Luc. 10, 23-37.
And he turned to his disciples, and said in particular, Blessed are the eyes which see that ye see. For I say unto you, That many prophets and kings would see that ye see, and have not seen; and would hear that ye hear, and have not heard. And, behold, a certain scribe stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And he said unto him, How is it written in the law? how readest thou? And he answered and said, Thou shalt love thy Lord God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: do this, and thou shalt live. But he, desiring to justify himself, said unto JEsu, Who then is my neighbor? Then answered Jesus, and said, There was a certain man which went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among the murderers: and they stripped him, and smote him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And it came to pass about this time, that a priest went down that same street; and when he saw him, he passed by. A Levite came to the same place and saw him, and he passed by. And a certain Samaritan journeyed, and came thither: and when he saw him, he lamented him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, and poured oil and wine into them, and lifted him up upon his beast, and brought him to the inn, and nursed him. The next day he journeyed, and brought out two
*This sermon is found in a b c, furthermore in the "Twelve Sermons on Our Lady and the Holy Feast by D. Martin Luther" 1524, furthermore the second part, from the heading: "Von dem Gesetz und Evangelio" (ยง 38. ff.), in the sermon: "Sermon von den Heilthumen" from 1522. Cf. Erl. A. 14, 1. D. Red.
He gave it to the innkeeper and said to him, "Take care of it, and if you give me any more, I will pay you when I come back. Which of these three do you think was the closest to the one who fell among the murderers? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said JESUS unto him, Go thy way, and do likewise.
1 This gospel, I hope, you understand well, for it is an annual sermon. But because it comes again and again, we must and will also deal with it a little. First of all, the evangelist speaks of how the Lord Christ led his disciples alone, rejoicing in the Spirit and saying to them in particular:
Blessed are the eyes that see that ye see: for I say unto you, That many prophets and kings would see that ye see, and have not seen; and would hear that ye hear, and have not heard.
(2) This seeing and hearing must be understood badly and simplistically from the outward seeing and hearing, namely, that they have seen Christ in person, and the ministry which he did, and have heard his preaching, and have been present at the miracles which he did among the Jews. The Jews also saw this bodily, yes, they felt it in part; but for Christ they truly did not recognize him, as the apostles did when Peter confessed all of them instead of the others and said Matth. 16, 16: "You are Christ, the Son of the living God." We admit that there were some among the Jews who also recognized him like the apostles, but there were few of them. Therefore he takes them here to himself alone.
(3) Many prophets and kings also have seen Christ, but in the spirit: as the Lord himself saith unto the Jews concerning Abraham in John 8:56: "Abraham your father was glad that he should see my day, and he saw it, and rejoiced. Then the Jews thought he was speaking of a bodily seeing; but Christ speaks of a spiritual seeing, so that all devout Christian hearts saw him before he was born, and still see him daily. For if Abraham saw him, doubtless many more prophets saw him, in whom was the Holy Ghost. And although this seeing is the holy
Although the prophets and fathers were blessed, they had a heartfelt desire and longing to see the Lord Christ in the flesh, as is shown from time to time in the prophets.
4 Therefore the Lord says here to his disciples, who both saw it bodily and spiritually: "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. As if he wanted to say: Now is a blessed time, a pleasant year, a time of grace; the thing that is now present is so delicious that the eyes that see it are called blessed; for until now the gospel has not been preached publicly and so brightly before everyone; the Holy Spirit had not yet been given publicly, but was still hidden, still did little. But Christ, who began the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and the apostles afterward did it with all earnestness; therefore he calls blessed all who see and hear such grace. While the Lord was speaking these things and rejoicing in the Spirit, one of the scribes came forward as if he were a man of some standing, tempting the Lord and saying:
Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
This scholar of Christ may have been a wise man and knew the Scriptures well, which is also shown by his answer; but here he still becomes a fool and must first learn from the Lord, yes, he becomes a sinner and a disgrace. For Christ gives him a real lesson, takes away all his glory with one word; for he was under the delusion that he had kept the law completely and was something special above others, as he undoubtedly was, and now thought, because he was so pious and learned, that he was worthy to speak to the Lord. But how does the Lord do to him, so that he may catch him masterfully? So he does to him: He lets him report himself. For thus says the evangelist:
And he said unto him, How is it written in the law? how readest thou? And he answered and said, Thou shalt love thy Lord God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: do this, and thou shalt live.
