Matth. 22, 34-46.
But when the Pharisees heard that he had shut the Sadducees' mouths, they gathered together. And one of them, a scribe, tempted him, saying, Master, which is the chief commandment of the law? And JESUS said unto him, Thou shalt love God thy Lord with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the noblest and greatest commandment. But the other is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. In these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. When the Pharisees were together, Jesus asked them, "What do you think of Christ? Whose son is he? They said, David's. And he said unto them: How then doth David in the spirit call him a Lord, saying, The Lord hath said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? Now if David calls him a Lord, how is he his son? And no man could answer him a word, neither could any man from that day forth inquire of him.
(1) In today's Gospel there are two main passages: the first is about the scribe who asks what is the most important commandment in all of Moses; the second is about the Lord Christ asking the Pharisees again what kind of man Christ is, since David in his spirit calls him his Lord.
(2) The first question is an indication that the Jews have fallen into such great blindness that they have forgotten the Ten Commandments, which little children know. Therefore, a child should ever be able to answer such a question:
*) Held in the house, 1533.
(3) The first and greatest commandment is, Thou shalt not have other gods. The Pharisees and scribes, however, had fallen into the foolishness of disputing the highest commandment, one saying that it was sacrifice, another that it was almsgiving, and a third that it was fasting and special clothing. etc. As you can see, it works when people have fallen away from the commandments of God and His word, and have undertaken other works, out of their own thoughts, without God's word. As has happened to our monks and nuns: they have run into the monasteries, have set themselves an obedience, have practiced chastity and poverty.
902, D. 3, ivo-103. on the eighteenth Sunday after Trinity. W. xm, 2029-2032.2040. 903
They swore, all without command, until they lost God's word altogether, and forgot what faith and love were, and praised nothing but the wretched monastic life for the state of perfection.
Now, praise God, a child of ten years can say better what is a perfect state than all monks and nuns. Cause, they think only of their monastic life. But a Christian says: To be perfect means to fear and love God, and to do all good to one's neighbor. For God has never commanded anything else to be done. Neither priests, monks nor nuns know this, I know this for certain, otherwise they would drop such their own foolish presumption and go to the right obedience of the Ten Commandments.
5 But where does such ignorance and blindness come from? Nowhere else, but that men forsake the word, and fall into outward works, which have a peculiar appearance. As when one keeps special days, dresses special, does not eat and drink what others eat and drink. This makes people's noses gleam. But one loses the highest works and commandments, that one should love God and do all good to people. As we see here in the Pharisees and scribes, who, for this very reason, question the noblest commandment in the Law, that they themselves are not of one mind about it, and one considers this to be best, the other that.
(6) Therefore this example is a good warning, that such high people have been so blind, and have not known which is the greatest or least commandment; and yet have been teachers, who should lead other people, and instruct them in the right worship. As our mad monks and priests still are. Ask one, if thou wilt, of good works, and what thou shalt do, if thou wilt be saved, he will not direct thee to the Ten Commandments, but will tell thee that thou must become a monk, hear mass, go on pilgrimage to the saints, fast etc.
(7) But this is called turning away from the Ten Commandments and the right way into the land of milk and honey, which is finally the reward of the teachings of men, when one does such works, since God has commanded nothing of them. Since
people are blinded, so that they no longer see the Toe Commandments, but even lose them. For otherwise one should ever be so witty, and be able to say: This is the greatest thing that God has commanded and commanded. But Pharisees and Christian scholars, priests, monks and nuns cannot.
Therefore, let us beware of such error and flee from our own devotion. Again, let not the Catechismum be a small doctrine, teaching the people what they ought to do. For there we hear that one should love God and have no other gods; that is, one should prefer and esteem nothing greater than God and His word, and rather leave everything and suffer. Then, if you do this, you are in the highest state.
(9) Yes, they say, this is what the common Christians do; I will do something special: a common Christian does not get up at night to pray, I will get up for supper; he eats meat, I will eat fish; he dresses in a common way, I will have special clothing made for me etc. So it finally comes about that the blind people are so busy with their own devotion that they forget the commandments of the toes.
10) Therefore it is not a bad doctrine when the Lord says here that the greatest commandment is to love God, and the other is equal to the first, that one should love one's neighbor as oneself; for in these two pieces is included everything that can be preached and taught of good works. From this fountain it shall all spring and flow in again. For there it is decided: If you want to serve God, it can be done in no other way than by loving God and your neighbor.
