Luc. 7, 11-17.
And it came to pass afterward, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. And when he was come nigh unto the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was carried out, which was an only son of his mother; and she was a widow; and much people of the city went with her. And when the Lord saw her, he was sorry for her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the coffin, and the bearers stopped. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And the dead man arose and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother. And fear came upon them all, and they praised God, saying: A great prophet has arisen among us, and GOd has afflicted His people. And this speech of his went forth into all the land of Judah, and into all the surrounding countries.
(1) There is much to preach about today's gospel. But we will only stick to the two pieces: the first, how we are to comfort ourselves against death, for such comfort and teaching is most important; the second, about Christian mercy and compassion, which we should have for one another.
(2) Your dear ones hear here of a poor widow who has lost her husband, and when her only son finally dies, she is miserable and poor everywhere. For in Judaism it was especially considered a misfortune if there was no son in the house, because the Jews' rule was that they should have heirs. For this reason, this woman is a miserable, sorrowful widow, and has the appearance that God is hostile to her and has even forgotten about her, that he first takes her husband and then her son. Therefore, it is no wonder that she despaired of God.
Our dear Lord Christ takes care of this woman, has compassion on her, and makes the son alive and gives him back to her, so that the joy becomes ten times greater than the sorrow was before. And it is a miracle that she did not immediately fall down and die of joy.
4 For this reason we should take note of this history, so that we may learn to strengthen our faith and make it firm. For the Lord Christ is not concerned here only with this woman.
*) Held in the house, 1533.
He wants to teach us all how small the matter of death is, so that we will not be afraid of it, but will go with a patient heart and not pay attention to death and other misfortunes, because we have such a Lord in him who can easily help and turn away death and all misfortunes. For see here how quickly and easily this woman is helped, since she had to despair of all help. For who would hope that the deceased son, who was now being carried to the grave, would come back to life?
5 Now that all hope is gone, our dear Lord Christ comes and does no more than say, "Young man, I say to you, arise. Immediately the dead man rises and lives. Then we must confess that death is like life in the sight of the Lord, and it is the same to him whether we live or die. For if we have already died, we have not died before him. If it is only a matter of one word to him, then death is gone and life comes again. So that Christ rightly says in the gospel, "God is a God of the living, and not of the dead." For although Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and other holy patriarchs died to us, yet they live to God.
6 Therefore we are to learn from today's gospel of this widow's son the great power that God will demonstrate to us through Christ on the last day, when He will call all men forth with one word.
from death and make the faithful eternally blessed. This will happen in a moment, so that we do not doubt that it is both in the Lord Christ: the power to do it, as he proves here, and the will to do it. For here is the example. The widow's son is dead and has lost his hearing and all his senses. But as soon as Christ speaks to him, he hears. This is a strange and wonderful story: he who does not hear, he hears; he who does not live, he lives. And yet nothing more happens, for Christ's opening his mouth means that he rises. The one word is so powerful that death must depart and life come again.
7 Because we see that Christ can so easily snatch us out of death and bring us to life, and we see here that he will gladly do so, for there is no one to ask him; the poor widow's need grieves him, and he goes uninvited and brings her son back to life: therefore we should accept this example and not be afraid of death, but take comfort in the Lord Christ. For for our sake this has happened. As if to say, "I know that you are afraid of death, but do not be afraid; do not let your hearts be troubled. For what can he do to you, though he be evil? He can frighten you. But learn, on the other hand, that you not only see how you feel, and so follow your fear; but also look at me, what I can do and what I will gladly do, namely, that I can awaken you from death just as easily as you awaken someone on the bed and from sleep. And I will do it with pleasure and gladly. So that neither the will nor the strength and the ability are lacking.
8 It must follow that the deceased, who lie in the churchyard and under the earth, sleep more quietly than we do in our beds. For it may well happen that you sleep so soundly that they call to you ten times before you hear once. But the dead hear of a single word of Christ and wake up again, as is seen here in the young man and in John 11 in Lazaro.
9 Therefore death in the sight of our Lord is called
God not death. Before us it is called and is a death when we die; for we lie there and cannot help ourselves. But before God he is such a silent sleep that Christ cannot speak a word, we hear it and become alive from it.
