Luc. 16, 1-9.
And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward, which was reproached before him, as if he had destroyed his goods. And he challenged him, and said unto him, How hear I of thee? Give account of your stewardship, for you cannot be a steward henceforth. The steward said to himself: What shall I do? My lord takes the office from me; I do not like to dig, so I am ashamed to beg. I know what I will do when I am removed from office and they take me into their houses. And he called all his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou my lord? And he said, An hundred tons of oleum. And he said unto him, Take thy letter, and sit down, and write fifty. Then he said to the other: How much do you owe? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy letter, and write eighty. And the Lord praised the unjust steward, because he had done wisely. For the children of this world are wiser than the children of light in their generation. And I say also unto you, Make friends with the unrighteous Mammon, that, when ye now offer, they may receive you into the everlasting tabernacles.
This is quite a gospel of priests and monks, which wants to carry money where we do not resist. Now, before we come into it, we must get used to the language, namely the word "mammon". The Jews got used to this word from the Hebrew language, and it has remained with us like other words, such as Alleluia, Amen, Kyrie eleison. So "mammon" in German means wealth, and not bad wealth, but other wealth, that is, which is above measure and need. But what is called mammon and what is not called mammon is divided in two ways: first, if it is to be measured according to our Lord God and according to the truth, then those who have mammon will be many; but if it is to be measured according to the world and according to men, then they will be few. For our masters have taught in the high schools and also in the pulpit, that every man should look at his station, what he needs, and measure his goods according to it: if he is a man, and has a wife and child, he must have the more; for where there are many people, there must also be much good. And if you estimate it this way, no one has nothing left, but everyone would like to have even more. So, if a man has two thousand gul-
*) This sermon is found in a b c and in a single print from 1522. Cf. Erl. A. 13, 286.
D. Red.
the one who says, I must have these for my house, that I may preserve myself, my wife and children.
002 Secondly, they have taught that one is not obliged to help except in the greatest need. With this the gospel is completely annulled, that no one was helpful to another, but meanwhile they built churches; and yet they did not expect the greatest need, until the vaults were torn up and the church roofs were loosed, but gave to a lavish abundance and smeared the gold on the walls. But Summa Summarum, Mammon is actually called, if one has remaining food, so that he may help the other and yet not spoil himself.
3 After this the Lord calls it an "unrighteous" mammon, because it is daily in the use of the unrighteous; as it is said: Good makes courage; and the heathen have also called it irritamenta malorum, good provokes to evil. Item, St. Paul speaks 1 Tim. 6, 10: "Avarice is a root of all evil." For from it grows quarrels, arrogance, war and bloodshed. That is why it is called unjust mammon, because it is used in such an evil way and is a great cause of evil to people.
4. Now it is also God's creature, like wine and grain, and God's creatures are good; why then does He call them evil?
Therefore, that it provokes much evil. Just as Paul says to the Ephesians Cap. 5, 16: "Loose the time, for it is an evil time", not that the time or days are evil in themselves, but that much evil happens in them. Item, he also says Rom. 2, 5: "The day of wrath and sorrow," although the day is good; but because the wrath and sorrow go in it, the day must be called by it. Also, because mammon is used wickedly, it is called unjust mammon, which one has left over and does not help his neighbor with it; for the same is possessed unjustly and is stolen from God. For before God one is guilty of giving, borrowing and letting oneself be taken. Therefore the greatest merchants are the greatest thieves, according to the common saying; for they have the most to spare and give the least to others. Now that we have spoken of the language, let us return to the gospel.
(5) Let us leave this simile in the simple sense, and not seek much subtlety, as Jerome has done; for it is not necessary to seek such subtlety, let us stay out of the milk alone. Let the likeness remain for itself, as if the steward had deprived his master of his estate, and sent himself into the estate deceitfully, fraudulently, and falsely. For it is not right that he who before deceived his master should now deal too deceitfully with his goods, that he may have good days all his life; let it be so. For the Lord thus concludes that the unjust steward has done wisely: he does not praise that it is good, but reproves him for having robbed the lord of his goods before, and then for having deceitfully directed himself to the goods. But this the Lord praises, that he has not forgotten him; he only praises his cunning. It is as if I saw a whore who attracts the whole world to herself and says, "This is a clever whore who knows the right things to do. From this the Lord concludes that just as the steward here is cunning in what he does, so we also should be cunning to gain eternal life.
6th And that ye may understand it, take this saying of St. Paul before you unto the Romans
Cap. 5, 14: "Adam is a figure of Christ." How does the apostle compare Adam with Christ, since Adam bequeathed sin and death to us, and Christ righteousness and life? He likens the Lord Christ to Adam in origin and stock, but not in fruit and work; for Adam is the origin and head of all sinners, so Christ is the origin and head of all saints. For we have inherited no more from Adam than sin and condemnation and eternal damnation; but from Christ we have obtained righteousness and salvation. Now these two do not agree; for sin is reprehensible, righteousness is praiseworthy. But according to the origin he compares them: that as through Adam sin and death entered into all men, so through Christ righteousness and life entered in.
