First sermon.*)
You know that on the holy day or holiday one should serve God, that is, hear His holy word, which is the greatest and highest service of God in this world. Therefore
Let us do the same and listen to what our dear Lord Jesus Christ preaches to us on this Sunday. Thus writes St. John in the first chapter.
John 1:19-28.
And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem, to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; and he confessed: I am not Christ. And they asked him, What then? art thou Elias? And he said: I am not. Art thou a prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, What art thou then? that we may give answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said: I am a voice of one that preacheth in the wilderness, saying, Direct the way of the Lord, as Isaias the prophet hath said. And
*) Held by Luther in the house, 1532.
which were sent, which were of the Pharisees, and asked him, saying unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor a prophet? John answered them, saying: I baptize with water; but he is come in the midst of you, whom ye know not. This is he that shall come after me, which was before me, that I am not worthy to loose his shoe laces. This took place at Bethabara, on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
(1) This is one of the true high gospels, of the highest article of our faith, which teacheth not of the ten commandments, what we ought to do, or of good works, as is done in some other gospels; but of Christ, who he is, and what he hath done. The most important and necessary part of this gospel is that the evangelist says: John the Baptist was a witness and gave testimony about Christ. On the word "testimony" it is written. With us Germans the word "Zeugniss" is not clear; but "Zeugniss" means a sermon or speech about Christ. So the evangelist wants to teach that everything is to be done for the sake of hearing the preaching of John the Baptist, that his testimony is present and that his preaching of Christ remains in the church. That is why he praises John the Baptist so highly, because he stood so firm and did not want to change his testimony, but left it on the one person, who is called Christ.
002 And the Jews sent unto him the chief council, priests and Levites, from Jerusalem, saying, Is he Christ, Elias, or a prophet? But John persevereth, saying, He is none. Then they say to him, "What are you? What sayest thou of thyself?" He saith, "I am a voice crying in the wilderness"; I am a voice crying and shouting, "Direct ye the way of the Lord"; that is I. There you have what I am, I am a witness and preacher of the man who is called Christ; I am not the man himself, I do not want to be Christ, nor Elijah, nor a prophet; I am satisfied with the honor that I am a voice and preacher of the man. The man you are looking for is not far away, who is Christ and the prophet proclaimed in Moses, Deut. 18:18, and is the right man. But if you want to know who he is, hear me: I go before him and prepare the way for him, and he follows me.
follow the foot. If you hear my sermon, you will meet him; if you do not hear my sermon, you will miss him.
003 Then the messengers were proud and wroth, because they rejected John, saying, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor a prophet? Who commanded thee to set up such a new way? You open people's mouths with this new way of being, and do what we do not do. John, however, does not fear such pride and anger, but remains on his witness, saying, "I baptize with water; but he has come in the midst of you, whom you do not know: he it is who will come after me, who was before me, that I am not worthy to untie his shoe laces." He half mocks them by answering so joyfully, saying, "My baptism is only a testimony; I preach and baptize to bring you to the man. The man is in your country, and is now thirty years old; he will soon follow me, and has been before me. And this same man is so great that I am not worthy to undo his laces, much less to be the man himself. I am content and glad that I am worthy of the office, that I am his voice and preacher, that I tell the people about the man.
Here you see a fine, beautiful, glorious example, so that John pushes and drives back all those who want to rule the Christian church, as the pope, monks and others have done and still do, who want to be Christ himself. John the Baptist is higher and holier than all the popes, yet he says to the Jews: "I do not know how to help you or advise you, nor do I know how to help myself, but I know and know one who can help me and you. I am not worthy to do him the least service. Let us all go to the man. I baptize and preach about the man: this is the man, he is
in the midst of you; cling to him, and I will do likewise. So John the Baptist directs the whole world away from him to the man who is called Christ, saying, "It is written in the prophet Isaiah that one shall cry out in the wilderness, 'Direct the way of the Lord.'" That is me. I am one of the foremost preachers; I am not to be the Lord, but the voice before the Lord. I am the preacher who leads this sermon: Make way, the Lord is coming, make the Lord's paths straight, remove from the way stones, wood and all obstacles, make way, here comes the Lord. I am such a preacher, I am not the Lord himself, but I teach that the Lord is coming.
