First sermon.*)
That we may perform the service of our Lord God also on this holy Sunday, as he would have us serve him, and has thus called the service, "Sanctify the feast day," that is,
Hear the word of Christ: for all things that are sanctified must be sanctified by the word. For the word alone is holy: therefore let us preach, speak, and hear the holy word. Thus reads today's Gospel:
Matth. 11, 2-10.
And when John heard the works of Christ in prison, he sent two of his disciples, saying, Art thou he that should come, or shall we wait for another? Jesus answered and said unto them: Go and tell John again what you see and hear; the blind see, and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at me. As they went, Jesus began to speak to the people of John, "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? Did you want to see a reed that the wind weaves to and fro? Or what went ye out to see? would ye see a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft garments are in the houses of kings. Or what went ye out to see? would ye see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, he is more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my angel before thee, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
In this gospel our dear Lord Jesus Christ preaches and teaches us two things. The first, that we should keep his word precious, valuable, and holy, for it is very much needed, as we shall hear hereafter. The other, that he shows the abominable vice of ingratitude of those who hear such a word, and see the miraculous signs, and yet despise it, and believe it not; which is exceedingly terrible.
(2) Now the first thing, that men should diligently hear the word of Christ preached unto them, is signified by this, that John, while he was already in prison, as soon as he heard that Christ began to do miraculous works, sent his disciples unto him with such a command, that they should ask him, whether he was the man that should come? That is, whether he was the Christ of whom Moses and the prophets had prophesied and preached so much in the Old Testament, and afterwards in the New Testament so much.
*) Held by Luther in the house, 1532.
should be preached much? Summa, they should ask if he was the promised Christ, of whom it was written that the kingdom of the Jews and the doctrine of Moses should endure until his future; after that, Moses' doctrine and worship should cease, and the Jews should listen to him (Christ), what he would preach, who would also establish a new doctrine and worship, not only among the Jews, but also among the Gentiles in the whole world.
The Jews knew these things well, for they had been clearly prophesied beforehand. Therefore, because soon after John was imprisoned, it began to happen, and the Lord Christ was preaching about eternal life and the kingdom of God and performing miracles, John wanted to direct his disciples to him; therefore he sent them to Christ, not only to hear the testimony of the prophets, but also to hear the sermon with their ears and to see the miracles with their eyes, of which the prophets had prophesied so long before, and from this sermon and the miracles to be performed.
He is the man and the right preacher for whom the whole world has been waiting and waiting for.
004 Therefore this sending with the disciples is nothing else, but as if John said thus, Go ye, and learn which is the true doctor and preacher: for I know it well that he is the true Christ, but the people believe it not. Therefore go ye now unto him, and hear of him yourselves, that ye may turn away from me and from all Judaism, and cleave unto this man, in whom is all that pertaineth to your salvation and the salvation of the whole world. This is the final opinion of this message of John to Christ, that his disciples hear and see him for themselves, come to know him, and so believe in him and be saved.
Now what does Christ say to such a message? He says neither yes nor no, when they ask him if he is, but answers only with the works, saying, "You see, hear, and grasp that I am he. For just as Isaiah and other prophets prophesied that Christ would make the lame straight and the blind see, etc. so now you see it before your eyes, needing neither instruction nor answer, if you will but be right.
(6) Now this is a strange and peculiar sermon, in which all that is to be preached of Christ, and what his kingdom is, and what his word is, is very fine. His kingdom is such a kingdom, where the blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, dead people, and especially the poor sinners and everything that is miserable, poor and nothing, belong and find comfort and help. We should diligently remember this sermon about Christ and his kingdom and let it ring among us forever, that Christ has such a kingdom and is such a king who wants to help the wretched, poor people in body and soul, since otherwise it is impossible that all the world with all its ability could help. For there never came such an excellent doctor, who could have made a blind man see, a leper clean etc. Just as there has never been a preacher who could have preached the gospel to the poor, who could have
The Lord is the One who points out and comforts the sorrowful, miserable, and anxious consciences, and makes the frightened hearts, drowned in gloom and sorrow, cheerful and in good spirits.
