Matth. 22, 34-46.
But when the Pharisees heard that he had shut the Sadducees' mouths, they gathered together. And one of them, a scribe, tempted him, saying, Master, which is the chief commandment of the law? And JESUS said unto him, Thou shalt love God thy Lord with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the noblest and greatest commandment. But the other is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. In these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. When the Pharisees were together, Jesus asked them, "What do you think of Christ? What son is he? They said: David's. And he said unto them: How then doth David in the spirit call him a Lord, saying, The Lord hath said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? Now if David calls him a Lord, how is he his son? And no man could answer him a word, neither could any man from that day forth inquire of him.
There are two questions in this gospel. The first one, when the scholar asks Christ because of the other Pharisees: What is the most important commandment in the law? The other, when the Lord asks the Pharisees and scribes again, "What is the Son of Christ? These two questions also concern a Christian, for he who wants to be a Christian must know these two things: first, what the law is and what it is for; and second, what Christ is and what he can expect from him.
2. Christ here lays out the law to the Pharisees and tells them the summa of the whole law, so that they fall silent over his speech and question, and know nothing less than what the law is and what Christ is. It follows that where there is unbelief, even though wisdom and holiness appear before the world, there remains foolishness and unrighteousness before God, and especially where there is no knowledge of two questions. For he who does not know how to deal with the law and what he should expect from Christ, certainly does not have the right wisdom of God, be he ever so wise and prudent. Now we will deal with the first question, namely, what the law is, what it commands, and how it should be understood spiritually.
3 When the scholar asked the Lord which was the most important commandment in the Law, the Lord said to him:
*) This sermon is found in a b c. D. Red.
You shall love God your Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind; this is the noblest and the greatest commandment. But the other is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. In these two commandments hang the law and all the prophets.
4 As if the Lord should say: Whoever has these two things, the love of God and the love of one's neighbor, has all things and has thus fulfilled the law; for the whole law and all the prophets go to these two' things, namely, how God and one's neighbor are to be loved.
005 Now one might ask here, How can all things be written in these two laws, if circumcision and many other laws were given to the Jews, which, it may be supposed, do not rhyme with these two? To answer this, let us first see how Christ interprets the law, namely, that it is to be kept from the heart, that is, the law is to be understood spiritually; for he who does not attack the law with the heart and with the spirit is likely to leave it unfulfilled. Therefore the Lord tells the scribe the reason and the core of the law, and says that this is the most noble commandment, to love God from the heart and the neighbor as oneself. From this it follows that he who is not circumcised, who does not fast, who does not pray, who does not do it from the heart: though he does the work outwardly, yet he does it from the heart.
he does nothing in the sight of God, for God looks at the heart and not at the work, 1 Sam. 16, 7. It does not help a man to do as many works as the heart is not involved.
(6) There arises another question: Since works are of no use to man, for what purpose did God give so many laws to the Jews? To this I answer that the laws were given precisely so that we might know whether we love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength, and whether we love our neighbor as ourselves; for as St. Paul says in Romans 7:7 (3:20), the law is nothing other than a recognition and revelation of sin. What would I know about sin if the law was not there and showed it to me? So here is the law that says: You shall love God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself. We would fulfill this if we did all the works required of us by the law, but we do not: therefore it only shows us where we lack, and that we do not do them, but should do them.
(7) That the Jews had to circumcise themselves was a foolish thing, and a mocking commandment in the sight of reason, even if it were given by God this very day. For what good was it to God to burden His people with such a heavy law? What was in it for him, or what did it serve for the neighbor? Yes, it was also of no use to the Jews who were circumcised. Why then did God give it to them? Because this law and commandment should indicate to them whether they loved God with all their heart, with all their mind and with all their soul, whether they did it willingly or unwillingly. For if there has been a pious heart that has said, "I truly do not know why God has given me circumcision, since it is of no use to anyone, neither to God, nor to me, nor to my neighbor: but because it is thus pleasing to God, I will still do it, even if it were a lesser and more contemptible work. Thus circumcision was an exercise of this commandment: You shall love God with all your heart.