(11) This teaching will be judged very severely on the last day. For what has happened in the papacy is well known to everyone. Whoever wanted to serve God did not remember the Ten Commandments, but became a monk, ran to Rome, to St. Jacob, called on this and that saint, served him with fasting, celebrations etc. Such things were called worship in those days. But to serve means to do what you are commanded. Therefore must
*) Held in the house, 1532. a b] D. Red.
follow, whoever wants to serve God rightly must do what God tells him to do, not what seems good to him. But what does God mean? It says that if you want to serve God, you must not walk or run far, nor give much money for it. Love God and your neighbor. But how could God make His service closer to you and more generous than this: if you love your neighbor and do everything good for him, God will consider it as if you had done it for him? This is a strange doctrine: if you do good to your neighbor, that it is a service of God and is done by God Himself.
12. Such teaching, I say, will make a strange noise at the last day. For the wicked, says Christ himself, will say, "When did we see you hungry and thirsty?" But Christ will answer and say, "Inasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of mine, ye did it not unto me." That it is therefore certain and decided, if you give a poor Christian a shirt, a skirt, yes, even a cold drink of water, you have given it to Christ. And let no one make any distinction here.
(13) But is this not the wicked devil, that we let this pass us by, and do not realize that we could so easily serve our Lord God Himself, and yet we do not? We think that if we knew where to find Christ, we would run to Him and bring Him everything we have. But what need of such thoughts? We hear here that the other commandment is equal to the first. It must follow that our Lord God will gladly accept it and regard it as if it had happened to Him what we do to our neighbors.
14 Yes, you say, our Lord God is in heaven. There is no harm in that; he is also here on earth. Therefore, if you see a Christian in distress, know that Christ is in distress and in need of your help. As he himself says, he will mourn over us at the last day, because we have made him suffer hunger and thirst.
(15) But, as I said, it is a pity that we have this doctrine so clearly, and yet we throw it to the winds as if it were all lies.
and fables. Such unbelief and disobedience will not be excused by saying that we did not know. For here it is: The other is equal to the first. Therefore, he who loves his neighbor loves God. Therefore the judgment on the last day will be like this: If you had served your neighbor, you would have served me, and I would have paid you abundantly. But for your sake I would have died and perished. We should beware of such a judgment, for eternal damnation will follow.
In the papacy it was a very mean thing that old horsemen, warriors, lawyers and such like people, who let themselves think that they had been in a damned state, said: They had served the world until now; they now wanted to start and serve God. For this reason, many of them ran into the monasteries and became monks or hermits. But it was a devilish seduction. For he who wants to serve God should not hide in a corner, but remain among the people, and serve them with whatever he can, and be sure that he is serving God with it; for he has commanded it and said: The other is equal to the first. But he is not served by the monastic life, for he has not only commanded nothing about it, but it is also contrary to love and the right worship of God, as the Lord preaches here.
(17) It was the same with the Jews. They did all kinds of evil to their neighbor and thought that if they only slaughtered many cows and calves, they would have done well. But what does our Lord God say in the 50th Psalm v. 8-10? "I will not punish you because of your sacrifice, for your burnt offerings are always before me. I will not take bullocks from thy house, nor goats from thy stalls: for all the beasts of the forest are mine, and the cattle that go by thousands upon the mountains." So he says in other places that he has no need of their gold, their temple, or anything else; but if you will serve me rightly, I will send you down to your neighbor. Thou hast wife, child, servants, neighbors, princes, lords, and all manner of estates; there thou shalt find enough to do; there serve me: if thy child be not obedient and godly,
If the servant does not do right, punish him or show him the door; if your neighbor is poor, afflicted, sick, help, serve, comfort him; be willing and obedient to your prince, and you have done it for me.
18 That such things will not enter our hearts is to be pitied. For what we have sinned and done wrong against God, He will not impute to us, but will forgive; only if we serve our neighbor and do him good, God will reward us abundantly for what we have done for him.
(19) Now if anyone does not know what the world is like with its nature, and how it does not keep God's promise or threat, let him learn it here. For what do citizens and peasants do other than to strike our Lord God in the face, to scuffle and to trample underfoot, without any shyness? since everyone is only concerned with how he can become rich and increase his wealth, so that his neighbor may die or perish in the process. Whoever could believe that what he does to his neighbor is done by God, would be heartily shocked by such unfaithfulness of the world. But there is no one who believes it to be true; as the Lord himself says in Matt. 25 that the wicked will say at the last day, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty?" But it will not help them. For just as the Lord says here, "The other commandment is equal to the first"; so Christ will also say there, "Inasmuch as ye have not done it unto one of the least of these, ye have not done it unto me."