7 Moses is the highest preacher, but he does not know how to comfort poor sinners; indeed, he does the opposite, for all his sermons are thus: You must and must keep the law, or be damned. There then arises a lamentation; they that feel their sin, and would gladly be rid of it, let it sour them, and live by the law, but cannot be satisfied, nor obtain a merry heart and conscience thereby. As the saints in the Old Testament complain, when they are tired of Moses' regiment and have a heartfelt longing for the kingdom of grace promised in Christ. As Psalm 14:7: "Oh that help would come to Israel from Zion, and that the Lord would redeem his captive people." And Psalm 102:14: "Thou wouldest make thyself known, and have mercy upon Israel: for it is time that thou shouldest have mercy upon her. "etc. Again, the hypocrites think that if they outwardly keep the law, fast, and do not commit adultery, they do not need the gospel or Christ; they think that there is no need, that God must take them to heaven because of their fasting, praying, and almsgiving. These are the right, full spirits, who have no need of our Lord God and His grace.
Now it is true, Moses' sermon must be preached and the people must be admonished to such outward discipline and good conduct; just as in the world regiment executioners and beadles must be appointed to punish the wild, raw mob, which does not keep such outward discipline, but hurts, steals, is stingy, usurps etc. But when the hour comes for you to die, tell me, what good are such teachings of Moses to you, if you have kept to them immediately? Isn't it true that you must confess and say: Dear Lord God, even though I have not been an adulterer, thief or murderer, I still wish that you would be merciful and gracious to me, otherwise I will despair even with all my good works.
(9) There is an example of this in Vitis (the Lives of the Fathers): One stood
three days in one place, always lifting up his eyes to heaven, sighing and lamenting. And when his disciples asked him what was the matter with him, he answered, I am afraid of death. Then his disciples began to comfort him, saying: Why is he afraid of death, when he has lived a strict life and kept God's commandments diligently? But he said: I tell you, I am very afraid; I have, as you say, diligently kept God's commandments; but because I know that God's judgments are different from the judgments of men, I cannot be rid of such fear. This one, however, has come so far that he has seen, when the traits come before God and His judgment, that God's judgment is so sharp, serious and severe that our holiness and good works cannot hold the sting, nor can we stand with it.
(10) For this reason one should preach the law and practice good works without ceasing; but when it comes to dying, one must say, like this father, "Oh God, who will help now? This is also one of the miserable ones, since here it is written of, but he does not know what he should hold on to. For this he lacks, since the Lord says here of: "To the poor the gospel is preached." He sees and has nothing more than the law; this leaves him stuck in an evil conscience, fear and distress, and cannot comfort him.
11. but the gospel is such a sermon of Christ, which says to the sinner: My son, be of good cheer, do not be dismayed; for you should know that Christ commanded to offer and promise grace to the poor, that is, to the miserable, afflicted hearts, that he would set his purity, which is divine and eternal, for you, to make you content with God, to wash away and forgive your sin. etc. This grace he offers you through his word; therefore do not doubt how you hear, if you only believe it, it will surely be granted to you.
(12) The gospel, then, is a gracious, blessed doctrine, a pleasant tale, and a comforting message. As if a rich man said to a poor beggar, "Tomorrow you will have a hundred thousand guilders," that would be a gospel to him, a joyful message.
A message that he would like to hear and be glad about. But what is money and goods against this comforting and grace-filled sermon that Christ takes care of the miserable and is such a king who wants to help the poor sinners, who are trapped under the law, to eternal life and righteousness?
