Matth. 8, 23-27.
And he entered into the ship, and his disciples followed him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, so that the little ship also was covered with waves; and he slept. And the disciples came to him and woke him up, saying: Lord, help us, we are perishing. Then he said to them: Ye of little faith, why are ye so fearful? And he arose and rebuked the wind and the sea; and there was silence. But the people were astonished and said: What manner of man is this, that the wind and the sea obey him?
This gospel, according to history, gives us an example of faith and unbelief, that we may learn how mighty is the power of faith, and that it must deal with great and terrible things, and work wondrous works; and how unbelief is such a desponding, stupid, and frightened thing, which can do nothing at all. Let us see here in the disciples an experience of how their hearts stand. First, when they entered the ship with Christ, it was quiet and they felt nothing, and if anyone had asked them there whether they believed, they would have said, "Yes," but they did not see how their heart relied on the silence and that there was no storm, and thus was based on the visible. But when the weather comes, and the waves fall upon the ship, faith is gone; for the calm and the peace, on which they clung, are gone; therefore they also go with it, and there is found all unbelief.
(2) But what does the same unbelief do? He no longer sees, because he feels: he does not feel life and safety, but the waves above the ship, and the sea, which holds out death and all danger. And because they feel the same and pay attention to it and do not turn away from it, the terror, trembling and fear do not cease; yes, the more they look at it and feel the same, the harder death and fear drive them and want to devour them every moment. But unbelief cannot leave off such feelings and cannot think otherwise for a moment, for it has nothing else to hold on to and comfort itself: therefore it cannot have peace and be quiet for a moment.
So it will be in hell, too, that there will be trembling, trembling and terror, and there will never be an end.
But if there had been faith, it would have done this: it would have put the waves of the wind and the sea out of its mind, and instead of the wind and the storm, it would have put God's power and grace, promised in his word, before its eyes, and would have relied on it as if it were sitting on a hard rock and not floating on the water, and as if the sun were shining brightly and were still and not a storm at all. For this is the great art and power of faith, that it sees that which is not seen, and does not see that which is felt, even that which presses and penetrates; just as unbelief sees only that which it feels, and does not cling to that which it does not feel.
For this reason God also sends to faith that it should not have to deal with small things, but with things that all the world cannot stand, such as death, sin, the world and the devil. For all the world cannot stand against death, but flees and is terrified by it, and is also overcome by it; but faith stands firm, and sets itself against death, which devours all the world, and wins to it, and devours the glutton of life. So also all the world cannot compel nor restrain the flesh, but it rules over all the world, and must do what it wills that all the world be carnal thereby; but faith attacks it and throws it under itself, and restrains it so that it must serve. So also no man may rage, persecute, blaspheme, defile the world,
Endure hatred and envy: everyone fades away and is weakened, she is on top and wins; without faith she scoffs and tramples everything underfoot, and makes a joy and pleasure out of it.
So who could overcome the devil with his innumerable cunning ingenuity, so that he hinders the truth, God's word, faith and hope, and causes many an error, sect, seduction, heresy, despair, superstition and abomination without measure? All the world is against him as a spark of fire against a fountain of water. All must be subject to him in this; as we see, hear and touch. But it is faith that gives him trouble, and not only remains unconvinced before him, but also reveals his deceitfulness and puts him to shame, so that his deceitfulness is worthless, becomes dull and falls away; as is happening to him now with his indulgences and papacy. So no one can stop the slightest sin, nor keep silent, but it bites and eats away at the conscience, so that even if all the world comforted and helped such a man, nothing would help; he must go down to hell. Then faith is a hero, and quenches all sins, if they were as many as all the world has done.
(6) Is it not an almighty, unspeakable thing about faith, which can overcome all such powerful enemies and win the victory? that St. John says in 1 Ep. 5:4: "This is the victory that overcomes the world, your faith. Not that such things are done in peace and quiet; for it is a conflict that does not end without wounds and blood; indeed, the heart in such a conflict feels sin, death, the flesh, the devil and the world so hard that it thinks it is lost, sin and death have won, the devil is on top; it feels little of the power of faith. This is what is described in this story, when the waves not only crashed against the ship, but were even covered with it, so that it would now sink and sink, and Christ lay and slept: there was no hope of life, death lay above and had won; life lay below and was lost.
7. as it happened there, so it goes and
must go in all other temptations of the sins, the devil etc. It must feel how sin has captured the conscience, and how it wants to be in wrath and hell and must be eternally lost. The devil must do so much with error and false teaching that it seems that God's word must be defeated and the world must be cleared of error. So too the world must rage and persecute, so that it seems that no man may exist, nor be saved, nor confess faith; but Cain alone wants to rule, and to have his brother dead, so that he is nowhere. But according to appearance and feeling one must neither judge nor do, but according to faith.
Therefore this gospel is a comforting example and teaching, how we should keep ourselves, so that we do not despair in the distress of sin, in the anguish of death, in the raging of the world, and know that for this reason we are not lost, even if the waves cover the ship: you do not have to go to hell because you feel sin, anger and disgrace in your evil conscience; you will not die because the whole world hates and persecutes you, even if it opens its mouth as wide as the dawn. They are all waves that fall over your little ship, and make you despondent, and force you to cry out: It is lost, O Lord! help. So you see here the first part of the gospel, faith, how it should be, and next to it, how unfit and despondent unbelief is.
