Because today's feast holds before us the comforting and joyful article of our faith, in that we confess that Christ rose again from the dead on the third day, it is necessary first of all to grasp and know the history in the most simple way, and then also to learn why this happened and how we can enjoy it.
For the sake of history, this is how it happened. Christ was betrayed by Judah there on Green Thursday in the evening, when he got up from supper and went into the garden. There he was captured by the Jews and led from one high priest to another until they finally decided to hand him over to Pilate, the governor, who was in charge of the court. Since it was now about three hours to the day, the sentence was passed on him, and he was carried out to the court and crucified. At the sixth hour, that is, at noon or an hour above, the earthquake and the darkness of the sun came. Then, at the ninth hour, which is approximately three hours before sunset, Christ died on the cross. So Marcus divides the hours and time; the other evangelists do not show it so actually.
But now it is written in our faith, that Christ rose again the third day. This is said somewhat differently than: after three days. For the Lord Christ did not die for three whole days and nights; but on Friday, about three hours before night, he died, as has been said. Such three hours are called the first day. After that, all night and all day of the Sabbath, he lay dead in the grave; and after the Sabbath, the night until the following morning. The same night is also counted as a day. For the Jews begin the day with the night, and to them the night and the day are one whole day. We turn it around and make day and night a whole day. Although it is not held so in the church. For there, today's day always belongs to the
Evening! to the following day, and go to church festivals the night before, before the day comes.
(4) Therefore, since it is very early on Sunday (which is the third day from Friday, when Christ was crucified), that the dawn is about to break, and the soldiers are lying around the tomb, the dead Christ rises to a new and eternal life, and rises from the dead, so that the soldiers lying around the tomb do not see such a resurrection. For from Matthew it is good to assume that the Lord Christ did not rise in the earthquake, but that the earthquake began when the angel came down from heaven and removed the stone from the tomb. But Christ came through the closed tomb, and without breaking any of the seals that were pressed against the tomb. Just as he came to the disciples the same evening through closed doors.
(5) Above the earthquake and the angels, the soldiers are so terrified that they lie there dead. But as soon as they come to themselves again, they run out of the tomb in heaps, one here, the other there. For the angel was not there that they should be glad; but that they should be afraid of him, and be afraid. But there were other people whom the angel was to comfort and to speak kindly to them.
6th Now as the soldiers are running away from the tomb, Mary Magdalene, Mary Jacob and Salome, with Peter and John after them, are going to look at the tomb. Then the angel comforted and told the women that Christ was no longer there, that he had risen, and that they should see him in Galilee. And they commanded that they should go in haste and proclaim these things to his disciples. As they are on their way back, the Lord Christ meets Magdalene in the form of a gardener. Item, as John reports, he also appears to Petro. And towards evening he comes to the two of them
He reveals himself to them when he breaks the bread or presents it to them at the table. When the same two disciples hurriedly ran back to Jerusalem and wanted to tell the others what they had encountered, how they had seen the Lord, and they were amazed, yet not all of them could believe, Jesus came through the closed doors and stood among them, John 20.
(7) So much happened on the holy day of Easter with the revelation of our dear Lord Christ, as can be seen from the evangelists. And therefore it is necessary that it be well known; for it is an article of our faith, in which, as we shall hear, much depends.
Now it is not enough to know the history: one should also learn what it serves us and how we should use it. Of the same we will now also say a little. For even though it is preached daily throughout the year, no one can preach it or learn it sufficiently, for it is such a rich subject.
(9) But if we are to understand the custom of the resurrection of our Lord Christ, we must have two different images in mind. One is the sad, miserable, shameful, miserable, bloody image that we heard about on Good Friday, of Christ hanging in the midst of murderers and dying in great pain. We are to look at such an image, as your love has heard, with an undoubted heart, that it all happened for the sake of our sins, that he, the true and eternal priest, gave himself as a sacrifice for our sin and wanted to pay for it with his death. For every man ought to know that his sins have wounded Christ and made him miserable, and that his sufferings are nothing else than your sins and mine. Therefore, as often as we think of or look at such a sad, bloody image, we should think of nothing else but that we see our sin there. If such a sorrowful image should always remain, then it would be terrible.
(10) But just as in faith we put these two articles together in the most precise way: Christ was crucified, died, and was buried.
