The second sermon. *)
John 14:23-31.
Jesus answered and said unto him, He that loveth me shall keep my word; and my Father shall love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. But he that loveth me not keepeth not my words. And the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, because I have been with you. But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom my Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. I leave you peace; I give you my peace.
*) Held in the house after dinner, 1532.
you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid. You have heard that I said to you, I am going away, and I will come to you again. If you loved me, you would rejoice that I said I was going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I am. And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that, when it shall come to pass, ye may believe. Henceforth I will not speak much unto you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath no part in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and that I do even as the Father hath commanded me: arise, and let us depart.
This gospel is also a part of the sermon of consolation, which the Lord preached over the table on Green Thursday, and is a text that is especially good to work with. For the Lord wants to teach us that it is a lost labor to strive to know God and to come to God, if one does not begin and undertake it in such a way that one loves Him, the Lord Christ. If this is not done, all that one thinks or hears about God is an uncertain flutter; one will not meet Him, nor grasp Him, nor be able to come to the point that He loves us. "But whoever loves Christ will come to the point where the Father will also love him.
(2) But what opinion is it that the Lord remembers love, and does not say thus, as he usually does? He that believeth on me? Does not love, and faith, say, He that loveth me? But it is one thing; for you cannot love Christ, but believe in him and be comforted. And the little word "love" is somewhat clearer in this case, that it finely indicates how one is to withdraw the eyes and the heart from everything else that is in heaven and earth, and turn them solely to this man, Jesus Christ. For this is the true nature of love: if it accepts Himself, it accepts Himself alone, then it abides and rests, and pays no attention to anything else in the wide world. In the same way the Lord wants us to love him and set our hearts on him. But this can never be done except by faith. Therefore, this saying does not take anything away from faith, but rather serves to make it easier to recognize the nature and right effect of faith.
3 After that he also needs the word "love" so that he can see who wants to accept his word and persevere with it, that he will suffer much over it and it will come to him sore. For there are many things
Temptations that can arouse impatience and displeasure, and finally this also strikes when things go so badly that one thinks: What am I blaming myself for, *) that I have preached the word and publicly confessed it? If only I could have kept silent and believed for myself what God would have given me, others would have appeared who would have been more fortunate. Now I am stuck, and not only do I have nothing, or even little, to show for it, but I will probably lose my life and limb. If we are to endure such trials and not fall under them, but hold fast to the word, it is necessary, as the Lord says here, to love him and to have a hearty affection for him beforehand. So that a preacher and every Christian may say, "As God wills, I will stand firm and not deny my dear Lord Christ; for it was started for His glory alone, and not for the people; therefore it must be endured and something suffered over it.
(4) But where such love is not, there shall no man continue in my word, saith Christ: for I do not divide thalers or crowns, but eternal life. This is not received here on earth, but only after this life. Therefore it all depends on this, that you have desire and love for me. If love is there, you will keep my word and stick to it, and it shall be like life and limb to you. But if love is not there, you will not keep my word. For there will be a great deal of driving, temptation and adversity, which will drive you all to impatience and despair.
5 But he that knoweth Christ aright, believeth on him, and loveth him, shall not suffer any thing to be disputed, and shall go through fresh; for he
knows and takes comfort in the fact that Christ died for us, was buried and rose again. It must follow that Christ does not mean us harm. So love must flow from faith, which then penetrates through all kinds of trials and misfortunes, and asks nothing of it, although the world grumbles and is angry; for it is more interested in Christ and his word than in the world's wrath.
6th Now this is that he saith, He that loveth me shall keep my word." "My word," of my dying and rising; not Moses' word, or the Ten Commandments. The same word also we ought to keep, and not to do contrary to it; for God hath long before commanded such things: but in such a word Mosi is not the consolation that is in my word, we get no good conscience from it; but the more we see that we lack such obedience, the more we are afraid of God's disgrace and wrath. But the word of our dear Lord Christ, the holy gospel, in which we hear how Christ died for our sins and rose again for us to righteousness, is the highest and best treasure; whoever has it, says Christ, holds fast to it, and puts all things above it before he lets it be taken from him: only be sure that my Father also loves him.
