John 1:19-28.
And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem, to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; and he confessed: I am not Christ. And they asked him, What then? art thou Elias? And he said: I am not. Art thou a prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, What art thou then? that we may give answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said: I am a voice of one preaching in the wilderness, Direct ye the way of the Lord, as Isaias the prophet said. And they that were sent were of the Pharisees, and asked him, saying unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor a prophet? John answered them, saying: I baptize with water; but he is come in the midst of you, whom ye know not. This is he that shall come after me, which was before me, that I am not worthy to loose his shoe laces. This took place at Bethabara, on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
*) Held in the house 1533.
(1) This also of the beautiful and glorious gospels is one of the highest articles of our faith, teaching not of the ten commandments, or what we ought to do; but of a higher thing, namely, what Christ is, and what he hath done. For John praises him so highly that even though he leads a very holy life, yet he freely confesses and says, "I am not worthy to untie his shoe laces." Is therefore almost the same opinion with the gospel of eight days ago, without that here are other words and persons.
2. for eight days ago your love heard how all power lies in not missing this person, Christ Jesus, but accepting him, not passing by nor looking at others. For whoever meets him finds salvation from sins, death and hell. For thus God has decreed that in Christ all fullness should dwell and that he should be all. He is the way, the truth and the life. Through Him alone all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and saints have been blessed from the foundation of the world. John knows this and therefore instructs his disciples not to miss this treasure.
(3) But because we do not follow it, the defect is that we do not keep to God's word, but leave it out of consideration, and undertake various ways and means to get to heaven. One runs into a monastery, as can be seen in the papacy, becomes a monk, another fasts, the third seeks the intercession of this or that other saint; so that everyone seeks a special way and his own path to heaven. To prevent such evil and harmful actions, God has earnestly given His word to His people, saying that He would help them through the seed of the woman, that is, through His Son Jesus Christ. He that hath failed of him hath failed of salvation, though he had fasted himself to death, and prayed a fool. Again, whoever has accepted him with faith and relied on him has found forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation, and neither sin nor the devil has been able to hinder him.
4 All the holy patriarchs have followed this path.
The saints and prophets were followed and found salvation through faith in Christ. For if someone should have gone to heaven through a holy life, it should certainly have been the dear holy prophets, who for the sake of God did and suffered much in the evil, wicked world. But they all despair of their holiness, and hang on with firm confidence to the promised seed of the giving, which shall bruise the head of the serpents.
Most of the Jews in Christ's time did not want to follow this way, thought: What should this servant be able to do? We must keep the law, take hold, sacrifice, give alms; this will be the best and next way to heaven; this beggar cannot help. For Christ was altogether wretched and miserable, so that whoever did not keep the miraculous signs and his preaching, found nothing else in him that was worthy of respect.
6th So that the Jews would not let him pass by and not be aware of him, God, the merciful Father, decreed that John, like a trumpeter before the prince, should go before the Lord Christ and be the trumpet. When they heard this, they would open their eyes and look at the one who would soon follow him, and he would be the right man.
007 Wherefore, when the Jews were here sending a legation unto him, and asked him, Whether he be Christ, Elias, or a prophet? he answered, "I am not." But when they ask, "What are you? What do you say about yourself?" he answers: I will tell you, I am a voice crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord: that is, I am the trumpeter before the Prince. Therefore listen diligently to my preaching, for he will soon come after me who was before me, and baptize you with the Holy Spirit, since I, as a servant, can baptize only with water. He has come in the midst of you, but you do not know him.
008 Therefore this is my office, whereunto I am sent, to be a voice crying, or a preacher in the wilderness; that, when ye hear the sound of my trumpet,
that you may know that he is there. For I am the voice that calleth, and the preacher, unto whom ye shall hearken. Now the next one who comes after me is he, as Isaiah also prophesies in chapter 40, v. 3: "There is a voice of a preacher in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord, make a level path for our Lord on the field. This, says John, is I, which shall declare these things unto you. Therefore see, he is already among you, but you do not know him; but I am to teach you, that you may know and accept him. For the next preacher who will arise after me is surely he; I am only the forerunner. I now hold this office and preach. He does not preach yet, but soon after me he will let himself be heard; so now see that you do not miss him and have respect for him.
