Matth. 8, 23-27.
And he entered into the ship, and his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, so that the little ship also was covered with waves; and he slept. And the disciples came to him and woke him up, saying: Lord, help us, we are perishing. Then he said to them: Ye of little faith, why are ye so fearful? And he arose and rebuked the wind and the sea; and there was silence. But the people were astonished and said: What manner of man is this, that the wind and the sea obey him?
In this gospel, many things are held out to us, which we are to learn and consider diligently, some of which we now want to do as much as we have time.
First of all, the evangelist describes that the Lord Christ lies and sleeps in the ship, like a man who sleeps naturally when he is tired from traveling, walking, or working, that he must then rest and sleep; thus proving that Christ was a natural, true man, who had and felt everything in himself that a true man has by nature, such as waking, sleeping, eating, drinking, walking, and standing, and uses all of this like another man. And here it is especially indicated that the dear Lord must have become very tired at this time from the great work of preaching and healing the sick, which he did during the day and often into the night, and also from watching and praying, in which he often stayed overnight; that he was very eager for rest and sleep, and therefore went away from the people and sat down in the ship with the disciples, so that he might have a little rest and sleep with peace, and as Marcus says, lay down in the ship below. This is the first thing we are to learn from this gospel, to strengthen our faith in our Lord Christ, that he is a natural, true man.
3. secondly, when he thus gently rests in sweet deep sleep, and the disciples with him
Suddenly a great storm arises from the wind and waves of the sea, that the ship now wants to sink, and they think they must perish etc.And when they hurriedly wake him up with fearful cries and shouts, he stands up, commands the wind, that is, all the devils who arouse such wind and storm, that they stop their waves, raging and raging, and suddenly everything must be quiet, so that the people on the other side are astonished and say, "Who is he to whom even the wind and the sea are obedient?" Now this is no longer the work of a weak or noisy natural man, like the resting and sleeping in the ship; for men cannot command the wind and the sea, so they are also obedient to no man: but he, as a mighty lord, threatens with one finger the winds and waves of the sea, so all must become still. Therefore, the work here also proves this article, that Christ is truly God and has divine power and authority, as a Lord over all creatures, wind, sea and the devil himself etc.
(4) This is the first thing we should learn and remember from this gospel, that Christ is described as both truly man and truly God. And although we see the same thing in other gospels everywhere, we must nevertheless repeat it daily and learn from it, so that this article may remain certain in Christendom, and we also begin to believe it earnestly and strongly, that in this our Savior Christ we have such a Lord, who is not only like us in human nature, but is also Lord and God, from whom we both have this bodily life and salvation,
Help and salvation in all troubles, temporally and eternally, and against all creatures' temptations.
(5) For this reason alone are we called Christians, that we believe in this Lord, who is both true God and man; not because we alone believe that God created us like other creatures; for heaven is also God's creature and therefore just as good as we are; thus also Turks, pagans, Jews, yes, the devil himself according to his angelic nature: that therefore, because we were created by God, we are no better than others, nor do we have anything better. But from this we are called and are Christians, that we also believe in the Son of God, who with the Father is the true, eternal God, and yet also a natural man born of the Virgin Mary, that he might become our Lord and Savior, and thus revealed and given to us, that we should believe in him and call upon him together with the Father.
(6) In this article the Christian faith is separated from all other people's religion and faith: this one makes the others all false and void, and remains alone true and lasting. For although Turks and Jews also boast of being God's people, and say that they believe and pray in the one, eternal, living God, who created heaven and earth, etc.And they are exceedingly angry with us Christians, and consider it the greatest foolishness, yes, the highest abomination, that we place more than one person in the eternal divine being, or, as they say, worship more than one God, so that they publicly lie to us: yet they err and lack the right God, and do not worship Him.