(7) This is rightly spoken by John, who has his own special way, which the other evangelists do not have, of first drawing people to Christ, and then bringing them to the Father through Christ. For this is how Christ teaches here: that we should first recognize Christ, love him, and believe that he is kind and means us with all faithfulness. Where there is trust in Christ and love for Christ, it follows that we should believe that the Father also loves us. So that a man should put all things out of his sight, and through Christ expect neither wrath nor disgrace from God, and fear neither sins nor the devil nor death, because God loves us, because we love Christ.
8. this is a great and strong comfort in all temptation, if only one could grasp it rightly and firmly believe that god will not be angry with us, but will smile kindly on us if we love Christ and firmly believe in him.
hold to his word. But it does not want to enter our hearts, especially in times of temptation. We think that God is hostile to us, that He does not respect us and wants to strike us with a club. But such a thought is wrong. For Christ is certainly not lying when he says here: "If you come to love me and keep my words, that you may have your highest pleasure and joy in the fact that I have delivered you from the power of the devil, and that henceforth sin shall not hurt you and death shall not devour you, and that now you may be sure of eternal life and blessedness, as my word teaches: It is certain that the Father will also love you, and thus prove his love toward you, that he, the Father, will come to you with the Son and the Holy Spirit and make his dwelling with you.
(9) This is a good comfort, that a Christian may not think how he will go up to heaven. Let him stay in Jerusalem, in Rome, wherever he may be on earth, in the field or in the house, and he shall be in heaven; for God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will be with him and dwell with him. We have this here on earth in the Word and feel it in our hearts through faith. But in the life to come it shall finally follow with the deed.
(10) For God to dwell with us here on earth means nothing else than that everything we do, speak, think and suffer should be done well: we eat, drink, work, get up, lie down, we pray, study, sing or read, so God will put up with everything. This may well be called the kingdom of heaven, if only we had the grace to open our eyes and believe it. For heaven itself shall not have the honor that a Christian has. For God does not say of heaven that He will dwell in it, but says that it shall be His throne and the earth His footstool. But a Christian's heart should be the proper dwelling place where God wants to dwell, if only it can take hold of Christ in such a way that it knows that he suffered and died for us and loves him for such a good deed.
11. so it is all because of this that we are
If we put up with Christ, there shall be no need. For such love will make everything gentle and easy for us, which we must suffer for his sake and for the sake of his word. Otherwise it would be impossible not to become fainthearted, sad and impatient, and fall away from the word, as Christ soon says:
But he who does not love me does not keep my word.
(12) He that loveth Christ hath here again the consolation, that the Father will not only love him for Christ's sake, but will himself come unto him, and dwell with him, together with the Lord Christ and the Holy Ghost. This is a glorious, blessed consolation, which we should hold on to and willingly put ourselves into what we are entitled to suffer because of it.
013 But where this love to Christ is not, and men accept the gospel, that they may, as great lords do, get spiritual goods for themselves, or in other ways profit themselves, and gratify their lusts, as the world doeth almost in all things, and beginneth all things for the profit of it: there the word is not kept long. For that one can exist in the journey, love belongs to it. That one should do it out of compulsion or for the sake of money, nothing comes of it.
(14) If we want to be true Christians and hold fast to the gospel, we must only say, "It was begun in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ and was done for his service; therefore it must go forth in the same way, as God wills. Therefore we are to hold steadfastly to the word of Christ, and not let any misfortune or driving drive us away from it. For as Christ goes on to say, "The word that he speaks is not his, but the Father's who sent him.
