From the seven words of Christ on the cross.**)
And there followed him a great company of people and women, mourning and weeping over him. But Jesus turned to them and said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children: for, behold, the time will come when it shall be said: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not borne, and the breasts that have not suckled. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills: Cover us. For if this be done to the green wood, what shall become of the dry? And there were also brought two other malefactors, that they might be taken away with him. They brought him to the place called Golgotha in the language of the Holy Bible, which is the place of the skull, and they gave him vinegar or wine mixed with gall to drink, and when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And they crucified him in the place of Calvary, and two malefactors with him, one on the right hand, and one on the left; and Jesus in the midst. And the scripture is fulfilled, which saith, He is numbered with the transgressors. And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And Pilate wrote an inscription, saying what they blamed him for, the cause of his death; and he set it upon the cross above his head. And it was written: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. This inscription was read by many Jews, because the place was near the city where Jesus was crucified. And it was written in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages. Then said the chief priests of the Jews unto Pilato, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said: I am the king of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written, that have I written. The soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and the skirt also. But the skirt was unstitched, sewn from the top through and through. Then said they one to another, Let us not divide it, but let us cast lots for it, that it may be; that the scripture may be fulfilled, which saith, They have divided my garments among them, and have cast lots upon my skirt. And they sat there, and kept his garments; and the soldiers did so, and the people stood and watched. And there stood by the cross Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary Cleophas' wife, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Afterward he saith unto the disciple, Behold, this is thy mother. And from that time the disciple took her to himself. And they that passed by blasphemed him, and shook their heads, saying, Fie on thee, how thou hast broken down the temple, and buildest it in three days; help thyself. If you are the son of God
*Of most of these sermons, it cannot be determined on which day Lucher delivered them. - This collection was bequeathed to the Andreas Church by Casper Güttel, pastor of St. Andreas in Eisleben. Johann Gottfried Zeidler had them printed from this copy in the Hallischer Theil. - Cf. Leipz. A. XII, 579-613; Erl. A. 19, 292-383.
. D. Red.
**Held on the morning of Char Friday, March 30, 1537.
come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocked him one with another, with the scribes, and elders, and the people, saying: He has helped others, and cannot help himself. If he is a Christian, the King of Israel, the chosen of God, let him help himself, and now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him. He has trusted in God, who now delivers him, lusts after him, for he has said, "I am the Son of God. The murderers who were crucified with him also put the same on him and reviled him. The soldiers also mocked him, and came to him, and brought him vinegar, saying: If you are the king of the Jews, help yourself. But one of the wicked, who were walking, blasphemed him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself, and us. And the other answered and rebuked him, saying, And thou fearest not God, who art in like condemnation? And indeed we are justly in it, because we have received what our deeds are worth: but this man hath done nothing unadvisedly, and said unto him, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, This day shalt thou be with me in paradise. And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour, and the sun lost his light. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama asabthani! That is interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them, when they heard it, said, He calleth unto Elias. After this, when Jesus knew that all things were finished, that the scripture should be fulfilled, he said, I thirst. And there was a vessel full of vinegar, and straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar and hyssop, and put it upon a reed, and put it to his mouth, and watered him, and said unto the rest: Hold, let us see if Elias will come and take him down. And when Jesus had taken the vinegar, he said, It is finished. And again he cried with a loud voice, saying, Father, I commend my spirit into thy hands. Spirit into thy hands. And when he had said this, he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.
And there followed him a great multitude of people, and women lamenting and weeping over him. But Jesus turned to them, and said, Weep not over me. etc.
1 From these words it can be seen that Christ, who has already suffered much, is willing and ready to go to death. Whoever would have asked Christ here, "What do you bear? Your sins. For us it is true that Christ hangs there, because we crucified him, as Isaiah Cap. 53, 8. says: "For the sin of my people I have smitten him. He suffered all things for our sakes. For our sake, who eternally deserved the wrath of God, he died, so that we might be reconciled to his dear Father through his suffering and death. Therefore Jesus says to the women: "It is not a matter of weeping for me, but of rejoicing that I have in turn earned for you my Father's favor and grace.