7. for God cannot be rightly known nor worshipped except by those who have His word, by which He has revealed Himself; as Christ says to the Samarian damsel, John 4:22: "You do not know what you worship, but we know what we worship." For without His word, nothing certain can be said or known either of His divine nature or of His will; as even the wisest pagans themselves have always confessed, that it is such a high, dark, and deeply hidden thing about God and His government that no one can fathom it or understand it; so that the more human reason
and speculates about it, the longer the further it gets away from it. As John Cap. 1, v. 18, also says: "No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared it to us.
(8) Now here the Scripture says that God reveals Himself in this way and wants to be known in this way, that He is such a God, who has a Son, who is called His only begotten Son, and as John says here, in His bosom, that is, inwardly of His divine nature and majesty, and therefore must be like Him eternally and almighty, true God from eternity. And that the same Son of God should take upon Himself human nature, so that He might become mediator between God and us, and redeem us, according to the divine promise Gen. 3, 15, which He made to the human race, that a woman's seed should crush the serpent's (the devil's) head etc.
(9) Therefore it is not enough, nor is it called worshipping the true God, as the Jews, Turks, and all the world, without God's word and faith in Christ, boast, worshipping the one God who created the heavens and the earth; (2c) for in this you have not yet known his divine nature or will. That there is one God, from whom all things were created, you know from his works, that is, in you and all creatures; you see them well, but him himself, who he is, what his divine nature is, and how he is minded, you cannot see or know by heart. But if thou wouldest know and know him aright, thou must hear his word, wherein he made himself known, saying that he is the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom he gave to be a mediator, that he should become like us a true man, yet conceived and born of a virgin by the Holy Ghost without sin. For that such a person could truly be a mediator between God and men, and our Savior, who redeemed us from God's wrath and obtained for us eternal grace, must be of both divine and human nature and essence: but if he has a divine nature, he must be with God the Father.
equal to omnipotent, eternal. And so that we may recognize His divine nature and His will, this Mediator, the Son of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, has Himself proclaimed this to us. etc.
(10) Therefore, although Turks, Jews and all pagans know as much to say about God as reason can discern from His works, that He is a Creator of all things, and that one should be obedient to Him etc.And always crying out and blaspheming against us Christians, that we worship many gods, but do us wrong and unjustly in this: For they will not hear his word, which he hath revealed of himself from the foundation of the world unto the holy fathers and prophets, and last of all by Christ himself and his apostles; neither will they know him, but they blaspheme and rage against it, painting themselves a God that hath neither Son nor Holy Ghost in his Godhead; and thus hold nothing but a mere dream for God and worship, even boasting lies and blasphemy for God's knowledge, because they presume to know God without divine revelation, that is, without the Holy Spirit, and to come to Him without a mediator (who must be God's own Son); and thus are basically without God. For there is truly no other God than this one, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, both of whom reveal themselves to the Church through the Holy Spirit, and work and rule in the hearts of the faithful; as John 2 Ep, v. 9. says: "He that believeth not and abideth in the doctrine of Christ hath no God"; and Christ Joh. 5, 23.: "He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father"; item Joh. 14, 6.: "No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."
Therefore, such boasting of God by the Turks, Jews, and all unbelievers is nothing, neither blind, foolish people, nor a vain thought, so that the devil may deceive and charm them into thinking that they have the right God, when they know nothing of Him and have no certain testimony of the Scriptures, but reject and blaspheme the same, in which He reveals Himself through many great testimonies. Therefore, because they deny Christ, who is the true God and man, and because they
they have no more than a mere name or shadow of God, even in God, whom they praise as the Creator of heaven and earth; just as if I were to boast of a great sovereign subject, of whom I knew nothing and could not say what or who he was, and still doubted whether he was a man, having body and soul. Dear, what kind of a gentleman would that be, of whom I said that in his being and nature he had no arm, nor leg, nor head, nor body? As if I said of the Elector of Saxony, or of a Count of Mansfeld: This is an Elector or a Count of Mansfeld, and yet has neither body, head nor torso, hands nor feet. It is the same kind of god that the Turks imagine, who has no son in his divine being; thus they take away his hands and feet, that is, his perfect divinity, as he has revealed himself and wants to be recognized. And so they take no more than a mere, vain shadow of their own thoughts for the true God; for they do not want to have this God, who is a Father and who gave us his Son and poured out the Holy Spirit on us abundantly, but blaspheme and rage against him most horribly.
