The other sermon.*)
What the angels told the shepherds about this
Your love has heard the story of this day, how Christ Jesus, the Son of God, was born into this world, and what we are to learn from it. When this happened in Bethlehem, the evangelist reports how an angel from heaven came to some shepherds who were near by in the field by their hurdles, with a glorious, great light, and preached of this birth to the shepherds with these words:
Fear not, for behold, I proclaim to you great joy, which shall be to all the people. For unto you is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And have this as a sign to yourselves: You will find the child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
2. this is the first sermon of this born child, our lord jesus, which was brought from heaven to us on earth by the angels. For this reason it is well worth our while to learn it diligently, and indeed to beware lest we think we can or have learned it. For though it be preached every year, yea, every day, yet here on earth we shall not be able to learn it at all.
(3) But this preaching of angels was very necessary: for if Christ had been born twenty times, it would have been in vain if we had not known about it. For what is it that a man has a treasure in his house or cellar, if he knows nothing of it? It will give him little pleasure or joy. As the saying goes, Ignoti nulla cupido; a hidden treasure is a useless treasure, because one walks over it, as over the muck in the street, of which one pays no attention.
*) In the church, in 1534, in the afternoon.
Preaching and proclaiming history etc.
It is the same with this holy, joyful birth. If the dear angels had not preached about it and had not revealed such treasure to the people, no one would have been able to desire such treasure, much less enjoy it, no one would have been happy about it. Cause, what one does not know, that does not affect him; there is neither pleasure nor displeasure, but is as if it had never been or as if it should never become anything.
(4) Therefore this is one of the chief things in this gospel, that the angel with his preaching revealeth this birth, and sheweth us this treasure; lest we should pass by, having the treasure, and yet know nothing of it, and neither rejoice nor be comforted in it, saying, I proclaim unto you great joy."
These words are very well put. The shepherds were greatly alarmed at the great light and splendor, as at an unusual thing, that in a moment heaven and earth had become so light and like fire in the dark night. Seeing this, the angel speaks to them cheerfully, saying, "Do not be afraid." As if he should speak: You have no cause to be afraid; but that you are afraid is a sure sign that you do not yet know about the noble, precious treasure that God has given you; otherwise you would not be afraid, yes, you would rejoice with all your heart and be of good cheer. For this is why I have come - to proclaim to you a great joy, a great work and miraculous sign, which, if you form it rightly in your heart, you will have to be in good spirits about it and have a great, exuberant joy.
6. that the angel's main concern is that he would like to have such a
He says, "I will preach a sermon that sticks and is not in vain, but does what it is supposed to do. That is why he does not speak of a bad joy, but of a great joy and of necessary things.
(7) For this cause: because the devil by sin hath cast us down very much, and hath wrought a grievous miseries, that we are not only in original sin, and have eternal death upon us, but must daily in the world expect all manner of calamities of him; so that no man is safe for a moment, neither of the body, nor of the good things which all things that are in Fahr float and weave. Above such misfortunes there is a greater one, as it is written in the Gospel, that the devil leads into people, makes them mad and foolish, so that one can say with truth that such a person is nothing but a stinking secret chamber of the devil. He has made us humans so shamefully worthless through sin that we cannot have a morsel of bread here on earth, but must also bear God's wrath and eternal death afterwards. Let this be a terrible, miserable and horrible devil's kingdom.
(8) Nevertheless, if we consider it rightly and weigh both against each other, such sorrow, which we have from the devil, is by no means to be compared with the glory and this excellent treasure and joy, since the angel preaches here about, and says: "Fear not, I proclaim to you great joy, to you the Savior is born. With such a sermon the angel would gladly turn our hearts away from all such devilish lamentation for this little child; and thinks that he would then have accomplished a work of a delicious preacher, if he could bring us to the point that we could rightly look upon this Savior and learn to recognize him as our flesh and blood. And it is certainly true that if it should be or could be that this happy image would enter into the heart of a man, then this damage, which we have from the devil, would be very small, although it would be a great and eternal damage.