2. repentance, contrition and lamentation for our sins, for which Christ had to suffer and die so that we might be freed from them; for God wants to avenge the Son, whom we have crucified and killed, on us eternally.
and punish us if we let the same death of his Son be lost to us. For if he does this to his dear Son, who is without sin and is the green wood, what will he do to us, who are the dry wood and nothing but vain fires of hell? What we have by nature brings Christ to the cross. We are murderers of his dearest Son; therefore we should fear God's wrath, but not despair. For just as Christ did not remain in death, but was torn out of it, so God also wants to help us, who believe in the suffering of the same Son, out of it and not leave us in it forever. This is our consolation, from it comes our salvation; therefore repentance and forgiveness of sins are preached in the mirror of Christ.
(3) Further, let every man think how Christ was beaten, how he was judged, and what a noise and clamor there was. Pray also, and exhort parents to reproach their children with this, and to imagine it faithfully; for there is no harm in a mother sitting down in a corner with her children, and saying, "Behold, my dear child, how Christ, thy God and thy Saviour, has suffered, since he was so horribly scourged! How no mercy at all was shown to him!
had! Without a doubt, the Jews have secretly given money to the executioners, that they have only quickly beaten. There was no one who had compassion etc. After that, behold what he suffered on the trunk of the cross, being nailed up and set upright with impetuosity. How his holy body was torn, bruised and wounded, and how his wounds were torn open again with the white robe of Herod in which he was baked. When his robe was taken off at the cross, how he had neither help nor comfort, for he undoubtedly looked around at the cross to see where his disciples were, just as he did at the Mount of Olives, but there he saw no one and heard no one to comfort him. They were all turned away from him, that the saying of the Psalm might be fulfilled, "I waited as one greatly distressed, but there was none found."
Here Mary, his dear mother, saw her sorrow, because Christ hung so horribly, miserably and shamefully on the cross, abandoned by all the world, mocked and despised. What heartache she had, everyone can well take from himself, who knows otherwise, what fatherly or motherly heart does. Such contemplation, I say, does no harm to anyone and is very good; for surely devotion, fear, love and trust follow from it.
And there were also two other malefactors brought, that they might be taken away with him. And when they came to the place called the place of the skull, there they crucified him, and the two malefactors with him, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
(5) Here we have Christ hanging on the cross between heaven and earth, as the proverb says about a man who has no help nor comfort. This is our high priest, our mediator and redeemer, who sacrificed himself for us; this is the true mediator between God and man. That is why the great murderous cry rises up: "My God, my God, how you have forsaken me!" Ps. 22, 1. This is where the battle begins, and the overcoming of the
eternal hell and despair of God. He conquered death in the garden, where he sweated bloody sweat; but hell must still be conquered: therefore Pilate must judge him and have him judged according to the Roman way; because the Jews would have thrown stones at him to death, which death would have been too small. But because Pilate let him be crucified, the right hell and wrath of God hit him; as it is written Deut. 21, 23, Gal. 3, 13: "Let him be condemned by God who dies on the cross. His best and dearest friends must also leave him; yes, his own heart, his words, works, comfort, good report, courage and everything that is only good in him falls from him. So this saying hits him hard. For he who is abandoned by God must and cannot conclude otherwise, because the devil has full power over him without means.
(6) But we cannot humble Christ enough, for he ministers to us and brings us comfort in the same distress: therefore I gladly write this article, and only lack words. There Christ hangs between two murderers as the chief and an arch-murderer; as it is written Isa. 53, 12: "He was reckoned among the workers of iniquity." Pilate wrote the title thus: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews," so that everyone would read why he was brought from life to death, and not think that he was crucified without guilt and iniquity; and Pilate, as a wise man, did not want anyone to say that he had judged him without cause, and wrote the same title in three languages, Greek, Hebrew and Latin.