He was dead, went down to hell, and on the third day rose again from death: so we see that this image of sorrow does not remain long. For before three whole days are over, our dear Lord Christ brings with him another beautiful, healthy, friendly, joyful image: so that we may certainly learn the consolation that not only are our sins wiped out and strangled by Christ's death, but that through his resurrection we shall be justified and eternally saved; as St. Paul says to the Romans in chapter 4, v. 25. Paul says to the Romans in chapter 4, v. 25: "Christ is dead for our sins, and is raised again for our righteousness"; and 1 Cor. 15:17-19: "If Christ be not risen, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins; they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are lost. And we are the most miserable of men, if in this life alone we hope in Christ." For just as before sins hung on his neck and pinned him to the cross, so now you see in this other image that there is no longer any sin in him, but righteousness; no pain or sorrow, but joy; no death, but life; and eternal life, which is far, far above this temporal life. This is the image we should ever rejoice in.
(11) To look at the first image by heart is a little terrible, but look at the cause, and we should not wish it otherwise. For there you see that God has taken away from you your sins, all of which were too heavy for you to go down under, and has laid them on His Son, who is eternal God and strong enough for sin. There let your sin lie. For you will not be able to lay them better, since they will press you less nor weigh you down. Then take this other image also before you, in which you see how your Lord Christ, who before was so horrible and miserable because of your sins, is now beautiful, pure, glorious and joyful, and all sins have disappeared in him. Continue your calculation: If your sins are not in you because of the suffering of Christ, but are taken from you by God Himself and put on Christ, and are today on Easter Day after His resurrection on
Nor Christ anymore: where will they be? Is it not true, as Micah says, that they are sunk into the depth of the sea, that neither devil nor any creature shall find them any more?
(12) Now this is the glorious, joyful article of our faith, which alone makes Christians, and yet is a mockery to all the world, and is profaned and blasphemed by everyone. For popes and cardinals are commonly of the kind that they consider history itself a laughter and a fairy tale, are good Pliniani, who laugh even more when one speaks of another and eternal life, after this life. So you see in our nobility, item, burghers and peasants that they believe it more out of a habit than that they are serious that there is another life. Otherwise they should ever keep to it, and not take so much care of this temporal life, food, honor and other things, but rather strive for the eternal. But let them preach and say what they will, and reason will think it foolishness. So this article resists, and does not want to go so deeply into the hearts as would be necessary.
(13) But we, if we would be true Christians otherwise, should make this article firmly certain in our hearts, that Christ, who bore our sin on the cross and paid for it with his death, rose again from the dead for our righteousness' sake. The more firmly we believe this in our hearts, the more joy and comfort we will find. For it is impossible that this image should not rejoice you, that you now see in Christ such a beautiful, pure, healthy man, who before was so wretched and miserable because of your sins. For then you are sure that your sins are gone and no longer exist.
(14) Hence the fine beautiful hymns, Latin and German, were made by the ancient Christians; as when we sing: Christ is risen from his torture to all, we should all be glad, Christ should be our consolation. And in the sequence: Agnus redemit oves, Christus innocens Patri reconciliavit peccatores. Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando, dux vitae mortuus regnat vivus: The innocent little lamb Christ has reconciled us poor erring sheep with his father, and is ever a
wonderful war, that death and life fight with each other, and the Lord of life dies, but still lives and reigns again etc.
(15) Whoever made the song must have had a high and Christian mind to paint this picture in such a fine way, how death attacked life, and how the devil also stabbed life. Well, the life, our Lord Jesus Christ, suffered and let himself be killed. But death struck unjustly. For life was eternal. Death did not see that behind the mortal body an eternal power and divine strength should be hidden. So he played the game and attacked the person who could not die, and yet died. So it happened that the corpse was dead and buried, but the person remained alive. For this must be especially understood, that this person is at the same time bodily dead and yet eternally alive. Death had accomplished as much as it could and could go no further. Because the person is alive and cannot remain in death, he comes forth again and throws death and everything that helped death, sin and the devil, under himself, and reigns in an eternal, new life, to which neither sin, the devil nor death can harm anything anymore.
This is a strange, unheard-of sermon, which reason cannot grasp; it must be believed that Christ lives, and yet is dead, and so dead that death must die in him and lose all its power. But these things are preached to us for comfort, that we should believe and learn that death has lost all its power. For once, praise be to God forever, such a man is found whom death attacks like all other men, and strangles him: but in the strangulation he himself must die and be devoured, and the strangled Christ shall live forever.