12. So also the Jews are highly annoyed with us, and cry out that we make three gods, as they also worship the virgin's son as God's son and a Holy Spirit above the one God: yet they must know and confess that we have clear evidence of this from their own Scriptures, Moses and the Prophets, and take them as the basis of our faith, that Christ, the Son of God, and the Spirit of God are called separate and distinct persons of the divine essence, and thus, with their lies and blasphemies, do not lie and blaspheme us, but God and the Holy Scriptures.
(13) Thus we can prove that our faith is not new, of which we are ignorant, but is the most ancient faith, which began and was granted from the beginning of the world. For when Adam and Eve, our first parents, were restored to grace in paradise after their miserable fall, they began
they have this faith in the Savior, the Son of God; for this is the promise given to them: "The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent," Gen. 3:15. From this first gospel our Christian faith originated and flowed. For there it is announced and revealed by God Himself that a woman should bear a son, who would be called her, the woman's, seed, so that both the woman would be a natural man and the child her natural son; but only the woman's seed, that is, not born of or through a man. This man should have the strength and power to crush the head of the serpent (the devil, who brought the whole human race in Adam and Eve under his power, into death and eternal damnation) and would thus redeem the human race from sins, God's wrath and eternal death. This would have to be a special person, and not only more than a man of man and woman, but also more than an angel; because the devil, whom he should crush the head, is himself of the highest angelic nature.
14. As if God wanted to say clearly: I will let him be a natural man, born of a woman, but not conceived naturally or in a common human way from a man; and who does not have only human nature, like you, Adam and Eve; for thus he could not have the power to trample the serpent underfoot (as they also did not have the power and authority before the fall, although they were created without sin): But he must be both natural man and true God, as the Lord over the devil and all his power, and himself do the work, which alone is the work and ability of divine majesty, to eradicate the devil, death, sin and hell. Now he must nevertheless be another person of him who speaks such things and promises such a person, the seed of the woman and the destroyer of the serpent, and yet of the same divine essence and of the same eternal God; because he is no more than a single God, therefore he must be the eternal Son of God.
15. so this article by Christo is from the
Since the beginning of the world it has been preached and believed by all holy fathers and prophets that Christ would be both a true man, as the promised seed of the woman, and yet also a true God and Lord of all creatures, of sin, of the devil and of death, as the one who would carry out the work of reconciliation and redemption of the human race from the eternal wrath and condemnation of God, which according to God's righteous judgment had passed over us, and destroy the work of the devil. John 1 Ep. 3, 8. says that God's Son had to appear Himself for this, that He dissolved the devil's work, that is, released our eternal bonds under God's wrath and the hells.
(16) And the same our Lord Christ not only preached these things himself, and commanded his apostles and the whole church to preach them until the last day, but also proved them in the work with public testimonies of his deeds; even as he proves them in this gospel, in that he controls and rebukes the wind and the sea, and much more the devil himself, with one word; and in the very thing in which this article and the faith of it have been supremely challenged. For when Adam and Eve in the beginning taught and preached this faith in the promised Seed to their children and their children's children and to all men, until the seventh patriarch, Enoch, in the five hundred years, when the devil by Cain and his successors was hard upon the Christian church, and also with his winds and waves of the sea rushed upon the little ship and smote it, that it was almost out of sight, and was now about to sink: Then he sent another preacher, Enoch, by whom, besides Adam, he would teach his other godly children and descendants, and ward off the devil. After these he sent Noah, until the Flood, when the church once again suffered the greatest distress, and all the world fell away except for eight people, yet it was preserved and restored by this son of God in the same few people. After this Noah and his children, Abraham was raised up to preserve the Church of God, and subsequently all the holy prophets, kings, as, David, Ezechias, down to
The Lord Christ Himself and His apostles, all of whom preached this one faith against the devil's raging and fury.