007 But the Jews, when they read the title, are vexed, and say to Pilato, "Write not, The king of the Jews;" for they had said before, "We have no king, but Caesar. They have made the judgment against themselves, and so it must remain, because there are people on earth. They have no king; for it is thus foretold that in the days when Messiah shall come, their reign should cease. And if the Jews had not been so stubborn, they should have said: Because we have no king now, truly this will be the right Messiah, as the prophecy reads.
8 But it was time for them to be cast out. God graces without ceasing, but also wraths without ceasing. We see this here in the Jews, to whom he has done so much good through prophets, guardians, saviors, that one must conclude that he loves the people and can never leave them. But look what happened: because they moved God to anger, killed so many prophets and finally his dearest Son, who was sent for the salvation and redemption of all people, and thought they were doing God a great service by doing so; so he also had to punish them without ceasing. Therefore they are also punished in such a way that they no longer have any regiment or authority or priesthood in any place of the world, but are scattered throughout the whole world, and must be fugitives because they are alive, and must be worried every hour that they may be chased out of the country, strangled and murdered, and have everything they have taken away from them: after that, which is the greatest, also the knowledge of the king is taken away; for they are still crying out: We have no king. The king has not come to their salvation; therefore they have no comfort in the king's body, soul, honor or goods. They are afflicted and punished without ceasing; this they have deserved with their cry, We have no king.
(9) And as the Jews have no king, so also our papists have no Christ, to whom they turn in all their needs of the dearest and best, as we nevertheless now hear and know, praise God; therefore we also have the assurance with us that we would like them to take the king and become blessed, but they do not grant us anything good. That is why we do not even hear them say: God help them; quickly fire, gallows, water, burned, hanged, sunk; the heretics flee to external things, as the Jews to the emperor; for they have fallen from God, and defy only the emperor, to external power. They have no king, only an emperor, Jews and pope; therefore it costs them much more how they persecute Christ and us. For it is well with us that we endure and suffer.
(10) But let the example of the Jews also be a warning to us, that we are not to be taken unawares.
Let it be as it is for them. We now have the King, but we do not want to confess him in our troubles and cry out to him for help. We can all talk a lot about it, but no one looks at his heart to see whether he is also increasing in the knowledge of God, whether we are better now than we were before, whether we have been born again, have new senses and thoughts. Whoever does not have the test, confess it to God, for he is not yet a fellow member of Christ. Christ's suffering makes and works repentance. If this does not work repentance in a man's heart, let a thousand Moses come, spear and sword, but no true repentance will ever follow; for it is said that repentance and forgiveness of sins are to be preached in Christ's name, and not in Mosiah's name; for hypocrisy will indeed follow from the law, but true repentance follows from the name of Jesus Christ alone. Therefore let the apostles preach this alone, and the evangelists: Let Moses abide with the Jews, and rule the same; the Jesus makes a true repentance, which goes through the whole life. For when I see that Christ does so much, suffers so much, and is silent about it, and I do not like to suffer the smallest word, but reproach and bang, I cannot be Christ's comrade, nor has Christ's suffering cleansed me and delivered me from impatience, envy and anger etc. Therefore we must look to the King, we are too weak to repent, and ask God not to let the King's suffering be forgiven and lost on me. We have a king who must repent and work in us, not Moses.
