Lire. 2, 22-32.
When the days of their purification came according to the law of Moses, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male that first breaks its mother shall be called sanctified to the Lord"), and to offer a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons, as it is written in the law of the Lord. And, behold, there was a man at Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was devout, and feared God, and waited for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was in him. And an answer was given him of the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, because he had first seen the Christ of the Lord. And came out of the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought the child Jesus into the temple, to do for him according to the law, he took him up in his arms, and praised God, saying, Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace, as thou hast said: for mine eyes have seen thy Saviour, whom thou hast prepared before all nations to be a light to enlighten the Gentiles, and for the praise of thy people Israel.
(1) This Gospel, dear friends, has many necessary pieces for us Christians to know. First, the evangelist describes the time of Mary's purification. Now you know that according to the law of Moses, a woman who had given birth to six children had to stay inside for six weeks until she was considered clean. If she gave birth to a son, she was unclean for forty days; but if she gave birth to a daughter, she was unclean for eighty days, as shown in the third book of Moses, Cap. 12:4.
(2) Above this was another law, that all the first birth and all the first fruits of men and cattle by all the people were ordained of God to sacrifice in the temple, that therefrom the Levites, priests, and preachers might be preserved. Therefore they had to sacrifice the
Levites bring all the first birth. The Levites were a whole tribe of the Israelite people, many thousands of them, of the priestly lineage; they had to be given the first birth of all men, cattle and all first fruits. For God wanted them to wait for their ministry, to study Moses and the prophets, and for young and old to learn from them the knowledge of God. For this reason, the people should be more willing to give the first birth, for the entertainment of the preaching ministry and the services. And if God adorns these gifts with a beautiful, glorious title, it is given to Himself, and not only to the priests.
003 Now the people of Israel were divided into twelve tribes; and these twelve tribes were to feed the thirteenth tribe, which was the tribe of the Levites, as if there were now twelve men to receive and feed one; and that the thirteenth tribe should be fed, to this end
were ordained all the first births, so that God would preserve and provide for His parish churches and schools. If they gave diligently to the priests what was due to them from the first births, God also gave them blessings in turn; but where they were tardy in this, God gave them a great time and all misfortune. So now that we have pastors and preachers, we must also give them their firstborn, tithes and other offerings, that is, their entertainment. Now it is to be remembered that it has nevertheless borne something brave and high, if one wants to reckon it, where twelve should feed one, and the twelve should give all their first fruits and crops, item, all the first birth of all kinds of cattle, in addition also the tenth and many other sacrifices: that must have borne many hundred thousand guilders a year; because among the twelve tribes were many times a hundred thousand men.
4th This then is said at the beginning of that part of the commandment of the law of Moses, concerning the first birth. Now if a childbearing woman had a son or a daughter, she was to lie in state forty days or so, and not come among the people; that was her time, appointed and appointed by Moses, Deut. 12:4, 5. When that time was expired, she was to go to Jerusalem, and bring all the firstborn bodily into the temple to the Levites. But they had to pay for the children with money, Exodus 34:19, 20, so that the rich had to pay more for their children than the poor; as all this was carefully arranged in the Law of Moses. And all this was done only so that the priests, the preaching ministry and the services would be preserved; that is why God made the rule so harsh and serious.
(5) Just as now every householder would have his house governed by a special order: to the wife this, to the son another, to the manservant and maidservant this or that, and command them: This you do, there you go; you, servant, go to wood; you, maid, drive out the cattle, milk the cows; item: Let us keep it this or that day in the week, today you shall
not eat meat or cheese etc. Now if you do not do according to the commandment of the father of the house or the master of the house, and eat what he has forbidden, you are called unclean, or unclean meat that you eat. Not that it is unclean and evil by nature, but that it is unclean because the father of the house has forbidden you not to eat meat or cheese today. But if thou eat, the flesh or cheese shall be unclean unto thee: not that it is unclean in itself: for the creature is not sinful in itself: but not obeying the commandment of God, that maketh it sinful, that it becometh unclean unto thee. So a woman in childbirth is not unclean because she gave birth to a child, but because God wanted her to keep herself separate from the people until the poor mother regained her strength. For one woman is stronger than the other, one is more sour and harder in childbirth than the other; so that childbirth is unequal, therefore God has appointed a time for them to rest.