This, Christ says here, is my kingdom, far different from the kingdom of the world. There it is done in such a way that one helps the strongest, and as the proverb says: He who is able to help the other, puts him in the sack. That rules by the sharpness of the sword, beats and knocks down everywhere, can and should not suffer any vice and vice. It must have executioner, rod, sword, water, fire, so that it can punish everywhere.
But here in the kingdom of Christ it is quite different; it does not have to do with strong, holy people, but with weak, poor sinners, as Christ says: "The blind see, the dead rise" etc. Now, raising the dead is a great miraculous work, but this miraculous work is much greater and more glorious, and yet does not have the prestige, namely: that our Lord God has appointed such a king, who is a king over sinners and preaches the gospel to them. Moses and the Law do not preach about such a king and gospel. For there it is said: Whoever is a sinner belongs to the kingdom of the devil and of death. This reads as if our Lord God were a king of the saints and the pious, who have a much higher piety than the worldly regime demands. And this is also true. For Moses' kingdom is also our Lord God's kingdom, and the sermon he preaches is God's word. Just as the temporal government may also be called God's kingdom. For he wants it to remain and for us to be obedient in it. But it is only the kingdom of the left hand, where he sets father, mother, emperor, judge, executioner and commands them the regiment.
15 But his true kingdom is when he himself reigns: when he may not set down father, mother, authorities, and masters, but when he himself is and preaches the gospel to the poor. Therefore learn, when it comes to thee, that thy piety shall not avail
you may say: I have done what I could, served my father, my lord, faithfully, desecrated no one, not offended, taught my house, children and servants faithfully and, as far as I could, governed well, not lived to harm my neighbor, not stolen, not broken marriage. etc. But where now? That will not help now. For a human heart cannot leave it, it must be frightened when it finds nothing that can stand before our Lord God and His judgment. Then it is necessary that you speak: I have heard that the King, my dear Lord Jesus Christ, has six miraculous signs, which no one can imitate. One of these is that the gospel is preached to the poor, and for this purpose he is ordained by God to comfort the troubled hearts. For this reason I do not despair or despair, but accept such preaching; for it belongs to me, because I am so poor and miserable, and can never find help either in myself or in the whole world.
16 Thus the prophet Isaiah prophesies of Christ in chapter 50, v. 4, where he, the Lord Christ, himself speaks: "The Lord has given me linguam discipulam, a learned tongue," a tongue that is taught by God. That is, God has put His word on my tongue, that I may know how to speak to the weary in due season, that is, to comfort the troubled conscience. The evangelist interprets this here and says: Christ preaches the gospel to the poor. For this reason and for this purpose he was made king, that he should evangelize, that is, comfort and strengthen the poor, stupid, afflicted hearts; therefore his kingdom is also and is called a kingdom of comfort and help, in which one should no longer frighten the stupid or leave them in fear, but comfort them and make them happy. This is not done by the preaching of the law, but by the gospel alone. This is the joyful good news that through Christ our sins have been paid for and that through his suffering we have been redeemed from eternal death. This is his kingdom and ministry, that he should preach the gospel to the poor, and that is where he wants to go; for he cannot come to the great, high saints, who do not want to be sinners, and who do not want to hear the gospel.
They do not need the gospel; they persecute and reproach heresy, saying that they forbid good works and preach against Moses and the law.
The other part of this gospel is that the Lord continues, "Blessed is he who does not take offense at me. Yes, indeed, blessed! For in this king and his preaching, which every man ought to rejoice in, the whole world is vexed. As we see in the history of the Gospel, the Pharisees, scribes, chief priests, priests, Levites, and all that is high and great, consider Christ a deceiver and his preaching a heresy and condemn him. He can nowhere preach rightly to them; it seems to them that he is always reversing it and making it wrong. They say that the devil leads away the heretic, for he preaches and teaches that our Lord God should cast the pious and righteous into hell and raise sinners to heaven. Just as the papists are doing to us today. Does this mean, they say, to preach rightly, that good works are not to be counted at all and that heaven is to be opened to the wicked? Our dear Lord Christ also had to suffer this slander from the Jews.
