We want to hear today's Gospel in praise of our dear Lord God. Gospel.
Matth. 8, 1-13.
And when he was come down from the mountain, much people followed him. And, behold, a leper came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, and said: I will do it; be cleansed. And straightway he was cleansed from his leprosy. And Jesus said unto him, See thou tell no man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded, for a testimony against them. And when Jesus was come into Capernaum, a certain centurion came unto him, and besought him, saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy, and in great affliction. Jesus said unto him, I will come and heal him. And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man, and subject to the authorities, and have under me soldiers: but if I say to one, Go, he goeth; and to another, Come, he cometh: Come hither, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him: Verily I say unto you, I have not found such faith in Israel. But I say unto you, That many shall come from the morning and from the evening, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way, and it shall be done unto thee according to thy faith. And his servant was healed at that very hour.
1. in this gospel there are two miracles: the first is of a leper whom the Lord cleanses from leprosy; the other is of a man who is a leper.
*) Held in the house, 1533.
of a centurion whose sick servant the Lord makes well.
(2) But the highest and noblest part that is in it is that our dear Lord Jesus Christ so highly praises and glorifies the chief of all things.
He says that he did not find such faith in Israel. For it is a great wonder that the Gentile, who did not have such a promise as the Jews had, should have such great and excellent faith that he surpasses all Israel. The Lord accepts such faith, and does what he desires, saying to the centurion, "Go thy way, and it shall be done unto thee according as thou hast believed.
(3) Then we see what is the best and most pleasing service to God, namely, that we can do nothing better for our Lord God than to trust and believe in Him from the heart. Our Lord God does not want to ask for beautiful temples, glittering, seeming works; but for the inward service of the heart He asks, namely, for faith; as the prophet Jeremiah Cap. 5, 3. says: "Lord, Your eyes look after faith." Therefore we should know that if we serve God with the same service of the heart, with faith, we are His servants, priests, children and heirs, and shall sit in heaven.
It is a beautiful sermon that the Lord Christ singles out the centurion and elevates him higher than all the people of Israel. He leaves out Hannam, Caipham and all the priests, Pharisees and scholars of Christ, and makes of the Gentile centurion such a saint, whom he sets as an example to all the Jews. As if someone in our time would say: I have found a Turk who has such a beautiful faith that neither pope nor bishops, neither ecclesiastics nor seculars, neither scholars nor unscholars have such faith. So it is also said of Christ, when he says, "I have not found such faith in Israel." The Jews were citizens, had the adoption and the glory, had the covenant and the law, had the worship and the promise, Christ came from them according to the flesh, Rom. 9:5; they heard Christ preached daily, and saw his miraculous works; yet they did not believe in him. On the other hand, the centurion was a sojourner and a stranger, apart from the citizenship of Israel, alien from the testaments of the promise, Eph. 2:12, summa, was a Gentile: and the same
A Gentile without circumcision and all the Law comes to him and clings to the Lord Christ with such trust and faith that he obtains from Him more than he could have wished or desired.
5 Now the evangelist reports that the centurion demonstrated two special things in his faith. First, there is a great and deep humility in his faith, so that he says, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you under my roof. As if he should say, O Lord, what wilt thou do with me? I am evil, thou art holy; I am a sinner, thou art righteous. I have heard that you do great miracles in Israel, that you heal the sick, and I would gladly have helped my sick servant; but I consider myself unworthy that you should enter my house.
6 Secondly, his faith is especially illuminated by the fact that he recognizes that Christ is the true God and ascribes such power and authority to him that he can heal his servant even in his absence. He not only confesses that he is not worthy for Christ to enter his house, but also that there is no need for such an effort at all; for Christ can accomplish with a word what he has asked him to do, even if he is not personally present. For he has heard that the Lord has raised the dead before, and from the same cry he has taken such faith that he considers it unnecessary for Christ to come to his servant in person. If he speaks only one word, his servant will be healed. And he is so sure of this that he sets his own example, saying, "I am a man, and subject to the authorities, and have under me soldiers; yet if I say to one, Go, he goes; and to another, Come, he comes: Come hither, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it." I am a man, he says, and a submissive man. I am not a high authority who has supreme power, but a subject of the authorities: nevertheless I can create and do what I want with a word. If then my word is so powerful, much more is your word powerful; for you are not an inferior man, but the Lord and God of all creatures, and such is your power and authority.
Power with great signs and wonders everywhere.
7 This means not only believing, but also preaching and teaching about faith and its nature and manner in the best and most glorious way. For the right way of faith is to trust in the word as the only treasure and consolation, and not to doubt that what the word promises will be yes and amen; just as the centurion rests on the word without any wavering and is satisfied with the word. Therefore he also says to JEsu, "Speak but one word, and my servant shall be healed." As if he should say: If I have only the word, then I have everything, and my servant lacks nothing more, but will be fresh and healthy.