(7) So also here he compares the unrighteous to the righteous, that as the unrighteous deal wisely in unrighteousness and evil, so we ought to deal wisely in righteousness in godliness. So let the likeness stand and be understood; for the Lord thus saith, "The children of this world are wiser than the children of light." That the children of light may learn prudence from the children of darkness, or of the world: that as they are wise in their doings, so the children of light may be wise in their doings. Therefore he adds "in their generation. Now there are indeed three great questions, that our adversaries may bring up the gospel against us, as when the Lord saith:
Make friends with the unrighteous mammon, so that when you now offer, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles.
(8) From this they conclude that we must first work to become godly, for here it says, "Make friends," which is working. Secondly, they say, God wants to praise the works here, and not only praise them, but also reward them; for here the work and the reward are written, and faith is not mentioned. Thirdly, they pretend that he wants to confirm the consolation and the help of the saints, as if he would
Says: "Make friends with the unrighteous Mammon, so that when you offer yourselves, they may take you up into the eternal tabernacles. So the gospel wants to stand completely against us, because it says: "Make friends", that is, do good works, so that they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles; which reads in the same way: Earn it beforehand, so that they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles. The pope and the priests have almost brought the three pieces upon themselves, and have also called his indulgence mammon iniquitatis, that is, unjust mammon.
(9) To this we must answer, if they thus attack us; and above all, note that there is no doubt that faith and love alone are the cause, as you have always learned, that we become inwardly godly by faith, and prove it outwardly by works of love. For I have often said that the Scriptures speak of man in two ways: first, as of the inward; second, as of the outward. For the Scripture must speak differently; as, if I speak of the foot, I cannot speak of the nose. Therefore the Scripture speaks of us once as of the spirit, as he must stand before God through faith, then he lets his word go forth, then we hang on, and after that he lets his spirit follow. So the tree before must be good, as you heard the other day.
(10) No one can come to godliness unless he has grace in his heart; if I am to make friends of mammon, I must first be godly. For keep the two together: No evil tree can bear good fruit; and again, No good tree can bear evil fruit. Now judge for yourself: If I am to do good and give away mammon, then I must be pious in heart; for God looks at the heart, and according to it He protects the works. I say this only so that one does not put works into the heart, but let the heart be pious beforehand through faith, so that the works flow out; otherwise you do no good to anyone: even if you give something to someone, this is not done from the heart. So it follows that I must be pious before I do good works. It is not built from the outside, nor is it raised from the roof, but from the
ground; therefore, faith must be there beforehand.
011 Therefore the scripture speaketh of us as outward men, walking with man in the flesh. Now that I am pious, neither do you nor I know it; therefore I must make my faith sure to myself and to men, and must do good to my neighbor, that faith may be proved; so then outward works alone are signs of inward faith. Works do not make me pious, but they show that I am pious and testify that faith is right in me. So you must also understand the Scripture here: Pray for mammon, that ye may make friends for yourselves; that is, do good, that your faith may be established. So you have to distinguish what concerns the spirit and what concerns the fruit of the spirit.
(12) So Lucas here described the fruit of faith: Give to the poor and make friends. As if to say: I will not speak now of faith, but how you should prove your faith. Therefore do good to your neighbor, and if you can give from your heart, you are sure that you believe; so the Scripture speaks once of fruits, and then of faith. Item, so it also speaks of fruits, when it says Matth. 25, 42, how the Lord will say on the last day to the damned: "I was hungry, and you did not feed me; I was thirsty, and you did not give me drink" etc., that is, you did not believe, I will testify to that with your own works.
(13) The Scriptures speak in some places of the outward walk, and in some of the inward. If then thou wouldest bring into the heart and mix up that which is spoken of outwardly, thou wouldest pervert it and do wrong; therefore thou must leave it different. These sayings, I was hungry, thirsty, without lodging, naked, sick, and imprisoned, and ye showed me no work of mercy, are directed to the outward walk, and are like this, Ye never led such an outward walk, as to shew your faith: therefore will I take the poor people for witnesses. Therefore faith alone must be the first, the second, the third.
to make us godly, after which works follow to prove godliness. Now this is a piece, namely, of the works.
