The other sermon. From the Magnificat.
Your dear ones have heard why we keep this feast, firstly, so that we may take heed of the great miracles of God and the glorious revelation of our dear Lord Christ while he was still in the womb; and especially so that we may learn from the dear holy Virgin Mary that we may also be humble and chaste; and thirdly, that we may learn the beautiful Magnificat, which is a special master song. For this reason, the ancient Christians ordered it to be sung every evening when the Christians come together for prayer in the church or assembly.
But with what understanding the pope, his clergy, monks and nuns sing it, we unfortunately see before our eyes that they do not understand a letter of it, nor do they think to understand; otherwise they would beware of the abominable idolatry, and would not lift the Virgin Mary higher than first God and then she herself has lifted herself in such singing. On the other hand, they would be especiallyware of courtly conduct, and would not be subjected to it.
The people of the Vatican would stand before our Lord God and defy their own human work and merit, and teach people to buy or earn heaven from God; they would follow the faithful advice and teachings of the Virgin Mary, humble themselves, not think much of her wisdom, power and wealth, but take comfort in the mercy of God alone. But the whole papal crowd is up to its ears in the shameful hope that they do not see God's mercy and put all their trust in their wisdom, power and wealth.
So that we may learn to guard against such things, let us now take such a beautiful song from word to word before us, and grasp the teaching of today's Gospel in detail; so that we may not only learn discipline, humility, and faith from the example of the Virgin Mary, but also learn from her sermon what we should comfort ourselves with, what we should insist on, and what we should defy: not, as the world does, on its wisdom, power, and good, but only on God's mercy, which He has shown through His grace.
Christ to all those who fear him. She starts such a noble master song with such words that everyone must confess and say that she is happy and in good spirits and immediately drunk with joy. For thus she sings:
My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
4 Here you hear how she rejoices and has a special pride and courage. For she says that her soul exalts something, that is, she must praise and extol something, that she rejoices from the heart, so that there is nothing in her heart that is not full of joy and gladness. What is it then? Whom then does she exalt? Herself? No. I," she says, "have nothing, nor do I want to make anything of myself; so that you praise me, dear Elizabeth, that you give me honor among women and call me blessed, for this I exalt and praise God, for He is everything, and nothing is mine.
5 So the little word "elevate" gives a very fine meaning. For he that lifteth up another oppresseth and humbleth himself. Because she now says, "My soul lifts up the Lord," by which she confesses that she is cast down, not lifted up nor hopeful. But this means that we poor beggars have been run into by the side, and all of us, one and the other, St. Paulo as well as me and you, have been given a high lesson. For what do we do? The common saying among our citizens and peasants is: What? Ick heb ock noch zwe Pennig te verteren; can therefore insist on money and property, on guilders and thalers. But you fainthearted belly, will you rise up? Shouldn't you say: It is someone else's property; God gave it, he can also take it away again: why would I want to exaggerate? So a riffraff goes along in glory, thinking himself learned, and flaunts his art. But tell me: How is it? Where did you get it from? from yourself? Yea, the devil upon thy head; thou hast haft it from above: therefore shalt thou not glory in thyself, but in him that gave it thee, and may take it away again at any moment.
(6) For it is not only a vexatious and shameful thing, but also a foolish and ridiculous thing, to boast of another man's goods; as yet
is the common practice of great lords. He writes himself a king from the land, another from another, since he does not have a stick. It is as if I had an empty purse, and yet I wanted to boast that I had a neighbor who had a lot of money. If the money were mine and the bag full, I would boast of it, and not otherwise; for it is a boast, since there is nothing behind it. It is the same here, without being much more dangerous. We have body and life; the one is beautiful, the other rich, the one learned, the other experienced. These things we boast of as ours, but they are not ours, they are God's. If then you have received it not from yourself but from God, what do you praise? But it does not help to say what you will; the devil is in the people, who teaches them to be ungrateful to God (since they have everything from Him) and to be proud, and to press Him with His own gift. Well, whoever does not want to leave it, he can take him off again, just as he took Judam off: he was also proud, and abused his office to betray Christ; but it happened to him that he himself got over it.