(10) This is what our dear Lord Christ would have us imagine, so that we would not be frightened when pestilence or death itself comes, but would learn to say, "What can you do, death, when you are most evil? You have hideous teeth, which you bare, and you frighten me; for I do not like to die. But I will not look at what you alone do, and how you, like the executioner, draw the sword; but I will think and see what our Lord God can do, and what he will do, when you have strangled me, namely, that he is not afraid of you, and asks nothing of your raging and strangling; but he says, "Death, I will be your death; hell, I will be your pestilence." If you can strangle my Christians, I can strangle you again and make them alive.
This is the comfort which the Lord holds out to us in today's Gospel, that Christians, though they die, are not dead, but sleep, and sleep so quietly that Christ can awaken them with a finger, even with a single word. Now this is a small honor to death, that when it is most angry, it will do no more, and shall do no more, than to put a man to sleep, that Christ may raise him up again from sleep with a word; as he says John 5:25: "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment."
The Christians have the consolation; Turks and Jews do not have it, our papists do not have it either. They know well that they must die, and that God's judgment and hell are before them. But what do they do? They do not set their heart and hope on Christ, but run against him with their masses, buying indulgences, fasting and other things. And they take Christ for something else
Nothing, but for a judge who is there to condemn and judge. This is an abominable error, and the wicked devil himself, that they make Christ more evil than death itself. That is why they are afraid of the last day and have a stupid, despondent heart.
(13) Christians do not do this. They know that Christ will judge the unbelievers on the last day who do not want to accept the word or believe. But there they make a distinction and say: I have been baptized, and I believe in my Lord Jesus Christ, that he died for my sin, and by his resurrection has purchased for me righteousness and eternal life. What then would I fear? He is not my enemy, but my friend and advocate with the Father. Therefore, although the last day comes, or I die, it does not matter. My Lord Jesus Christ watches death a little while as it strangles me. And when death thinks that I am finished, that I have died, I only sleep; and sleep so sweetly and quietly that the Lord Christ cannot open his mouth, I hear it and rise to eternal life.
14 Let us learn this, and let us be mindful that we do not fear death and the last day. For Christ does not come to judge and condemn us; he comes, as he came to the wretched widow and her son, to raise us from death and restore us, so that we may hear, see, speak, and do other things. So he will come to all of us who believe in him and make us blessed. But those who do not believe, he will judge.
(15) Therefore we must learn to desire and believe in this Savior, and in firm confidence of such help and grace become more and more certain, and not be afraid of death and the last day. But he who fears follows the old Adam and his flesh, and not the Lord Christ, nor his word. For it is certain that Christ will come on the last day and wake us up again from death. For this reason, the bodies of Christians now rest in the grave and sleep until Christ comes.
and knock at the grave, and say, Up, up! There we shall arise as from a gentle, sweet sleep, and live and rejoice forever with the Lord Christ.
16 Thus a Christian should have a different heart than Turks, Jews or Papists; they become fainthearted, frightened and despondent in the last moves, so that they do not know which way to turn. And it hardly serves them right. Why do they not also learn and believe that Christ is a Savior of believers, but a judge of unbelievers? Why do they not hear the gospel, but persecute it, which teaches that we should take comfort in the Lord Christ, that he will be our physician, helper and savior against death and the devil? But they stop their ears, and will neither hear nor believe, and seek other ways and means, by which they may trust to escape death. Christ cannot tolerate such things and must be the judge of the unbelievers, since he would gladly be their savior if they believed in him. For they are enemies of him and do not want to accept his kingdom. Therefore Christ must prove himself as a judge against them. But to the pious who take comfort in him, he wants to create peace and tranquility for eternity.
17.*) According to this teaching, which is called the teaching of faith, we should also learn to be merciful from the Lord Christ. You often hear about love during the year, that one should serve the other. But to be merciful is something more, namely, to take care of other people's sorrow and misery. For example, if I have a poor or sick neighbor, I should not only help him gladly, but his misery should also make me miserable, as if it were my own business. As we see here in the Lord, he is a stranger, an unknown guest; but when he sees the misery of the widow, he accepts it as if it were his own son, weeps with the mother, comforts her and helps her.
18 This is the example of love, which is to follow faith, and will not remain outside it, provided faith is righteous. Lest we do as the wicked, reprobate people do, whose now out of the ma-
*) Held in the house, 1532.
There are many, even among us, who have hearts of stone and wood, and still make a laughingstock of it when they see that their neighbors are in trouble; indeed, it grieves them that anyone has a penny. But it should not be so with Christians; they should show mercy where they see need, and be glad when other people are well off. As Paul says, to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice, and not to do as the stones and blocks do, who rejoice in other people's misfortunes, and would that no one had nothing but they.