(9) As John preached, so it came to pass. For immediately after his baptism Christ was seen with miraculous signs in Galilee, he sent out twelve apostles and seventy-two disciples, and they preached, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand, that is, Christ is present, and he is the one of whom he testifies; cling to him and receive him, and you will not fail. He will come after me, but he was before me. For John was half a year older than Christ the Lord, yet he says, "He was before me. This was a blasphemous word in the sight of the Jews, if they had understood it at that time; as is seen in John 8:58, where he says, "Before Abraham was, I am." For so much is said, that this man, before he was born on earth, was for ever the true Son of God. The Jews at that time did not understand this. But John certainly meant it with these words, and wanted to touch the divine glory of the person; as he also gives enough to understand, when he says: "I am not worthy to untie his laces.
010 Then the Jews should have fallen down, and thought: What kind of a man is this, what kind of a person, before whom John humbles himself so deeply, and says: He is not worthy to serve him in the least? Dear John, shall you not
worth? Yes, I, I, he says, am not worth it; be I otherwise who I want, I am nothing against this man. So he throws away all his holiness and says: He would be satisfied with this, if he could only enjoy this man so far that he should wipe his shoes.
011 Lest therefore the Jews think that he humbleth himself too much, because he hath baptized, and was a special preacher, he teacheth them well because of such baptism, saying, I have the same signs with me as the other prophets. Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke; Isaiah went barefoot and naked, prophesying to the Egyptians and the Moors how they would be plundered by enemies and stripped, Isa. 20. So, says John, I also preach a new sermon and new signs; I preach, You shall prepare the way for the Lord. I could not preach such things if the way had been prepared first. Then I wash you and baptize you as a sign that you are unclean and unclean. I will prepare this bath for you, but he will prepare another and better bath for you and baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
(12) All things therefore are directed that they should not let this man pass by, but remember John's preaching. Behold, John has told us of one who will appear after him; he will certainly be the one who now makes himself seen so powerfully with preaching and signs.
013 But what happened? They listened to John, but did not believe his testimony; indeed, they executed both Christ and his forerunner, cut off John's head, and crucified Christ, of whom John had preached so faithfully and exhorted everyone to accept him. They have always been such pious people, who not only despised the preaching of the prophets, persecuted them and beat them to death, but also crucified Christ the Lord Himself, whom they preached.
This is the way it is today, because Christ must be crucified, not only in his own person, but also in his members. We would like to point everyone to the right path of salvation with John, saying: There is no salvation outside of Christ.
Forgiveness of sin, nor eternal life. But what happens? The more we point people from their own works, as from a false foundation, to the right rock of Christ, the more vehemently our counterpart heresies and condemns us. For this does not agree with their teaching, as everyone knows. They point to the monasteries, say mass, hold masses and vigils, establish services, go on pilgrimages, buy indulgences etc. But this does not mean pointing to Christ, but seeking other ways besides Christ to get to heaven. Against this we speak, and exhort the people to hold to John's testimony, which points to Christ. This is unpleasant to the pope and his crowd, who condemn us as heretics, and if they could, they would of course not lack the will to reward and thank us as much as the Jews did St. John.
(15) But why are they so hostile to us, and why do they dislike us so much? For no other reason than that we preach with John that they should humble themselves before Christ, and with all their worship and good works not esteem themselves worthy to wipe his shoes. For they themselves must confess that John was much holier than they; yet he says: I do not want to look at such holiness, if I could only have the grace to remove or wipe his shoes, that would be enough for me. We would like to instill such humility in everyone through the gospel; therefore, according to our ministry, we exhort everyone to beware of sins and to be pious, but not to take comfort from God in such piety; but rather, like John, to regard his good works and honorable life as a shoestring compared to the high, pure, perfect and great righteousness that our dear Lord Christ has earned for us through his suffering and death.
