Luc. 2, 14.
Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, and goodwill toward men.
1. hominibus bona voluntas, Luc. 2, 14.: "In people a divine good pleasure." There are two kinds of people who read, hear or think about this gracious birth of Christ. First, some consider it so, that the heart does not feel or is moved by it, but passes by, as a guest passes by in front of an inn; of whom the prophet Hosea Cap. 10, 7. says: Transire fecit Samaria regem suum, quasi spumam
*The first printing, which we follow, was published in 1523. A. XII, 321; Erl. A. 16, 501. ed.
super faciem aquae: "Samaria has let her king pass over, as a bubble on the water." These have not tasted and tried what Christ is. This is also the several part. It would not be possible, if the heart should fully understand how great grace and good is given to us through the child, that we should remain alive; but it must come to that in the end. Christ is not yet born to these people. Therefore, we should think that we are of the other crowd, that we are moved and feel a change in our hearts. After this consideration, when it touches the heart,
then it may create benefit and bear fruit. This is the right consideration of this birth, which must be by faith alone, as we shall learn.
St. Bernard says that in this birth three great and remarkable miraculous signs took place. The first, that God and man became one thing, through the union of divine and human nature. The other, that she who gave birth remained a virgin and yet bore milk. The third, that in such things the human heart and faith may come together and become one. But I say that the first sign is easy to believe and moves few men; the other is still easier to believe; the third quite easier from the previous two. But in this is the real miracle, that the Virgin Mary believes that these things should happen in her; this is so great that we cannot marvel enough at it. Therefore the angel says to the Virgin: Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te, et virtus altissimi obumbrabit tibi, Luc. 1, 35.: "The Holy Spirit will come down into you from above, and the power of the Most High will surround you." So it happened that she could not understand and feel it herself, but she believed. That is why Augustine says that she was much more gracious and blessed because she received Christ in her heart (through faith) than in the flesh; that she became his mother in her heart rather than in the flesh. This miraculous sign must have happened first in her. If she had not taken the words the angel spoke to her and let them pass before her ears, none of the miraculous signs would have happened. But when they entered her heart and stuck, these things immediately followed, and such a change took place in her that no man can imagine: before her nature was nothing compared to this; here she has become much purer and holier.
Therefore, if this birth is to benefit us and transform the heart, we must form the example of the virgins in the heart and follow her. For there is no other way to do this; it must also happen in our hearts as it happened to her.
is. This miraculous sign must be renewed in us without ceasing; each one must accept the child, so that he may say and believe that the child is his; as the virgin did when she conceived him: each one must act as if he alone had been born to him. Whoever does not take care of the child in this way, this birth is completely lost. Thus the prophets, especially Isaiah, wrote: Parvulus natus est nobis, et filius datus est nobis, Esa. 9, 6: "A little child is born to us, and a son is given to us." This one takes care of the child, just like the mother, and all who do not keep it with him and say so with him, must convert or be lost. Unfortunately, we find this spirit in very few people now. It is almost extinct. In former times it was well; as, in the same ones, who have composed the Christian song: Ein Kindlein so löbelich ist uns heute geboren etc. For whoever should do this and believe that this child is God's and the virgins', must also be born in him, there must truly be no little faith. For here the heart begins to wriggle. Abraham had such faith when Christ said of him John 8:56: "Abraham desired to see my day; he saw it" (by faith) "and was glad." How could a man not laugh and be full of joy if he completely believed in his heart and believed that the child was his? When this joy is felt in the heart through faith, then the Proverbs, Gen. 22, 18. Gal. 3, 8. are fulfilled, through which God promised: He wants to give all men in Abraham's seed, that is, to become full of grace, full of blessedness and to obtain all good things etc.
4 Thus our Lord God deals with it briefly. He makes a piece of flesh and puts it in the womb of the virgin and does so many miracles with it. From the one child all people's hearts can be satisfied. This master can feed the whole world with such a small work (as one looks at it). There you can see what great understanding is hidden in this simple word. If he were to feed so many people with worldly goods, it would be less and less and less,
until nothing would remain. But this child is not diminished, he may not divide it piecemeal, but it remains whole and is given to everyone completely. Whoever obtains it has eternal bliss and all good etc. Therefore it does not want to be put into a casket. It was nothing that the Virgin carried it in her arms, she had to carry it in her heart first, not under her heart. Through this carrying she becomes worthy that she has also carried it bodily. This child alone is destined to fill the heart. So when the heart surrenders by faith, then fiudets that he be called a sweet Jesus. After that the heart rises into the Father, who is so gracious that he has given the child into the heart. It is not to be said or thought that such a small thing should have such great treasure in it. Therefore the prophet says: Dilata os tuum (cordis scilicet) et ego implebo illud, Ps. 80.: "Enlarge thy mouth" (of the heart) "and I will fill it." (Ps. 81, 11.) As if he wanted to say: You may never open it wide enough; this must be your daily exercise. Then the great miraculous sign will be denied again, and the heart will become sweet, joyful, confident, and undaunted, and will have peace from all the sorrow that could hurt it. For what should happen to his heart? Where the child remains, he will also remain well. The heart and the child do not part from each other. This is what I have said about the affection and desire, how one should take care of the child in the heart; I can say no more about it. Whoever wants to know how this happens must try.