(8) Now this is such great, excellent faith, and such beautiful, deep humility in the centurion, that Christ himself marvels at it, and goes out with a glad heart, saying, "Verily I say unto you, I have not found such faith in Israel. I tell you, many will come from the morning and evening" etc. Will therefore say: The Jews do not want to believe, but the Gentiles begin to believe. What does it matter, the game will be turned around? The Jews, who are the children of the kingdom and have the promise, will be rejected because of their unbelief; and the Gentiles, who do not have the promise, will be accepted into the kingdom of heaven because they believe.
(9) The Lord is pleased with the centurion's beautiful humility and fine faith, so that he is ready to do anything the centurion asks. "Go," he says, "and let it be done to you as you have believed. The centurion is not allowed to ask anything else, nor to indicate what kind of sickness the servant has; but the Lord loves the man so much that it is all yes before he asks. This beautiful faith pleases him, even though the centurion is a heathen and unworthy: not that he delights in unworthiness, but in the recognition of unworthiness, that the centurion feels and confesses his unworthiness. Such humility and faith makes the Lord not only heal the servant, but also begin to praise and extol the centurion's faith.
(10) This is a piece in this gospel, prescribed for our learning and provocation, that we may learn to believe, and think ourselves unworthy, and yet be bold and say: If I am not worthy, then I take it unworthily; if I have not earned it, as I know not how to boast of any merit, then I take it as a gift. This then is right faith and right humility, that one fears because of unworthiness, and yet does not despair; as the 147th Psalm says, v. 11: "The Lord is pleased with those who fear him, who wait for his goodness." You should learn this today, it is a glorious piece, it is too high for the home sermon, belongs to the pulpit further to strike out.
(11) The Lord cleanses the leper of his leprosy and makes him go to the priest. He does not do this to the centurion's servant or to other sick people whom he heals, as he does here to the leper. The reason why he does this is indicated by himself, when he says, "Go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony against them. As if to say, "They have a testimony, I will not take it from them. They have a law and a right to visit the lepers and to offer gifts for them; I will not take the same law and right away from them. He does not say to the centurion, "Go and be circumcised and become a Jew"; much less does he say, "Leave your office, go to a monastery and become a monk"; he does not demand that the servant no longer be a servant, but lets the centurion remain a centurion and the servant a servant.
With this, he shows that his kingdom does not destroy the worldly kingdom and the outward statuses on earth. All ranks, which are ordered and commanded by God, are good, and in order to become a Christian, one does not need an external rank. It is not necessary for husband and wife to run away from each other and enter a monastery, so that they may become Christians and serve God; but can be Christians in their state and married life and serve God, yes, be better Christians and serve God more than if they abandoned their state and ran away from each other. The pope has put all the other
He has called his state and that of his monks and priests spiritual. This has been a dangerous snare to all the world, and yet it is false and untruthful. This is that the Lord lets the law and right of the Jews stand and remain here, and if they had accepted him, he would have let the whole Jerusalem with Moses, temple, kingdom and priesthood stand and remain; although they were bad boys, nevertheless he would have let them remain.
013 And that he should destroy Jerusalem, and the temple, and the service, and the kingdom, is because they would not receive him. For this is what he did: if they would not let him stay, he tore them apart. He wanted to leave the temple to the Jews, but the people should recognize him and serve him. But since they would not do this, he had everything torn into one heap. Just as a great king and lord storms a city, not thinking that he will tear it apart, devastate it and destroy it, but that it will surrender, become subject to him and pay him interest, and give him the service that it gave to his adversary and enemy before; but if the city does not surrender, but wants to tear the king apart, he tears it apart: so Christ, with his gospel, did not want to tear apart the Jews' regiment, marital life and external status; but spoke to them alone: You shall receive me as Lord, serve me, and I will leave you. But they would not accept him as Lord, nor serve him. He faithfully warned them, exhorted them, pleaded with them, and said: I would not have you sit down against me; I will let you remain; let me also remain, and be your lord. But they would not, saying, "We would not that this should reign over us." Yes, they went to and wanted to tear him apart. But what happened? They crucified him, but he still remained before them and tore them apart.
14 This is what happened to the Roman Empire. Christ came to them, desiring them to accept his gospel and serve him with right fear, knowledge and faith, so he would let their kingdom and obedience remain; he would not take away the Roman emperor's rule, but taught.
He should give to Caesar what is Caesar's, Matth. 22, 21; yes, when he stood before the governor Pilato, he gave the secular power its honor, Joh. 18: but the Roman Emperor set himself with his empire against Christ, persecuted the gospel, and had a Christian crucified here, executed there with the sword, and wanted to tear Christ apart with his own; therefore he perished with his regiment and empire, so that Rome now lies two rooms deep in the earth.
15 In short, we must accept Christ and his gospel above all things. If we do this, the other will remain with us; and if we lose it, we will still find it. But if we do not accept Christ and his gospel, but persecute them, we shall not long retain the other. Therefore, if the need arises that I should either deny Christ or leave my wife and child, it should be said: If I can keep Christ and still be left with my wife and child, it is good; but if I cannot keep my wife and child, my dominion, my authority, and my life, I will leave my wife and child, my dominion, my authority, my body and my life, before I deny Christ.
