On Christmas Day.
First sermon.*)
The history of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(1) On this feast of the birth of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, we are to preach and learn what great good God has shown us in that the Son of God has become man. Therefore, let us now hear what the holy evangelists write about it: first, how the angel of the Lord told Joseph in the
After that, Joseph and Mary travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and Mary gives birth to her first son in a stable among the cattle, because they have no room in the inn.
Matth. 1, 18-25. Luc. 2, 1-14.
The birth of Christ was thus accomplished. When Mary, his mother, had trusted Joseph before he took her home, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband, was pious and did not want to rebuke her, but he intended to leave her secretly. And as he thought thus, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mariam thy wife: for that which is born in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now these things came to pass, that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spake by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us. When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself, and did not know her until she gave birth to their first son, and called his name Jesus.
And it came to pass in those days, that there went forth a commandment from the emperor Augustus, that all the world should be treasured. And this valuation was the very first, and came to pass at the time that Cyrenius was governor in Syria. And every man went to be appraised, every man to his own city. Then Joseph also departed out of Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, into the land of Judah, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David; that he might be esteemed with Mary his trusted wife, which was with child. And when they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she bare her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger: for they had no other room in the inn. And there were shepherds in the same region in the field by the hurdles, tending their flock by night. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came unto them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them: Fear not; behold, I proclaim unto you great joy, which shall be to all people: for unto you is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this is the sign that you will find the child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And immediately there was with the angel the multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and goodwill toward men.
*) Held in the house, 1534.
This is the history and story in which we hear how our dear Lord Jesus Christ was born. Young people should remember this story first and form it in their hearts, so that they may never forget it, but learn to thank and praise our Lord God for such a great blessing that we poor, miserable, even damned people have come to such great honors today, that we have become one flesh and blood with the Son of God. For the very eternal Son of the eternal Father, through whom heaven and earth were created from nothing, became, as we have heard, a man and was born into this world like us, without any sin. Therefore we may boast that God has become our brother, even our flesh and blood.
This great honor was bestowed neither on angels nor on devils, but on us humans. The angels are indeed more glorious creatures than we humans, but God has honored us humans more and higher and has drawn closer to us than to the angels, because he did not become an angel, but a man.
4 If we humans could consider such things and believe them from the heart, then such unspeakable grace and good deeds of our dear Lord God should certainly give us great joy and drive us to thank God for them from the heart, to love Him and to gladly do His will and be pious.
5 In the papacy, a story has been told that the devil came at one time to a church for mass, and when the words were sung in the Patre or Symbolo: Et homo factus est, that is, God's Son became man, and the people stood and did not kneel down, he hit one on the mouth, scolded him and said: You rude rascal, are you not ashamed that you stand like a stick and do not fall down with joy? If God's son had become our brother, like yours, we would not know where to stay for joy.
6 It may be or not. If it is a poem, then it is written by a man who has had a high spirit and the great honor of being a poet.
well understood, which has happened to us in that the Son of God has become man: not like Adam nor Eve (for the former was made of earth, the latter of man's rib), but he is even closer to us, since he was born of the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary as his natural mother, as other men are born; without her, the Virgin, having been alone and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and he, the Son of God, having been conceived without sin by the Holy Spirit. Apart from this, he is like us, the son of a true, natural woman.
7 Adam and Eve were not born, but created; God made Adam from the earth, but the woman from his rib. But how much closer is Christ to us than Eve is to her husband Adam, since he is our flesh and blood? We should esteem such honor highly, and especially a young man should soon form in his heart from youth this great, excellent honor, that the Son of God became flesh, and that there is no difference at all between his flesh and ours, but that his flesh is without sin. For He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and God filled the Virgin Mary's flesh, body and soul with the Holy Spirit, so that she was without all sin, that she conceived and bore the Lord Jesus. Apart from this, everything was natural in him, as in other people, that he ate, drank, slept, watched, was happy, sad, hungered, thirsted, froze, like other people. Such and such natural affectus, except sin, he, who was without sin, bore and had, as we do; as St. Paul says: He was found in all things a man like us, who ate, drank, stood, walked, was merry and sad, felt frost and heat etc.