Now follows the history and title of Christ. Christ is made so unclean and so vile that he looks like no man; and even if the enemies had torn themselves apart, it did not help; for it is written Ps. 110:2, "Rule among your enemies." For it is not said, dwell, but, rule, and keep in his obedience. He has been in hell for a while and abandoned by God, but God has pulled him out, so that one could see that he could make life out of death and bliss out of hell. This is the rhyme God wrote to His Son: "Reign in the midst of your enemies"; no enemy can erase this rhyme. The devil has tried,
but he did not align it. This is what happened: The devil has set up a banner, as it is written to the Romans, I am a god and prince of the world; and that it may be true, I have with me a companion, death, which devours the whole world. But God says to Christ JEsu: Go, my Son, become man, and take away the devil's banner, and reign in the midst of the enemies. When the devil saw that God's Son had become man, he followed him until he brought him to the cross. But there it happened, as Pliny writes of the little animal Ichneumon: It is like this: when it sees that the whale is coming out, it comes first, lies down in the place where the whale used to come, wraps itself in the dung, rolls around in it until it is not seen at all; then, when the whale comes, it takes the dumpling in its mouth, throws it over itself, catches it again and plays; The little animal suffers everything until the whale swallows it and closes its mouth; then it breaks out, rages, bites, stings and tears open its belly, and kills the big whale. Just as the little animal does, so did Christ, who hid himself in mankind and let the devil and death play with him until death devoured him and closed his jaws, Christ, as a little worm, bored the belly of death and made a door out of it, took away the devil's sting and set up his rhyme: He reigneth in the midst of his enemies, whom he hath laid low and plundered.
But this must be a manifestation and experience of our own salvation; otherwise Christ is not our Savior; for the kingdom of God is not in much speaking, but in power, Luc. 17:20, 21. It is not enough that I can speak much of it, I must feel it in my heart. Therefore, if we do not feel it, let us repent; for Christ is not ours, and we are called Christians by name, not by deed, and take the name of Christ in vain. But he will find us and avenge us.
13. let our Lord God only let us be weak and sin, recognize the sin, and
let him fence, only that we do not become secure; for the security that is now in the world is much more harmful than all heresies. For before, in the papacy, we did much with great fear in the devil's name, in God's name we now want to do nothing at all. The devil is now at our right hand with this challenge and wants to make us safe. Therefore, let us repent and recognize the seriousness of God in time, so that we may not feel it forever. Christ wants to keep his rhyme, and is his earnest; woe to him who makes a disgrace of it.
14 Now behold who hangs with Christ. Two murderers. Can he then suffer sinners around him? Matthew, Cap. 27, 40, says they both blasphemed Christ, "Art thou the Son of God?" As if they were saying: You are the son of the devil. The Jews also need the cry without ceasing, and this moves Christ to the murder cry, which the devil causes. But the other thief sees his misery, yes, he sees through Christ's bloodthirsty wounds, through the bruised flesh into the heart, and confesses his misery to Christ, and asks him not to forget him; therefore he is saved.
Father, forgive them etc.
Here, when Christ hangs between heaven and earth, he becomes our high priest. Now two things belong to a bishop and priest: the first, that he is ordained by God. Much depends on this, for if God is beside it, then it is God's power to add one today, two tomorrow, and never leaves empty-handed. After this, it also humbles the preachers, that when they see their weakness, and know that they are earthly vessels, they command it all to God, and let Him rule; for they are sure that God will do it all. The other is prayer. He should pray that when he is sure that God has placed him in office, he should ask for peace, for the devil makes strife. So the offering is done in the prayer. The priest must have an altar, which is the cross; on it hangs his flesh, which is our sin, which he offers up to God, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." A great word and prayer that Christ said in the
The greatest persecution and abandonment says: "Father, forgive them" etc. The word should not remain at the cross alone, but should go out into the whole world; for no greater and sweeter comfort can be to those who are in distress, who have sin, the devil, death and hell upon them, than that Christ stands with his Father and says: "Father, forgive. I would gladly be pious, but I am still lacking behind and ahead; therefore I take comfort that I have a priest who gives blessings over all the world, and comforts all who would gladly be pious.
And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, and cast lots, that the scripture might be fulfilled which saith, They parted my garments among them, and cast lots upon my skirt.
16 While he was praying, the soldiers were loosing his clothes, for there was no one to take care of his needs; they had all left him. They cut up one of his skirts and gave each of them a garment, but the other skirt was unstitched and had been worked from top to bottom, as John 19:23 says.