Therefore, this uncleanness of the childbearing woman is not to be understood that the work of natural female birth is unclean or sinful; but as the father of the house makes the flesh unclean with his prohibition, so the women are also unclean by God's word in six weeks. For thus God has ordained the people, as a father ordains his household, that each one may do what he is commanded and what is proper to his office; item, that no more be laid upon him than he is able to bear, and also have his rest and refreshment; item, that one may help another to receive food and to give a hand, that no more be lost than is gained; and especially that those who teach and instruct others may also be provided for and nourished.
007 Therefore the whole nation of Israel was to be divided into the twelve tribes, that they might nourish the thirteenth: that it might be known whence the Messiah should come, that there should not be diversities of Christ, but one Christ. For this reason he has appointed until he himself comes, and has given prophets to this end, so that people should not wait for the coming of the Messiah.
Christ in Rome, Babylon, Egypt, but in the people of Israel. And actually paint out of the tribe of Judah, out of which he should be born. Then they should open their eyes and ears, out of Judah he will surely come, the tribe it shall be, and out of David's house he shall come. And that we may be still more assured of this, he also sheweth the city, Bethlehem shall be the name of the city where he shall be born. For thus it is written in the prophet Micah, Cap. 5:1: "And thou Bethlehem, which art in the land of Judah, art by no means the least of the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come to me the duke that shall be over my people Israel. And that he made it certain in all things, and straightway showed with his fingers the Messiah, he also appointed the time at which and no other time the Messiah should come, namely, when the tribe of Judah was utterly fallen, and the scepter was taken away from it, and a strange lord sat upon David's throne: then, then shall they watch, then shall the Messiah not be far off.
8 So God first separated the people into twelve tribes, and finally separated the tribe of Judah, and the house, and the time, and the place. All this happened in this way. Herod was a foreigner, set up by the Romans as king over the Jews. What was he looking for there? Shouldn't the Jews have gone to the books of the prophets and asked how it was that a new king and a stranger sat on David's throne? Now God had prophesied beforehand that Messiah would be born at the very time when they would have a foreign lord. So the Jews have no excuse. They have the testimonies of the prophets, and a thousand and five hundred years their regiment has lain in ashes. But they are blind blasphemers, and convinced by person, tribe, people, house, time, place, city, name, so it all happened. The law of Moses set the Israelite people in a beautiful orderly regiment, in discipline, punishment and obedience, so that they would be kept together, the household would not be scattered, so that there would be no doubt nor uncertainty about where and from whom Christ would come. As if God had hereby given both the Ju
To say to them and to all the world, Behold, you have actually named the people from whom Christ is to be born, and the tribe, and the city; and you have also a new king, who is not of your brethren. Know that he is certainly present, and you must not wait for another. This the Jews grasp and feel well to this day. For from that time on, for fifteen hundred years, they have not been under a certain king; they no longer have a priesthood, a temple or a regiment, but must remain scattered throughout the world.
(9) Therefore, it was God's intention with this order of the firstborn children and with the whole law that all this should point to Christ, and remain and be kept until he himself comes. But when he would come, this people should no longer be so restrained nor separated; just as a householder first restrains the children, forces them into order and discipline, keeps them in school, teaches them. But when they grow up, he sends them away. Then one becomes a husband, the other a preacher, regent, Nathmann etc. "So also the law has been a disciplinarian," says St. Paul Gal. 3:24, "until Christ comes." A father sends his child to school, not only to learn the Abc or nothing more than the Donat, but to study in the liberal arts, to learn discipline, respectability and good manners, so that he may become a fine man who can serve country and people. Therefore, when such learning is over, he is made a prince, a ruler, a preacher, a town magistrate, and the school and house discipline and discipline are over.
(10) But the others, who always want to remain Abc protectors, are wrong. For Christ the Lord has come and has now become a new regiment: the Son has now grown up, and shall now himself enter into the government of his inheritance and property. If a man were to lie in school all his life, and only spell and study the Donat, he would have to be beaten out of it; for you were not sent to school to stay in, but to learn something.
and then go out again and serve other people. For thus says a householder to his son: "Dear son, I have now brought you up, you must now become a father like me; item, dear daughter, you are to go out and become a pious mother: this is not the opinion that you want to remain in my house and under my discipline for ever, and not also strive for your own improvement and your own housekeeping and nourishment.