(9) He who wants to overcome the devil, to laugh at his poison and his wrath, and to be safe from him, must do it alone with this sweet sight and comfort, since the angel is here.
of preaching and says: To you the Savior is born. If this look falls right into the heart, then the thing is already won. For then man thinks: The devil has defiled and strangled me and all men, thrown me into God's wrath and eternal judgment: but this damage is not so great; the treasure that God has given me is even greater, namely, that God, my Lord, does not possess the human race, as the devil is wont to possess men; but he himself becomes a true man, so that God and human nature become one person. The devil cannot come so close to a human being. For even if he possesses a human being, the human being still remains a human being, the devil a devil, and they are two different persons and natures. On the other hand, the Son of God became man, so that I can say with truth: This man is God, and God is man.
For this reason, our dear merciful God in heaven has come much closer to us and has entered much deeper into our flesh than the devil can enter. He may possess and torture a man, but he cannot become a personal man; the natures remain always separated, not only in essence, but also in person. But such is one here, the Son of God is our flesh and blood, born of Mary the Virgin, naturally, like me and you, except that he was conceived without male seed by the Holy Spirit, and did not take the poison of the wicked devil with him, but has an entirely pure innocent flesh and blood. Except for this one part, because ours is unclean and sinful, he is a man like me and you, who had to eat, drink, sleep, wake up, like other men have to do nature half, as St. Paul says: "He was found like a man"; so that whoever heard or saw him had to say: This is a true natural man, not a ghost. For he has all the manner of this life about him.
This is the joy that the angel says about. But I am speaking now only of the glory we are to rejoice in, and not yet of the fruit of which one preaches when one speaks of His suffering and resurrection in the first place.
digt. Now we say of the glory alone that God has become so close to us that He is our flesh and blood, and a personal man, as I and you are, except that He is without all sin. With this unspeakable honor he has adorned the human race. This is what the angel wanted to make the people believe, saying, "I proclaim to you great joy, which shall be to all the people."
(12) He is joyful and of good cheer, burning and leaping for joy, not at all ashamed of the poor shepherds that he should preach to them, but of good cheer, and would that everyone would take such things to heart as he did, and that all men would know such great glory, that human nature has come to glory, that the Son of God, through whom all things were created, the high Majesty, has become our flesh and blood.
(13) For it would be no wonder, if we had nothing else, that we humans should become so fond of one another that one should devour the other for love, as they say. But I am not yet speaking of utility and custom, but only of honor. If this were to go to our hearts, we should never be hostile to any man. After all, who would want to be hostile or do evil to the image that has body and soul, like my God and yours? For the sake of the honor that God has shown us, should we not love all people and do all good to them?
The angels are much more glorious creatures than we humans; God did not consider that. God did not become an angel. In addition, the angels are innocent and holy spirits who have not fallen, like the other angels and we poor humans. So it looks as if it would have been cheaper for God to have become an angel. So he comes to accept the poor, little creature, which is in sin, in the devil's kingdom and under the power of death, which the devil torments and defiles to the utmost. That is to say, ever sunk low. Should we not be softened by this, that we love one another with fervor, all of us?
friendship and service among themselves, not so among themselves despised, envied?
15 Some fathers, and especially Bernard, think that the devil, when he saw in heaven that the Son of God was to become a man, for such a cause did he draw envy against men and hatred against God, that he did not want to become an angel rather than a man, and thus fell down out of hope and envy. This may well be a thought or true. Nevertheless, the dear fathers wanted to show the great joy and honor that befell us in that God became man and took the very poor flesh and blood that we poor people have, who were possessed by the devil and handed over to death because of sin.