But the pope and bishops, monks and priests do not want to follow. Cause, they do not want to and cannot drop the trust in their and the deceased saints' merit. Therefore they do not desire to be partakers of our Lord Christ's benefits and merits, not to mention that they should comfort themselves as godly hearts do,
who feel their sin and are terrified of God's wrath and judgment; yes, they even cry out, as mad people who have never thought, much less felt, what sin and death are: Man is not justified by faith alone, works also do something. So they will not let the righteousness of Christ be their treasure, like John, who casts away all his holiness, will not let it count as much as a rag, where one wipes unclean shoes with it; this, as I said, the pope will not enter into with his bunch, they lift up their works so high that they consider themselves worthy of eternal life. Therefore they cannot suffer in any way that their worship and holiness should be compared to old rags; indeed, they make themselves believe that Christ must be pleased when they practice it, in honor and service of him.
(17) Therefore let no one be offended that the papists in our time despise and persecute the gospel. It happened to John, Christ and the apostles themselves in their time that their teaching was not only despised, but they were all persecuted and miserably condemned. Now, the Jews have received their punishment, our despisers and blasphemers will not escape their punishment either.
(18) Let us thank God for His grace in restoring us to the pure Word, and first of all pay attention to John's word, when he says: "Prepare the way for the Lord"; item: "He has come into the midst of you" etc.; and soon after: "Behold, this is the Lamb of God, who bears the sin of the world. - There he says nothing of our works and merits, etc., but points us straight to Christ, in whom we find and have all things.
19. after this we are also to note the example of his humility with diligence, that the holy man, who, as Christ testifies, has no equal among all those who are born of women (so, of course, all the monks and priests who have ever been under the papacy cannot hold a candle to him with all their holiness), lets himself down and humbles himself so deeply that he says: he is, with all his holiness and good works, the most holy of all.
He is not worthy to bow down before the Lord Christ and untie his shoe laces. Let this be an example of the humility in John, that we should not only take good care of him, but also follow him.
(20) We must do good deeds and make the utmost effort to do them, for God has commanded and commanded in the Ten Commandments, which he has not given in vain from heaven. It is his word, therefore he wants it kept. Therefore, let every man do his best to live by it, and thus show himself obedient and grateful to God, who gave us His dear Son, who humbled Himself for our sake, and became obedient to the point of death, yes, death on the cross, in which He did enough for all the sin of the world. Rely on this man's obedience and work and build firmly on it, and throw everything good you have ever done before his feet, and only confess freely from the heart with Johanne that it is not worth wiping Christ's shoes with it.
(21) In the sight of men it is a fine, clean, beautiful rag, a jewel and a virtue, that thou art no adulterer, no thief, no murderer, that thou givest alms, that thou art diligent in thy office; (2c) this may and ought to be praised in the sight of men in the world, and to be counted as rags, and pieces of silk, and of gold. But when it comes before our Lord God and his judgment, say, "In your sight, O Lord, the best of my garments and the finest of my gold are worse than any rag. Therefore, do not judge me according to my works; I will gladly let them be your old rags, and if God only wanted me to be worthy of them, I would gladly be satisfied with them.
22 St. Paul also does this, Phil. 3, 5-7: "I," he says, "am an Israelite, a Pharisee according to the law, and blameless according to the righteousness of the law," so that no man can punish me. Let that be something special, if someone can boast like that in front of people. "Nevertheless," he says, "for Christ's sake, I consider all this holiness to be a waste and a filth," and my highest joy and best comfort is that I shall be found, not in my righteousness, which is from the law, but in the
Righteousness that comes through faith in Christ, which is imputed by God to faith. So that I may enjoy such righteousness of my Lord, I consider all my righteousness as dirt. Here Paul does it even more crudely than John; the latter, after all, calls his good works a shoelace; Paul, however, calls it dung and dirt. That is unkind enough to speak of our holy life.
(23) But we are to let such examples be especially commanded to us, to be well aware of them, and to be earnestly diligent that we live before the world in all modesty and respectability, so that people have nothing to complain about us. Such things belong to this life, here on earth, and also end here, as you can see: a pious man is shamed just as much as a rogue; a pious woman just as much as a whore. But if it is to come to that and eternal life, then learn to speak: I hold fast to my Lord Christ and to his holiness, which he promises and gives me in baptism, word and sacrament; and I will be found a poor little worm etc. So that a distinction may be made between our temporal life and holiness, and the eternal life of holiness, which is before God.