14 The other part is much harder, because the Lord says, "Make friends with unrighteous Mammon, that they may take you to eternal life. You say, say our adversaries, that one should not do good works for the sake of eternal life; behold, it says otherwise. Well, how shall we do it? There are many sayings to and fro, how we shall have merit. With these they want to put down God's mercy, and lead us to do God's justice with good works; so beware of this, but stay on it, and let it be pure grace and mercy, and say: I am a poor sinner, O God, forgive me my sin, I will gladly keep silent of my merit, keep silent of your judgment alone. So David says: "Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for before you no living person will be justified", Ps. 143, 2. And for this very reason Christ was given to be a mediator. If we then want to go to court with God with good works, we push Christ out of the way, so that we cannot stand before God. Therefore let him be the mediator, and hold yourselves under his wings, as the 91st Psalm v. 4. says: "He will cover you with his wings, and your confidence will be under his wings." Therefore say, O God, I will not earn anything before you with my works, but I will direct them only to serve my neighbor, and I will keep to your pure mercy.
(15) Therefore you must realize that eternal life has two things, faith and that which follows faith. If you go and believe, and do good to your neighbor, eternal life must follow, though you never think of it. Just as when you drink a good drink, the taste must follow as soon as you drink, even if you do not seek it. Just as with hell: the damned does not seek it, now it follows unsearched and unwanted, and he must go in, whether he wants to or not. This is also what St. Paul says in 1 Thess. 2, 15. 16. about the persecutors of the gospel: "They have persecuted us,
and do not please God, and are contrary to all men; they refuse to tell us to the Gentiles, that they may be saved, that they may fulfill their sin always; for wrath is already come upon them at last." As if he wanted to say: "They persecute us alone, so that they may fulfill their sin and earn hell in all honesty, and so they continue to sin more and more until they become completely hardened and finally no longer respect either God or man.
16 So also the Scripture says here that we should do good that we may be saved; this is not to say that we should earn it by works beforehand, but believe, and it will follow of itself. Therefore, be careful not to take the result for the seeking, and beware of the merit of works. Should God give us heaven for our works? No, no; he gave it before for nothing, out of mercy. Therefore give to the poor, that the eternal tabernacle may follow, and not that you may earn it by your giving.
(17) Now then, notice that these sayings are understood in two ways: first, to seek with works, which is wrong; and second, for a result, which is right. Therefore you must not seek heaven with any work, but only do the works freely, and the result, that is, eternal life, will come of itself without your seeking. For if I saw heaven standing open, and could earn it by picking it up with a straw, I would not do it, lest I should say, Behold, I have earned it. No, no; not to my merit, but to God be the glory, who gave me his Son, and destroyed my sin and hell.
018 Thirdly, they hold fast these words, "That they may take you up into everlasting habitations." Behold, they say, there it is written, that they take us into heaven, how sayest thou then: We shall not set the saints as mediators before God; for they cannot help us in heaven? Notice, then, that we have only One Mediator before God, which is Christ; for thus Paul says 1 Tim. 2:5: "There is One God, and One Mediator between God and men, even the man Christ Jesus." Item, Christ Himself speaks Joh. 14, 6: "I
I am the way; no one comes to the Father except through me. Therefore we should not place our comfort in any saints, but only in Christ, through whose merit alone we and all the saints will be saved. Therefore I would not give a farthing on St. Peter's merit, that he should help me: he cannot help himself, but what he has, he has from God through faith in Christ. Now, if he cannot help himself, how can he do anything for me? Therefore I must have another, which is now Christ, God and man at the same time.
(19) How does it say here? Make you friends, that they may take you into the everlasting tabernacles. We understand this saying from the words of Christ, Matt. 25:37-40, where he says how the King will answer those who say on the last day, "Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, without shelter, naked, sick and in prison? Verily I say unto you," he will say, "inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." There the Lord shows who the friends are, that are just the poor and needy. As if to say, "If you have made them your friends, you have made me your friend, for these are my members.
20 Now there is one more thing: How then will they take us into the eternal tabernacles? as here the text says; will they take us at the
Lead them in by hand? No, but when we come before God's judgment, a poor man, to whom I have done good before, will stand in heaven and say: He has washed my feet, he has watered me, fed me, clothed me, and so on; he will certainly be my friend and a witness of my faith, and how they will use words to that effect. Then a beggar will be more useful to me than St. Peter or St. Paul; for there no one helps. But if a beggar comes and says, "Oh God, this is what he has done to me as a member of your family, this will help me, for God will say: Inasmuch as ye have done it unto him, ye have done it unto me. So these same poor will not be helpers, but our witnesses that God will receive us. By this I do not mean that you should do honor to St. Peter or other saints, for he is a member of God and of Christ: but it is better to give a penny to your neighbor than to build a golden church for St. Peter; for to help the poor is commanded, but to build a church for St. Peter is not. Now it is all the other way around: one runs to Compostel to St. James, the other to Aachen, the other to Rome, and wants to look for the dead saints; but the poor people, who are the true sanctuary, are left to sit and lie in the street. Enough has been said about this gospel.