Here God gives us an example, and the evangelist says: Mary kept the law of Moses and considered herself unclean. She is a new woman in childbirth, and the Son is the first birth. Therefore, because the time of her purification had come, and she had kept her weeks, she went into the temple and offered the Son. For thus says the law 2 Mos. 34, 19.: "Every male, who first breaks the mother, shall be called sanctified unto the Lord." Here the mother and this son must have the name, as if they were unclean, as if the law had broken them. For although this commandment with the forty days affects all other mothers and children, it does not affect this mother and child. For the law says, "Every male that first breaks his mother." The "breaking of the mother" is only said of those who have lost their virginity and who have a child by a man. This did not happen to this mother, for she remained in childbirth and after childbirth, just as she was a virgin before conception and birth. And no harm happened to her, neither to her body nor to her virginity.
12. other women do not come with laughter or amusement, but they must feel fear and pain; as God says to Eve Gen. 3, 16: "With pain you shall bring forth your children. But here it happened without pain and injury, and was pure joy when she gave birth to the child. Therefore the law of purification and that they had to redeem the firstborn son does not concern this mother and her son; so she is not unclean. But over all other women, also over Eve, the commandment goes: "With sorrow you shall bring your children into the world.
give birth"; they must feel fear and pain. But the birth of Mary did not arrive in such a sour way, with fear, distress and pain. Even though she is pure and the law could not bind her and her son, she and her son still submit to the law and obey the commandment, even though Moses had nothing to command them, and both mother and son willingly submit to the law and obey it, since they were not obligated to follow or obey it, because this commandment did not concern either the mother Mary or the son. So he proved his obedience also against the law in the circumcision, which obedience he did not owe to the law either, shed his holy blood there. For he was not born in sins like other children; so the mother also remained a pure chaste maid; so that he was completely holy and innocent of the law.
(13) This is now prescribed for us as an example, that we should be all the more willing to obey what we owe, because we see that the Lord of the Law and the innocent mother Mary have done this: therefore we should do it much more, who are conceived in sins and born in great pain, and bring God's commandment with us. This is the way he sets his example to us, as if to say, "You are such desperate boys that you do not do what you are obliged to do, when you see that I, the great Lord, not only do what I am obliged to do, but also willingly and unnecessarily do what I am not obliged to do.
(14) The mother was not allowed to suffer the name as if she were unclean, nor was she allowed to go to the temple; yet she does so, posing as if she were unclean, when she was the most holy and pure virgin. So we should also serve each other with all faithfulness, advise and help, not object: I am not allowed by law to do anything, to give anything, to lend anything. No, dear companion, the dictum of the divine law compels you: If your Lord Christ has put himself under the law, which he was not obliged to do, dear friend, then do that which you are obliged to do. Christ says Joh. 13, 15: "I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you"; item v. 34, 35: "A new example".
Commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." So shall it be among you, that ye do good even to your enemies.
(15) And so well and so kindly shall we be, that we shall help and counsel even where we could not be compelled to do so by secular law. For according to it I am not obliged to give you a penny, much less a guilder, you die or perish. Yes, you see, we have such a right, that is, not only to do what is due according to worldly laws, but also to do more than we ought. For our Lord Christ did more than he should have done for our sake. He was born, circumcised and crucified for our sake. Where was the law that forced him to be circumcised, cleansed and other ceremonies of the law, even to the cross and the grave? He did it out of pure love, after he saw that it was necessary for us.
16 I say this so that you do not think like the monks who, when they kept their rule, thought they were living saints, that they could wear caps, plates, hard shirts, ropes, shut themselves up in corners, served no one; but you must think that Christ, who was free, becomes a servant of all servants. So also St. Paul says 1 Cor. 9, 19: "Since I was free, and might have remained so, I made myself a servant to everyone." So a preacher should not think: "What shall I preach to the world, which does not want to hear the truth, nor to be punished, and to load vain disgrace, hatred and driving upon me? I also want to have good days of rest; what do I care where it stays? No, no, it is said: Come out of the corner; you shall teach other people the way to salvation and eternal life, and you shall do it free of charge and gladly, even if no gratitude is given to you for it and you suffer hardship because of it.
(17) Yes, you say: How have I come to be your pastor, preacher or schoolmaster? Am I not for thee?
If you owe me, you cannot pay me. Because the Lord Christ has served you, you should serve other people again and let them enjoy it.