8. that was also a foolish commandment that
God gave Abraham that he should kill his son, Gen. 22, 2. If reason should have been the judge here, it and all men could not have concluded otherwise than: This is an unfriendly, hostile commandment, how can it be from God? when God Himself had said to Abraham that He wanted to increase His family from this son, that it should become innumerable, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the sea. Therefore it was a foolish commandment, a heavy, hard and unbearable commandment. But how does Abraham do it? He closed his senses, took his reason captive and obeyed the voice of the Lord, went and did as God commanded him. In this way he proved that this commandment came from his heart; otherwise, if he had killed the son a hundred times over, God would not have inquired about it; but God saw that this work came from the heart and out of the love of God, yes, from such a heart that thought: Even if the son dies, God is so powerful and true, he will still keep his word, he will find ways and means that I do not think of; just follow him, there is no need. If he had not had the defiance and faith, how else could he have brought it upon his fatherly heart to kill his only and most beloved son?
(9) The Jews then wanted to follow this example and, like Abraham, sacrificed their children to God, hoping that they would also do a pleasing work for God, but it was far from that. So the poor people concluded: Abraham's work was pleasing to God, therefore ours will also be pleasing to God; and they killed one child after another. Oh how many a fine, noble, beautiful child perished there! The prophets sat down against the work, preached, punished and wrote that it was seduction, but it did not help; yes, many a prophet had to lose his life over it, as we read from time to time in the histories of the kings.
(10) Why was this work of the Jews not pleasing to God? Because it was not done from the heart and out of the love of God, but they looked only at the work and did it afterwards without the command and word of God.
God says: Gentlemen, I am not concerned that Abraham sacrificed his son, but that he proved by his deed that he loves me with all his heart. First there must be love in the heart, then do works, and they will be pleasing to God; for all the works of the law are designed to show the love of God that is in the heart, which love the law requires and wants above all things.
(11) Therefore it should be noted that all the works of the law are not commanded to be done badly: no, no. For even if God had given more commandments, he did not want them to be kept to the detriment of love; indeed, if they are contrary to the love of one's neighbor, he wants them to be torn up and overthrown. Take an example of this, which we also told the other day: Moses led the Jews out of Egypt through the wilderness forty years, and there was not one circumcised, as they were commanded. Where was the law then? Was God not angry with them for not keeping His commandment? No, for there was a higher law going on at that time, namely, that they obeyed God, who commanded them to go with haste from Egypt to the Promised Land. With this move they obeyed God daily, and God saw this, otherwise He would have been angry with them for not keeping His law. There was also the need and love that defeated all the commandments. For it would have been too grievous and vexatious that they should have suffered the pains of circumcision, and in addition be burdened with travel. Therefore the love urged, that they let the commandment of the circumcision stand now. And so all the commandments are to be kept in love, or they are not to be kept.
12 Thus Christ excuses His disciples in Matthew 12:3, 4, when they accused the Jews of transgressing the law, namely, that they did on the Sabbath what was not proper to be done on the Sabbath, namely, that they plucked up ears of corn and ate them. Then the Lord said that they were not doing wrong, as if he were saying, "There is no Sabbath here, for the body wants food, the need is here, it must eat, and if there is one more thing on the Sabbath, it must eat.
bath. We also have an example of David, which the Lord sets before the Jews there, saying, "Have you not read what David did when he and those with him were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the showbread, which was not fit for him to eat, nor for those with him, but only for the priests? 1 Sam. 21:3 ff. So David ate the bread, even though he was not a priest, because he was hungry. Abimelech the priest did not violate the law by giving David the bread to eat, because love urged him to do so. So also the whole law should have served David in his need.
(13) Therefore, if the law interferes with love, it ceases and should no longer be a law. But where there is no hindrance, the keeping of the law is an indication of the love that is hidden in the heart. For this is why laws are needed, so that love may be demonstrated by them; but if they cannot be kept without hurting the neighbor, God wants them to be abolished and taken away.
