On Christmas Day, in the afternoon.
(Second sermon.)
You have heard this morning that "I have planned to deal with the history of this feast in a simple way, because the feast is ordered for the reason that one should preach about the history. And if it should come to that, that one should forget this history, then the reason would be gone. For we see what has happened in the papacy, since one has departed from history and preached subtle things against it, so that one has preached nothing at all from it, but from St. Barbara, Christophoro etc. Yes, one cannot preach from this history simple enough. Before this I also wanted to ride high; but I was a fool.
You have heard that this birth took place in sorrow, poverty and misery; and afterwards, that it was preached from heaven by many thousands of angels, who all rejoiced over it; although not more than one angel brought this message, yet more angels were present than there are now men on earth. And although they have been on earth, they have shown a real heavenly and complete joy about it. No one could describe it more aptly than St. Lucas; indeed, we can echo him: "If I were to hear only a few angels, I would despise the Turkish emperor in comparison; what would have happened if I had heard so many thousands of angels?
In this angelic sermon we have heard that the angel said: "I proclaim great joy to you, which shall be to all the people: for unto you is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord in the city of David. So I have said today that you should write these words in your hearts with letters of gold and fire. And all that is written in the Scriptures and in the world
is what the angel understands in this sermon. For the angels are in earnest about this, and are quite full of joy: therefore they can well preach and sing about it, as if they wanted to say, "Be glad, for you are now blessed, and your misery has now come to an end, because your Savior is born. With this word he confesses that before with us there was destruction, distress, misery and sorrow. For where there is need of a Savior, there must surely be evil with man. As if you were in prison, in temporal death, or in the midst of the enemy. So we are stuck and are still stuck daily in sins, in death and under the power of the devil, because the old Adam is still there, so that we cannot come out. Therefore saith the angel, Hitherto have ye been under death, sin, and the devil: but I will set another vision before you, that ye shall forget all these things, when ye have him that is born unto you a Saviour. Here ye shall turn your ears, and your eyes, and your hearts: for the Saviour is here, and is born this day.
(4) Therefore ye may rejoice, as ye would gladly be delivered from them. With these words he indicates to whom this joy is to be given, namely: not to those who have pleasure in sins, and are attached to the world and the devil, who are proud, sure, stingy etc.; to such people this sermon is not held up. Therefore the angels do not come to Herod, to the high priests, nor to the councilors in Bethlehem, but stay outside the city with the poor shepherds, who were not such wretches; yet they were restrained under Moses; if they did not want to do good, then the shaker was immediately there. And for such people it belonged also. To the poor, miserable, meager hearts it says the
Angels, not to the sated, secure hearts that rely on their own righteousness. Therefore, this sermon is comforting to them. No one rejoices in it unless he is in need of the Savior. Therefore you should go into your heart and see if these words taste good to you, and if your heart also leaps and jumps when it hears the angel say, "I proclaim great joy to you." If you are glad in your heart, good; if not, you should know that this sermon does not concern you, and you should be afraid of it, and call upon God that this sermon may taste good to you and penetrate your heart.
5 The word "Savior" indicates a great comfort, and concerns those who would like to be free from death, sins, devils and the old Adam. And it is a great seriousness that he says: "the Savior"; so that you never doubt, but can firmly rely on it. Therefore a poor man can hear nothing sweeter than this sermon. Let each one consider whether he would like to be free from these three evil things. He ought to be, but man is not in earnest until the last hour comes, when faith will come to him, when the road comes and takes him away.
Which is Christ the Lord in the city of David.
Here the angel distinguishes between the saviors. There are many kinds of saviors: as we Germans call a savior who protects a country. As princes and kings of old were called, as, Carolus Magnus, and his like kings and saviors. But now the angel says, "I proclaim to you a joy of a Savior who is yours, not a common Savior, whom I will announce to you. He is the one spoken of in all the Scriptures, the Law and the Prophets. For the Jews spoke of Christ in all their lectures and sermons. Therefore, in this word, the angel takes all the Scriptures and everything that was ever preached before, and brings it together with the word about Christ, and says that he is present. When the Jews heard the Messiah called, they already knew what the word meant; for they knew that everything
was so ordered and placed that they should wait for Christ. That is why the angel carries out the words that everyone had in their mouths when they said, "Christ will come. As the Samaritans said John 4:25, "When Christ comes, he will tell us all things." The word was in everyone's mouth, therefore the angel also takes it, as if to say, "He of whom you read and hear is born.