This robe remains whole, that is, no one can erase the name "Jesus. But one plays for the same skirt when one preaches: Christ died for all the sin of the world, and has done enough for it with his suffering and death; so it follows that no work helps, not even God's law itself. This is the whole skirt, which cannot be cut. And all the school teachers came to this skirt and saw Christ suffer on the cross for the sake of our sin, and did not want to separate the skirt, but nevertheless played around the skirt and said that man is nevertheless a rational soul created by God and has a free will to do good, therefore man must also be something and be valid. These are the dice: It may not be true that faith alone is enough. That is where popery comes from, with all its monks and nuns, in which we have lain for a long time. But our Lord God has given us the same whole skirt again and has made us acquainted with the dice.
cover and adorn our bruises and shabbiness. Now, in our times, even dice are the heavenly prophets; for although they do not deny Christ, they do not push him very much. They say that one must speak to God alone and put Christ in one place, wanting to appear before God even without Christ: therefore, because they blasphemed God's honor, God punishes them horribly, as we have seen. So now come other dice; that is the skirt. What God ordains, speaks or does, no man shall ask why, but shall speak thus: It pleases me well. But here come the Sacramentans and Anabaptists with their dice: How, if it were said, it shall be only water, it shall be only bread and wine? So they have to play for the skirt; for they cannot separate it, it is too powerful. These are all dice bearers.
18 Christ has now made the prayer for his enemies, now he looks at his mother and also makes a will for her.
And by the cross stood Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister Mary, Cleophas' wife, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Afterward he saith unto the disciple, Behold, this is thy mother. And from that time the disciple took her to himself.
19 After the prayer, Christ of the Cross looks at his mother and also wants to leave her a testament in which she should remember him, saying, "This is your son," and naming John. It is a small word: "You shall have him in my stead. Here we see how JEsu's heart was toward his mother, and how kindly his mother took care of him; for the Holy Spirit does not break nature where he comes, but corrects it, and makes people as he is, kind, gentle, long-suffering, patient, meek, quiet. Where the virtues are not, there the Holy Spirit cannot be. It is very kind that Christ does not forget his mother either; but it is an unequal change that he gives John in his place. This is the outward testament of Christ,
which he makes for his mother here at the end. For it is well done and God wills it that people, before they die, make an order for their goods, provide for wife and children, so that they do not have to suffer hunger and sorrow after our death. Therefore John takes Mary as his dear mother, as the text says, and nurtures her throughout her life so that she will not suffer distress; for she will certainly not have had a great or rich friendship, therefore he commands her into his protection to his dear disciple.
But they that passed by blasphemed him, and shook their heads, saying: You who break the temple of God etc. And the others said: Stop, let us see if Elijah will come and help him etc.
20 Now follows the blasphemy, from which comes the murderous cry, which is taken from the 22nd Psalm v. 2. So he who cries out must have such a battle that spirit fights with spirit. The fight of death in the garden is not to be compared with that; because there God fights with God. In the garden he still had a God who was merciful to him; for there is no misfortune and suffering so great that we can bear it, if only we have the consolation that we still have a merciful God, be it for our suffering what it may. But here God was against him, so that he fell into impatience against God and said: Hast thou saved all the fathers, as thou hast trusted me, and delivered me up wholly to the devil? The words do not want to suffer any other gloss and interpretation.
The people: "If he is the son of God, let him come down from the cross"; as if they should say: If he had been the son of God, he would not have let him come to the cross, therefore he is the son of the devil and forsaken. Christ also felt this in his heart, for there the malediction began, as it is written: "Let him be maledicted from God who dies on the wood," Deut. 21:23. Then he had to run through the rolls, so that he would be like us and know how to help. This is our comfort when we are in trouble, so that we think, you have also been in the hospital. These are good confessors who have something to say.
have tried. Therefore Christ soon understands us and soon knows how to help us, for he has also been in trouble. This is a certain comfort, so that Christ stoops down, we pick ourselves up, and so he carries us to the Father. The Jews mock him, saying, "Let us see if Elijah will come and help him," making the misfortune greater and greater; for as they speak, so he feels, and so must think: Elijah has suffered much, and yet has never been forsaken; but I am forsaken.