(14) In the same way you should now conduct your lives and beings. Today there are many customs, various orders and ceremonies, so that one mistakenly thinks he deserves heaven; but only this one thing, love for one's neighbor, concludes all good works in itself. Let us see an example of this, which we also heard the other day. There is a priest or monk who is supposed to read his horas canonicas, or to say mass, or to do penance; now, a poor man or woman comes along who needs his advice or help, how should the priest or monk do to him? should he wait for his thing, or should he take the poor man away? He should be wise here, and think: It is true, I am commanded, I should read my horas, say mass or say penance; now there is a poor man on the other side, he needs my help, I should come to his aid: this God has commanded me, but the other has been devised and imposed by men; I will let go of man's commandment and serve my neighbor according to God's commandment.
(15) But it seems strange to us that the good work of saying mass and praying to the Lord should remain behind, and that such a bad, little work as they do should be brought out. But what is the cause? This is because the dream preachers, who knew how to present nothing but human statutes to us, made us so timid and fearful that we wanted to think that if we did not follow their sermons everywhere, heaven would fall; indeed, if a mass had been prevented, ten poor people would rather have died of hunger. One can still find many a monk or priest today who would let a poor person freeze to death before he would neglect his statutes and regulations. So miserably and wretchedly are they seduced by the godless preachers and teachers, and by the rulers, whom they have drawn with their statutes and devilish ordinances from the law of God to our own conceit, and still draw more and more.
(16) These are the main fruits of unbelief and ungodliness, which the Scripture calls to provoke God to anger. Should not God be angry with me if He commands me to show love to my neighbor, and I go and follow my or other people's dreams? It is as if a householder commanded the servant to plow, and the servant went to wash the dishes. Should not the householder be justly angry with the servant? It is the same with God. He wants His commandments to be kept, and that they should be respected more than the commandments of men, and that all commandments should go down in love, so that they are all concluded in these two commandments, of which the Lord speaks here in this Gospel: "Thou shalt love God thy Lord with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself."
(17) If you want to do something pleasing to God, do it in such a way that it flows from heartfelt love. The fact that the Jews allowed themselves to be circumcised, fasted a lot, prayed a lot and did other works was not pleasing to God, because it did not flow from their heart.
You shall love God with all your heart. Therefore, even if you became a Carthusian, or if you took on some even harder order, it would be of no use to you if you did not have the love of God. From this you can easily conclude that all works are nothing that do not come from love or that go against love. No laws shall apply, except those by which this commandment of love is practiced.
(18) Hence it appears what a wicked state the monks and priests are in, that they want to earn heaven by works alone; and to this they also point out to the people that they therefore do good works in order to earn heaven, which is a cursed, godless service. Therefore, the law, as I said, should only be an exercise to prove love by it; otherwise, without love, God does not ask anything about the works, let them be as beautiful as they want more and more.
(19) Now you see how many people there are who know what this law is: "You shall love God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself"? Of course, there are few of them, and even fewer who keep it. How could they keep that which they do not know? We are blind, and our nature is blind altogether, and so is human reason, which knows nothing less than what the law of God wants.
20 Now Christ proves two benefits to the Pharisees and scribes. First, he takes away their blindness and teaches them what the law is. Second, he teaches them how impossible it is for them to keep the commandments. He takes away their blindness by teaching them what the law is, namely, that love is the law. This, like the Jews, cannot be understood by reason today. For if it were possible for reason to understand it, the Pharisees and scribes, who were the best and most intelligent among the people at that time, would have understood it: but they thought that it was only in doing the outward works of the law that one could keep God.
They think they understand the law very well and are fine fellows, holy and pious people, but they stand in the light for themselves. For no one is able to keep the law, unless he has been completely neglected.
21 Therefore consider it certain that no reason can ever understand and do the law, even though it knows what it contains. When do you do to another what you would have him do to you? Who loves his enemy with all his heart? Who likes to die? Who likes to suffer shame and disgrace? Dear, give me a man who likes to have an evil gossip, or who likes to live in poverty? For nature and human reason completely flee from it, shy away from it, are frightened and horrified by it, and if it could, as much as there is in it, it would not suffer such misfortune. Human nature will never accomplish what God demands of us in this law, namely, that we surrender our will to the will of God, so that we renounce our own mind, our will, our power and our strength, and say from the heart: Thy will be done. Indeed, you will not find anyone who loves God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself. It may well happen that there are two companions who live amiably among themselves; but there is hypocrisy hidden among them, which lasts until you are hurt by him at some point: then you will see how you love him and whether you are flesh or spirit. Therefore this law is here, that I should be kind from my heart to him that hath offended me; but when shall I do it?
