Second Sermon.
(1) First, we must overlook a little the text of history, according to which the benefit of Christ's resurrection is to be dealt with, and how we are to build upon it. So the text says, "When the Sabbath was past." It is to be known that Marcus writes here in Hebrew of the Sabbath; for the Jews have raised the day at evening and reckoned it to the evening of the next day, as it is written in the first book of Moses, Cap. 1: "Then the evening and the morning became the first day," "the other," "the third," and so on; so that the first and highest Sabbath began on the evening when Christ was crucified, as on Friday on the evening when the sun departed. We count contrary. But as yesterday was the high Sabbath, on which Christ lay in the grave; after that the Jews had seven whole days to celebrate, which they called sabbaths at all times, and on the next feast day after the high Sabbath they began to count, and that was called prima sabbathorum (first Sabbath); the third feast day after that they called secundam sabbathorum (second Sabbath), and so on. And these days they ate only wafers and unleavened bread, therefore they are also called days of sweet bread by the evangelist. From this we have to conclude that Christ rose from the dead before the sun went out, before the angel descended in the earthquake; but after that the angel came to open only the unburied tomb, etc. as the evangelists clearly describe.
Now here is a question: How we say that he rose on the third day, and yet he lay in the grave only one day and two nights? To reckon in Jewish, it is alone
*) This sermon has likewise only the editions a b c.
A day and a half; but how shall we now persevere in believing three days? To this we say: That he took all three days with his death. For he died about two on Friday, so that he lay the first day about two hours; after that he lay the whole day, and that is the true Sabbath; on the third day, which is today, he rose again, and caught the day today; as we also say, It happened on Easter day, though it happens in the evening, so that only the day is caught; so Paul and the evangelists say that he rose again on the third day.
Now Christ had to lie so long and no longer, that one should assume that his corpse would still have remained naturally fresh, that no decay would have inflamed him yet; and had to burst forth as soon as one assumed that he would not have become stinking in a natural way yet; because one cannot give more time to a corpse, in three days one decays soon; therefore Christ had to rise on the third day, before he decomposed.
4 Here it is also especially noticeable that the women have a great desire and love for the Lord, so that they go to the grave unthinkingly, early alone, and do not remember the large stone that was rolled in front of the grave, that they would have considered so much and taken some man with them. But they do here as fearful and anxious people do, so they go there and do not even think about the most necessary things; yes, they also do not think about the guardians who were there, nor about the wrath of Pilate and the Jews, but dare to go there freely and set out alone. What urged the good women to put suffering and life into the entrenchment? Nothing else, but the favor and love they bore for the Lord;
It had sunk so deep into their hearts that they would have dared a thousand necks for its sake. They did not have the courage of themselves, but there one felt as soon as the power of the resurrection of Christ, whose spirit makes these women, who are otherwise fearful by nature, so bold and courageous that they may dare such a thing, of which even a man would have been afraid.
(5) We also have here in these women a beautiful example of a spiritual heart that undertakes an impossible work, which all the world despaired of; nevertheless, this same heart stands firm here and leads it out, and does not allow itself to think it impossible. Now that we have said this about history, let us see what benefit and good the resurrection of Christ has brought us.
II. Of the fruit and benefit of the resurrection of Christ.
6 Thus St. Paul speaks to the Romans Cap. 4, 25: "Christ was given for our sins and raised for our righteousness. This is the right man, who masterfully expounds Christ; he says rightly for what Christ suffered and why, and how we are to enter into it, namely, that he died for our sin's sake. This means that the suffering of Christ was interpreted in a way that it could be used. But just as it is not enough for me to know and believe that Christ died, so it is not enough for me to know and believe that Christ rose from the dead with a glorified body, and that he sits there and has joy and gladness and is no longer subject to mortality, for this improves me little or nothing. But then I come to believe that all the work that God does in Christ is done for me, yes, it is given to me, so that his resurrection works in me, so that I also rise from the dead and come to life with him. One must strike it into the heart, and not only hear with the bodily ears or speak with the mouth.
(7) Now you have heard in the Passion how Christ is set forth for us as an example and a help, that whoever follows him and clings to him may overcome the Spirit, so that
But this is much more Christian here, and should be more heartfelt and comforting to us, that Paul says: Christ was raised from the dead for our righteousness' sake. The Lamb is revealed, when John the Baptist testifies and says John 1:29: "This is the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Then is fulfilled that which was spoken to the serpent Genesis 3:15: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; and he shall bruise thy head": so that all those who believe in him shall be strangled with hell, death, the devil and sin. Thus also today is fulfilled the promise which God made to Abraham, when He said Gen. 22:18: "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Now this is Christ, who takes away our curses and crushes sin, death and the devil.