(9) The other part, love, Christ shows by rising and breaking his sleep for their sake, and taking care of their need as if it were his own, and doing them help out of free love, without their merit; not even seeking anything in return, but letting them enjoy and use this good. As we have often heard that it is the way of Christian love to do everything freely for free, to praise and honor God, that a Christian man also lives on earth for the sake of such love, just as Christ alone lived for the sake of doing good; as he himself says Matth. 20, 28: "I have come to serve, and not to be served."
The spiritual interpretation of this story.
(10) In this Christ modeled the Christian life, especially the ministry of preaching. The ship means Christianity; the sea, the world; the wind, the devil; his disciples are the preachers and devout Christians; Christ is the truth, the gospel and the faith.
11 Now before Christ enters the ship with his disciples, the sea and the wind are calm; but when Christ enters with his disciples, the storm begins, as he himself says in Matt. 10:34: "I have not come to give peace on earth, but a sword." So, if Christ left the world in peace and did not punish its works, it would be quiet. But now he preaches that the wise are fools, and the saints sinners, and the rich are lost, and they become mad and foolish; just as even now some wise men think it would be fine if the gospel were preached plainly, and if the spiritual class were also allowed to remain in its doings, they would well suffer it; but that all such things should be punished and count for nothing, that is what they call preaching strife and sedition, and is not Christian doctrine.
12 Now what does this gospel say? There was a great tempest in the sea when Christ and his disciples were in the ship. Other ships were left in peace by the sea and the wind; this ship must suffer distress because Christ is in it. The world can suffer all preaching without Christ's preaching. That is why, when he comes and where he is, he preaches that he alone wants to be right, and punishes everything else; as he says Matt. 12:30: "He who is not with me is against me," and again John 16:8: "The Spirit will punish the world for sin, for righteousness, and for judgment"; he does not say that he will preach evil, but that he will punish the whole world and all that is in it. But the punishing makes such a storm and danger to this ship. So if he should preach that he would let them go unpunished and their doings remain, he would just as soon keep silent beforehand and stay outside; for so the world's
thing is good and not to punish, so you must be nowhere too.
(13) This is the consolation of Christians, especially of preachers, that they should be sure and consider that where they lead and preach Christ, they will suffer persecution, and nothing else will come of it; and it is a very good sign that preaching is truly Christian where it is persecuted, especially by the great, holy, learned and wise men; again, it is not righteous where it is praised and honored, as he says Luc. 6:22, 26: "Woe to you when people praise you, for so did their fathers praise the false prophets. Blessed are you when men hate you and reject your name because of the Son of Man; for so did their fathers also the prophets." Behold our ministers, how their doctrine is kept; the goods, honor, and power of the world they have even under them, and want to be Christian teachers, and whoever praises and preaches their thing? he is in honor and pleasure.
(14) This is why this is the example of where they should seek comfort and help; not from the world, not from man's art and power, but from Christ himself alone; to him and to him alone they should turn in all their troubles with all faithfulness and confidence, as the disciples do here. For if they had not believed that he would help them, they would not have awakened and called upon him. For if they had not believed that he would help them, they would not have awakened and called upon him, even though their faith was weak and there was still much unbelief, so that they did not freely surrender and dare to live with him, nor did they believe that he could save them in the midst of the sea and snatch them out of death. Thus it is decided that the word of God has no master or judge, and therefore no protector, except God Himself. It is his word. Therefore, just as he lets it go forth without man's merit and counsel, so he himself will handle and defend it without man's help and strength. And whoever seeks protection and comfort from man will fall and lack both, will be abandoned by God and man.
015 But that he sleepeth, he signifieth how their heart stood, namely, that they had a weak, drowsy faith; but most of all that Christ withdraweth himself at the time of persecution, and pretendeth to sleep;
and does not give strength and power, nor peace and rest, but makes us grieve and labor in our weakness, so that we may realize how we are nothing at all, and that everything depends on His grace and power, as Paul confesses in 2 Cor. 1, 9. that he had to suffer such great tribulations, so that we may learn not to trust in ourselves, but in God, who awakens the dead. Such sleep of God was also often felt by David, and he also reports it in many places; he says Ps. 44, 24: "Wake up, Lord, arise, why do you sleep and forget us!"
16 In sum, this gospel gives us two comforting, defiant sayings, that when persecution arises for the sake of God's word, we may say, "I thought Christ was in the ship; therefore the sea and the wind are raging, and the waves are falling and want to sink us; but let the raging, it
is decided, wind and sea are obedient to him. The persecution will not last any longer, because he wills it; even if they attack us, they will still have to be subject to him; he is the Lord over all, therefore it will not harm us; he only helps us that we do not waver with unbelief, amen.
17) But that people marvel and praise the Lord, that the wind and the sea are subject to him, means that through persecution the gospel, God's word, only advances, grows stronger and faith increases; which is also a contradictory way of all worldly goods, which decrease through misfortune and adversity and increase through happiness and peace. Christ's kingdom increases through affliction and decreases through peace and good fortune, as St. Paul says 2 Cor. 12, 9: "My strength increases through weakness" etc. May God help us, amen.