We should serve our Lord God every holy day, listen to him and learn what he preaches to us about Christ. Therefore, let us read the gospel we are to hear today.
John 2:1-11.
And on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of JEsu was there. JEsu and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. And when there was no wine, JEsu's mother said unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? My hour has not yet come. And his mother saith unto the servants, What he saith unto you, do. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the Jews' cleansing; and into each went two or three measures. Jesus said to them: Fill the water jars with water. And they filled them to the top. And he saith unto them, Draw ye therefore, and bring unto the Master of the feast. And they brought it. And when the master of the feast had tasted the wine that was water, and knew not whence it came (but the servants knew, who had drawn the water), the master of the feast called unto the bridegroom, and said unto him, Every man giveth good wine at the first, and when they are drunken, then the less; thou hast kept the good wine until now. This is the first sign that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, revealing his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
1. this is the first miraculous sign that our dear Lord Jesus did on earth, so that he, as John himself reports,
*) Held in house, 1S33.
to reveal his glory to his disciples, so that they might know him by this miraculous sign and believe him to be the Son of God and the true Messiah, since he can do what no other man on earth can do.
namely, to change the creature and make wine out of water. Such art is only God's art, who is a lord over the creature; men cannot.
(2) For this reason, this miraculous work is primarily intended to help us learn to recognize our dear Lord Christ, and to run to him with certain confidence, seeking help and grace from him, wherever we have need or neediness; this will certainly happen to us in due time. This is the most important part of today's gospel.
(3) Since such comfort and teaching are found in all the miraculous works of Christ, let us now speak especially of the miraculous signs the Lord performs at the wedding, so that the doctrine of marriage may remain among Christians. For there is much in it.
The Lord performs his first miraculous sign at a wedding in the poor little town of Cana, when he is thirty years old and has already been baptized by Johanne, and has now begun to be a pastor and preacher. According to Pabst's holiness and wisdom, it would have pleased the Lord Christ greatly if he had done this before. But now he does it afterward, since he has entered the spiritual office, has been baptized, and has been anointed and called by the Holy Spirit to be a preacher. According to this holy calling, order and command of the Holy Spirit, that he should preach and do miracles, he goes to the wedding.
This is a deliciously useful example against all heresies, cults and sects, not only against those who were before us, some of whom are now dead and gone, but also against those who are to come, who have had and still have no other, even greater holiness than to leave the married state and other civil beings and run away into the desert and wasteland. All heretics have been against the marriage state and have sought and started something new and special.
6 In particular, under the papacy, the married state was greatly despised, and only virginity and chastity were praised. If you want to be in a holy state and serve God, it has been said, leave the world, enter a monastery and become a monk.
For this meant leaving the world with them, that one has better and calmer days than in the married state. Truly, they were not foolish, but wise people who first pretended such things; for they did not want to quarrel, scold and beat their wives, children, servants, maids and evil neighbors, but lived in peace. After that, the monks went and called their life a holy and perfect life. But in truth it has been a lazy, quiet, peaceful, good, sweet and epicurean life, as common speech has also sufficiently proven: My son, become a monk or a priest, they have good days. They have also had enough of everything, have left the poor people in the world, who have had to sour their food, and have nevertheless had to take the name that they were in a blessed, good state.
(7) Although the example Christ has given us here is great and excellent, it has not helped the hopeless people. It may have been read in the church, but there was no one who could have seen this light and said, "If it is so good to go into the desert or run into the monastery, why did Christ go to the wedding? Is it so evil to live in the world and become married, why does Christ honor the married state with his presence and with such a glorious miracle?
8 Now it would have had its opinion if such monastic or hermit life had been set for two or three weeks, for a year or two. But that one not only flees marriage, but also swears it away for eternity, that is, despises and honors the marital state to the highest degree, and instead of it seeks not a holy state, but rest, quiet life and joy against God's command and order.
9 Therefore learn here that our Lord God honors the fourth commandment. For where there is marriage, that is, father and mother, there must be a household; there will be wife and child, menservants and maidservants, cattle, fields, crafts and food. All this, in particular, the Lord has commanded us as a holy life and blessed estate, so that we do not despise the married state, but honor it, and
consider him great, as God's creature and order, as he honors him.
(10) Therefore this gospel is a good sermon for the young people, that they may learn how to serve our Lord God in the home, and that it is not necessary to do anything special, as the smeared and shorn crowd did. For a householder who rules his house in the fear of God, who leads his children and his servants to the fear and knowledge of God, to discipline and respectability, is in a blessed, good and holy state. So a woman who takes care of her children with food, drink. Mops, bathes, she may not ask for a more holy, godly state. Servants and maidservants in the house also: if they do what master and wife call them, they serve God, and if they believe in Christ, it pleases God much better if they only sweep the room or wipe the shoes, than all monks pray, fast, say mass, and what more they praise for high divine services.