(22) Thus Christ alone wants to show that one then preaches the law rightly when one learns from it that we are not able to do it and that we are the devil's own. This is taught to us by experience, and is indicated from time to time in Scripture, especially in St. Paul, where he says to the Romans Cap. 8, 7, 8: "That to be carnally minded is an enmity against God, since it is not subject to the law of God; for it is able to do what is right.
Nor is it: and soon after says, "But they that are carnal may not please God."
(23) Now therefore take this commandment before thee, Thou shalt love thy Lord with all thy heart, and remember it, and seek after it, and search it out, what manner of law it is, how far thou art from fulfilling this commandment; yea, how thou hast not yet begun to fulfill it, that is, to suffer and to do with all thy heart what God would have thee do. It is a loud hypocrisy, if one wants to crawl into a corner and think: "I want to love God! Oh, how I love God, He is my Father! Oh, how I love him! and the like. Yes, when he does according to our pleasure, we can say many such words; but when he sends us misfortune and adversity, we no longer consider him a god or a father.
24. A true love of God does not do so to him, but is so minded in the heart, and also says with the mouth: Lord God, I am your creature, grow with me as you will, it is all the same to me, I am ever yours, I know that; and if you would that I should die this hour, or suffer any great misfortune, I would gladly suffer it with all my heart: I will never esteem my life, honor and goods, and what I have, higher and greater than your will, which shall always please me throughout my life. But you will not find such a man who always keeps this commandment; for your whole life, which you live in your body, in the five senses, and what you do with the body, all this must be directed to praise God, according to the requirement of this commandment, which says: "You shall love God your Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. As if Christ wanted to speak: If you love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, you will not lack it, you will experience it in your outer life, namely, when everything you do, whether you sleep or wake, whether you work or stand idle, whether you eat or drink, is directed toward loving God with all your heart. In the same way, your mind and thoughts will be entirely directed toward God.
that is, you will not take pleasure in anything that you do not know is pleasing to God; indeed, where are they who do it?
(25) And the part where he says, "with all your mind," is very much against the doctrine of men and the essays on which men especially rely and think that they want to obtain a gracious God and earn heaven by doing so. Such arbitrariness of human reason draws us away from this commandment, so that we do not love God with all our heart, as has happened so far and still happens today. For priests and monks do not think otherwise, because God allows Himself to be softened with masses and other their own little human feet; but He is abhorred by them and does not want them, as He says in Isaiah Cap. 29, 13: "They serve me in vain, because they teach such doctrines, which are nothing but the commandments of men", Matth. 15, 8. 9. The law here wants you not to let any thing seem good to you, which is against God, and against all that he has commanded or forbidden: wants you therefore to give yourself completely to him with all your life and conduct.
(26) You may suppose that no man is condemned because he does not keep this commandment, and yet God wants him to keep it. There we stand in the midst of fear and distress and cannot help ourselves. And this is the first realization of the law, that we see that it is impossible for human nature to keep it; for it wants the heart, and if it is not done from the heart, it is not valid before God. You may do the works outwardly well, but God is not satisfied with them if they are not done from the heart and out of love, which never happens unless a person is born anew through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, God does not want to do more with the law than to make us realize our inability, our frailty and our sickness, so that we may not fulfill even one letter of the law, no matter how much is in us. If you feel this, then the law has done its work. This is what St. Paul means when he says to the Romans Cap. 3, 20: "Through the law comes only the knowledge of sin.