17. This is useful and comforting for a Christian to see and consider how this preaching and faith, and the same power and authority of the Son of God, is always preserved in the church; so that this same Christ has always ruled through his Word and Spirit, and this is what goes on and happens in his church from one time to the next, as is shown in this gospel: That the devil with his winds and waves, that is, by false spirits and doctrine of the devil, and by all kinds of raging in the world, agitates against Christ, and Christ must also always save and help the church in such danger and distress, as here the apostles are in the ship. For as has been said, soon from the beginning of the world the waves of the evil spirit that rules in the air, as St. Paul Eph. 6:12. into this little ship, which is called the Christian church, to subdue and sink it with Christ and his own, and yet has always been preserved against such storms in such terror and weakness, as the apostle is here, through faith and calling upon this Savior Christ, the Son of God; Thus one has always had to defend oneself against these winds and waves, and in all of them the power of the Son of God has finally proven itself, now from five thousand years ago, that all such winds and waves have had to subside and cease one after the other.
(18) For as many as have pushed, stormed and raged against it have now, praise God, sunk until this time; as the great mighty empires and kingdoms, Babylon, Assyria, Greece and Rome in its highest power, and yet this little ship has remained and still remains. And that now the remaining tempests of the Pabst and the Turks are still spouting and spraying their waves, and all have in mind to drown this ship: we must count this for the last raging and tearing of the old serpent, the devil, who has now almost repelled and expired on Christ and his church; would like to do very evil in his last fury and anger, but he knows that he will soon
and must fully leave his poison, stings and bites under the feet of the Lord Christ and his Christianity.
(19) Therefore let us know and believe in our Lord and Savior, that he is the Lord who is able to control and ward off the stormy winds and raging waves of the devil, if he wills; and comfort us against all the power of the wicked, angry enemies of the poor church, that they will not be able to do anything with their storming against this little ship. He who has put down and calmed such winds and waves for five thousand years is still able and knows how to command and defend them: they have lacked and not succeeded for the five thousand years, and they will lack and not succeed for the rest of the last hour, whatever they intend to do. This man, who lies here in the ship and sleeps, will wake up in his own time through our prayer, and will be seen to be able to command the sea and the wind, and then the pope, the Turk and the devil, and everything that has stormed against this little ship in a hostile and terrible way, must perish.
20 Therefore this is our certain reason and comfort against all the devil's and hell's gates, that we know that our faith in this Lord, whom we confess to be truly God and man, is the right, first and oldest faith, and has always been preserved in the world through the Son of God, and will also remain the last until the end of the world. And in this special divine power and work is evidently seen, that in so many daily and constant challenges and resistance from the devil and the world he has nevertheless persisted and still persists. For although he has suffered great, heavy, and many storms and shocks from the beginning, he has not been overthrown or weakened by them, but still stands and goes on; and the stronger, the more he is persecuted. And it is found that we, praise God, now in the end believe and preach just the same as Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and all the fathers and prophets believed and preached. Summa, Christ must with his
*) These words have the Wittenberg edition. D. Editor.
Gospel through the sea and waves of the world and storm winds of the devil until the end.
21 On the other hand, it can be seen that the faith and religion and worship of all other pagans, Turks, present-day Jews and unbelievers has always been and still is nothing but vain, uncertain, erroneous and newly invented things, void things, of which they have no certain reason nor can prove; for they neither know nor hear God's word, which he has given from the beginning and has always kept and preached in his church. For if they have long been asked how they know that their faith must be right, they can show no divine word or testimony, but must say that they have it from hearsay, from their fathers, and see that other people also believe this way.