7 The dear virgin does not do this here. "My soul," she says, "exalt the Lord," that is, I praise and extol God, not only with my mouth and heart, but my whole life, all powers and limbs, everything that governs my soul, would gladly sing and praise God. For "soul" means nothing else, but our life, which speaks, hears, sees, eats, drinks, builds, in sum, everything that is and sustains life, all my hair, all my drops of blood, that I would like to sing, so that it could sing Magnificat, and thus exalt and praise a gracious God. We hopeless drops do it with the mouth alone; the life and the soul do not experience it. The Magnificat sticks to our tongue like a foam. If it were thalers, guilders, beautiful houses, beautiful clothes, we would also sing the Magnificat, but in small honor of God.
8 "My spirit," she continues, "rejoices in God my Savior. "My spirit", that is, my inner being, my whole knowledge, since I know God with it, that rejoices.
not in the temporal, but in God. This is also the right joy, when one rejoices in God. We do not rejoice until we have the money in our pocket; and, which is sin and shame, ten guilders rejoice us more than God Himself. For, tell me, is it not true? I have life and limb up to the fiftieth year, healthy eyes, ears, hands and feet; the dear sun has served me so long during the day, the night has given me sleep: but when have I ever been so happy about such things, as when a man finds about ten florins? Fie on you, that we cannot also rejoice in God. So tell me: Who rejoices that Jesus Christ is born? Yes, one pursues it in addition. But if we were not so blind, we should always jump to the fact that God has given us not only body and soul, but His only begotten Son, and through Him eternal life.
(9) Therefore, let all the scholars of the earth come together and see if they can make one verse like this verse, and they will see where their art lies. She sets the goal high; and yet she is humble, and so humble that she, the great doctor and prophetess, who is more learned than all the apostles and prophets, becomes a nursemaid and waitress to dear Elizabeth. And we mischief-makers, as soon as someone knows only one Latin, Greek or Hebrew vocable, we do not know where to stay because of hope. We should be thrown out with lungs, one with the other, for the sake of the shameful hopefulness that we indulge in for so little a thing; and forget this example here, that the dear maiden neither rejoices nor exalts herself in the great high goods, but she has her joy in God, whom she praises and glorifies, as follows:
For he has looked upon the lowliness of his handmaid. Behold, from now on all the children will call me blessed.
(10) She says, "All the children will praise me, that is, all the world will sing and say about me. Dear maiden, would it not be time for you to become worthy of hope, so that the whole world can praise you?
and praise? No, she says, I do not want to become worthy of hope because of this. But this is that I rejoice, that I have been a wretched, despised maiden, and yet God, my Lord, has not despised me, but has looked upon me with favor. For she will have been a young maiden, and yet poor, wherefore no man esteemed her specially, else she would not say, "He esteemed the lowliness of his handmaid." But, she says, as wretched as I am, God, who created heaven and earth, has graciously opened his eyes upon me and brought me forth for such a great work. He could have found others who were great proud virgins. But he did not look at any of them; he looked at me, a poor little girl in my torn skirt. This makes me happy, and I thank God for it. In sum, I, she says, am nothing at all; but what I am and have, I have only from God's goodness and grace. That is pure praise to God and His grace.
(11) But here we must not forget the abominable idolatry, which we have also thought of before, and which is so completely torn down in the papacy. She says, the dear Virgin: "All children will praise me, that is, praise God's grace in me, and say of me how God has so gloriously honored me that he has chosen me among all virgins, that I should conceive the Savior of the world in my body through the Holy Spirit and bring him to the world. But it does not follow from this that one should call upon the Virgin Mary, take comfort in her intercession, and seek help in all kinds of temporal and spiritual needs from her and wait for it; as the pope has pointed out to people such idolatry. Let it remain with praise; but worship, intercession and waiting for help, these things are to remain with the Lord Christ alone; as he says: "What you shall ask in my name, that will I give you. Thus the pope wants one to ask in the name of the Virgin Mary. This is wrong, and is not praising Mary, but profaning her to the highest degree and making an idol out of her. Continue:
For he has done great things for me, who is mighty, and whose name is holy.
12. she will not touch the name of our Lord God, that is, she will not exalt her gifts; she always recognizes that what she has is God's and not her own work. For this reason, we all want to recognize him as powerful, but we all want to recognize ourselves as weak, powerless people; and that his name alone is holy, that is, that his name alone should be praised and held high, but our name, as an unholy name, should not be praised. But look around in the world again, where are they who do it? Everyone would like him to be thought of as great, and especially everyone would like to be praised for his holiness and piety. But Mary teaches us to consider God alone as powerful and His name as holy, that is, to praise God alone and His grace, and nothing else.
And his mercy endures forever to those who fear him.