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
22) There is a consolation,' as in the garden from the angel, so here on the cross from a murderer who hangs next to him. This is a strange God, that he lets his son be comforted by a murderer. The thief must see through the body of Christ, through shame, blasphemy and suffering, otherwise he could not have believed nor confessed that Christ was a Lord and had a mighty kingdom. So Christ is now through hell, and the consolation arises in the thief. God does not let his church perish; therefore it is well said: The faith that died in Petro rises again in the thief. For the rhyme must remain: "Reign in the midst of the enemies." Then Christ remembers: I nevertheless have a gracious God, who has prepared a kingdom for me, and lets the sinner enjoy my suffering. Therefore he continues, saying, "Today you will be with me in paradise." The thief sees his guilt and Christ's innocence, therefore he thinks that Christ's innocence will help me: then he sees Christ in the heart through a thick wall. The thief belongs to us, we are like him, therefore let us cry out to Christ, and he will speak to us: Yes, yes; as to the thief.
After this, when Jesus knew that all things were finished, that the scripture should be fulfilled, he said, "I thirst. There was a vessel full of vinegar. And they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it about an hyssop, and held it to their mouth.
23 The words alone indicate that he is weary and would like refreshment. For the mocking lasted for an hour, and it is well to remember": Christ was full of bloody sores and many wounds, so that there was nothing good in his flesh; therefore his tongue, which still speaks a little sweetly, must drink gall, so that everything becomes bitter.
When Jesus had taken the vinegar, he said, "It is finished," and bowed his head and gave out the Spirit.
Here he remembers the divine will that he had to suffer. He knows nothing more to do, for everything written in the Scriptures has been accomplished: therefore he surrenders to God and says Ps. 31:6: "Into your hands I commit my spirit. This is the parting of Christ, which he does for our sake, so that we may see the fatherly heart. For as Christ was formed in the body, so were we in the soul before God; and the earnestness which God here shows in His Son, we have earned; and if God wills to act justly, He does so to us. Therefore we should repent, after which comes the forgiveness of sin, in the mirror of Christ: that as God saves His Son from death and the devil, so He also wants to save us; this is our comfort, through which we are saved. Because we see this in Christ, we should not turn away from God, and remember the rhyme of Christ, which says: "Reign in the midst of your enemies," so that no suffering will be too difficult for us. If we have sins, let us carry them to Christ, who has put them on the cross and will forgive us, subduing death and the devil. So we also have the death of Christ.
25 Now let us see another piece. They break the legs of the shechers in two.
so that they die sooner, but not Christ. For it is written in Exodus 12:46 about the paschal lamb: "You shall not break its leg. This is our comfort. God has prepared a good morsel, and taken a bruised flesh of beasts, as it is written in the Psalm, and as it says in its language, such a bruised and torn flesh that they themselves cannot eat it. This is the dear Jesus, who hangs there on the cross, and is so battered that he does not resemble any man, and whoever looks at him must have a fright before his bruised flesh. He is badly mangled, but the flesh must be good, because the bones are whole; for the flesh, be it therefore what it may, shall nevertheless hang on the strong bones. And the flesh is the whole Christian church; we see wild beasts that want to tear us apart, and we have much sin, but the legs are strong and carry the wretched flesh. Therefore we should not despair; for out of the side of Jesus flows that which the Centgraf*) makes the heart of JEsu; not only washes us, but also colors, that is, it renews the heart to be of a different mind, so that we can be favorable to the one whom we were hostile to before, and the monkey which we esteemed great before we had new thoughts. Christ makes our flesh pleasing to God and does not impute sin to us; for just as God has no disgust for His dear Son, because He was so miserably wretched, so for the sake of the same Son He will have no disgust for our flesh and sins, but will gladly tolerate and suffer all our weakness.