(18) Thus also many a man says to a rich miser: Dear, I am a poor citizen, a poor craftsman, I need well that you advance me ten or twenty florins for my food. Yes, says the miser, I do not owe you a loan, nor can you force me by any right to lend or borrow from you etc. Yes, dear brother, it is true that if you want to judge according to common imperial, provincial or municipal law, the judge does not condemn you because you do not want to lend me anything, nor can he punish you for it: but if you want to be a Christian, then answer me to this example of Christ: Christ gave his body and life on the cross and shed his blood for you; just as for your sake he came from heaven, was born, circumcised, cleansed and put himself under the law, Galatians 4:4. 4, 4. Yes, he did all this to help you out of eternal poverty and need, since he owed you nothing at all, but you were condemned to hell in eternal guilt under his eternal wrath. He gave you this guilt and made you blessed and rich through his divine grace and gifts: and you would not again do so much for his love and honor, even if you did not owe it to yourself to help your neighbor with a little that God has given you abundantly; But both the law of love makes it your duty to do to your neighbor as you would have done to yourself in the same need, and in addition to this the high example of Christ, your Lord, who deserves it highly enough for you and has cost himself enough, since he has given all his divine honor, goods, body and life completely for you etc.
019 Therefore nothing shall excuse thee here, but rather accuse and condemn thee, than to hear or say this shamefully spoken of a Christian, that thou art pretending: Yes, I am justly not guilty of this; so my authorities have not commanded me to give or lend anything to my neighbor, or anything of my right for
for the sake of love and unity. No, dear fellow, do you not hear that God wants to have such a people, where one serves here, the other there, advises, helps, does good, whatever he can? So that the whole life of Christians should be in such works of love. As if God gave a preacher the grace to understand and interpret the Scriptures, or gave another wisdom and reason to govern, he should not sleep or seek good days, but study, expound the Scriptures, faithfully preside over his ministry; not do as the monks did, hiding in their cell, nor reflect himself in his own righteousness, holiness and wisdom; but break forth, and tell and preach to others what he can, and do what he is able in his ministry. For such gifts are not given thee to show off, to be proud, to boast, and to despise others; but that thou mayest faithfully serve God and the people with them. Behold thy dear Lord Christ, who, as a true God, was full of grace and of the Holy Spirit: but he did not set himself up as if he were our lord, prince, emperor, or king; but, "I come," saith he, Matt. 20:28, "not that I should be served, but that I should serve you." Therefore the gifts are not given to us for our tickling, pride, defiance or pride, but for the benefit and help of our neighbor in whatever way we can.
(20) We read and see in the Bible about the privilege and glory of the firstborn children in the law, who were lords of the house and had to be called children of God and sanctified to God, and also carried into the temple gloriously, as if other children were not also children; and also had a great advantage in inheritance, that they inherited twice as much as the other children one, and the other children had to be subject to them. But from this they became proud, and wanted to be Cain over Abel as soon as possible. For Cain is also called possessio, haereditas, the inheritance; in sum, he is called everything, but Abel is called nothing. Cain now becomes proud, exalts himself above his brother, is an enemy to him, makes himself believe that he is the firstborn, and thinks that he is emperor and pope. And this was also partly the truth; for he was the lord in front of the an
of the children. For the firstborn had the two glories, could become king and priest at the same time; the others were only household regents. Thus the firstborn also became the doctor, teacher and preacher of the people, a regent in the clergy.
(21) That is why Cain went so high: I am nevertheless the son of God; and thereupon he first made his sacrifice, Genesis 4:3, as if to say: I am to be the lord, regent and priest, therefore my sacrifice must be valid before God and be much better than my brother's; indeed, if his is to be pleasing, he must enjoy mine and go along for the sake of it. He continues on such defiance, and when he sees that God graciously turns to his brother's sacrifice, he becomes angry, thinks that he is wronged, and has cause and reason against him, persecutes him until he strangles him, Gen. 4, 6. 8. Thus Cain was the first son, given by God Himself; but because of his pride and defiance against his brother he had to be overthrown and cast out. The dear mother Eve was not much more than half a year or a whole year older than Cain, her son; to her it was a wonderful thing with the firstborn son and great joy, as she says Gen. 4, 1: "I have the man, the Lord Himself"; but the same proud man was rejected by God. Cain was supposed to be and wanted to be; Abel had to be Cinderella. But what happens? Cain is proud of his firstborn, despises his brother, seeks his life and limb until he kills him. And he becomes the most wicked, worst arch-boy; but Abel, the last, becomes the first and best. It is the same with Ishmael and Isaac, Gen. 21, 9, and with Esau and Jacob, Cap. 25, 22. ff., and David with his firstborn sons, 1 Kings 1, 5. ff.