22. And are in two very great errors and blindnesses: First, that they cannot say what God is in His essence; As the most wise and learned among the heathen, who have striven for this with great diligence, have not attained it, yet the best among them have said as much as reason can perceive and notice in God's works, that God must be an eternal being, creator of all things, wise and just, which it cannot hold fast enough when it begins to dispute with its wisdom about the divine rule in the world. Therefore, some great people have been so insolent that they have publicly denied, or even confessed their doubt, whether there is a God; some, when they asked and were supposed to say about God, have confessed that the longer they sought and investigated, the less they knew to say about it.
23) Secondly, they are much less able to know and say what God's attitude is toward men, whether He will certainly accept us, care for us all, hear us and help us if we call upon Him; but always remain in great fearful doubt, or in publicly wicked contempt, thinking that God does not ask about us poor men, and both despising His wrath and mercy; as again the wisest philosophers have said.
and poets have let themselves be heard without shyness and without hesitation and have written publicly that no one can know what God has in mind. This is a sure sign that their belief or delusion about God is not right; for they themselves must say that if it were certain that they had the right God, and that he would take care of them and be pleased with them, then he would also give both of them more certain and stronger testimonies of his divine nature and will, and would not leave them hanging and hovering in doubt forever.
24 Moreover, it is seen how unequal and full of various sects of the heathen and unbelievers idolatry has always been and still is, that they never stayed with one, but always fell from one to another, invented one new thing over another, or accepted from others, which they only saw and heard, boast or pretend for a worship; as the Historia Acts 17, 16. ff. says of those at Athens, who were the most famous of the Greeks in wisdom, that St. Paul found all kinds of strange, new and unknown gods and worship there, and therefore punished them etc. And the Romans gathered all kinds of idols from all over the world, pulled them out of every corner, accepted what they heard and saw from others, and built a temple in Rome, which they called the temple of all gods, because they wanted to have all the gods in the world, and so that they would not lack or lack any, which they did not yet know or know, they should all be included with the common name of this temple.
(25) In the same way we, together with the whole papacy, have done so far, since all kinds of idolatry with the dead and many unknown saints (so that there have also been bad boys under the holy name) have been accepted, and besides that so many services, pilgrimages, orders, brotherhoods, etc., have been raised. and always assumed one new thing over the other, of which we have known no reason, which only any impudent stoker or platling has been allowed to pretend; and yet all this is not only uncertain and unfounded, but also torn and disjointed in some-
lei sects and disunity, as among the pagans, where one takes this, the other that, and chooses one out here, the other in there believes and teaches, and yet in so many disparity and sects agree in that they all build the same on such their own uncertain delusion and dream, can suffer and press with each other, which yet among each other quite repugnant; As has been the case among monks and priests, since no one was at one with the other, and each wanted to have his own way considered the best, nor did they get along much in a city or village and church. Just like the Romans, idols from all countries, which were so unequal and highly opposed to each other, could live together in one city and worship with each other. But this they did, and they all still do: however diverse and disunited the groups and idols are among themselves, they are nevertheless one in that they pursue the right pure doctrine of the Gospel at the same time.
26. As in Rome and among the Greeks, how many and various idolatrous priests and idolaters there were, nor could they suffer the one Christ; but as soon as he came with his gospel and preaching of the right knowledge of God, they all became mad and foolish, and wherever he was mentioned, the devil struck with his wind and waves and with sword and fire, and only wanted to chase the Christians with their Christ out into the world; For the world also wanted to become too narrow for them over and by him (because he reveals their lies and makes them ashamed), and they could not even stand him next to them; and still they had to suffer him without their thanks, yes, because of their persecution and storming, raging and raging they finally perish with all their idols; as here the devil with his storm wind and waves runs and pushes himself against the Lord Christ.
