Matth. 18, 23-35.
Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to reckon with his servants. And when he began to reckon, there came before him one that owed him ten thousand pounds. Since he did not have the money to pay, the lord ordered him to sell his wife and children and everything he had and to pay. Then the servant fell down and worshiped him, saying, "Lord, have patience with me; I will pay you everything. Then the master of the same servant was sorry, and let him go, and he forgave him the debt also. Then the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred pennies; and he attacked him and choked him, saying, Pay me what you owe me. Then his fellow servant fell down and begged him, saying, Have patience with me; I will pay you all. But he would not, and went and cast him into prison, until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw this, they were very sad and came and told their master everything that had happened. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, "Servant of the wicked, I have forgiven you all these debts because you asked me; should you not also have mercy on your fellow servant, as I have had mercy on you? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he paid all that he owed him. So shall my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not your brother his trespasses from your heart.
1 The Lord testifies sufficiently in this servant that he gives more than is asked; for the servant did not ask for remission of the debt, indeed he promised payment; but the Lord gives him the debt, not because of the promise, but because of the misery of the promisor. Hence he says, "It grieved the lord of that same servant." This is peculiar to the Lord, that he has mercy on the wretched; as it is said in Ps. 34:19, "The Lord is near to them that are of a broken heart." And in another Psalm (Ps. 50:15), "Call upon me in the time of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt praise me"; and Ps. 120:1, "I call upon the Lord in my trouble, and he heareth me"; and Ps. 4:2, "Hear me when I cry, O God of my righteousness, the
*) Löscher I, 293; Erl. A. opp. var. arx. I, 131 - Also in this, as in an earlier sermon, we have changed the superscription, since the text of the twenty-second Sunday after Trinity is the basis of the sermon. The Latin original calls the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity. D. Red.
thou comfortest me in my anguish"; likewise, Ps. 91:15: "He calleth unto me, and I will hear him; I am with him in trouble." Therefore the 4th Psalm, v. 4, teaches how this is strange in our eyes, saying, "Know that the Lord leads his saints strangely"; as if to say, "This is strange, that he makes his saints afraid, that they are forced to cry out. And Ps. 118:22: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; it is a wonder in our sight." Each one among us is a living stone. Those who reject are all tribulation, who rather build. But this is done marvelously by God, that the rejection of those who fear and afflict is for the building of the stones.
2 Therefore, let no one think that the pestilence or any other plague, whatever it may be, comes more from the wrath of God than from His mercy. This is also evident from the fact that it, like another mean thing, is for the good.
For it teaches people to pay attention; as Isaiah says Cap. 28, 19: "Affliction teaches to pay attention to the word"; for it compels man to call upon God. Therefore, since God sees that man is without tribulation in good days, and for that very reason is not called upon, nor that man has the opportunity to thank God, He sends the pestilence and afflicts him, so that He may have mercy on the afflicted.
Therefore, we should be wise in adversity, so that no matter how much comes upon us, we still firmly believe and hold that the will, goodness and mercy of God and Christ remain firm, and are not changed when happiness or adversity is changed. Therefore, whoever, in the midst of the turmoil of misfortune and evil, can have a firm thought on the firm goodness of God, overcomes all misfortune; for his faith relies on God's mercy.*) For just as when the sky is covered with clouds, one thinks nothing the less and believes that the sun will remain in its clarity: so also, since God is lovingkindness, goodness and mercy itself, one must know that when wrath or affliction comes that conceals God, that God will not be changed by it in His will and in His goodness. And so one can safely surrender to tribulation and death, knowing that beneath the temporary death and tribulation lies hidden and found the life and lasting peace that is God Himself. For this very reason he taught us the Lord's Prayer, which contains all our tribulations in the most perfect way and is filled with the Cross. But because we do not understand this at the time of happiness, he himself gives us the practice and examples of the Lord's Prayer, just as the boys are given examples of the rules, and, as the jurists say, casus in terminis.
4. I have accordingly promised to give a brief explanation of the Lord's Prayer, so that
each one has the opportunity before hand to continue thinking and praying, and thus to love God and long for Him. I will give a more extensive explanation in due time. Accordingly, we say, "Our Father, who art in heaven." So that here, as I have said, a man does not always speak mere words, he should seek understanding in his heart, and ask at the presentation of each word, why he has thus spoken? Why does he use the word "father" here, and not the word "Lord", not the word "judge", not the word "king", and finally not the word "priest"? Namely, that you may be ashamed of yourself and say, "You are truly a father, but I am not a son or daughter. For thou hast created me, thou hast given me life, purpose, and all goods; but alas! how have I misused all these. And so, in the word "Father" the ladder of double knowledge is built up, by which the heart is set on fire and brought to the most certain contrition, so that it is able to pray the following.