(15) Christ often speaks in this way, because it is very important. And this is the sum of it, that Christ wants to say: If you take hold of me, and hold fast to me, that is, to my word and my promise, then you are sure that you meet the right God, and you cannot miss him, since otherwise it is impossible for you to meet him.
could find or recognize without the word of Christ. Cause: "The word that I speak is not mine, but the Father's word." If then you accept it, you accept the Father; if you believe it, you believe in the Father.
(16) Therefore, the account of this day is easy to make. The Mahomet, Turk, Pabst and Jews boast much about God, pray much and want to be his best servants. But it is certain: Mahomet, the Turk, the Pope and the Jews have missed the Father and know nothing of Him; for they do not have the word of our Lord Christ, which is not Christ's, but the Father's, in which He promises us how we shall come to forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Him. Yes, they still follow such doctrine, and call us heretics who point to Christ, and not to merit and our own works.
Therefore the Lord wants to warn and teach his disciples with these words. As if to say: If you want to hear God, to have God with you and to be with God, you must not turn your eyes and ears elsewhere but to me. If you hear me, you hear God; if you see me, you see God; for this is decided, either through me God is heard and seen, or God is never heard nor known. But it must follow that when Christ speaks a kind word, the whole Godhead says yes to it, let alone that the world or the devil could make a no out of it. The reason is this: for Christ's word is not his word; it is the Father's word, as he says, "The words which ye hear are not my words, but the Father's which sent me."
(18) These words are so simple that they cannot be recovered. Therefore, when worldly people come upon such words, they think they are sleepy words; for of such things, in which so much is at stake, one should speak more powerfully. But what life and consolation there is in such sleepy, simple words, as reason judges, is found when the right features come on.
19Therefore the Lord here thus turneth, and saith:
These things have I spoken unto you, because I have been with you; but the Comforter, the Holy One
Spirit, whom my Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.
For even though many words are spoken about it, if the Holy Spirit is not present, it will not be understood.
(20) What follows in this gospel is the conclusion of this whole sermon of comfort, which the Lord preached to his disciples in this chapter, that they should be joyful and of good cheer, and not be grieved or distressed at his shameful death, for it was for their good. Your love heard of this on the day of Philippi and Jacobi.
(21) Therefore, let us leave it at this teaching, which the Lord has specifically stated in today's lesson: that we keep God's word when we love the Lord Christ and do not turn away from His word by any means. And that this is the only way by which we come to know that God loves us and draws near to us, so that he makes his dwelling with us. On such a way one should remain. But he that seeketh or taketh any other way to God than this, that he love Christ, lacketh the Father, and never cometh to him; and though he do and suffer what he will, yet is it all in vain and lost.
22 Forasmuch then as our dear Lord Christ saith, The words which he speaketh are not his, but the Father's; let every man take heed, and take heed that he speak no other word, neither let him speak any other word.
If you accept the teaching that comes through this man's mouth, then you will surely meet our Lord God, and you cannot fail to meet Him.
(23) But now it is as it was with the Jews in the Old Testament: they had the mercy seat in the tabernacle of the congregation, where they were to pray and wait for certain answers, and nowhere else. But what did they have to do? When God pointed them out, they did not want to go there, but chose other places as they pleased. It is the same now. Christ says: "If you want to find God and come to the place where he loves you, find your way here to me, love me and accept my word. But what do the pope, the Anabaptists, the Jews, the Turks and the like do? They forsake Christ and his word, and in the meantime go about with the ordinances of men: the pope holds to his mass, vows, celibacy; an Anabaptist holds to his outward discipline, that he wears a gray skirt and no knife; the Jews and the Turks also have their special things.
(24) But let us be diligentlyware of this, and hold us here unto Christ and his word alone. For there is God's command, "This is what you shall hear." And Christ speaks here: "The words that I speak are my Father's." Therefore, it is impossible for anyone who does not love and hear Christ alone to hear God or to come to His love. May the same gracious Father also grant us such grace, that we may love Christ and abide in His words, and keep them through His Holy Spirit, and thus be eternally saved, amen.