(22) Therefore beware, every man, you and I, when God gives you an advantage and a privilege, that you do not think that you have it in order to show off and be proud, but that you serve others with your gifts. For thus says God: I have made you, Cain, the first son, not that you should despise your brother, but that you should help him. So he will say to the emperor and other princes and potentates: I have made
I have given you an empire, a kingdom, and a principality; for what purpose? That you should exterminate the pious and godly, or my Christian church? No; but for this purpose have I given thee my sword, that with it thou shouldest smite the Turks, and drive them from Christendom, and protect and defend the same. Item: I have made you rich: not that you should spend it uselessly, squander it, squander it; but to help your lands and people with it, and to show protection and help to the poor abandoned church.
(23) Yes, God has brought me forth Himself, and set me above others and honored me, I am the first son? Well, I grant you that; only use it as it is due. I have said that you should be followed, obeyed, fed and considered a lord, as an emperor, king or prince; that is how it should be, I will have it so. But if you want to insist, to pride yourself, not to serve the Christian church, but to abuse, scrape, cherish and torment poor people, I will overthrow you, emperor, king, princes and lords, as I have done to other great potentates.
24. Let this be said, that Christ gives us an example, laying down his life and limb for us, that he may help us, and that we may also remember this: If my Lord Christ, my God and Creator, has done this for me, shedding his blood for me, which he was not obliged to do; but I ought to do it, am obliged to do it, and yet will not do it: fie on thee, art thou a Christian? You are not worthy to be a cow, donkey or ox, which unreasonable animals do what they should. A cow is pious, does not eat the milk itself, does not kill it, does not suck it, does not eat the calf it carries itself, but carries the calf, the milk, cheese and butter to man, and gives all this willingly to man for sustenance, does not use it itself, is content to be given grass and fodder, so that it can carry and give more and more. Then learn from the cow to be ashamed of yourself, you impudent, wild, unreasonable sow, if you do not want to learn from your Lord and Savior how to live as a Christian.
(25) Where will the thieves, murderers, robbers, and tyrants remain, of whom the world is now full everywhere, stealing, robbing, usurping, oppressing, and oppressing their subjects, and snatching from other people's mouths that by which they should live? They are not worthy of the glorious name that they should be called men; they are nothing better than devils. Well, let them tear, scratch, scrape and toil with confidence, it will go badly one day. What would it help if God still gave so much money, so the usurers snatch everything to themselves, fill one box after another, so that even if the Elbe flowed full of silver and the Rhine full of gold, they could not be satisfied with it, and yet poor people would not be improved by it; the miser would prefer iron walls, so that no one could come to it.
The Jews also consider themselves to be the firstborn sons (as they proudly consider themselves to this day, since they have been overthrown and cast out by God's wrath for fifteen hundred years), but the Gentiles consider themselves to be the poor worthless Abel. And God would have granted them such an advantage over us. Yes, but they want to make an abuse of it and defy God and the people, and put Christ, the Son of God, and us Christians to death. Therefore we should say to them, "It is true that we have received many good things from the tribe of Israel; we have received the law, the prophets, and even Christ himself from them, for he did not come from us, but from the Jews. But you Jews want to murder your brother Abel, who also belongs to the Lord Christ, and do like the wicked devil, who also wanted to rise above the Son of God and trample all the other angels underfoot; but it got him bad.
(27) Therefore, Christians should learn not to be proud or to despise others, even if they were showered with great gifts, and think: Dear God, you have given me many gifts, I will share them with others and serve everyone with them, as my dear Lord and Savior served me with his divine gifts. If we would do so, we would all have abundance and plenty. Shall we treasure and scrape, and if one grows wild
many thousands of guilders, no one has enough, and neither he nor anyone else has been enriched by the great wealth until it is dispersed by God's punishment and melts away as it is gained. For if one does not want to use it as God has commanded and given it, then everything must become too little, grain, money, wood; and even if everything would flow and overflow with grain, money, gold, it still does not help you if avarice does not stop, which alone wants to buy, snatch, scrape and value everything for itself.
If the rust and the devouring of money (which is called usury) come in and do not cease, it shall not prosper thee nor thy children, though all the trees yield gold unto thee, and all the fields corn a hundredfold. Let this be said briefly of Christ's example, that a Christian should be found to show and keep himself toward his neighbor as Christ showed himself toward us; otherwise all that you praise of Christ and the gospel is vain and false.