The first request is therefore: "Let your name be sanctified. God's essence is in heaven, but his name is also on earth; therefore his name is sanctified, but not his essence, which rather sanctifies everything. Not that his name is not holy in itself, but because it is not kept holy by us. Just as holy relics are holy in themselves, but it can happen that they are not kept holy and reverent.
(6) But God's name is sanctified in many ways, just as, on the contrary, it is profaned in many ways. First of all, when we use it indecently, that is, when we live shamefully and indecently, since His name has been invoked over us; as there are those who serve outward sins, to whom He says (Deut. 19:2): "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
(7) Secondly, God's name is even more profaned when we arrogate it to ourselves, as there are those who live holy lives, but on the contrary are proud in their hearts to think themselves righteous and holy, since God alone is righteous and holy. They thus drive GOt-
The former want him to be sanctified, the latter do not want him to be sanctified; the latter live on the right, the latter on the left; the latter go too far from sanctification, the latter go too far from desacralization; the latter want God not to be, the latter want everything to be, even God Himself. Therefore one must remain on the middle road, according to that saying (Eccl. 7:17): "Do not be too righteous." This middle road is to stand between the unholy and the holy, and not to want to be either of them; to flee and abhor the unholy, but to desire and seek the holy; and thus to deny both, and yet to have a part in both; to be pure in regard to impurity and to refrain from such; to be impure in regard to purity and to seek such, which is God alone. For we do not have to become pure, but only seek purity. Just as we do not have to become God, yet we must have and seek God: so we do not have to become righteousness, but hunger and thirst for it. For he that thirsteth not indeed thinketh that he is righteousness to some extent, being full in himself.
Thirdly, if it is not held with sufficient reverence, as is exemplified by the relics. If it is not mentioned with sufficient reverence, it is remembered, it is dealt with. And all men are found in all degrees and degrees, but only those are forgiven who recognize that they are in the same, and who pray that he may be sanctified. For who is so holy and pure that he is worthy and rightly called by the name of God? Who is he who does not arrogate to himself something of the name? Who is he who calls him with sufficient reverence? So the prayer alone is left, by which the sanctification of it is asked for. For his name is holy and terrible; it is venerable and to be feared; but only by those who know that they are not able to sanctify it. On the other hand, it is unholy and lowly to those who think they have sanctified it enough. Therefore, the word "holy" in Hebrew means as much as that which is set apart and dedicated to God alone, which setting apart from
both sides, according to the aforementioned three degrees.
9. first, it is set apart [namely, the name of God] when we set ourselves apart from that which is unholy; for Christians are called holy and righteous children of God; but all this they have from God. But all this will be defiled if we do not walk and live worthy of this name.
(10) Secondly, we are set apart when the name of God is not spoken by us, but when it is spoken by God alone, through humble confession. For the name of God is: just, good, true, wise. If we say all these things of ourselves, we defile and desecrate the same; and thus we are justified by the first separation, and in the other we are made sinners again. For in the first we learn what we are, and in the other we give to ourselves what is ours and to God what is His. For just as in the first separation or sanctification we are made poor in outward things, so in the second we are made poor in inward things; and since all this is accomplished, if man is not entirely pure, yet by the third separation and sanctification he would sanctify the name of God, because in his humility and lowliness he does not dare to call what is his.
11 Therefore, thirdly, the name of God is set apart from impure use and unseemly service; and this is the highest summit of the service of God, namely, holy fear.
Addition.
(12) To those who are in the first degree, the name of God is not holy and terrible. To those who are in the other degree, it is indeed holy, in respect of the first degree, but not yet terrible, and for that very reason not yet perfectly holy. In the third, however, it is truly holy, because it is kept frightening and highly reverent. The first degree belongs to the beginners; the other, to those who are increasing; the third, to the perfect. For the first
1758 r> 136-138. twenty-second Sunday after Trinity. W. XII, 2284-2257. 1759
sanctify it with a view to outward vanity: but they desecrate and defile it by inward impiety, pleasing themselves in the holiness they have begun. Hence it is actually said of them that there is no fear of God before their eyes, and the name of God is blasphemed by them, as they appropriate it for themselves. The third, therefore, who reject the name of God from themselves in their lowliness and nothingness, represent and worship it by denying that they are righteous, good, holy and true, and therefore fear, shun and exalt the name of the one God.