How wretched must these people be who know nothing of such honor? But they are much more wretched who hear from angels, apostles, or other preachers that God has so graciously visited human nature, taken it upon Himself, and made it master over all creatures, and yet have no joy in it. Yes, they must certainly be wretched people who do not feel this, who do not take comfort and joy from it.
(17) If, among many brethren, one becomes a great lord, how glad will the other brethren be? How can they console themselves so highly? As is seen in Joseph's brothers in the first book of Mosiah, when he makes himself known to them. And it is true that this is a natural joy. But how is it that we do not also rejoice in this unspeakable honor and glory, that it does not go to our hearts, and that we do not praise and thank God because God has become my flesh and blood, and now sits above at the right hand of God, a Lord over all creatures?
(18) Whoever could form such things in his heart should love all flesh and blood here on earth for the sake of the flesh and blood that is above at the right hand of God, and should no longer be able to be angry with any man. So that the tender humanity of Christ, our God, should make all hearts cheaply joyful and friendly with one sight.
and fill them with joy in such a way that no angry thought would ever come into it. If anyone had grasped this image in his heart, that the Son of God had become man, he would never be able to think of anything bad for the Lord Christ, but of everything good. For I know well that I do not like to be angry with myself, nor to desire to do evil to myself. But Christ is the very one who I am, is also a man; how then can he mean evil to himself, that is, to us who are his flesh and blood? So such an image, if it were right in the heart, would merge in a moment all the horrible examples of the wrath of God, as there is the Flood, the punishment with Sodom and Gomorrah. All these things would have to disappear in one glance, if we thought of this one man, who is God, and who so honored poor human nature that he became man.
Nineteenth But are not these wicked men, as I have said, who hear these things, and yet regard them not, but leave such treasure lying, thinking how they may fill their coffers with money, and build beautiful houses, and live in great splendor? This is because the wicked devil blinds the hearts, so that they cannot see a glimpse of such joy as the angel preaches here.
(20) Now this is a thing that should move us to great joy and blessed hope, that we are thus honored above all creatures, even above the angels, that we may now boast with the truth: My flesh, my blood sits at the right hand of God and reigns over all. No creature has such glory, no angel either; but my flesh and blood have it. This alone should ever be an oven that melts us into one heart and creates such a fervor among us people that we love one another with all our hearts. But there, as I said, the wretched devil has his ghost, so that we hear it in church, then do not remember it, but soon forget it. He spoils this joy for us with other worries, so that we do not include this image in our hearts as we should. If we now had no more than this honor, we should leap and dance for joy.
(21) But above this natural honor and joy, there is also this, that he, the man Jesus, will also be our Savior. This is the first and greatest cause that we should rejoice. Therefore, they are wretched people who neither hear nor know about it. But as reported before, much more wretched are those who hear and know it, and yet do not heed it. For these words should melt heaven and earth, and make us out of death like sugar, and out of all misfortune, which is innumerable, like delicious malvasia. For what man is there who could conceive that a Savior has been born to us? Such treasure the angel gives not only to his mother, the Virgin Mary, but to all of us. "To you," he says, "is born the Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
The angel spoke to the shepherds, who were Jews and knew very well the word "Christ" in their language, that it meant a king and lord. But most of the Jews were mistaken in thinking that he would be a lord and savior in the flesh. This was not the opinion. The angel looks to something higher when he says: "To you the Savior is born"; as if he should say: You have been captives of the devil until now, he has plagued you with water, fire, pestilence, sword, and who can tell all the misfortunes? There you poor people lie under his tyranny. The soul he seduces with lies, which is innumerably more harmful than no pestilence can ever be to the body. Thus the poor, meager, weak body also has no rest from him. When he has plagued soul and body in this way, eternal death is still behind him. Now to you, says the angel, to you who are trapped with soul and body under such a harmful, evil, poisonous spirit, who is the prince of the world and God, the Savior is born.