18 But here it is: "Blessed is he who does not take offense at me." Now, if you would listen to Christ, accept his word and enter his kingdom, you would learn that the gospel does not forbid good works, but teaches and exhorts that one should do good works, that one should earnestly take care that one does not do anything against God's word and conscience; it allows worldly authorities to remain, emperors, kings, lets the executioner use sword, rod and other things that belong to discipline. It says: The authorities, princes and lords should punish evil, one should not steal etc. Why then do you take offense at the holy gospel, blaspheming it as if it taught that one should do no good? The gospel neither rejects nor forbids good works. But it forbids this, that when this life is ended, and we are to go into another life, and there is neither counsel nor help against it, that we should not then rely or trust in our life and good works, but look to the Lord Christ for help.
and with firm trust in his work and merit we rely that through him we shall find grace and eternal bliss in that life.
For this very reason God has given us such a body with so many limbs that we should not be idle here on earth, but should walk with our feet, take hold with our hands, speak with our mouths, see with our eyes etc. Above these things he also gave his word, the Ten Commandments, that we should judge all our works according to them, and not do anything contrary to his glory and our neighbor's benefit. The gospel not only allows this to happen, but also tells us to do it diligently. But if man is now alone and alone, and is to come out of this world before God's judgment, then the gospel calls you to look for another consolation, where you can set your hope and heart.
20 Therefore, if you have lived well, it is right and good to thank God for it, but do not rely on it when you die, as if God were to give you heaven for it; but keep yourself here with this King, our Lord Christ Jesus, who, as the evangelist says here, is to lead the ministry of giving sight to the blind, walking to the lame, etc. and preaching the gospel to the poor, that is, comforting the wretched and anxious hearts. For he is not set by his Father to convict us of our sins, nor to break our hearts, but to counsel the poor in conscience, to lift them up, to comfort them, and to help them for ever.
(21) Those who do not recognize him for this, nor have such grace toward him, but are offended by him and his teaching and despise him, as the Jews did and the hypocrites still do today, he will control in his time. And this is one of the things that offends the world, that it takes offense at the teachings of Christ, that it does not want to rely on God's grace, but on its own work and merit. Therefore, rebuke the holy gospel, saying that it is a seductive doctrine that forbids good works and makes people reprobate and wild.
22) Secondly, the world is also angry with Christ because he is so poor and so
is miserable. Item, that as he bears the cross and lets himself be hanged on it, so he also exhorts his Christians to take up their cross and thus follow him through all kinds of temptation and tribulation. The world is especially hostile to this, shying away from it, and just as can be seen when we confess the gospel and have to dare or suffer something for its sake, that many fall with heaps, like the worm-eaten fruit in summer.
23 Thirdly, it is also a grievance, when we turn more to our heart and conscience, as we feel, than to the gospel of Christ. And that I confess of myself, this is my vexation, that my doings and actions trouble and distress me more than the grace of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, proclaimed in the gospel, comforts me. Such an affliction is not so common as the first two; for the true Christians alone are afflicted with it, as I myself also have to bite at it. And it is exceedingly grievous; and if it were without the Holy Ghost's help and succor, none of us could stand in such affliction.
24 This is what Christ says: "Blessed is he who does not take offense at me. For with this he prophesies at the same time that the people will take offense at this preaching of the gospel, and will despise and persecute it. Soon after this he speaks more clearly and plainly, reproaching the cities and saying, "Woe to you, Chorazin; woe to you, Bethsaida; woe to you, Capernaum. "etc. And laments the Jews, saying, "To whom shall I liken this generation? It is like the little children who sit in the marketplace and cry out against their fellows, saying: We whistled to you, and you would not dance; we mourned to you, and you would not weep. "etc. John was a sharp, strict preacher, ate only wild honey and locusts, drank nothing but water, led a very hard life; but what did it help? You Jews blamed him all the same and said: He has the devil, wants to despise us. I eat and drink, and am most kind to the people; so I must be to you a glutton and a winebibber, and a publican and a sinner. Can
So no one can get along with the poisonous snakes, the hypocrites and saints of works, do as you like. If one lives freely, it is not right. If another leads a strict and hard life, it is no good. How should one still do it to the shameful world? It would please it to praise everything it does, when it does nothing right.