From this it is clear what our present life is. And so St. Cyprian says that in the fifth petition we are reminded that we are sinners, being taught to pray: "Forgive us our trespasses. So one must believe almost through all the pieces that they remind us at the same time of our lowliness and misery. If this is so, who has ever been found who, with such great titles and with such great power of words, has so portrayed the wretched condition of our life as this single one portrays it in this most brief prayer? Does he not exhort us to the highest hatred, disgust and abhorrence of this life, since he accuses it with seven titles of misery? Who is he who does not think that that life is worthy and worthy of all tears, of which he hears it called, first, a blasphemy, contempt and defilement of the name of God; secondly, an exile of souls and a deprivation of the kingdom and dominion of God; thirdly, a disobedience and resistance to the divine and best will, and thus a rebelliousness that is done to the highest good by that which is altogether evil? fourth, a paucity and lack of bread and of all necessities, and a prodigality of soul and body; fifth, a continual transgression and pure sin; sixth, nothing but temptation, danger, and continual destruction everywhere, from within and without; seventh, that it is nothing but evil, punishment, affliction, either of the spirit, inasmuch as we are wise in the flesh, or of the flesh, inasmuch as we are wise in the body.
we are wise in the spirit; and that this evil must be begun and thus advanced to that which is without end. All these things, however, are most important and emphatically indicated, so that each of them alone should be worthily considered and examined, together with its appendages and consequences: all of which we confess and affirm of ourselves when we pray (for we would not pray if we were not in such things, or we would pray falsely or only in pretense), because we always confess our misery in our own prayer, yes, are admonished and reminded to recognize and confess such.
14 And by this very fact, if a man understood nothing but his prayer, he would have superfluous knowledge of himself and of God, in which he would always find complete remorse, sorrow and tears. For what power of riches, glory and pleasure could be so great here that it should rejoice in such great misery? How are we miserable people, who forget our condition, so blind that we are not restrained and tamed at the moment of the slightest happiness, but are completely left out by admirable hopefulness and courageous will, and yet subject ourselves to pray this prayer before God in just this pride and courageous will; confessing our unhappiness with our mouth, but pleasing ourselves in happiness in our heart? Therefore, if you pray with your heart, "Thy will be done," you will also think, "O Lord, what do I hear? that because of our pride your name is not hallowed among us; we appropriate your name and yet live entirely in your blasphemy. What does a blasphemer and a thief of the divine name deserve? What does he deserve who turns God's honor into his honor, that is, into dishonor? Who is he who can sufficiently appreciate, much less escape, the punishment of this guilt, except he who, after realizing his atrocious sin, repents in humility and prays against his sin, hating it, so that God's name may be sanctified and his name rather desecrated, and as is right, scolded, cursed, and blasphemed? for such a one
will be blessed. As it was done with the first petition, so it should be done with all the others, namely, that we investigate and examine, ponder what great evil it is to be or to have been in this state of depraved nature. For all and each of the seven petitions have this threefold difference, that they serve in another way the beginners, in another way those who go on, grow and increase, in another way the perfected ones. And for now we want to expose a more extensive execution and accumulation of the evils according to all and every petition, and to a more convenient time.
15 The other petition: "Thy kingdom come." The first degree, according to the apostle, is when the nature of the outward man serves not the world, but God; as he says, "The body, however, not to fornication, but to the Lord, and covetousness is idolatry, as are the rest of the heathen vices, that is, the gross and palpable; and if we turn away from the same, we pass from the kingdom of Egypt into the kingdom of God.
(16) But here begin the peculiar vices of Israel in the wilderness; hence follows the other degree, the increasing ones, who do not let God rule over them, but their own wisdom, sense and righteousness, in which God is greatly provoked. For as the Jewish people and the Gentiles are distinguished, so these two sins are also distinguished. The one sin is an inclination toward the external creature and an enjoyment of it; the other is a turn toward the internal creature, namely, aversion from the inclination toward the external, so that the one who does not trust in God in things himself fornicates with chastity, being proud and pleasing himself, seeking his own in all things, and thereby pursuing the kingdom of God; indeed, he turns it into an exile. These are the ones who in their
Those who are in the first degree go back worse than before, but those who increase always ask the Lord to reign more and more: they do not look for Saul, who represents the attitude that abuses everything after the kingdom of God has begun, so as in the first degree in Israel no one was better than him, so in the second degree no one is worse than him.
The third degree is for the perfect, who already ask for the future kingdom, in which God is everything in everything, lives and does not happen in this life, as if something of ours, or of that which is of the devil, always reigns in us at the same time, and seeks to reign with us, yes, to reign alone.
(18) Behold therefore, when thou sayest, Thy kingdom come, as thou confessest (if thou sayest it from thy heart), that thou art in misery, and under the tyranny of the devil, of the world, and of thy flesh, where the law that is in thy members, led by the devil, doth drive thee to sin, and to the infallible burdens of conscience. For here is felt the yoke of the burden, the rod of the shoulder, and the rod of the driver. (Isa. 9, 4.) No tyrant has ever so afflicted, so oppressed, so harassed, and so subdued, as the devil, through the lusts of the flesh and of the world, harasses the conscience. Whoever feels this, however, sighs that the kingdom of God will come, and the burden and hustle will cease in the peace of conscience and the security of God's mercy. But oh, how many are those who consider this yoke and burden of Babylon most pleasant? who laugh and rejoice when they are oppressed and subjugated by this tyrant. All animals do not serve so much as these men, who are right animals, but unwise, born only to burden, but not to govern. Otherwise, the righteous are also animals, but God's animals and wise animals.