The little word "you" shall ever make us glad. For to whom does he speak? To wood or stones? No, but to men, and not to one or two alone, but to all the people. What shall we make of this? Shall we continue to doubt the grace of God and say: The Savior may well be St. Peter and St. Paul...
I must not do it, I am a poor sinner, this noble, precious treasure does not concern me? Dear, if you want to say so: He does not belong to me; I also want to say: To whom does he belong? Has it come for the sake of geese, ducks or cows? For you must see here who he is. If he had wanted to help another creature, he would have become the same creature. But he alone became the Son of man.
24. Now, who are you? Who am I? Aren't we human beings? Yes. Who shall take care of the child, but men? The angels are not allowed to be, the devils do not want to be. But we may be, and for our sake he became man. Therefore it behooves us men to accept with joy to be like the angel says here: "To you the Savior is born. And shortly before: "I proclaim to you great joy, which shall be to all the people." Is it not a great and glorious thing that an angel from heaven should bring such a message to men? And after that so many thousands of angels are so joyful about it, wish and preach that we men should also be joyful and accept such grace with thanksgiving, as we will hear.
(25) Therefore, it is an excellent and precious word that we hear here: "The Savior is born to you." As if the angel were to say: This birth is not mine, I must not accept it, without being gladly pleased with you from the bottom of my heart. But it is yours, poor, corrupt and lost people. He is the same Savior. Therefore accept him, you may have this Savior, so that you may be saved from sins and death. That which was reported before is in itself a glorious, great thing, that God became man. But this is far above it, that he should be our spiritual and eternal Savior. Whoever felt and believed such things would know what a true joy would be, indeed, he would not be able to live long before great joy. But, as said in the beginning, we will not be able to fully grasp this sermon here on earth, nor learn it. This life is too narrow, so our hearts are too weak for it. Otherwise, if it were possible for a heart to accept it rightly, it would have to be
it would burst with joy, would never feel a sad thought.
(26) If we believed, this fruit should at least follow from it, that we would live kindly among ourselves, stop lying and deceiving and all kinds of naughtiness, for the sake of the image that God Himself became man. But there you can see how weakly it goes on with us, that this joy does not really want to enter our hearts, and we forget both the preaching of the dear angel and of the Savior, and most of the people go after the old things with avarice and other things. Which is a sure sign that we do not believe such preaching firmly, or even weakly, otherwise we would be glad and not grieve if we believed that we had such a Savior. How should a man rejoice in the agony of death, if he had a certain remedy against the pestilence! Such joy would be felt from the heart. But here, since we have certain assurances against sin and eternal death, no one, or even few, rejoice. Most people seek another joy, that they may have peace, rest, pleasure here, and yet they are not sure of it for a moment. That is a sign, that we hear this joyful sermon, as if in sleep, remain hopeless people, who have the treasure before their eyes and yet do not respect it.
(27) He who is so skilled that he hears these things and does not feel joy from them may well consider himself a wretched man. For what will make a heart joyful if it does not want to rejoice in what the angel says here: "To you the Savior is born"? Whoever does not want to improve and become more devout, whoever does not want to taste this malmsey and this fire does not want to warm his heart, may be made more devout by the executioner, otherwise he cannot be helped. Therefore, learn to regard it as an evil sign, where you find yourself so cold and frozen, and ask God from the bottom of your heart for His grace, that He may change and help your heart through His Holy Spirit.
28.*) But that the angel continues to report, he
Let this Savior be born in the city of David, and call him Christ the Lord: with these words he directs us to the Scriptures. For thus it was foretold by the prophet Micah that he should be born in Bethlehem.