27 Let this be said of the most important part of this gospel, how Christ is shown and preached to us both as true God and man, and how such a Christian faith alone is the right, certain, oldest, enduring faith, which has certain divine
He has testimonies of his word from the beginning of the world, and this proves that he is righteous and true, as he has been exercised and tested by many temptations, but still always stands and overcomes against all the storming and raging of the devil and his gates of hell; which is also his true color and sign that he must always be challenged and persecuted.
28) On the other hand, other religions or beliefs, as they are invented daily out of their own human conceit without divine testimony and revelation, are of this kind that neither persecution nor opposition arises, but are all such that they shun and flee the cross and suffering, and are accepted and accepted by the world only because they give peace, rest, good days, honor, good, and serve the belly. The devil, as his servants, leaves them well satisfied, so that they may not be driven and resisted by the world for the sake of their faith and worship; the sun must shine brightly and no wind or waves must stir against it, but all the waters must be calm; just as he is calm here with winds and waves and leaves people in peace until Christ comes with his little ship onto the sea, then everything must quickly heave and fall to drown this little ship.
29 And it is hereby shown that the company of Christ, and of those who keep company with him in the world, must always be challenged with great impetuosity, and so that this little ship also will be covered with waves. For this is what he has always done from the beginning with our fathers and forefathers, through the supreme power and authority of the world, first through the kingdom of Egypt, Babylon and Persia, then through the Greeks and the Roman Empire; These have been the storms and waves, which he must use and must serve him to persecute us for this doctrine and faith; so drive them as if they had nothing else to do in their regiment, but were there only to rage against Christ; as we now have our storms and waves from the pope, Turks and Jews.
30. and is well to wonder how high the world in its winds and waves, that is,
She is so fond of serving and obeying teachers or spirits and worldly authority that she does not want to hear Christ and his faith, nor does she want to suffer; instead, she quickly moves to rumble and rumble against him, so that she cannot blame him for wanting to do violence or injustice to anyone, or for wanting to teach something evil and harmful; But she hears that he offers her all good things and wants to help her, so that she will be relieved of all her distresses and miseries; she gives herself up and willingly sheds his blood for her, and gives her everything he has. What reason does she have not only not to accept him, but also to persecute him most bitterly?
Is it so evil that I teach that God's Son died for you, ascended to heaven and sits at God's right hand, so that he also makes you God's child and heir to eternal life, so that emperors, kings, princes and all the world must rage so horribly with persecution, chasing away and murdering poor and innocent people? It takes nothing from you, it gives you rather, leaves you body and goods, money and honor, gives you eternity. And what harm does it do you, even if it gives you nothing, that you let it go and accept whoever wants it, as one suffers many other things that one should punish and not suffer.
32 Yes, you say, it takes my cap and plate. Well, keep it, you have great desire for it. Yes, it takes away my mass, indulgences, fair, that one neither thinks of it nor gives for it, as before. Yes, if you are also torn there, then the devil laps you. So I hear that you only want to keep people captive so that they believe your lies (as you know yourself that it is a vain lie), for the sake of your avarice and belly, when you could otherwise feed yourself with God and a good conscience and keep what you have; only that you do not use it against your lord and doctor or master, but be obedient to him and promote his word.
33. but it is all, as I have said, the sorrowful devil, who thus begins to rage and storm in the world with his winds and waves, where and when Christ with his
He also wants to be in the world with his disciples. He does not like them, so he can soon raise the winds, that is, his lying spirits, groups and sects, and blow out the waves and waves, that is, his tyrants, so that they obey him here as the rulers of the bets, and they do so gladly. And even if they are otherwise at odds with each other, one wind blowing out here and the other blowing in there, and the waves falling over each other, they must all serve him in unity, so that they fall over the little ship of Christ, that they have no cause against him. For he never starts a quarrel or a rumpus, sits still in the little ship, even sleeps, and lets his disciples sail gently and cleanly; nor does the devil become so furious that he cannot rest nor celebrate until he drives all the winds and waves together against and over this little ship.