(8) That is, to humble himself deeply and let himself down; for he might well have become a man, as he is now in heaven, having flesh and blood like us, but not doing what we do. He could have done this from the beginning. But he did not want to do it, so that he could show what love he has for us.
that we may rejoice, comfort and glory in this, that we have a brother in heaven, whom we may, yea, ought to accept; and cursed is the man that receiveth not himself, and taketh not this joy into his heart.
(9) For this reason this history is preached yearly, so that every young heart may form it in itself and thank God for it, saying, "There is no need for me, for I have a brother who has become as I am. etc. Why he became like this, and what he wanted to accomplish by it, namely, that he redeemed us from sin and eternal death, I do not yet say; but now I speak only of the honor of the whole human race, of which we should boast with truth and rejoice that the Son of God became man. All people can boast of such honor. The Christians, however, have a higher one after that, that they should enjoy such birth also in eternity. On earth, all people have the honor that God's Son became their flesh and blood. But the spiritual and eternal fruit of this birth is for Christians alone. This is the first thing we should remember about this story.
(10) Secondly, one should also learn here this excellent, high example. Because Christ, the Son of God, humbled himself in such a way that he turned all his glory to poor flesh, and the divine majesty, before which the angels tremble, lowered himself in such a way, and walks along like a poor beggar; up in heaven the angels worship him, down here on earth he serves us and lies down in our mud, - because now, I say, the Son of God has done this, we should also learn to be humble for his praise and honor, and take up our cross according to his word, suffer all kinds of tribulations, and thus follow him. For what harm can it do us, or why should we be ashamed of suffering? Because our dear Lord suffered frost, hunger and sorrow, but especially was it miserable and poor, as said, when he came on earth and was born: there was neither vessel nor room, neither pillow, nor swaddling clothes, nor bedclothes; he had to lie in a manger before the cows and oxen: - so then
my cousin, yes, also my brother, the king of heaven and earth and of all creatures within, so miserably lies down: pfu your times, why am I so proud? why do I want to be so glorious and suffer nothing at all? If the king of honors suffers so much for my sake, who am I? Is it not true that I am a poor sinner and not worthy to lie on a heel? yet I lie there on a soft bed, while my Lord lies on the hard straw and in the manger.
(11) But is it not a grievous bargain? We see here in what humility and poverty our Lord Jesus lies for our sake, and we want to be young lords, go out freely and suffer nothing? The house and the inn are full of guests, who sit upstairs, have room and chamber, maintenance and care; but the young virgin and Joseph are driven into the stable behind the cattle; there she gives birth to the noble Son and Lord of all the world. This birth is so miserable. We should take this to heart and say: Because the Lord is born too good for us in such misery and poverty, and dies for us on the cross etc., it would rhyme very badly if we lazy wretches wanted to sit in good peace and quiet forever. For the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above the lord. But this we do not do, but we are stubborn, balky people, always wanting to be proud and to be high, even though we see our Lord lying in such great humility for our sake. But what we will gain with our pride, we may smear our shoes with.
(12) Wherefore let us learn well, and consider earnestly, first of all, to what honor we are come in that Christ is made man. For it is such an honor that if one were an angel, he would wish that he were a man, that he also might boast: My flesh and blood is above all angels; blessed is the creature that is called man. May God grant that we understand it, take it to heart, and be grateful to God for it. On the other hand, we should diligently observe the example of Christ, which he demonstrated in his first future on earth and suffered for our sake, so that we may also do something and
learn to suffer. The Lord of lords becomes a servant of all servants. We should follow this example and learn from our dear cousin and brother, helping and serving other people gladly, even if it makes us sour and
we also have to suffer something over it. We should remember these two things, the history and the example. May God help us to do this with His Holy Spirit through our dear Lord Jesus Christ, amen.