27 From all this it now appears clear that we are all equal and one cake in the inward malice of the heart, which the law reveals to us, if we look at it rightly. One may well say: If one is good, they are all good. Therefore no one may lift up anything from another *): no ass may call another a sack-bearer. It is true that in outward, gross sins one is deeper in it than the other; but the heart is equally wicked, except when the Holy Spirit has changed it. But how shall I do to him, if I now know the sin? What does it help me? It helps you a lot, because if you get that far, you are not far from the kingdom of heaven, as Christ says in Mark 12:34 to a scribe who also recognized that the works of the law are nothing without love.
028 But how can we get rid of an evil conscience? Now follows the other part of the gospel, what Christ is and what we are to be assured of from him; from him we must take and get, otherwise we will remain in sins forever. For this very reason Christ was presented to us and given to us by the Father, that he might absolve us from sins, from death, from an evil conscience, and from the law, and set us free.
29 So we have heard what the law is and how the knowledge of sin comes through the law. But this is not enough, but there is another man who belongs to it, who is called Christ Jesus; although the first part must also be there, yes, it is necessary. For where I do not recognize my sin, I do not ask about Christ; as here the Pharisees and scribes, who thought they had done all that the law commanded, and were ready to do even more; but of Christ they knew nothing. Therefore, above all, when the law is known, and sin is revealed through the law, it is necessary to know what Christ is; otherwise the knowledge of sin is of no use to me.
(30) But then the law is known, when I learn from it that I am condemned, and now see that there is no hope nor comfort before-
*) to pick up, that is, to throw forward, to move up. D. Red.
I cannot help myself, but must have another to save me. Then it is time for me to look around for the one who can do it; and that is Christ Jesus, who for this very reason became man and is like us, so that he might help us out of the mud in which we are stuck. He loved God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself, and completely subjected his will to the will of his Father, thus completely fulfilling the law in all respects. I could not do that and yet I should do it. Therefore he takes care of me, and what he has fulfilled in the law he gives to me; his life he gives to me freely with all his works, so that I may put on it as a good thing that is mine and given to me; who now helps us from the law. For if the law says, Love God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself, or you are condemned; I say, I cannot. Thus saith Christ, Receive me, and cleave unto me through faith, and thou shalt be delivered from the law.
31 And this is how it works: Christ has acquired the Holy Spirit for us through his death; he does the law in us, and we do not. For the Spirit, whom God sends into your heart for the sake of His Son, makes a new man out of you, who with joy and love does everything from the heart that the law commands him to do, which was impossible for him to do before. The same new man then despises this life here, has the desire to die, rejoices in all unpleasantness and surrenders completely to the will of God, as he does with him, so it pleases him well. You cannot earn the spirit yourself, but Christ has earned and acquired it for you. If I believe this from my heart, that Christ has done this to me, then I am overcome by the same Holy Spirit, who makes me completely new; then everything that God commands is sweet, pleasant and agreeable to me, and I can then do everything that He wants me to do; but not from myself, but from the power of Him who is in me; as St. Paul Phil. 4, 13. says: "I am not willing to do anything for myself.
may all things through him that maketh me mighty, Christ."
Thirty-two But take heed lest thou presume to obtain this faith in Christ by thy works or powers, or to think evil of it; for it is impossible by nature: but the Holy Ghost must work such things in thee. Therefore, beware of the works preachers who chatter and say that one must do good works in order to be saved. But we say that faith alone is enough for this; works belong elsewhere, namely, to prove our faith by them; as you have often heard this from me before.
33 This is the question the Lord asks the Pharisees, what they think of Christ, who he is and what son he is. But their answer, when they say that he is the Son of David, the Lord overturns and obscures it for them, taking Scripture from the Psalm to leave them in doubt, so that no one could answer him.
34 Since David calls Christ his Lord, when he says Psalm 110:1, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool," it is to be understood that David is speaking of him as both God and man. For according to the flesh alone he was David's son. Paul put the two together when he said to the Romans Cap. 1, 1-4: "I am called to be an apostle, and set apart to preach the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, of His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and powerfully proved to be the Son of God according to the Spirit, who sanctifies since the time He rose from the dead." Now this is something that I know, how that Christ is a Lord; for the same hath power and might, and is peculiarly comforting in time of trouble. But we have said more about this elsewhere; now we will leave it at that and call upon God for mercy.