(11) For this reason, one should by no means despise such domestic life in the married state, nor, as the monks have blasphemed, consider it a worldly, unholy state. For here we see that the Lord Christ himself goes to the wedding. This does not only apply to the wedding, but to the whole household. This is what God wants honored, as the fourth commandment, which is the highest in the other tablet, shows.
(12) If then thou art a father and a mother, abide in that estate, and learn that God is pleased with the things which thou oughtest to do by reason of that estate. If you are a servant or a maid, learn that God is pleased with your status. For God Himself blessed and honored the married state, invited it to the wedding and honored the wedding with His presence and first miraculous work when He was already a preacher. He could also have said, "I will not come, I will wait for my preaching; it is a worldly thing; I have been commanded a spiritual office, according to which I must keep myself.
(13) But he, as the highest bishop, since he had special command, does not err in this, does not despise the marriage, which is the beginning of stewardship;
but honor, praise and glorify the works of such a position, so that everyone may be willing to do so and say: "Because God has placed and ordered me in such a way that I, as a maid, as a servant, as a child, as a husband, as a housemother, should serve the married state and the household, I will gladly do so and serve my God in such a position with joy. For I see that the high preacher, my Lord and God, Christ Jesus, gives himself here and comes to this state not only for honor, but also for help and preservation.
14. This doctrine and example was necessary against the heretics and the priests, and is still necessary today against the red spirits, as Anabaptists and the like, who come and say: There is nothing wrong with keeping house, things are going this way and that, now one has unfaithful servants, now the neighbors are angry and one must quarrel with them, now one has another accident with wife and children; in addition there is much toil, work and worry; now one must obey and serve the mayor, now the prince: how can one, with so much unrest, of which there is neither measure nor end in married life, remember God and serve God? Therefore, I do not want to be married or keep house, but I want to run away to a monastery, where I am relieved of all such unrest etc. So we went in the name of the devil, one to this order, the other to another order and state.
(15) Therefore let this doctrine and example be well remembered, that, when such foolish spirits come again, we may be warned and prepared, and know that the marriage state and the domestic government are pledged and confirmed by Christ. For it is clearly stated here how the Lord Christ Himself, coming to the wedding, did not separate the bride and bridegroom from each other, but left them with each other, let them keep house, and let the servants serve, and also helped himself so that the wedding would be performed all the more honestly. With such a beautiful example, he wanted to teach us that it should also please him where one faithfully helps and serves the household. Even if there is a lack, do not be alarmed; only see that you have Christ with you and are not ungodly.
He will make wine of water, and bless thy estate, that thou shalt have enough; and at length whatsoever is needed shall be found, though it lack and stumble a while: help and comfort shall be found in his season.
This can also be seen in experience. If husband and wife live together in a fine Christian way, our Lord God feeds them so abundantly that they get more than they think or should have believed. And I believe that no craftsman who is otherwise diligently dedicated to his work and who is God-fearing would be able to get so much money in one heap from a table, as much as he can earn in a whole year, if he dared to keep it. But God's blessing goes secretly, so that today one looses two pennies, tomorrow again two pennies, and helps oneself in such a way that one must feel God's blessing in such quiet housekeeping. So that even today our dear Lord Christ turns water into wine in my house and yours (if we are only godly and pious and let him take care of it). Item, he makes that one piece of bread must become ten, and one skirt last as long as otherwise three. For this reason, if only we would open our eyes, we should say, "Lord, the works of stewardship belong to you, and you are served by them, for you have honored them and still honor them with your blessing. Therefore I will not despise them, but will diligently help them in my state.
17 The evangelist reports in particular how Jesus' mother was also there. She may have been the bride's mother at the wedding. It was a Matthes wedding, where nothing was lacking except bread and wine. But she is mother, cares and takes care of the thing, as if she is particularly concerned, because she sees lack. Now think: If God did not like the marriage state, should not Jesus have said to her: Mother, you are too glorious and great, you alone among all women are a virgin and a mother of the Son of God; for this reason you alone should wait on the church and the service: then you go here to this work, how to perform the wedding well, how to make the people
and give them direction? And it is true, it is ridiculous that the holy mother should give herself to the little work and be a maid at the wedding and serve the people with cooking, sending and other things. But all this is done, as I have often said, so that we may learn to recognize this state, which Christ and the Virgin Mary honor so highly.
18 Nevertheless, such an example has not helped in the papacy, nor does it help the disobedient, unfaithful household. This is what the devil does, so that no one wants to learn, believe or believe it to be true that our Lord God is served when one serves faithfully and diligently in the home. Otherwise, servant and maidservant, child and servants would be happy and cheerful in all their work, and would make a paradise out of their domestic service, saying: "I will gladly do what I am supposed to do, please my lord and my wife, and let them do what they want; even if I am sometimes scolded, what is the harm? because I truly know that my position is a service and pleasing life to our Lord God. For my Savior, Christ Himself, went to the wedding and honored it with His presence and His Mother Mary's services. Should I now not gladly do and suffer something for the honor and service of such a state? But one finds very few of such wives *) and servants. Most of them are stubborn and harder than steel; even if they hear this story, they still do not want to consider it, nor let themselves be moved to have it in the house, so that they can serve our Lord God in the best way, more than any nun or monk in the monastery, no matter how sour it might be for them. But because no one takes it to heart nor believes, everything happens with unwillingness and reluctance, and it is not possible that happiness and salvation can be with such unwilling servants.