(19) Now mercy is twofold, as necessity is twofold, spiritual and corporal. In bodily distress, one should run to help and advise in whatever way one can, when one sees that the poor people are not able to help themselves.
20 Spiritual distress means distress of the soul. As when I see a young person growing up, not wanting to listen to the sermon, even despising it, unable to pray, lewd, disobedient, and full of bad manners. If one admonishes such a person, and it does not help, punishes him with stern words, yes, also orders rods and shillelaghs, so that the sin and naughtiness will be prevented in time: that is mercy practiced. For where the soul has such evil upon it, it is far more dangerous and worse than when the body is sick. Therefore one is obliged to show mercy to such a person as one can, with words, blows and rods.
(21) Yea, saith thou, it is an abominable mercy to put rods upon the skin. How should one do it? If it is necessary, there is no way around it. Doctors sometimes have to remove a leg or arm so that the body can be saved. It is the same here. For such punishment is inflicted so that you may become pious and be destroyed from the devil and his kingdom. Is it not true that if you fell into water, you would thank me for catching you by the hair and keeping you strong, and not ask that the fight hurt you? If then you can suffer in bodily hardships and gladly suffer that you are hurt, because it is your benefit, why would you here
Since it is not a question of temporal life but of eternal life, and not of the body but of the soul?
(22) It is also a work of mercy, which God wants to reward, where there are wicked children or servants in the house, to take an oaken roll of butter in the hand and smear their skin with it. This is a spiritual ointment against the sickness of the soul, which is called disobedience to father and mother, to master and wife in the house. It is a work of mercy to look at a person in his misery and suffering and help him.
(23) Especially father and mother in the home with children and servants, and the rulers in the government with their subjects, should see to such mercy, and be careful that they do not become unwilling or lazy to show such mercy, as commonly happens. For he who would be merciful and not punish sin would show a twofold unmercifulness to his neighbor, and for that reason incur God's wrath upon himself. The physical sorrow can also be great. As when someone falls into the water or fire, one does not look for how to attack you quietly and not hurt you, but how to save you. Why then would one look for the same in spiritual distress and need? Therefore hard words, hard blows and all seriousness are to be used to save the poor people and to bring them out of the devil's nets into obedience.
(24) Therefore notice the example of our dear Lord Christ here, and learn what mercy is, namely, such a virtue as takes care of one's neighbor's affliction. But this, as I have said, is of two kinds. A bodily sorrow, such as being sick, being poor, and the like. If you let such misery in your neighbor go to your heart in such a way that you do your own harm to help him, this is right and well done, and is called serving not only your neighbor, but also God, who will also reward it. Spiritual sorrow is sin; as in the house, disobedience, indiscipline, evil words and deeds. There is called mercy, if one speaks evil to the servants and throws. If it will not help, then order the rest to the
Executioner; for it must be punished. For the executioner is also a merciful preacher; for otherwise evil men can neither be advised nor helped, they corrupt themselves and other people with them, where mercy was not exercised on them and they were not defended with the sword.
(25) So beheading and execution, though it looks terrible and hurts, is a work of mercy. For if it were not, you would not be able to eat a morsel with peace, nor keep a whole spot on your skin. Therefore, learn to be merciful, each in his work, and help not only where there is physical pain, but also where there is spiritual pain.
26 These are the two lessons of today's gospel. One is the doctrine of faith: that we should be fearless when things go wrong, and especially when we are about to die, and think that we have such a Helper in the Lord Christ, who has a word that
is almighty. Therefore we should not despair of him. We can despair of ourselves and of people; indeed, we must despair of them. For they cannot control death, it is too powerful for them. But in God and his Son JEsu we should be bold. For what we cannot do, he can; what we do not have, he has. If we cannot help ourselves, he can, and will do it very gladly and willingly, as can be seen here. Where there is such a heart that confidently holds on to the Lord Christ, it is doing the right service that pleases God. The others, who despair and despair, are hostile to Him and do not consider Him to be God, otherwise they would take comfort in Him. The other doctrine is that we, like Christ, should accept our neighbor's distress and let ourselves be comforted. May our dear Lord God grant us His grace to learn both, and to join the pious people here in the Gospel in praising the Lord Christ for His good deeds, even for eternity, amen.