(13) Here she stops with her own person and reaches out to the whole world, praising God, not only for herself, but for the sake of all people, that he may be gracious and merciful to everyone who fears him and humbles himself before him. Just as we also give thanks in our prayers, not only for the gifts we alone have, but also for those others have with us. And this is a special masterpiece, that it so finely combines God's mercy and God's fear: that where one fears God, he wants to be merciful, that is, to forgive sins, not to punish or condemn for the sake of sins, but to help with all graces against all misfortune and to make eternally blessed. Again, where one does not fear God, there shall be neither mercy nor grace, but punishment and wrath. So it fits very well with the 147th Psalm v. 11: "The Lord is pleased with those who fear him and wait for his goodness." Therefore learn here who can learn. Mary has ever a gracious God, who does her all good. But where does she get such grace from? Nowhere else, because as she herself says: "The Lord has looked upon the lowliness of His handmaid." She has not made herself proud or presumptuous, she has remained humble, in the
She went in the fear of God and did what she was commanded to do; this pleased God and God graced her.
(14) In this way, she sings, all you people can come to God's grace. But beware, do not puff yourselves up, do not boast, do not be proud; but humble yourselves before God and fear Him. Know yourselves rightly that you are poor sinners who can boast of nothing before God, but because of your sins you also have reason to fear Him. If you do this, I say to you: This has always been God's will and work: whoever fears him, he is merciful to him, he helps him, he has an eye on him; but whoever does not want to fear him, whoever wants to be proud and think that he has everything, that he lacks nothing, God will deal with him differently. For:
He wields violence with his arm and scatters those who are hopeful in their hearts.
(15) The dear virgin taught us how she came to be gracious, simply by thinking nothing of herself and taking comfort in God's goodness and grace. She also taught us this art and commanded us to fear God, so that He would also be merciful to us. But the dear doctor sees that she will find very few disciples. For there are three kinds of people who cannot refrain from arrogance and pride. Those who are wise and prudent think highly of themselves and insist on it; those who are powerful or rich do the same: all of them are hopeful, as if they did not need our Lord God. But here, listen, how can such hope be granted to them?
(16) If they want to be wise and take on themselves such things, especially in matters where they should follow the word of God and his wisdom, they should start very finely, she says. For my God is a mighty God, and wants to be so only. Therefore he sets himself against all proud hearts, and scatters them, so that no one knows where they go. This is a valiant work, *) that he should take a great king, like Saul, by the head.
takes him who will not fear him, nor have his word before his eyes, and draws out a poor shepherd, him he makes king. Why then do they want to be proud, to insist on their wisdom and not be afraid? Why do they throw up the comb, as if they had everything of themselves? As princes and nobles, citizens and peasants do now. I am he and he, they say, shall I let the priest rule me and do what he wills? Well, says our Lord God, be wicked and wise, you will still have to abandon me; I also have an arm, if I pull it out, beware, it is very heavy, and will mislead you, so that you will not know where you are at home. Thus great kingdoms and principalities have been wiped out; the Virgin Mary knows how to sing about them here.
(17) But why does she need such words to say, "He scatters them in the mind of their hearts"? Because it is God's way, when he wants to overthrow people for the sake of their hope, he first makes them fools and blinds them. Afterwards, when they are blinded, they are soon disgraced, so that they have to disgrace themselves in their prudence. This is called "scattering the wise in their heart's mind"; for he leads them to destruction with their own wisdom, so that they make their plots most accurately and best, as Pharaoh did in Egypt when he hurried after the Jews through the Red Sea. When they have decided in the best way and say, "We will attack in this way," our Lord God mocks them. Well then, says he, well then, you are on the right track, just hurry up. In pride he leads them up, and there they lie in a heap. So he pushes them and falls them in their proud sense. That is the one heap, which does not fear God, but is proud, and relies on its wit and cleverness. Now follows the other heap, which relies on its power and force; there it sings also thus from:
He pushes the mighty from the throne and lifts up the lowly.
18 In sum, our Lord God wants to have humble people, to whom He will do all good; but what is hopeful, He will punish.
Therefore, even if He exalts the lowly, as soon as they overlook it and become proud, they must come down; as is seen in King Saul. He was a poor shepherd, but God made him king; but as soon as his belly swelled over it, and he would not humble himself against God and His word, God overthrew the whole family, so that not one remained. It was the same with David: God made him king from a shepherd, and he remained so high with his tribe until they became proud, then they had to come down again. Thus we see in all other histories: what is proud runs into the spear of our Lord God and must be humbled; in turn, what is humble and God-fearing rises up.