019 For should not a godly and pious maid of the house, who has to cook and do other things, take comfort and rejoice in this example of the Mother of God, and say, "That I have to cook and do other things, that is
*) Husbandry - servants, servants.
I have just been at the service of the dear virgin Mary at the wedding; she also made herself busy and saw to it that everything was done well etc. And though it is a small work that I do in the house, and has no reputation, yet I do it in honor of God, who has commanded and wills that I should do such obedience and diligence, and knows where I will please the descendant. Let the world respect such obedience for what it will, but let those who want to be Christians consider it great and a right worship and perform it with all their will. Thus a maidservant or servant in the house could take pleasure in his position and work and please God, saying: "I thank you, Lord, that you have placed me in this position and service, knowing that I please you and serve you more than all monks and nuns, who have no command of their service. But I have God's command in the fourth commandment, that I should honor my father and mother, serve my master and wife with all diligence and fidelity, and help to keep the house; for this reason I will comply with it with joy and love.
(20) Whoever so engaged in the matter would have great joy and pleasure in his position and service, and would already be here in paradise, and our Lord God would also be pleased with it, with all his angels. Likewise, Lord and Lady would also be pleased with it and would in turn reward such faithfulness and willing service abundantly and gladly. For faithful, pious servants are held in high esteem everywhere.
But there is no end to it. It will not follow, everyone considers it rather a service of God, if one goes into a monastery, than that one serves masters and wives diligently for housekeeping. Because the fourth commandment has been so trampled underfoot, and the marriage state and the house rule so despised, it has come about through God's righteous judgment, and our Lord God has done right in that he has allowed such despisers of his state and order to become monks and nuns, and to get into such a state, since they have toiled themselves and have done God the highest disobedience and disservice. For
Because he did not tell them to do this, nor did he command them, they did not serve him but the devil.
(22) Therefore let us learn this example well, that everyone may willingly and gladly serve and help that estate which our Lord God Himself has highly exalted and honored, and has made a fountain and source of all other estates on earth. For stewardship, or the married state, must sustain all kings and princes, not only because kings and princes come from the married state, but also because, if there were not married couples, they would have neither people nor interest. For the steward, the father of the house, the mother of the house must acquire it, from which all estates in the world, from the highest to the least, are preserved. That is why our Lord God has made marriage the fountainhead of all physical goods on earth; as it is written, "Eve is the mother of all living.
(23) Let this be known, and be willing and obedient to it, that this estate may also be honored and promoted by us, that every servant may learn to say, Lord, it is thy pleasure, thou thyself wast at the marriage of Cana, and thy mother, the most blessed of all women, did that very thing at the marriage which I do in my lord's house and service. If she was not ashamed of such little work, but offered herself for it, why should I, poor maggot, be ashamed of such housework? For what am I trash compared to the pure Virgin Mary?
(24) In particular, if a husband and wife are devout and God-fearing, they should take comfort in the fact that God will not abandon them, but will gladly add to them with His blessings, and turn away all deficiencies, as He does here. For there is no other way out, husbands and wives must have plenty of food and other things. But if one has Christ at the wedding, that one is godly, then the blessing and the help should not remain outside. This is what you are to learn today, so that you may know why these things are preached to you, namely, that you should remain all the more willing in the work of stewardship, and not let yourselves be deceived, whether they would come back and say, "Stewardship, being married, is a worldly thing.
thing; whoever wants to serve God must attack himself in another way, so that it hurts him.
(25) As the Anabaptists, the blind people, also do, saying that it is not necessary to stay with wife and child, and praising such running away for a great cross and holiness, which is painful. But it's all just a matter of running away with the peelers. Cause, that does not hurt, what one takes on himself and interprets. That hurts much more, which one must suffer from wife and child, neighbors; therefore one is also afraid that one should be caught more than with twenty ropes. The naughty boys get rid of such ropes and live according to their own will. But that does not mean hurting oneself. But it is a woe that one must be bound by God's command to his wife, his princes, his descendants, and his children.
The Lord has his hands full on all sides, proving Christian love and patience. For a man must hear, see, and suffer that he would rather be forgiven, and yet he must remain and not run away, but say: I will gladly do it all and suffer it all, for I know that God wants to be with me in this stewardship of His graces. Yes, I thank God from the bottom of my heart, who has placed me in this blessed and pleasing state. If something is lacking, He can help, and He proves here at this wedding that He wants to do it gladly and with pleasure.
(26) Learn these things from today's gospel and call upon God for His grace, so that we may keep them and thus go about our business in a Christian manner, amen.