(29) In particular, the angel calls the infant Jesus a Lord. We are not to understand this as if he were a worldly king who would show himself to be a tyrant and beat him with a club. No, but as God says to Adam: "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head"; that he then, as our Lord, will stand up for us, and be the devil's enemy, but our Lord and Redeemer, who will address me and you as his own, and claim you as his own from the devil, and say to him: Give me this one whom you are holding captive; he is not yours, but my own creature, whom I not only created, but also bought with my body and blood; therefore let him go and give him back to me, for he is mine. So that Christ may be a comforting Lord, who may take hold of the devil's rule by force, and take his own to himself; who may come under his eyes and say: You accursed spirit have led them into sin and death, you deceive and lie to them, and yet they are not yours; I am the Lord, to whom it is due not only by nature but also by right, and not to you that I should rule over men, for they are my earned (deserved) goods.
(30) Yea, saith thou, if the Son of God hath not redeemed the angels, how then can the little word HErr be so interpreted? Answer: Such a little word has no other meaning for us, and is rightly interpreted in this way. But because the angel speaks in general, and gives the child Jesus such a high title, and calls him Lord, it is a certain indication that this child, born of Mary of the virgins, is natural, true, eternal God, otherwise the angel would certainly not call him Lord.
31 He is our Savior, and the angel is not, as the angel here clearly says: "To you the Savior is born. But he is not only our Savior, but also the angel Savior; they are now with us, and we with them, this Savior's household, numbering among these
Lord at the same time with us, that we human beings, who were servants of the devil before, come to such honors through this child that we are now accepted in the citizenship of the dear angels. They are now our best friends, so that we may boast for the sake of this child that we have one Lord with the angels and they with us, and are one household with one another.
(32) The dear angels should be reasonably hopeful that they are much more noble than we humans, first of all because of their nature and essence, and then also because they are without sin. But there is no hope; they do not despise us men because of our misery; they are heartily sorry for our death, sin and misery. That is why they take such heartfelt joy in the help that comes to us through this infant, granting us blessedness as well as themselves, that today we receive the infant for our own, who is their Lord and brings us to the high honors that we are to be their comrades. They do not say: I do not like the sinner, the stinking dead man lying in the grave, the fornicator, the knave. No, they do not say so, but are glad from the heart that they get such sinners to peace, and praise God that we are so rid of sin, and have come to them into one house and under one Lord. For such grace they thank and praise God, whose grace they do not enjoy.
(33) How much more is it fitting that we also give thanks and praise to God for this, and also love and serve one another, as the Son of God has shown us, who became our flesh and closest friend. But whoever does not respect this and does not want to love and help his neighbor in the same way cannot be helped, as I said above.
This is the first sermon after Christ's birth about this child, which will continue throughout the whole world until the end of time. Therefore you should diligently take note, for here you see how the dear angels became our friends, and came to us with the joyful message, saying: We should henceforth fear no more, because the little child has been born to us and wants to be our Savior. This
is the right, highest and best consolation, since one can actually and certainly test God's grace and mercy, that God, the almighty, eternal Father, has had mercy on us, and has given us His Son in such a kind way, through a tender, pure, young virgin, whom He places in her womb, and has us preach: Let him be the Savior of us all; let us find in him what we lack; let him be our help and comfort, so that henceforth between God and us all wrath may be lifted and love and kindness may be united.
(35) Think, then, whether God does injustice to those who hear these things and yet do not accept them, as the blind, obstinate papists do, who are not satisfied with this Savior and seek other saviors on whom they rely. The angel's sermon reads differently, namely,
that this little child alone is our Savior, in whom alone we shall have all comfort and joy, as in the highest treasure; where he is, there all angels and God Himself look.
He does not put this treasure in the womb of the mother alone, but in the womb of me and you, saying, "It shall be yours, you shall enjoy it, and everything he has in heaven and on earth shall be yours. Now whosoever heareth these things, but hath no joy thereof, or forsaketh this Saviour, and seeketh another, he is worthy to be dashed nine cubits under the earth by thunder. Therefore we should thank God for His grace and ask Him to speak and write this angel's sermon in our hearts, so that we may take comfort in this Savior and overcome death and the devil through Him. May our dear Lord and Savior Christ help us, amen.