(6) I think that the Lord has given this pious man some Latin. Oh, it is not right, he should have spared him a little, make him a disgrace before all the world; what does it help him? Show him that he has not yet done anything, but he made himself believe that he had done it all. He asks what he should do? I think he has enough to do now, if he could only do a lot.
Now, much could be said about these two commandments and would be necessary if we had time; for these are the highest and greatest pieces in Moses, indeed, in them "hang all the law and the prophets", as Christ himself says in Matthew Cap. 22, 40. Nevertheless, we want to see a little of it.
(8) When we look at all the laws in Moses, they are all about love; for this commandment, "You shall not have strange gods," I cannot interpret or construe otherwise than: You shall love God alone. This is also the interpretation of Moses himself in the fifth book Cap. 6, 4. 5. where he says: "Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength." From this also the scholar of Christ took his answer. But the Jews understand this commandment no further than that they should not set up idols nor images, nor worship them, and if they can say with their mouths and confess that they have only One God and honor none more, they think they have kept this commandment. So also this Christian scholar understood it; but it was a false, unrighteous mind.
Now we must pay attention to the law. It says: "You shall not have a foreign god. You, you, says it, who are everything; and especially it means the heart, the soul, and all your wealth. It does not say
of the tongue, nor of the hand, nor of the knees; but it speaks of the whole body, and of all that thou hast and art. If I am not to have a foreign God, I must truly have the one true God with my heart, that is, I must be fond of him from the heart, cling to him forever, rely on him, trust him, have pleasure, love and joy in him, and always remember him; just as we usually say when we have pleasure in a thing: That tastes into the heart. And if one speaks or laughs, and is not serious, does not mean it from the heart, we say: You laugh, and the heart does not know. The heart is another thing than the mouth; therefore "heart" in Scripture means the great fierce love we are to have for God. Those who serve God with their mouth, with their hand, or with their knees are hypocrites, and God does not respect them, for God does not want one thing alone, but He wants it all.
(10) The Jews outwardly abstained from idolatry and served God only with their mouths, but their hearts were far from it, full of distrust and unbelief. Outwardly, they appeared to be serious, but inwardly they were full of idolatry. That is why the Lord said to them in Matthew Cap. 23:27, 28: "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men's legs and all filthiness. So also ye; outwardly ye seem pious before men, but inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."
(11) These are the right wicked people, who become proud of their outward nature, who want to justify themselves and make themselves pious from their works; as this Christian scholar also does here. Behold, how proud an ass he is, in the name of which he appears, thinking that Christ would not punish him, yes, he made himself believe that the Lord would praise and extol his life before the people here; he did not think that he wanted to learn something from the Lord, but only sought his own fame: the lappet would have liked to have a hymn of praise from the man on whom the people looked and of whom everyone was astonished. This is what all hypocrites do,
who go along beautifully by heart with excellent, great, high works. They say they do not ask for honor and glory, but inwardly they are full of ambition, they want the whole world to know their holiness, they smile when they hear about it.
12. But the Lord does this scribe no service by putting him to shame: he is an unkind, unkind man, the Christ, he tells the truth to the people, and well deserves to be hated; the pious, holy man still stands on his head, and does not know any other way, he wants to take great honor and hunt for a great glory of his precious life, thinks he has fulfilled this commandment, and hates a good answer, that the Lord would say: Dear Master, you have done it all; so bring Christ here, and first say to him, "Do this!" This is said in good German: You are a jack in the skin, you have never done it all your life, yes, you have not kept one letter of it; so show him his wickedness. The poor wretch thinks he should sit at the top; for he would be fine, pure and handsome, and would sit cheaper among the angels than that he should sit here among the people. How strange Christ is to me! The people consider this scribe to be pious and holy, but Christ says that he should go and begin to fulfill the law. Rhyme!