Now it is true that it cannot be possible for the heart of this child to accept and taste its sweetness, unless it has first poured out all joy outside of that which is not Christ. The heart must be left alone and desolate, and must seek no help from any creature. The child does not want to suffer the heart to take on something else; it wants to dwell in the heart alone. We must forsake all that is good in our sight, pleasure, the attraction of goods, honor, our life, piety, wisdom and all our virtue; if we surrender all this completely and forgive ourselves for it, then the child will come. It
but brings with it everything that kills our Adam. For if we are to be renewed in Christ, we must let the old skin be completely removed; that is where the misery arises, that is where no one wants to go. Therefore it happens that we cannot take care of the child. The virgin Mary had to do the same: she was poor, the royal tribe of David was outcast and oppressed, the priests had the rule (as now) alone, royal and priestly power. It had no reputation that something should come from this virgin. But thus the prophet Isaiah Cap. 11, 1. said: "There shall grow a goodly young rice", or a fresh branch, from the clod and "stick of Jesse, which is no more green", but has become rotten, bears no more; "and upon it shall rest the Spirit of God", the Holy Spirit rests on Christ, that is, through Christ we must all please God, through Him God will dwell in us. We do not have to be green trunks bearing many wild bushes, we do not have to be anything else, except that we know nothing but the branch and flower of Christ. Today's Gospel, Luc. 2, 1. ff., also gives us this, since we have heard that which never happened.
(6) The king of kings does not want to be above kings and magistrates, does not want to be born of a rich woman; but throws himself down among the poorest heap, does not want to do anything else but dwell in the heart alone. But he does not dwell in it, so let all things go for which the heart otherwise longs; he does not take on the essence of what the emperor does, or the kings. That one ever sees that he cannot remain with those who open their eyes and want to be great in the world. So nothing will come of it, one must take care of none, one must let rule and be great whoever wants to.
7 Although one must deal with worldly things, one should not accept them. For if one accepts them, his heart is full of other things and passes over, and the child must remain unaffected. The child does not depart from anyone so much as from those who think they are full of righteousness. These do not seek the child; so the child expresses itself.
child again from them. This is what the prophet says: Transire fecit Samaria etc., ut supra. (Samaria, in German, is a tabernacle or special service, that is the church or gathering of the Christians, etc. The child must be brought to the child. One must bring a living soul to the child; therefore no one is more skilled for this than one who has much hardship, affliction and sorrow upon him, and nothing goes according to his mind; but so that he stands still, gladly bearing the adversity. Christ will never become sweet to you, unless you are bitter to yourself first. He who does not feel this way may well stay away from it. Therefore the child was born just at the time when the emperor had power; and he is under power. This is also an argument against the Pope's power, that it is not Christian. He alone wants to be supreme and to rule, and wants to be subject to no one, to be ruled by no one. Christ never did that, he always submitted to the power of the world; although he did not need it, he gave us an example.
(8) Now I say that all this cannot be understood, so let us try. This birth does not bring grace, consolation and bliss to anyone, except to the one who feels a change in his heart, as I have said. This change must also have taken place in the Virgin Mary, as I have also explained. Christ's mother was to be a legitimate wife, not to remain a bad virgin; he wanted to come into the flesh and blood so secretly that no one would know how.
Joseph and the virgin. No one knew otherwise, because the child would have come naturally from her husband. If she had carried the child and had no husband, even if she had sworn a hundred oaths, she would have been thrown to death with stones, no one would have believed that such a supernatural miraculous sign would have happened in her; it would have been a right judgment against her according to the law and according to nature. Therefore it was necessary that it happened in such a way that she considered Joseph to be a legitimate husband, although she remained a virgin. There one sees, how the child is so disgusting and tender, wants to have only the heart. It may suffer nothing beside itself, the virgin's heart had to be completely transformed, it takes away from the virgin the noble good she has; even though she was a virgin, she had to forgive herself the honor and the life she should have had from it, she did not have to accept it, but even let it go. Likewise, although she was born of the noblest and most royal stock, she was therefore considered to be nothing, and had to forgive herself all praise: if she had wanted to accept something, she would never have come to the child. But now her praise is preached throughout the world, and no one can praise her enough. As I said, the whole gospel goes to this, that we take care of the child alone. So it all goes through and through; as we will hear further after noon, in the following other sermon.