin who has borne and given birth to a child without the help of a man; therefore there is only one pure birth and one pure man, who is Jesus Christ: he also makes our birth pure; we also want to accept him and no other. We have said more about this elsewhere in the Postille. We will now leave it at that and call upon God for mercy.