(25) Such anger, contempt, and persecution must be suffered. For if at that time the Lord Christ himself preached and thundered and snowed with miraculous signs, so that the blind received sight, the deaf heard, the lame were made straight, the lepers were cleansed, and the dead were restored to life, nothing helped; but the word was nevertheless despised, and he, the dear Lord Christ, was crucified over it, and the apostles were driven out of the Jewish country, and nowhere in the whole world could be safe because of this preaching: what good is it now? what do we want to complain much about it? And what wonder is it that the world so despises the holy gospel and righteous preachers in our time and runs over them with its feet? It was no different with Christ our Lord himself and the apostles, who not only preached the word, but also performed great miraculous signs, which we do not do, but only preach the mere angry word.
26 Therefore we must be accustomed to it and let it happen. For the gospel can never be otherwise. It is and remains a sermon that is not rejected by few people, but by the holiest, most pious, wisest, and most powerful on earth, as experience shows. But to those who know and believe that it is the word of God, they are healed, comforted and strengthened, and are safe against all such ailments. But those who do not know it, puff themselves up for the sake of their good works, become proud and fall from this word to their own righteousness, and consider it an annoying and rebellious doctrine: that is to say, they are offended and angry. There are many of these in the world, and, as I said, they are the ones who are considered the greatest saints and the wisest people in the world.
Therefore Christ says: "We whistled at you, but you scoff" etc. So it still works today. If you preach the gospel, it does not help; if you preach the law, it does not help. If you whistle, they will not dance; if you lament, they will not weep. The poor world can neither be made happy nor sad. They are a people who neither understand the gospel nor the law, nor do they want to. They cannot be made sinners, nor can they be comforted against sin; they cannot be made blind, nor can they be made to see, as the example of our adversaries, the papists, is before our eyes.
(27) Now this is the other thing, that the gospel is a sermon which is so miserably despised, and that we should not turn aside from it, that pope, bishops, monks, and priests, citizens and peasants, ask nothing after the gospel. It happened to our dear Lord Christ Himself that His own people, to whom He was promised and sent to be a Savior, were displeased with Him; and though they saw His glorious and great miraculous signs, which He performed before their eyes, yet they were not moved to believe His preaching and accept Him, and even crucified and murdered Him etc. Therefore say, "Well, dear Lord Christ, if these things have happened to you, since you have come with such excellent miraculous works, I may well keep silent and not complain, even if I am despised, laughed at and persecuted for the sake of the gospel.
(28) So in today's gospel we have two excellent and high doctrines. First, that Christ is a King of grace and of all comfort, who will speak kindly to the poor afflicted consciences through his gospel, comforting them against sin and helping them to eternal life. For although the strict worldly regime is also God's kingdom, it is only his left kingdom that is to cease. But this eternal kingdom is his right kingdom, which comes to us through the word, and in it we join ourselves in the word, and when we are to die, say with certain confidence: I believe in Jesus Christ, who is able and willing to save me from death, who gives sight to the blind, cleanses the lepers, and gives life to the dead. At
I will go away and be blessed. - Secondly, that though all the world be offended, vexed, and fallen in Christ and in his gospel, we turn not to such vexation and falling; but this King without vexation, and without vexation, and without vexation, and without vexation, and without vexation, and without vexation, and without vexation.
accept him, hold fast to his word, and be saved through him, as he says, "Blessed is he who does not take offense at me." May our dear Lord Jesus Christ grant us this, amen.