Marc. 16, 14-20.
Last of all, when they sat at meat, he manifested himself, and rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him risen: and he said unto them: Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. But the signs which shall follow them that believe are these: In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall cast out serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; and they shall lay their hands on the sick, and it shall be better with them. And the Lord, after he had spoken unto them, was lifted up to heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. They went out and preached in every place, and the Lord worked with them, confirming the word with signs.
First, the history of the last chapter of Luke, the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and the last chapter of Marci shall be told and explained in a simple way; how he was taken up bodily, with the lightest, most nimble body, and which could appear at will. With which example he shows us what kind of bodies we will have, namely, the lightest, most nimble, and those that can be hidden, carried, appear where and how it pleases.
(2) After the history, which is as it were the image and figure, the thing itself, or the true ascension, that is, the spiritual kingdom of Christ, is to be mentioned. For the fact that he is taken up from the earth into heaven and rides on the cloud means that his kingdom above the clouds, that is, the heavenly kingdom, is spiritual, eternal, invisible, until it is revealed. And here one or more scriptural passages are to be cited, which serve this cause, either that from Ps. 110, 1.: "Sit thou at my right hand," which Marcus touches upon in today's Gospel; or that from Ps. 68, 19.: "Thou hast ascended on high, and hast led captivity captive," etc., which Paul adduces in today's epistle (Eph. 4:10.); or that from Ps. 8:6, 7: "Thou hast made Him Lord with glory," etc. which Peter adduces Acts 2. 2. each of these three passages will give the
*) Cf. Erl. A. opp. var. arA. VII, 468 8<4<4. ed.
Power or the matter of the ascension, namely, that Christ was made Lord over all things, and especially over death, sin, law, for His own sake. For he that is Lord of all is Lord also of death, sin, life, righteousness.
But now let us leave the others and take the one before us that Paul deals with from Ps 68:19: "You have ascended on high" etc. Here all the words are to be especially considered. 1) "Thou art ascended." This indicates that he was not taken up alone, as Enoch, Elijah, or as we shall be taken up in the future; but that he ascended as a Lord in his own power, because this very Psalm speaks continually, and more than once makes him God and Lord. 2) "On high." This indicates the difference of his kingdom from other kingdoms which are below on earth. He alone ascended on high, that he alone might reign there. Therefore the kingdom of faith is where Our King sits above the clouds on high. But He is not idle there, nor does He reign for Himself. Yes, thirdly, "He has led captivity captive." This is the most beautiful and lovely description of the kingdom of Christ, namely, that he is a captor of prisons. This is his office and work, namely, that he is an overcomer to those who believe in him, and as a captor he is a prisoner of the prisons.
He leads the prison captive, that is, sin, law, death, so that they can no longer take us captive. He is therefore the death of death, the sin of sins, the law of the law, the poison of the poison; that is, he destroys the works of the devil, the power of the law, the terror of death, the right of sin, the power of the devil, until he finally beheads these prisoners at the last judgment and inflicts the final punishment.
4. each of these pieces can be extended by pleasant contrasts of captivities and liberties, namely: as we have been captives and servants of sin, that we had to do what sin wanted: so now sin is our captive and servant, and has to do what we want according to god, which by its temptation and temptation drives us to the
To pray, to believe and to act on God's word. And if sin did not plague us in this way, faith would grow cold, prayer would be lukewarm, the word would be driven drowsily. Therefore, this prisoner, by his wickedness, forces us to hate him all the more and finally to win. Just as a captured murderer or highwayman, by his stubbornness, provokes the judge more to zeal for righteousness: so sin provokes us to its own harm and to our benefit, because it drives to faith and prayer, and to the hatred of sin, and to the love of righteousness. So also the imprisoned death forces us by its terror and impetuous sadness to faith and invocation, until we become strong and despisers of its sadness, which is its highest evil etc. So also from the law and the devil etc.