(24) The Gentiles also have kept themselves in fine discipline and honorableness, and have done and suffered much for the sake of the fatherland; therefore they are also to be praised. But here, when death comes, we are separated; all our deeds and sufferings remain behind, for by them we do not receive forgiveness of sins, righteousness etc. But where then shall we take the righteousness and holiness that is valid before God and in eternal life? So we have to humble ourselves with John and say: "Lord, here comes a poor little thing, an old, torn, nasty little thing, or as Paul says, a stinking mud. In the sight of the world it may be muslin, velvet, and a piece of gold; but in your sight, O Lord, let me be an old rag, wiping the shoes of your Son with it, and give me his righteousness, who with his righteousness is my noblest and most precious treasure. For I know that through him and his righteousness I shall enter the kingdom of heaven;
since I would have to go to the abyss of hell through my holiness.
(25) From this it follows that we must freely conclude that monks, priests, monasteries, and what may be called such things, all belong to the devil and to hell. For they do not see with their good works that they may render the owed obedience to God, and be annoying to no one, but that they may think to become blessed there. That is why they sell their good works to other people. But this is to deny Christ altogether, even to mock him, and to despise him as the Jews mocked him and despised him. We should beware of such abominations, and learn here how we may meet such deceivers, that we may say to them, "Thou poor man, dost thou dare to make me blessed with thy filthy works and holiness? John, Paul, Peter and other saints could not have done that, otherwise they would not have preached so little about their holiness. If one still needed the monasteries for houses of correction, that one would raise young boys in them and let them study the Scriptures, then it would be a very fine, delicious and useful custom. But the pope and his godless crowd will not let it come to that; instead, they point everyone to heaven with such a monastic life. But they will certainly find such a heaven with it, since the flame and the fire go out to the window. Therefore, it would be much better to destroy such monasteries than to reject people from Christ and damage their souls and bodies.
(26) Therefore learn in summary from today's Gospel that we are to live modestly and honorably among and with the people, to be diligent and industrious in good works, and not to offend anyone. God demands such obedience through His law and wants it from us; and if we do not obey, He will strike us with the executioner, with the sword, and finally also with hellish fire. This, I say, is what we are obligated to do by God's command against the people. But when you come before God, say: Lord, because of my holiness and works I am lost. Therefore, ask that I may be
to be an old rag at the feet of my Lord Christ. For I am not worthy of my life, except that he cast me into hell. But I desire his holiness, that he may sanctify me with another, better, and everlasting holiness; and I shall surely enter into everlasting life.
27 Neither the pope nor the bishops want to hear this, for they see what would follow, namely, that monasteries and convents, masses and all their false worship would not stand for long; that is why they are so stubborn about it: the one more for the sake of his belly, the other and lesser part because they hope to be saved by it. John does not do this, neither does Paul, they do not want to keep their righteousness and holiness. So should all Christians do, saying with Paul, My holiness is a stinking filth and mire; and with John, My holiness is a rag, if I will count it against the holiness and works of Christ. But the papists want to be neither filth nor rags in their masses, vows, fasts, and prayers; they beat us to death for not keeping up with them and pointing people to a different and better way. Well, it is a breed of vipers, where nothing good can ever grow out of it; they will find what they are looking for. But let us look to the mouth and finger of John, that he may testify and guide us, that we may not fail to see our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and that we may not fail to see him, who so diligently and faithfully guides and directs us to salvation.
28 This is the most important lesson of today's gospel, since John so diligently points to the Lord Christ, thus humbling himself and exalting and praising Christ. The other part, that the Pharisees and chief priests send to John, and forbid him to baptize and preach, because he himself says that he is neither Christ, nor Elijah, nor a prophet; item, that he makes a distinction between his baptism, so that he baptizes as a servant, and the baptism of Christ, who himself is the Lord and can give the Spirit alone: such two parts are a little too high for the common man; without that one can
Nevertheless, they should learn from this and realize how the world, and especially what is wise and high in the world, is hostile to God's works, and would gladly curb and suppress them, as the chief priests and Pharisees do here. But John has a right Elijah spirit and power, that is, an undaunted heart, and does not allow himself to be forbidden to preach or baptize until
Herod takes him by the head, throws him into the tower, and finally has his head cut off. He suffers this gladly and patiently for the sake of God, in the hope that he will have a merciful God and eternal life through his Lord and Savior Christ. May our dear Lord God and Father grant us this through His Son Jesus Christ, Amen.