34. even so, when only this only begotten Son of God comes into the world with his company, who are of the faith which Adam, Eve, Seth, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham etc. they will become mad and foolish, and even fall into a heap; but we will not stir up sect, nor error, nor sedition; but preach with one accord what the dear fathers, prophets, and apostles have preached, that there be one faith, forgiveness of sins, one baptism, sacrament, prayer, hope, and life; taking from them neither house, nor estate, nor money, nor goods, willing to have peace and friendship with them; neither is there any atonement to be made, nor any goodness to be obtained; And if before they had no unity among themselves, yet now they run together, stand all for one man against us; all other ungodly beings they can suffer and tolerate, only the Christians' faith and preaching is offensive to them, saying that God's Son is our Savior, and from and through him alone we have eternal life and everything.
(35) Behold also here the devil's craftiness and deceitfulness, how he sees his time and opportunity, when he may attack Christ and his disciples, namely, when Christ presents himself weak and impossible, and his disciples without this are themselves weak and stupid, when he may
He has room to rage and storm against them; as here, when he sees that Christ is with his disciples in the ship on the water, he can stir up wind and waves, and especially when Christ begins to sleep and lets the apostles rule and do, he acts as if he did not care about them and knew nothing more about them, yes, as if he had imprudently put himself and them in danger. The devil has soon seen that the disciples are alone here, he can make use of that, and does not celebrate to attack them, since he finds them weak and immediately abandoned; thinks that he has now brought them in the cliff (shear) and into his power, thinks that he suddenly wants to drown and kill not only them, but also the sleeping, careless Christ, before they know it, or ever do any harm.
This is the devil's way, that he attacks Christians at the very place and time when they are weakest and easiest to frighten and hit. For this reason he strikes them especially, and their weakness and faltering is caused by the very fact that Christ makes himself so weak, and seems as if he knows nothing about them and does nothing, but sleeps in his and their greatest trouble and distress, and leaves them to work and worry in vain without counsel and help, until they begin to despair of life and limb, and cry out that they must perish if they are not helped soon.
(37) Thus it is always with Christianity when it is challenged, for the devil is eager and intent on it, when he sees that they are otherwise weak, have great and heavy burdens and work, and Christ also seems so weak, as if he sees and hears and does nothing everywhere and leaves them to do it themselves; then the enemy bursts upon them quickly, thinks to run out their advantage and to overthrow them before they know it (2c). For he knows that where Christ himself is not there with his strength and power, that he is mighty over them, he can cause them to fear and tremble, and make them so anxious that they do not know where to stay, and come to despair etc. And Christ lets such things go and they come to the utmost in the journey, so that they
must feel and experience their weakness.
38. But here we are also to learn that this is the way of our Lord Christ, that where he wants to save and help, he first does so and stands up, and lets the need come to the highest, when it is hardest, so that he may show his power and help all the more gloriously and mightily afterwards, and drive us to cry out to him, so that faith may be exercised and strengthened, and we may learn how he is able to help wonderfully in trouble, and, as the ninth Psalm says, in due time; And will show us that the lack is not in him, as if he could not help, or as if it were lost because of this, that the devil rages and storms so strongly and powerfully, wickedly and grimly, but that it is only our faith that is lacking and the fault of unbelief; as Christ chastises the disciples here for this reason, saying: "How are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith" etc. For herewith he wants to teach us his art and the right masterpiece, so that he deceives the devil and destroys his deceitfulness and plots just by letting him run against himself and his Christians with great and terrible storms, and by putting himself so weakly to it, as if he could not resist him nor come before him; But lets him come so far, until the waves cover the little ship and now want to go over and over, that the devil now thinks, he already has him with ship and everything in his power, that he cannot escape from him, and they themselves, the disciples, neither see nor feel anything else, but as they cry out and say here: "O Lord, we perish!"