(13) Now these are the very fellows who sin most nobly against the first commandment, and think no further than the words: I shall love God, and think that this is the end of it: so remain in the mouth and on the heart, do not enter into it. But it is not enough, it must come much further, namely, that I love God so much that for His sake I can leave all creatures, and if He wills, also life and limb, yes, that I love Him alone above all. For God is a zealot, he cannot suffer anyone to love anything above him; but to love anything below him he will well permit. Just as a man may well suffer a woman to love the maids, the house, the household utensils, the cattle, and other things: but with love, so that
If she is to love him, he allows her to love no one but herself; indeed, he wants her to leave everything for his sake. And again, this is what the woman wants from the man. So God can also suffer that we love his creatures, yes, they are therefore created and good. The sun is one of his creatures; gold and silver, and everything that is pretty and beautiful, naturally brings with it a love. God grants us this. But that I want to cling to creatures and compare them to him in his love, that he does not want and cannot suffer; yes, he wants me to deny such things and "leave them, if he desires and wants them from me, and that I should be satisfied, if I should never see the sun, money and goods. The love of creatures shall be far, far below his love; and as he is the highest good, so he also wants to be loved above all other good. He does not want me to love anything besides him, much less to love anything above him, even though it is one thing.
(14) Now you see, I mean, what it is to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. To love God with all my heart is to love God above all creatures, that is, although there are many creatures that are almost lovely, that are pleasing to me and that I love, yet for God's sake, if God my Lord wills it, I despise them all and let them go.
15. To love God with all your soul is to let your whole life go, and to speak when the love of creatures or any persecution wants to overwhelm you: I will give up everything before I leave my God; I will be thrown out, strangled or drowned; whatever God wills will happen to me, I will gladly give up everything before I leave you; Lord, I will cling to you more than to all creatures, and also to all that you are not; I will put all that I have and am into it, I will not leave you. "Soul" in the Scriptures means the life of the body, what goes on in the five senses, eating, drinking, sleeping, waking, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and everything that the soul does through the body.
16) To love God with all one's strength is to put all one's limbs to it, so that one may dare to do all that he is able with his outward body before he would do what would be against God.
(17) To love God with all my mind is to accept nothing but what pleases God; by this he means the conceit that man has that he is focused on God and on everything that pleases God.
18 So you see what the commandment is able to do, "You shall love God." You, you completely, not the hands, not the mouth, not the knees. Those who do this, as I said, do it right. But there is not a man of the earth that doeth these things; yea, we all do the contrary: therefore this law maketh us all sinners, that not the smallest letter of this commandment be fulfilled, even of the most holy in the world. For no one is so attached to God with all his heart that he could forsake everything for the sake of God. In praise of God, we are still so far away that we cannot even suffer one little word; indeed, we do not want to give up a penny for the sake of God. How is it possible that we love God when His will does not please us? For if I love God, I also love His will. Now, if God sends us sickness, poverty, shame and disgrace, that is His will. But what do we do about it? We rumble, purr, and purring, and accept it with great impatience; and that is the least of it. What would we do if we were to give up life and limb for the sake of God, for the sake of Christ? Then we would behave differently. However, I still do as this Pharisee and Christian scholar does here, lead a fine seeming life, honor and serve God, fast, pray, and pretend to be very pious and holy; but God does not want that, but rather: He wants His will to be accepted with pleasure and love. We are still doing this slowly.
19 Therefore, what the Lord says here to this scribe, he says to all of us, namely, that we have not yet done it, nor shall we do it. Therefore all men are guilty of death and are the devil's own. All men are liars," Ps. 116:11, "vain and reeking; that which they pretend is good.
not before God. We are wise in our own affairs, how we gather money and goods together, and how we can speak well of God before men and excel. But what does God ask of us? He wants us to love Him with all our heart. No man can do this; therefore it follows that we are all sinners, especially those who walk in a beautiful appearance. Therefore it is much safer for a man to go and say that we are all sinners, than that he should have regard to works and be attached to a beautiful, glittering life.
(20) This is the first part of this gospel, and is a preaching of the law. Now follows the other part, which is to preach the gospel, how we are to fulfill the law and from where we are to take it; this the Samaritan will teach us.
021 What therefore doth this scholar of Christ do, because the Lord hath so turned him away? He comes here, says the evangelist, and wants to justify himself, and says to the Lord:
Who is my neighbor?
22. He does not ask: Who is my God? As if he should say: I owe nothing to God, there is no fault with God; I also think that I owe nothing to any man: yet I would like to know who is my neighbor? The Lord answered him, and told him a fine similitude, that he might show that we are all neighbors one to another, both he that sheweth kindness to another, and he that needeth kindness; though the text reads, as if Christ said, he that sheweth kindness to another is neighbor; but the Scripture makes no distinction in this, now calling him neighbor that doeth kindness, and at times him that receiveth kindness.