17 St. Paul praises this in very fine words, Col. 2:14, 15: "Christ hath blotted out the handwriting which was made by the law, and was against us. He took it away and nailed it to the cross; he stripped away the principalities and the powers and carried them away.
publicly, and made a triumph of them by themselves."
(18) This saying includes two things. Firstly, it says that Christ, with his suffering, erased the handwriting that we had to give of ourselves because of the law. This is what St. Paul means: We all know through the law what God requires of us, what we should do and not do. Wherever we do wrong, either by not doing what we are commanded to do or by doing what we are forbidden to do, we cannot pass by; our conscience stands there and convicts us that we have done wrong. So that our conscience is like a book of guilt, in that we bear witness to ourselves that we have been disobedient, and for this reason must bear God's wrath and disfavor. The handwriting, says St. Paul, comes into being through the law; for if the law were not there, there would be no transgression. So then both sin and the handwriting are there, which commits us, so that we cannot deny that we are guilty; like a merchant to whom one puts his own handwriting and seal. Then, says St. Paul, we enjoy our dear Lord Christ, because he takes such a handwriting and attaches it to the cross, that is, he makes a hole through it, and tears it so that it is no longer valid, nor should it accuse and damage us. Cause: He, the Lord Christ, hangs on the cross because he stepped into our sin and wants to pay for our sin with his body. This is the first thing.
19) Secondly, Christ has "stripped" the principalities, that is, he has taken away the devil's power, so that the devil should no longer drive and coerce Christians to sin, as he did before they came to Christ. For they can resist the evil spirit through the help of the Holy Spirit, and resist him through the word and faith, so that he must leave them satisfied. For this reason Christ gives us his Holy Spirit. Just as the devil has departed and has been deprived of his power, so have the powers departed, that is, the death that subdues us all has also been subdued by Christ. So that Christians henceforth make a mockery of the devil and death.
can. For even though they are both wicked and angry, and turn all their power against the Christians, they can do nothing, as Paul says to the Romans Cap. 8, 1: "Those who are in Christ JEsu, there is nothing condemnable about them."
20 Just as the Lord Christ overcame death, so he also overcame sin. For in his own person he is righteous; but because he takes upon himself the sins of others, he becomes a sinner, as he laments, Ps. 41:5: "I said, O Lord, be merciful to me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee." This is the cause of sin attacking him. And he, the Lord Christ, gladly lets himself be seized and brought to the cross, so that he dies, not otherwise than as if he had forfeited death himself and had sinned himself. As Isaiah says, Cap. 53:12, "He is counted as one of the transgressors," yet he has not sinned, but we have sinned; and he does no more than take upon himself strangers and take upon himself our iniquity. But there the holiness, which is hidden under foreign sin, is so great that sin cannot overcome it. Therefore, sin runs up and strikes the unrighteous man like death; therefore, it becomes weak and dies in his body, as St. Paul says.
The devil also wanted to prove his dominion over Christ, therefore he needs his power against him and wants to bring him under himself. But he finds a higher power that he cannot overcome. For even though the Lord Christ presents himself as weak, and does nothing else but fall to the ground and give way to the devil, there is still an insurmountable power hidden in such weakness. The devil does not see this and therefore loses all his power, so that our Lord Christ can boast that he is both above and below, and therefore these three powerful enemies, death, sin and the devil, must lie at his feet.
This glorious victory we celebrate today. Now it is up to us to take this to heart and firmly believe that in Christ God fought with the devil, righteousness with sin, life with death, good with evil, honor with blasphemy.
and conquered. We are to let this image be our command and look at it often. For as we see in the first image on the silent Friday how our sin, curse and death lie upon Christ, and make of him a wretched, miserable man: so we see another image on Easter Day, where there is no sin, no curse, no disgrace, no death, but only life, grace, blessedness and righteousness. With such an image we are to lift up our hearts. For it is presented to us and given to us that we should not think of ourselves otherwise than as if God Himself had raised us up with Christ today. For as little as you see sin, death and cursing in Christ, so you should believe that God also wants to see so little in you for Christ's sake, if you accept and take comfort in this resurrection of His. Such grace is brought to us by faith. In that day, however, we will no longer believe, but will see, grasp and feel.