007 But these words were so incomprehensible and incredible unto the shepherds, that it cannot be told, because there was no glory, no pomp, no splendor. No one had seen it in Jerusalem, nor in all the land, that they could have said, "Yes, Christ should be born, and should not be revealed in Jerusalem to the esteemed Pharisees and Sadducees; and we, who are the last, should know it? I myself would have said, It is impossible; shall the promises be fulfilled, and not be revealed to most of the people who have the rule, and shall be proclaimed to the poor shepherds?
For this reason it was a strange thing. But all this is done that this birth may be sweetly presented to us, and that the heart may be drawn unto it, that it may have love to Christ. If this birth had been proclaimed to the nobles of this world, and the shepherds had held out against the great men and against their wisdom and wealth, it would have been terrible; for people are afraid of violence and shy away from wisdom. If Christ had come with trumpets and had a golden cradle, it would have been an excellent thing; but that would not be comforting to me: but he should lay himself in the womb of a poor maiden, and be despised before the world; then I can come to him. So now he reveals himself to the wretched, so that it would not look as if he came with great power, splendor, wisdom, and with a high nature. But when he comes in that day, it will be different, when he comes against the great men. Now he comes to the poor who need a savior, but there he will come as a judge against those who persecute him here.
9 So the angel with the word draws the
The thoughts of the shepherds were that he was the man they should find in such a wretched being. It is a strange word that he who lies in the womb of the maiden should be God's son. What kind of heart must the shepherds have had? They must have been full of the Holy Spirit to have believed it; otherwise they would have laughed it off.
(10) Now I will leave in order what the word "Christ" means, namely, in Greek, an anointed one, that is, a king and a priest. And you should not forget these words. We Germans, when we hear this word, come to the ointment in the apothecary and to the Balbirer: but it was a use, when a king or priest was anointed, one took balsam and the most delicious Specerei, and was no noble water but that; thatelbiges one poured on his face, that he should smell well, as ours also do. This has been a very common usage, it means painted with delicious water. I am not talking about the ointment, but about the most precious waters, which were deliciously prepared. If one should consecrate a king or a priest, one had to anoint them. It was not an oil like our oil, which our people use. Therefore Christ is the one who is anointed with precious water as king and priest. Their heads, faces and garments were sprinkled with it, and where they walked there was a living odor.
So Christ is an ordained king and priest, to the kingdom and to the priesthood, that is, the angel wants to say, the Savior is born to you, whom the Scriptures praise so highly and exalt everywhere, namely, Christ is a king who can reign in his kingdom,
and deliver us from sin, death and the devil. He is a priest who represents us to God, Rom. 8, 34, and performs his priestly office. The scripture Joh. 1, 29. describes him in the same way: "Behold, this is the Lamb of God", that is, he is ordained and sprinkled with the best water, that is, with the Holy Spirit. So you shall now say: Christ is a Greek word, in which language the apostles preached, in Hebrew he is called Messiah. It is not the coarse daub; but for this cause he is called Christ, that in time past they poured on the top of the heads of priests and kings the best ointments and balm waters. Now they need theer in its place, with which the bishops' hands are greased. Now from Christ we are called Christians, for we are also anointed by him, and have received the same grace that he himself received.
The HErr in the city of David.
12 This may also be spoken; for the angel saith this for the sake of the trustworthy, 1 Cor. 1, that no man should see or understand it, save poor sinners. Shouldn't this make one's heart grow fonder that the angel calls Christ a Lord? for he truly calls no one a Lord, unless he is greater than he is. And now this Lord lies in the manger and has nothing of his own, and of him the angel says that he is the "Lord," and innumerable angels come and kneel before the poor little child, and these majesties say that he is the Lord, and call their Lord our Lord and our Savior. This may be a sermon that the angel is preaching. God let it also go to our hearts.