From this likeness the Lord concludes with these words: "Go and do likewise," that this scholar of Christ has not only sinned against God, but also against his neighbor; he has not only not loved God, but also his neighbor, and has never shown him any good. Here comes the
The poor man is in such a sweat that he is vain from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. How did he do it, the highly learned, pious man? So he did: He has led a pharisaical, glib, hypocritical life: this does not look down on his neighbor, so that he might help others with his life; but has only sought vain glory and honor before men and thus gaped at heaven.
(24) Now you have often heard that a Christian life consists in this, that I should act with faith and with my heart before God, but with my life and with my works toward my neighbor; and not wait until my neighbor seeks the benefit and demands something from me, but run to meet him with the benefit and offer it to him voluntarily. Now, let us see what this parable has in it.
This Samaritan here is, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who demonstrated His love toward God and toward His neighbor: toward God, in that He was obedient to His Father, descended from heaven and became man, and thus fulfilled the will of His Father; toward His neighbor, in that immediately after His baptism He began to preach, to perform miracles, to heal the sick. And summa summarum, he did no work that was on him alone, but all on the neighbor; and did this with all his strength, thus becoming our servant, who could well have remained in heaven and be like God. But he did all this because he knew that this pleased God and would be the will of the Father.
26. When he came to the high place of loving God with all his heart, he also gave his body life with all that he had, saying, "Father, here you have it all, my body life, my fame and glory, which I have had among men; I give it away as good as it is, for your sake, so that the world may understand how dear I am to you. My father, let my wisdom perish, so that the world may think me the most foolish. Let me now be the most despised, which before I was praised by all the world. Now I am the worst murderer, which I was before.
was kind, useful, and serviceable to all the world. Dear Father, I despise all this so that I alone will not disobey you.
27 This is the Samaritan who came uninvited and fulfilled the law with all his heart, for he alone fulfilled it; no one can take the glory away from him; he alone has it and will keep it alone. This would not be a great comfort to us, but the fact that he takes care of the poor, wounded man, has mercy on him, binds up his wounds, leads him to the inn and cares for him, that is what counts for us.
The man who lies here half dead, wounded, beaten and stripped, that is Adam and all of us humans. The murderers are the devils, they have robbed us and left us wounded and half dead. We still wriggle a little, but there lies horse and man, we cannot help ourselves up, and if we were left lying like this, we would die of great fear and pine away; maggots would grow in our wounds and there would be misery and distress.
The likeness stands strong, and finely depicts what we are and can do with our high reason and free will. If the poor wounded man had wanted to help himself, it would only have become worse with him, he would have harmed himself, scratched open the wounds and caused misery and distress; if he had remained lying, it would have been just as much. So it goes when we are left to ourselves. It is ever lost with us, we attack it where we want. Up to now, people have done this: they have thought up all kinds of ways and means of getting to heaven and improving our lives; one has found this, another that; that is why all kinds of orders have come into being, item, letters of indulgence and pilgrimages: but they have only made things worse. This is the world, and so it is finely portrayed to us in this wounded man, lying in sin up to his ears, unable to help himself.
030 But the Samaritan, which hath fulfilled the law, and is whole, cometh, and doeth more than both priest and Levite: he bindeth up the wounded man's wounds, and poureth in him oil and wine, and lifteth him up on his beast, and bringeth him with him into the inn,
He takes good care of him, and when he leaves, he commands him diligently to the host and leaves him enough food; neither the priest nor the Levite did this. The priest means the holy dear fathers who were before Moses. The Levite means the priesthood of the Old Testament. But all these did nothing with their works, passed by, as this priest and Levite do.
31 Therefore, even if I had all the good works of Noah, Abraham and all the dear fathers, they would not help me. They saw the wounded man lying and wounded, but they could not help him; he who lay half dead saw it also, but what is it? he could not make it better. The holy fathers saw that people were lying in sin up to their ears, and they also felt the anguish of sins; but what could they do about it? they could make it worse, but not better. Now these were the preachers of the law, who show what the world is, namely, full, full of mortal sins and lying there half dead, and cannot help themselves with all their strength, reason and free will. Go now, you fine doll, and boast of your free will, your merit and holiness!