008 Now this is done, I say, by faith. For if thou thinkest this seed to be the seed by which the serpent is slain, it is slain unto thee: and that it is the seed whereby all nations shall be blessed, thou also art blessed. For every one in particular should have trodden down the serpent, and delivered himself out of the curse; which would have been too hard for us, yea, even impossible. But it was easy, that Christ once trodden down the serpent, and that he alone was given for a blessing and a blessing, and that after that he had it proclaimed to the world through and through, so that whoever believes and grasps it, and holds on to it, has it, and is sure that it is as he believes it. For this word becomes so powerful in his heart that he overcomes death, the devil, sin and all misfortune, just as Christ himself did. So powerful is the word that even God would have to succumb before this word should succumb.
(9) Now this is what St. Paul says, Let Christ be raised up for our righteousness' sake. Then St. Paul takes my eyes, turns them from my sins, and turns them to Christ; for if I have not turned my eyes from my sins to Christ, then I am not righteous.
*) Instead of benedeiung, c has vermaledeiung. D. Red.
When I look at my sins, they strangle me. Therefore I must look to Christ, who took my sin upon himself and crushed the serpent's head, and became the blessing; now they no longer lie on my conscience, but on Christ, whom they want to strangle. Let us now see how they deal with him. They throw him to the ground and kill him. O God! Where is now my Christ and my Beatificator? But God comes and snatches out the Christ and makes him alive, and not only alive, but sets him in heaven and makes him reign over all. Where then has sin remained? **There it lies under his feet. If then I cleave unto it, I have a merry conscience, as Christ hath, that I am without sin. Now in spite of death, devil, sin and hell, that they do me harm. Because I am Adam's, they can do me good, since I must die shortly. But now that Christ has taken my sin upon Himself, and has died for it, and has allowed Himself to be strangled for sin's sake, they cannot harm me; for Christ is too strong for them, they cannot keep Him, He breaks forth and presses them to the ground, goes up to heaven †) and there reigns over all for eternity. Then I have a good conscience, I am glad and blessed, I am no longer afraid of these tyrants; for Christ has taken away my sin from me and loaded it onto himself. Now they cannot well remain on him; where then do they come? They must disappear and go to the ground. So faith works, that whoever believes that Christ has taken away sin is without sin like Christ, and that death, the devil and hell have overcome him and nothing can harm him anymore.
(10) Then comes the saying in Hosea chap. 13, 14, which Paul refers to the victory that Christ has done, that he rose from the dead and overcame sin, death, hell and all things. In the victory, Paul says, death is swallowed up and thus defies: "Death,
*) Instead of But have a b Yes! D. Red.
**) Yes, it is on the gallows. If I now stop on it, etc. (a b)
where is your sting? Hell, where is your victory?" As if St. Paul were saying, "Death, where are your teeth now? Come, bite off a finger. You had a spear before, where has it gone now? Christ has taken it away from you. Death, where is now your spear, hen (he)? Sin, where is now your sharpness and your power? But the power of sin, says St. Paul, is the law. For the brighter the law is recognized, the more sin presses on and stings. That is why St. Paul says that Christ has pulverized the spear and whetstone of death and made it null and void. Now he did not take this up to heaven with him, but let it go into the world with preaching, that whoever takes the man for it, the spear, the whetstone, yes, sin and death shall be gone from him; this is a true gospel, which gives life, strength, power and sap, since all sayings and scriptures also come to pass.
(11) Therefore see and learn to know Christ rightly, for all Scripture gives the righteousness of the right knowledge of Christ; but this must be done by the Holy Spirit. Therefore let us pray to God that His gospel may arise and that we may learn to know Christ rightly, and so rise up with Him and all come like Him into the glory of God.
(12) Now a question arises here: Since Christ has taken away death and our sin and has made us righteous with his resurrection, why do we still feel sin and death in us? Because the sins still bite, the conscience pricks us, and that same evil conscience then makes the fear of hell.
(13) Answer: I have often said before that there are two kinds of feeling and believing. Faith is of the kind that it does not feel, but drops reason, closes its eyes, and surrenders badly to the word, following it through death and life. But feeling goes no further than what one can understand with reason and the senses, than what one hears, sees and feels, or recognizes with the external senses. Therefore feeling is against faith; faith against feeling. Therefore the master of the epistle to the Hebrews Cap. 11, 1. describes faith thus:
That he is a certain assurance of that which is to be hoped for, and is based on that which does not appear. For if one saw Christ visibly hovering in heaven, like the bodily sun, one would not believe it; but now Christ died for our sins and rose again for our righteousness' sake, this one does not see, one does not feel, nor can one comprehend it with any reason; Therefore, one must step away from feeling and badly grasp the word in one's ears, and then write it in one's heart and cling to it, even if it has no appearance that my sins are gone from me, even if I still feel them in me. One must not look at the feeling, but firmly insist that death, sin and hell have been overcome, even though I feel that I am still in death, sin and hell. For even though the feeling of sin still remains in us, it is only for this reason that it should drive us to faith and make our faith strong, so that we receive the word against all feeling, and then always set our heart and conscience on Christ. So faith leads us quietly through sin, through death and through hell against all feeling and understanding of reason; after that we see redemption before our eyes, and then we become fully aware of what we have believed, namely that death and all misfortune have been overcome.