(5) Let this testimony of John the Baptist be well remembered, that we may learn to distinguish these two sermons (the sermon on faith and the sermon on good works), and know how to put each sermon in its proper place where it belongs. If one is to preach and speak of eternal life, good works are not valid everywhere, but it must be done by the man of whom John testifies that he is not worthy to untie his shoe laces. Here in this life one must and should preach of good works and hearing; for there one must eat and drink, be chaste and do good works. But in the life to come, good works will cease, and there one should pay attention to this sermon, which says that the Lord has come, whom John showed with his fingers. Let the doctrine remain pure, that they preach and teach that whoever believes in the man to whom John points with his testimony shall be saved.
(6) So we also call and cry out in our wilderness, we must not stop calling, but always and without ceasing point people to Christ. For the devil does not want to suffer this testimony of Christ; he opposes it with all his might and does not stop until he pushes it down and puts a damper on it. We humans are weak and perverse for this purpose, and can cling to all saints rather than to Christ. In the papacy they preached about the service of the dear saints, that one should rely on their merit. And I myself have also believed and believed in this way.
sermon. St. Anne was my idol, and St. Thomas my apostle, so I built on them firmly. The others ran to St. Jacob, and had the strong faith and the firm trust that if they did so, they would obtain everything they desired and hoped for. St. Barbara and St. Christopher were called against the quick and sudden death, and there was no doubt about it. Man is so inclined by nature to fall away from this testimony of John the Baptist.
(7) Therefore it is necessary that we always keep and bear this testimony of John of Christ. For it takes effort and work to keep the word and testimony, so that one can say in death: I should and must die; but I have a Savior, of whom John the Baptist bears witness; on him I rely, and on no other creature, either in heaven or on earth. But that one could die so happily on the man to whom alone John the Baptist points, as on St. Barbara, letter of indulgence, Rome journey etc., that is not the case. Item, that one could build so strongly on holy baptism as on monasticism, monastic life etc., that is lost. That is what I say, that we men can believe everything else more easily and put our trust and heart in it, without trusting only in the man Christ, who alone is everything, and in whom and through whom we have everything. Money and goods are perishable things; nevertheless, one can trust that for the sake of money and goods one will murder, steal and rob, and risk life and limb: one will be happy when one has it, and sad when one does not have it. But on John the Baptist's testimony and sermon one can neither do nor dare anything. Is this not a wicked, perverse way?
The priests and Levites hear John, who testifies and preaches to them about Christ, saying, "The Lord is present. The hearing is with them. But they stand and look at John as a heifer looks at a new gate, asking him, "Are you Christ, Elijah, or a prophet? Just as if they had never heard a word from John. So they stand, and with hearing ears they hear not. How is that? They have other thoughts, ge-
They think of such a Christ, who rides on a great horse in a golden piece and establishes a physical kingdom on earth. Therefore their heart is hardened. If such a Christ, Elijah and prophet would come, who would rhyme with their thoughts, they would accept him. Because they are so stubborn in their thoughts, they do not hear John's testimony and word, but as soon as they hear of Christ, they immediately look to see if he is coming in the gate riding on a beautiful stallion and in a golden piece with great military power.
9 So it is still the case today when one preaches and teaches that for that life one must know the doctrine of Christ, and of the article: I believe in Jesus Christ etc. No pope nor monk understands this, even if they hear it with their ears. A Carthusian quickly says: "My order will do it, that I may be saved. A barefoot man likewise: For the sake of my gray cap, God will give me heaven. Everyone sees through a painted glass. This is how it is in the world: one can rely on all other things, with food, drink, and charity one can make one's heart happy, yes, with a drink of Malvasia; but with St. John's testimony and sermon one cannot make it happy. Is this not a great plague? A monk makes himself and his conscience happy when he says: I have kept my order, poverty, chastity, obedience, as I have vowed. A Mass priest makes his conscience happy with a Mass, with his prayer of the seven times. But when they hear John the Baptist's testimony: Jesus Christ baptized with the Holy Spirit, shed his blood on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, they all sleep and snore. Shouldn't this go through body and life, that we humans set our heart on all creatures, without John's testimony and sermon alone we cannot set it.