(32) But Christ, the true Samaritan, taketh the poor man to himself, and goeth himself, and receiveth him not: for there is no merit, but grace and mercy: and bindeth up his wounds, and ministereth unto him, and poureth oil and wine unto him: which is the whole gospel through and through. He pours oil into it when grace is preached; as when it is said, Behold, thou poor man, there is thine unbelief, there is thine condemnation, thou art wounded and unhealthy; hold, I will heal thee all with the gospel. Behold, then, hold on to this Samaritan, to Christ the Savior, who will help you; nothing else, neither in heaven nor on earth. Oil, you know well, makes you gentle; so the sweet, gentle preaching of the gospel makes me gain a gentle and tender heart toward God and my neighbor, so that I may stretch my body life on it for the sake of the Lord Christ and the gospel, if God and necessity require it.
But wine is sharp, and signifies the holy cross, which follows soon after. A Christian must not look for the cross: it is rather on his neck than on his mind; as St. Paul says in 2 Tim. 3, 12: "All who want to live godly in Christ must suffer persecution. This is the color of the court in this kingdom; whoever wants to be ashamed of the color does not belong to this king.
34 Then the Samaritan lays the wounded man on his animal. This is Himself, the Lord Christ, who carries us; we lie on His shoulders, neck and body. There is hardly a sweet example in the whole Gospel, because the Lord Christ Luc. 15. compares himself to a shepherd, who carries the lost sheep on his shoulders back to the flock. He is still carrying it today.
The stable or inn is Christianity here in this world, where we must stay for a little while; the host is the preachers of the Word of God and the Gospel, who should care for and wait for us.
36 This then is the summa of the gospel: The kingdom of Christ is a kingdom of mercy and grace, in which there is nothing else but always bearing. Christ bears our infirmities and sicknesses, takes our sins upon Himself, and is patient when we are lacking, we are still on His neck; nor does He grow weary of carrying, which is to be our greatest comfort when we are tempted by sin.
(37) The preachers in this kingdom shall comfort the consciences, deal kindly with them, feed them with the gospel, bear the weak, heal the sick, and know how to cut the word finely, and present it to each one according to his need. This is the office of a true bishop and preacher, and not to go by force; as our bishops are doing now, who are stamping and blocking, and shouting: Hui, hinan, hinan, he who will not, must! Not so; but let a bishop or a preacher be like one who waits on the sick; he deals with them very neatly, gives good words, speaks kindly to the sick, and does all diligence with them. A bishop and pastor should do the same, and not think otherwise than that his diocese and parish should be a hospital and a hospital for the sick.
He said that he had a house in which he had many and various sick people. So when one preaches about Christ, faith and life come together, fulfilling the commandment of love. But because this gospel brings with it the law and the gospel, we will also say a little about them.
Of the Law and the Gospel.
(38) I have often told your beloved that all Scripture is divided into two parts: the law and the gospel. The law is that which prescribes what is to be done; the gospel, where it is to be taken. For it is much another thing to know what to have, and to know where to take it from. Just as if I were among the physicians, there is another art to say what the disease is, and another art to say what one should have to get rid of the disease. So it is in this also. The law discovers the disease, the gospel gives the remedy; you see this clearly in this gospel? The scholar of Christ comes, eager for eternal life, and asks how he should do it. The law tells him and says: "You shall love God your Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.
(39) He who runs into this alone does not understand it, as the Christian scholar does here; he must go into it, and reflect himself in it and look at it. For if I am to love God with all my heart, I shall soon see how far I lack. Item, with all my soul, that is, with body and life, that I feel in the flesh that I have love and feel love; for to love from the soul, in the Scriptures, is called such loving, as a young boy feels the love of a maiden. Item, from the whole strength, that is, from all the limbs. Item, from all the mind, that is, all the senses, thoughts and delusions should be directed toward God. But I have none of these in me. For if I am to love God with all my heart, soul and mind, my eye must not cast an angry glance, my tongue must not speak an angry word, my feet, hands and ears must all be one, and must not give an angry sign, so that all
From the top of your head to the bottom of your feet, walk in love within and without, and delight in God and honor Him.