23 Nevertheless, because we are still here on earth, sin, death, shame and disgrace, and all kinds of lack and infirmities remain in our old sackcloth; these we must suffer. But they do not go any further than into the flesh, for according to faith we are already saved. And just as Christ was raised from the dead, without sin and death, in everlasting life; so are we also in faith. For sin is gone, and we have become children of God through Christ. Therefore there is nothing lacking, but that we lay down our heads and let ourselves be embraced, then our bodies also will rise to eternal life and be pure and holy without all sin; since we are now just as frail and sinners as other people, unless by the help of the Holy Spirit we do not give the flesh its lust and shun gross sins. For though Christians sometimes fall, they do not remain in sins, but rise again through righteous repentance and obtain forgiveness of all sins through faith.
(24) Therefore a Christian cannot be judged by the outward life. For in one case it is as unclean and dilapidated as the life of the unbelievers, which is why they pray daily: Forgive us our
Guilt. But whoever wants to look at and judge a Christian rightly, let him do it according to faith. For we are sinners by reason of our flesh and blood, and must likewise die and expect all kinds of misfortune here on earth, and probably more than other people who are unbelievers. Because we feel sin more than the world, which lives in safety and does not care about sin.
025 Yea, sayest thou, how then can we boast that we are holy and without sin? So that through Christ, who bore our sins and rose from the dead, we believe and ask forgiveness of sins. No one else can do this but Christians. For believing and asking for forgiveness of sins is the work of the Holy Spirit. Where the Holy Spirit is not, it will be done slowly. As can be seen in the enemies of the gospel, in the pope and his crowd; they are great, horrible sinners, but they do not feel it and therefore do not ask for it. But once they have to feel it, they will not be able to stand, but will have to despair. Since they know nothing of this image, that Christ is risen and has no more sin in him. But a Christian, as much as he grasps this image with faith, has so much blessedness in Christ JEsu, who rose from the dead, no longer bloody nor stained, but beautiful, lovely and glorious. For just as before he was bloody and hung on the cross for our sins, so now for our comfort he is beautiful and pure and has eternal life, so that we may rejoice and be comforted in him, because it was done for our sake.
(26) So it is with one another: according to faith in Christ we are clean and holy; according to the old Adam we are unclean and sinners. We should throw such filth into the Lord's Prayer, and then we will be holy, even though we are sinners. For we know that whatever we lack, our Lord and Head, Christ, has risen from the dead; he has no more sin or death in him. Therefore, through faith in him we have neither sin nor death. But he that believeth not, and hath not Christ, he
must be and remain a sinner with all his works and worship, nothing helps for that.
27 Therefore, we should diligently and carefully contemplate and form in ourselves this joyful, lovely, comforting image of Easter. For in the same image there is neither sin nor death. If then sin should trouble thee, and conscience afflict thee, because thou hast done this or that, and art weak in faith; stand here, and say, It is true, I am a sinner, I am weak in faith, I cannot deny it; but again I take comfort in knowing that Christ Jesus hath taken my sin upon him, and bare it. But on Easter Day he rose from the dead in such a way that all sin and punishment for sin disappeared. Tell me then, you sin, you death, you devil, what did this man do to you, that you accused him before Pilato and brought him to the cross? Did you also do right in this? Then sin, death and the devil will have to confess that they have done wrong and wronged him.
Then you can say to sin, death and the devil, "Roll over and let me be satisfied," or settle it with him and ask him where he has gone with my sins, whether he has not been able to bear them,
but had to put them back on me. He therefore that can turn away the devil unto the Lord Christ, on whom he hath burned his mouth, is healed.
(29) This is the true doctrine of the faith, which every man imagineth to have, and to know. But there are truly few of them who can do it rightly, for it cannot be spoken in or out of words; the Holy Spirit must do it. If then you can do this art, you are a Christian. But if you cannot yet do it, thank God that you are among those who like to hear such things and do not like to blaspheme, as the Turks, Jews and Papists do: they want to be so pious for the sake of their person that they may stand before God's judgment, and without this image they fight with death, sin and the devil. Then faith must perish. But learn that you do not rely on your holiness, and that you imagine this image of Christ as if you knew nothing about yourself; just as your eyes do not see themselves when you look before you; so that you alone may have Christ in your heart, who rose from the dead and overcame sin and hell; and then you will be healed. May our dear Lord Christ Jesus help us to do this, amen.