39 But it is said, beware of this sleeping and snoring Christ, when he pretends to see and hear, or to know and be able to do nothing at all. For when he is so weak and, as it seems, ignorant and powerless, and the devil comes so close to him and is already snatching at him as if he wants to swallow him up with his church, he must also wake up and let himself be heard and seen, so that the devil does not have to drown and sink him and his little ship, as he has in mind, but that even in the midst of the greatest danger and distress, when it seems as if he has been waiting too long and has led the devil to
The devil, who can and does know how to turn the game, must not do more than wake up and look around; as the devil began to rage and rumble, so he soon steered the devil with winds and waves with a scolding and a scowling, yes, with a waving of the finger.
40. This is what the dear Lord would have us believe and understand, that we would not be so fearful and despondent in adversity, but would be confident and unconcerned about the devil's ravings, even though he tries his utmost on us and we are the weakest; as he shows with this example, how he is so completely unconcerned and unafraid of his enemy and all his power and strength, that he also seems to be all too sure and careless about it; For he could and should have known beforehand, as he certainly knew what the devil had in mind against him, and how he is always trying to see how and where he can do something against him, especially now on the sea, where he can rumble with winds and waves. Therefore, because he knows this, he should not be so careless, nor should he dare as he does here, since he lies down too low in the little ship to sleep soundly, just as if there were no danger to worry about, and as if the devil could and knew nothing more to do against him and his disciples. Although he knows all this very well, that he needs neither reminder nor advice what to do: He is not afraid or frightened of the devil's wrath or cunning, but is confident and undaunted, certain that he must leave him undamaged and unshaken, and that he will try and do what he knows and can; he will not, therefore, let up his natural rest and sleep (which he has needed for some time), for he knows that he has a God and Father who cares for him and will protect and shield him from the devil and all enemies.
(41) He does all these things for our learning and for an example, to awaken and strengthen our faith, so that we will not be too frightened and anxious, or fear to death, if we see danger and distress, because the devil comes and pursues us, or suddenly bursts upon us, and
But because we know that we have Christ with us, for whose sake the devil attacks us, we should not doubt that he can and will also protect and save us, that we remain before him and all his power, as long as he himself remains before him; therefore he also punishes the disciples' unbelief here, which makes them fidget and tremble: "You of little faith, how fearful you are! As if he wanted to say: "Are you my disciples, and have so little faith? Do you not see that you have me with you, whom the journey affects as well as you? or do you think that I am nothing anymore, neither know anything, nor can, nor think what the devil has in mind against you and me, or that he has become powerful over me as soon as he thinks?
42. He hereby punishes all of us for such doubts and fidgeting and trembling of unbelief, who, as soon as the devil begins to rage terribly and horribly and Christ presents himself weakly, think that we are doomed and must perish; That we learn to remember this gospel and press such an image into our hearts, how the dear Lord sails here in the little ship, and the devil begins to rage hostilely and terribly, because he lies in a sweet deep sleep, and beats with his waves into the little ship, so that it is also surrounded and almost covered with them; but must nevertheless leave it unsubdued until the Lord Christ wakes up, when he commands the winds and waves with a little word that they must stop.
43. and even though we feel fidgeting and trembling because of the weakness of our faith (as we do by nature), we should still be so wise that we run to Christ and cry out to him and awaken him with cries and prayers; for he also lets it be known that he nevertheless likes such cries and cries of weak faith; as St. Paul Romans 8:26 calls this the calling and crying of the spirit that helps our weakness and represents us with inexpressible groaning. Paul Rom. 8, 26. such is called the calling and crying of the Spirit, who helps our weakness and represents us with unspeakable groaning etc. Yes, he wants to have it from us, because we feel our weakness and fidget, that we only confidently
He knows that we have no other way of learning to believe and experience his power and help than to bring us to the point where we must cry out to him. And even though he
Without our awakening and crying, the devil's raging and storms could be warded off and controlled, but he wants to be awakened and called upon by us, so that we may learn how his power is mighty and insurmountable in our weakness.