This is the way of our Lord God, says Mary: what wants to be low, he wants to be high; again, what wants to be high, he wants to be low. Whoever does not want to believe it, let him know it. For there have been many who have punished this song and wanted to make it false, but they have learned it to their detriment, that it is true. For the Virgin Mary cannot lie, because she speaks from her own experience. She has been humble and God-fearing; therefore God draws her out and brings her to great honors. On the other hand, Herod, Caiphas and other great lords' daughters have been worthy of hope; they have gone so that no one knows where they are. Therefore, if everyone learns to fear God and to humble himself, there will be no need, even if things go badly for a while.
The poets have also had it from experience that they say: Magnisque negatum stare diu: What is great will not last long. Cause, when it becomes great and is felt, pride follows; then our Lord God must come, and what is great, make small and humble. Rome has come very high, so that when only the name of Rome was mentioned, all the world had to take off its little hat and bow down. But what finally came of it? It lay in a heap and is now destroyed and devastated for the third time. For the Virgin Mary sings here, no one shall be too high for God, he will overthrow them all if they want to be proud.
He fills the hungry with goods and leaves the rich empty.
This is the third group, which is proud and presumptuous, because it is rich and has much money and good. Our Lord God must also do his work with them, so that he lets great good things disgracefully melt away and perish. Again, he often gives poor people great good fortune, so that they come into great possessions. Now if everyone were so wise and learned this art, and humbled himself, God would let them all remain, and that which is more, he would give from day to day, the longer the more. So would great kings and princes, then reasonable and wise people. God could well, and would suffer them (for it is He who makes them kings and great lords, Rom. 13, 1.), if only they could leave pride. But no one wants to do it, everyone wants to defy our Lord God with his gifts; so he cannot and will not suffer. Therefore he says: Stop, fellow, I have made you fat; I can make you skinny and lean again. So he will deal with all who do not fear God nor humble themselves, but want to insist on their wisdom, power and wealth.
(22) Now these are the three groups where God shows Himself to be not merciful but wrathful. For he lashes out: this makes them not want to humble themselves, nor fear God; they insist and defy, thinking that because they are wise, they shall not lack; because they are rich and powerful, they shall not lack anything. But the dear Virgin Mary warns and teaches, one should not do it. For there shall be no wisdom so great: if the fear of God be not there, it must become foolishness and be profaned. No power shall be so great: if the fear of God be not there, it shall be overthrown. No wealth shall be so great: if the fear of the Lord be not there, the people shall become beggars, and have all misfortunes; that shall surely befall them.
(23) Just as it terrifies and warns the world that lives without the fear of God, so it comforts the Christians who fear God and teaches them, whether they are foolish, miserable and poor, that they should not lose heart, and that they should not be afraid of God.
tells them that God wants to make them eternally blessed for the sake of Christ. So he will not forget them in this life, but will help them: For, saith she, this also is God's way and His own work: the lowly, who think nothing of themselves, and fear God, He will exalt, and the hungry He will fill with goods. How the world is full of such examples that God-fearing, pious people bring God upon themselves through His blessings. So, in one word, Mary teaches us all to be pious and to fear God. Again, she warns against hopefulness and pride. For God does not like it. Now follows the right piece:
He remembers his mercy and helps his servant Israel. As he spake unto our fathers, unto Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
(24) Now she concludes, the dear virgin, and finally sings of the greatest grace that shall befall those who humble themselves and fear God. For what she has said so far remains in the world, and applies to this temporal life, that God wants to be the helper of the humble and the poor, but wants to overthrow the proud. He must do this; otherwise he could not help them. But this belongs to eternal life, since it now sings of God giving not only body and soul, but also His Son. This is the great and spiritual good that He spoke to Abraham and other patriarchs, and has now accomplished through this virgin, that she should bear the Son of God to the world, and that He should help us through His suffering and resurrection from sins and eternal death to eternal life.
But we must be diligent to look at the words here. For the trade in which the Virgin Mary speaks is excellent. Thus we must confess that she is a special master who can speak well of high things. She sees, the dear Virgin, how Israel has fallen so low: not only in the outward government, that the Jews have had no king since the Babylonian prison, and have been miserably plagued by pagans; but also and most of all, that it has been so bad in the church government.