10 Therefore John the Evangelist complains in his Gospel that John the Baptist's testimony of Christ is preached and taught, but the world does not accept it; indeed, even those who hear it, and ought to have joy, hope and comfort from it, gape at something else and leave this testimony.
drive. That's how it goes in the world. If a farmer has a hat full of thalers, they make him so proud that he does not know whether he should walk on his head or on his feet. But if you tell him about Christ, he says, "What is that? Let death, thunder and lightning strike the world, that one should snore to this testimony of John the Baptist! Peasants, burghers, nobility, lords, servants, all tired of hearing and learning, say: What testimony! What Gospel! What Christ! If we had Joachimsthalers and beautiful women!
(11) This is also seen here among the learned people: they look at John the Baptist, whether he is Christ, Elijah, or a prophet; for they would like to have Christ, Elijah, prophets, as they wish. Yes, our Lord God has a desire for that; behind him, I mean. It says: Dear man, you should accept Christ as God sends him, not as you want him to be. I would also like to make a Christ for myself, as it seems good to me, to fast for three days, or to do something else, and then say: This pleases God well, and through it I will be saved. But Christ does not want that. So the Jews wait for Christ to come as a worldly king with many horses, chariots and horsemen, and wait for Eliam to come with a fiery chariot, and the prophets to come with many and great miraculous signs. No, not so. God sends John with the testimony and with the teaching, saying: "If you have John with his testimony, you will have Christ at the door; therefore accept John with his testimony. But the Jews would not do this; yea, they mocked John with his baptism, therefore they also mocked Christ himself.
(12) So it is with the testimony of John even today: his word and his preaching are despised. We preach: The Lord is here, accept him; but there is no rejection of Christ and his gospel. That is why our Lord God sends so many mobs to the despisers of his gospel that they lose Christ. This is how it will be in the world: if our citizens, peasants, and nobility have enough thalers, they will be repulsed by it.
Preachers will come to help them deny Christ. John the Baptist shakes the Jews away from him like lice and says: "I am not Christ, I am not Elijah, nor a prophet. But these despisers, if they will not accept John with his testimony, nor believe our preaching, will be overcome by other preachers, who will say, "I am." So Zwingel and others have done more. This is how it goes, and cannot go any other way when the Word is gone. We preach now, but you do not hear; when it is gone, it is gone.
For this reason, it is important to learn from the example of John the Baptist to receive this testimony of Christ. For as soon as this testimony and doctrine is gone, they begin to preach works of men, monasticism, and false holiness, and to make a nose at people with outward show; and then all right comfort ceases, and the right way to salvation is missed. For if John is silent with his testimony, heaven is closed and people must go to hell. Just as the monks must finally despair of all their good works, vowed poverty, chastity, obedience, mass, fasting and prayer, because they knew nothing of this testimony. For there is no other way to heaven and blessedness than this testimony of John of Christ.
14 Thus this gospel deals with the high article of Christ, that we should accept him, kiss him, embrace him, cleave to him, not be torn from him, nor let him be taken from us. This is the main part of Christianity.
The first part is the doctrine, and on it is the foundation of our salvation. When one has the main part, then the good works follow, that one should be pious, obedient to one's parents, subject to the authorities, and serve one's neighbor in one's position. If one thus distinguishes, and lets each teaching go in its place and circle, then it is right. The Ten Commandments teach what is good in this life, but only the testimony of John should be used to speak of that life. There it is said, "I am not worthy to loose his shoe laces." Item: "This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire"; that is, Christ, who came in the midst of you, will enlighten and set on fire your hearts with the Holy Spirit, die for you, and give you eternal life. To this life belong the Ten Commandments, but to eternal life belongs the gospel and this testimony of John about Christ.
(15) This is why John stood so firmly and confessed and did not deny. God grant that we also stand firm and do not change such testimony, neither in preaching nor in hearing. It is also very necessary. For by nature we are inclined to fall easily on other things. All that is in the world is a vain temptation and hindrance to this testimony of John. Money, goods, wife, children, false holiness are all obstacles that hold us back or even lead us away from this testimony. Therefore I also urge you to watch and not let the teaching be taken away from you. Eat and drink as you will, but do not let this teaching be taken from you. May God graciously preserve us in this, amen.