40 Now give me a man who is chaste out of lust and love or otherwise pious: he is none on earth. We find ourselves much more inclined to anger, hatred, envy, worldly pleasure, than to gentleness and other virtues; and if I now find a little spark of inclination in me, it is all wrong, the law has not been done enough. Now I find not only a little spark in me, but a whole oven full of the fire of evil inclination; for there is no love in the heart, nor in any member. Therefore I see here in the law, as in a mirror, that all that is in me is condemned and cursed; for not a speck of the law must perish, but all must be fulfilled; as Christ says in Matthew Cap. 5:18: "I say unto you: Verily, till heaven and earth pass away, not the least letter, nor tittle, of the law shall pass away, till all be fulfilled."
41 Now this thou findest not in thyself, that thou doest thus with all thine heart and soul, with joy and gladness, what the law requireth and wilt have of thee: therefore thou art damned, and of the devil; know thyself even to judge. Behold, thou must first come to this knowledge, that thou mayest confess that thou art of the devil. But if thou knowest not how thou oughtest to do unto him, thou must perish. For this purpose the law serves you, which teaches that we are condemned; for we all find this evil desire in ourselves, and yet shall not have a particle of it in us.
(42) Now our sophists have not considered this, but have taught that if one does according to ability, God will give grace. These are blind leaders: they themselves admit that man is very unwilling to do good; yet if he goes and does it, though with complaint, unwillingness and sloth, he is still at ease with God. But Christ teaches here the contradiction, that we should do it with pleasure and love, and be easily ready for it. Whom will you believe more cheaply, Christ or the Sophists? From such an erroneous understanding the monasteries were subsequently established: there they went in, that if
If only one were inside, however unpleasant it might be, one would be blessed. Thus they have taught. But now Christ would have it that works should be done with pleasure; therefore, if it be done with vexation of conscience, it is sin. Therefore, abstain from all works that are not done with pleasure and love.
43. Therefore they should have said: Behold, man, thou poor damned creature, thou shalt have pleasure in God's law, and thou art unpleased; therefore give pleasure and love, or thou art God's enemy and the devil's friend. So the people would have fallen away from their own presumption and come to their own knowledge, and would have said: O God, I am condemned. Yes, that would have been right. For it follows, as I have said, that we are all of the devil as long as we find unpleasure in ourselves. Therefore cast all works from you boldly, for you will find lust and love in your heart. Therefore, if I should say it, I think it is right in God's commandment, but it is the death of me; if it could be, I would that it were not. And so all men are skillful in heart, as St. Paul writes beautifully to the Romans, Cap. 7.
44 If we were to remain in such condemnation, we would perish eternally. So now comes the other piece, which is the gospel, which tells the consolation and teaches the salvation where we are to take it, that the law might be fulfilled. If then I see that I am a condemned man by the law, lying half dead among the murderers, the devil having robbed the soul, and taken away in Adam all faith, all righteousness, and left nothing, but only the bodily life, which also soon dies: then come the Levites and priests, that is, the human justifiers, who teach this and that; but it is of no avail, they pass by.
(45) But when the Samaritan comes to help, that is, when Christ comes and offers us his mercy, saying, Behold, this thou owest; thou oughtest to love God with all thy heart, thou dost not: now believe on me, and I will give thee my suffering; this then helps me. Then he put me on his beast, that is, on himself, and brought me to the inn, that is, to the Christian church. Then he comes here and immediately pours his grace on me; that is the oil, so that I feel that I am lying on his back, which makes me feel good in my conscience; then he pours wine on me, which nevertheless bites and steams the old Adam. But in this way I am not yet completely healthy; health has been poured in and begun, but it is not quite complete. However, Christ cares for me and cleanses me through the grace that has been poured into me, so that I become purer, more chaste, gentler, more meek and more faithful from day to day, until I die.
46 So when we come before God the Father and are asked, "Have we believed God and loved Him, and fulfilled the law completely? then the Samaritan comes, the Lord Christ, who has us lying on his animal, and says, "Father, even if they have not fulfilled it completely, I have done it; let this be to their credit, because they believe in me. So all the saints, however holy and pious they are, must lie on Christ's back. If then the most holy people, as priests and Levites, cannot do enough for the law, how then shall we presume to fulfill it with our imaginary works, as with plates and caps? O of the wretched and depraved being! Let this be said enough for now, let us call upon God for mercy.