14 Take a likeness of the fish in the water. When they come into the net and are caught, they are led along quietly, so that they do not think otherwise, they are still in the water; but when they are pulled out to the shore, they are bare, then they wriggle, and only feel that they are caught. It is the same with souls: when they are caught in the gospel, which Christ compares to a net, Matth. 13, 47, and the heart is now taken in, the same word binds the poor heart to Christ and leads it gently and quietly out of hell and out of sin, even though the soul still feels the sin and thinks it is still in it. Then a battle arises, so that the feeling fights against the spirit and faith, and the spirit fights against the sin.
and faith against feeling; and the more faith increases, the more feeling decreases, and again. Sins are still in us, such as pride, avarice, anger, and whatever they are called, but only because they drive us to faith, so that faith may increase from day to day, and man may finally become a Christian through and through and keep the true Sabbath, so that he crawls into Christ with skin and hair, so that a conscience must become calm and satisfied, and all the wolves and bulges*) of sin must fall. For as on the sea one bulge after another runs and pushes, as if they would overturn the shore, but they pass away and squeeze themselves away: so also sins strive against us, and would gladly make us despondent; but at last they must subside, grow weary, and all disappear.
(15) Secondly, death is also on our necks; this is also an exercise for him who believes that death is dead and that all its power has been taken away. Now reason feels that death still lies on our necks and presses us constantly. He who follows his feelings is corrupt, but he who, against his feelings, clings to the word with his heart is brought through. If then the heart cleaves to it, then reason also goes after it; but if reason goes after it, then everything goes after it, lust and love, and everything that is in man. Yes, we would then have everything come to pass, so that death would be considered dead and ineffective. Now this cannot happen until the old skin, the old Adam, falls away completely, and meanwhile it happens, as Christ says in Matthew 13:33 about leaven, that the kingdom of God is like leaven which a woman mixes or kneads under three bushels of flour. For even though it has been kneaded, it is not leavened at all. So also here, although the heart is set on death and hell being gone, the leaven is not yet completely worked through, for it must be worked and driven through all the limbs and bones until everything has been leavened.
*) Wölge and Bülge, which means surge, surf.
D. Red.
and pure, so that only a loud faith remains there. This does not happen sooner, because when the old man goes completely, everything that is in man becomes thoroughly Christian.
(16) Therefore these two things, sin and death, are left here, that we may have cause to exercise and sharpen our faith, that it may become more abundant in our hearts from day to day, and afterward break forth, and that all things, both body and soul, may become Christian. For when the heart hangs on the word, then the feeling and thinking must go out; so then with time the will also goes after; where the will goes, then everything, desire and love, also goes after; then one crawls completely into the gospel, and becomes new and leaves the old skin outside. After that comes another light, another feeling, another seeing, another hearing, working and speaking, and also another flowing out. Now our doctors and the papists have taught us to become pious by rote, have commanded the eyes not to see, the ears not to hear, and have thus wanted to drive in piety from without. O that is far from it! But this is how it is: when the heart and conscience now cling to the word with faith, it flows out into works, so that when the heart is devout, all the limbs become devout, and good works follow.
(17) Now this is signified in the Sabbath, which was commanded to be kept, and on which the Lord lay very still in the grave. This means that we should rest from all our doings, that we should not be moved, that no sin should be stirred up in us, but that we should firmly believe,
that death, hell, sin and the devil are gone through Christ's death, and we are righteous, pious, holy, and therefore satisfied, and feel no more sin; that therefore all limbs are still and quiet, and stand in this opinion, that sin and death are overcome and lie down. This cannot happen, I said, until the fainting maggot bag and the old Adam are completely gone. Well, it must truly come to pass, the Sabbath is laid up for us. For as Christ lies in the grave for the Sabbath, neither feeling nor stirring: so it must be with us also, as we have heard, the feeling and rain must all lie down. This, I say again, cannot be done, the old Adam must first become powder and ashes. Nevertheless, he still feels sin and death, and strangles himself with them and always fights against them. For even if you tie a sow, you tie her as hard as you want, she still keeps gasping, you can't stop her, until she suffocates and remains dead. *] So also are the sins in our flesh, because they are not yet completely dead and killed, they still stir; but when death comes, then they must die, then one becomes fully Christian and pure, rather not. And this is the reason why we must die, that we may once be completely rid of sins and death. That is enough said for now about the benefit of Christ's resurrection, let us now leave it at that, and call upon God for grace, that we may grasp this and know Christ rightly.
*) (b)