26. because the order of God with the
The chief priests, Pharisees and scribes had ruined everything most miserably; as we see in the Gospel that for this reason Christ must always lie with them. This, I say, is what the dear Virgin sees, and praises and thanks God that Israel, which had fallen so low, should get right back on its feet again: not for the sake of the worldly, but for the sake of the spiritual regime, so that the pure doctrine of the forgiveness of sins may come to light, the people may know God rightly and serve God rightly, and may be eternally blessed. This is what it means to say: God help up His servant Israel.
(27) It also adds the cause where such help comes from, saying, "This is because God remembers his mercy. Notice this word very well, for that is where it all comes from. First of all, this is a very great thing, just as she said above, that God rumbles among those who do not fear him. For he is a righteous God, who does not want to suffer sin or evil; so here she boasts that the same God is also a merciful God, who takes care of our needs and makes us mourn for our misery. Whoever knows this and believes it to be true in his heart is helped. The reason for all our fear, anxiety and worry is that we fear God as a serious judge. And it is true that he wants to be a judge, but only against those who do not fear him, but insist on their wisdom, holiness, power and wealth. But he will be merciful and help those who fear him. This is the first.
028 Secondly, if this helping up be done in mercy, where is the merit here? where is the law? where are good works, sacrifices, circumcision, the Sabbath, and such like? Is it not true that with all these things Israel had to lie in sin and eternal death? For what else do they need mercy? So the Virgin Mary rejects all merit and concludes: Moses and his law could not help them; Israel had to remain in death, under sin and the devil's rule because of the law. But this
Help him alone that God is merciful, takes care of the poor people, and where they must otherwise remain lying, he offers them his hand out of loud compassion and straightens them out.
29 She also teaches us what kind of help or mercy it is, and says: It is the mercy that He promised to Abraham and other fathers. With these words, she directs us behind her to the Scriptures, so that we may see what God promised to Abraham. Now it is true that God promised Abraham more than one thing. He promised him a son with his Sarah; that is what happened. He promised him the increase of his family, that kings and princes should come from it; this also happened. He promises his seed the land of Canaan; this has also happened long ago. Therefore, the Virgin Mary does not speak of such promises. But God promised Abraham something else, namely, a son through whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Such a promise has not yet been fulfilled until this hour, and has been promised not only to Abraham, but also to other fathers. Now this is what Mary says here, that God wants to accomplish this, and through the blessed seed help us out of the curse and wrath of God to grace, eternal life and blessedness: not as if we deserved it, but out of pure mercy.
(30) This is now the greatest and highest benefit, which the dear virgin saves for the last and thanks God for it. This is to indicate that she is more interested in such a blessing and is more moved to joy and thanksgiving than by the other blessing that happened to her alone, that she alone should be the mother of such a blessed child. For this was only a temporal honor, but this shall remain forever, as she says here. She wants to indicate how her child, the Lord Christ, will have another kingdom than the one that has lived in the world until now, namely, such a kingdom, which the dead Abraham and other fathers will also enjoy, and thus enjoy that they will live forever. Now this is the right and best part, for which we have to do with the love of God.
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We should thank the Virgin God and keep ourselves in His fear, so that we may remain in such grace and mercy.
(31) So this song is an example of how we should praise and thank God for all His spiritual and bodily gifts, bring them home to Him, and not exalt ourselves because of them, but say in all humility: Lord, it is Your gift, and I thank You for it; by my wisdom or ability or holiness I have not earned it nor brought it about. As we see, the dear virgin with her example and sermon tells us not to be hopeful, but to humble ourselves and keep ourselves in all discipline; and promises that where we do this, God will also be with us with his graces and give much; otherwise, where one wants to be proud, he will take everything.
(32) Therefore learn both the sermon and the example, and also be guided by them, so that you may learn to say: Has the most generous of all women been able to humble herself in this way, and has she not been able to overburden herself with her gifts?
walked over the mountains, like another poor maid, she served Elizabeth with "all the housework: poor me, why or from what should I be proud? What am I against this virgin whom the angels serve? Therefore I will also learn to be humble, gladly follow, serve and do what I can, for my rule or my parents. This would mean to follow this example and sermon. And it will not fail that whoever, with such humility, diligently adheres to God's word and practices his faith in this way, God will be with him with his graces. On the other hand, the other house, if it does not respect God's word, is insolent, bold and proud, and does not keep itself chaste, must fall into sin and disgrace and suffer all misfortune. For the sake of Christ, may God grant us His Holy Spirit, so that we too may learn to be godly, humble and chaste, and finally take comfort in the mercy that was promised to Abraham, but has been abundantly extended to us through Christ, the Son of God, amen.