This is the first teaching of today's Gospel. May God grant that we may take it to heart, and that each one may look upon his neighbor, when he serves him, as being served by God: then the whole world would be full of God's service. A servant in the stable, a maid in the kitchen, a boy at school, they would be true servants of God and God's servants, if they would do with diligence what their father and mother, their master and their wife in the house tell them to do. So every house would be a true church, in which nothing but pure worship would be practiced.
would. But no one wants to take it to heart; no one wants to serve his neighbor. Everyone only sees how he can serve himself and create his own benefit. Therefore, as one could serve God through the love of one's neighbor, so the world serves the devil, because it does not respect the neighbor's love at all. But this will come to a bad end. For how should this please our Lord God, since he has brought his worship so close to us that each one could make a golden church out of his house and chamber, adorned with precious emeralds and pearls: and yet we wilfully refrain from doing so, and would rather serve the devil than God.
(21) Therefore learn here that he who serves his neighbor for the best serves not only his neighbor, but God Himself in heaven. For it says here that God will take care of such service as if it had happened to Himself. Otherwise Christ would not say: "The other commandment is equal to the first. But whoever does not want to be moved by this, so that he could establish a kingdom of heaven here on earth, and make a house of God or church out of his own house and estate, let him always go away. For just as you could make a paradise and heaven for yourself here if you served your neighbor (for this is called serving God in heaven): so, if you do not serve your neighbor, you make a hell for yourself on earth; for you serve the devil, who belongs in hell. And it does not matter if you do not yet see or feel this. In time it will become clear that you will see it and feel it, and you will cry out for your own great disobedience. Therefore, it is necessary that we learn this well and always practice love towards our neighbor. For God has already given us mouths, eyes, hands, feet, money, goods, reason and other things, so that we can comply with His command and keep ourselves in His service.
22) Just as this doctrine of the love of God and neighbor belongs to the life here on earth, so the other doctrine of the Son of Christ belongs to it, so that we may learn how to enter the world after this life.
better and eternal life may come. For this will not bring us to heaven, that we know how to love God and our neighbor, if we already attack such love with works, as best we can; as the Pharisees thought: they thought that if they had Moses, they would need nothing more. But Christ shows us here that this will not help us to eternal life; we must go higher and actually learn what Christ is and what Son he is. The Pharisees knew well that he should be David's son. But Christ is not enough here. If Christ was no more than David's son, he would have to die like David and have only a temporal kingdom. But Christ has an eternal kingdom, and David, his Father, calls him a Lord in spirit. How then is it that Christ should be both David's Son and David's Lord?
23 This is the question that the Pharisees could not answer, just as even today no Jew can answer it. In such a question one hears nothing of the neighbor, of love, nor of good works; but it is only for this reason that we learn that the Son is Christ. Whoever knows this will not lack the way to eternal life. For it is not enough for eternal life that we know the law and what we are to do; cause it must also be fulfilled with the work. But this will be found very slowly in us, because our hearts are sinful and evil. Therefore it is necessary to learn diligently what Christ is. Therefore the Lord asks his question like this: You are to tell him which son Christ is, who was David's son according to the flesh. But because David calls him not a son, but his Lord, and such a Lord as sitteth on the right hand of God, and unto whom God will lay all his enemies for a footstool: with this question the Lord willeth to awake the Jews, and us all, that they may esteem Christ more highly, and look on him with other eyes, than that he alone should be the Son of David.
24. for he also is David's Lord, that is, he is not only man, but also truly God, eternally born of the Father,
Otherwise David would not call him Lord, since he was no more than a man and only David's son. For David is one of the greatest saints and the most learned king, and yet he calls Christ, who is his son, a Lord. As if David wanted to say and freely confess: O, my Son is far above me. I am also a king, and am called his father; but he is my Lord, and such a Lord as sitteth on the right hand of God, and by the commandment of God ruleth over all his enemies. For since he is a man, it is good to reckon what enemies he has, namely, the devil and death; as Paul also concludes from this Psalm, 1 Cor. 15:25 ff. If then the devil and death are to lie at the feet of this Son of David, since he is their Lord, it must follow that there is divine power and omnipotence in this Son of David, otherwise he should be no more able to resist death and the devil than other men.
Thus the Lord leads us on the right path to eternal life. The law is a very good, useful and necessary teaching, for it tells us what we should do if we want to live to please God, serve Him and escape the punishment of sin. But such teaching serves only here in this temporal life. But if after this temporal life we are to enter the eternal life, the teaching of the law is of no help. Cause, we cannot come to life, we would be free of all sins. Even though the law serves and is given for the purpose of reducing sins, sins are not put away with it. Therefore we must have another doctrine concerning the law, which will instruct us how we may be delivered from sins. For since we cannot do the law completely, the law helps us to have an evil conscience and to fear God's wrath and judgment because of our sins.
(26) Against such evil, which the law causes in the conscience, this question serves, that thou mayest learn what Christ is, and what he hath done. Christ himself says: He is not only the Son of David, as the Jews held him, but he is also David's Lord, that is, an eternal and true God. But what does he do? He declares his divinity, as Pau-
lus says, and becomes man, dies on the trunk of the holy cross. Why this? Because he is the Lamb of God, that is, the sacrifice that God Himself arranged for the sin of the world. When he died, he rose again from the dead on the third day into eternal life and sits at the right hand of God.
27 We are to learn this from Christ and remember it well. For he who knows this art is helped; he who does not know it must perish in sins and death. Cause, we are all sinners, and the law not only does not help us from sins, but accuses us before God, and only makes us real sinners. We are stuck there, we can neither get behind ourselves nor in front of ourselves. We are conceived and born in sins; and the longer we live, the more sin grows and increases with us. For it is not laid upon us like another burden, which we can lay aside and cast away; it is in our marrow and legs, and therefore leaves us no rest. As we must confess, if only we will open our eyes and look into our own hearts. This is the only salvation and help, that we learn who Christ is. For if you first know who he is, and then hear what he does, you will be helped. If you are a poor sinner who has sinned much against God's will, see here, God sends this Christ to suffer and pay for sinners. But what do you want to worry about the debt that such a rich gentleman has taken upon himself and paid beautifully? Therefore, it is only up to you to accept such death and suffering with firm trust.
So we all have death before us, which no one can escape or save himself from, be he ever so mighty, strong, rich, wise and holy. But where does death come from? It is the wages or reward of sins, Rom. 6, 23. Now you have heard where we find forgiveness of sins: nowhere but in Christ, who died for it etc. The same Christ, as he died, did not remain in death, but rose again from the dead. This is an indication that he is also Lord over death. Therefore, just as through him you have forgiveness of sins, so also through him hope for eternal life, that
He will also raise you up again in the flesh on the last day and make you eternally blessed.
29 This means that Christ is rightly recognized and knows what Son he is, namely, a Son of David; for he is a man, yet also a Lord of David, as he sits at the right hand of God and has his enemies, sin, death and hell, as a footstool at his feet. Therefore, whoever needs salvation from such enemies, let him not seek it from Moses, not through the law, his works or piety; let him seek it from the Son and Lord of David, where he will surely find it. The blind Pharisees do not miss this; therefore they do not respect the Lord Christ; they are satisfied with the fact that they know from the law how to love God and their neighbor. If it is impossible to know God, I will not say that one should love God if one knows Christ. As he says Matth. 11, 27: "No one knows the Father, except the Son, and to whom the Son reveals it."
(30) And this is also a reason why the Lord now comes forth with this question. As if he wanted to say: You know that you should love God, but you will certainly never love God with all your heart, soul and mind, unless you recognize Christ and know who he is. For how else can one know what grace and mercy God has shown us? It is not a small thing that God created us, gave us life and limb, and everything. But all this serves us only for a little while, because we live here on earth.
But there we see the riches of the abundant goodness and grace that God does not spare His only begotten Son, but gives Him to the death of the cross for us, so that we, having been purged of sins, may live eternally through Him. This is an eternal, inordinate, unfounded love and grace, which no man can know, unless he knows Christ; for this reason he will never be able to love God properly.
So we see what the Pharisees and scribes gain from their questioning and trying. Nothing else, except that Christ convinces them freely and publicly before everyone that they are far too ignorant of the love of God.
but do not have a shred of it in their hearts, because they do not know Christ. But if they do not love God, who has shown them so much grace and goodness, how can or will they love their neighbor, who needs their help and cannot show them anything good because of his poverty?
33Therefore, we should let such teaching be dear to us and thank God from the bottom of our hearts that we are no longer in such a great blindness.
We are not stuck in the dark, as before under the papacy and the Jews here, but have the teaching of Christ pure and simple; so that we not only know how we are to be freed from sins and saved, but also receive the Holy Spirit, who drives our hearts through such teaching so that we begin to love God and our neighbor rightly and from the heart. May our dear Lord Christ Jesus grant this to all of us, Amen.