16. Today we offer to the pope and his people that we will let them stay, that we will do them no harm, but let them have power, glory and honor, without only that they should not be lords in the church, but accept Christ and let him be lord in his church alone; or if they do not want to accept him for themselves, that they should not forbid us and the others who want to accept him, much less force anyone to idolatry and blasphemy, nor kill anyone for it: But this the pope will not do with his shamed multitude, but will cast Christ from the throne, and set himself in his place, choking and killing them that receive Christ. Fire, he says, and burn the heretics, and curse their Christ etc. For this reason Christ again says to them, "My nobles, popes, bishops and lords, you have evil intentions and want to remove me from the throne and sit in my place.
not be, but so it shall be: I will remain seated on my chair, and the pope, bishops, prelates, princes, lords, and all the evil men who want to overthrow me from my chair will soon lie in a heap.
17. summa, Christ will let everyone remain; only he who served the devil before shall serve him henceforth. He that doeth this shall not only abide, but also be built, Jer. 31:28: "As I have watched over them to pluck up, to pull down, to break down, to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them to build and to plant, saith the Lord." Whoever does not do this shall be destroyed. For God cannot and will not leave unpunished those who do not want to have Him as their Lord, but serve the devil; as Moses testifies, Deut. 18:12: "Whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord, and because of such abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you."
But the world cannot and will not have Christ as its Lord, nor serve Him. That is why the land and the people are destroyed and devastated. If our city would not have for its Lord the one who saved it, would it not do wrong if the same Lord and Savior destroyed it and destroyed it to the ground, saying to it, "Will you do this? will you not only forget all the good things you have done, but also drive me out of the country for the goodness I have done in saving you, and serve another Lord? Well, let it come upon thee, because thou art so unfaithful. So also those who reject Christ their Savior are not wronged when they are punished and devastated.
19 This is what the Lord means here, when he directs the leper to the priest, that the Christian faith is not to be understood in the way that the spirits of the mob understand it, who go and immediately throw everything into a heap; or also in the way that the papists understand it, who have distinguished the spiritual state from the worldly state only according to the outward life: but that it is to be known that a Christian and believer alone gets another Lord. Otherwise, as far as the outward life is concerned, he remains as he was before. As St. Paul also says, Gal. 3, 28: "Here is neither Jew nor Greek, here
There is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. It is not true that one should change the outward life for the sake of the Christian faith, but the outward life should remain. If you are called to be a husband, wife, servant, maid, etc., then remain with God in that in which you are called, as St. Paul teaches, 1 Cor. 7:20 ff. Therefore we should learn to distinguish between the Christian state and the outward life, so that we may know what the Christian state is, namely, to recognize Christ as the only true Lord who has redeemed us and whom we owe to serve.
(20) The pope and his mob did not understand this, nor did they want to understand it; but they mixed and blended the Christian state and the external life, and made no distinction between the spiritual and the secular. The bishops and clergy have become temporal lords, ruling over land and people; but no less have they called their dominion, possessions and goods spiritual goods; for spiritual goods are only such goods as cannot be seen with the bodily eyes, nor felt with the hands, as the forgiveness of sins, the righteousness that is valid before God, eternal life and blessedness. For these goods can neither be seen nor touched; faith alone must grasp and grasp them in the Word.
(21) It is great blindness not to be able to distinguish a Christian life from other outward, worldly lives. Therefore, as I have said, we should learn this well, so that we may distinguish rightly and say: A Christian life is that we accept the invisible Christ, and believe that he is our only Lord and Savior, who has redeemed us from sins, death, the devil and hell. Afterwards, when we have thus recognized him as our Lord, that we also serve him with our whole life, and pay interest to him as our Lord, and say: Lord, before I was under the devil's power and service, and I abused your gifts, which I also had in part, most shamefully under the devil; but now I have learned and know that you alone are the Lord.
you are my God and Lord. I believe in you, therefore I will also serve you in this faith, believe with all my heart that you are my Lord and Savior, and be obedient to you in my position and do what is pleasing to you. This is the proper distinction between the Christian life and the outward life. But both are to be and remain subject to Christ, although a Christian is subject to worldly authority according to the body; for we should rather forsake life and limb, goods and honor, and all that we have, before we forsake Christ.
(22) This is what the Lord means when he says to the leper, "Go and show yourself to the priest. In addition to the fact that he has revealed his glory and these miraculous signs, he wants to include these things here, so that he will not be considered or accused with truth, as if he were teaching or stirring up rebellion against the Jews' rule and priesthood. As if he wanted to say: The law and right of the Jews, given to them by Moses, shall be pleasing to me and nothing shall hinder me, if they only consider me their Lord; if they let themselves be circumcised, see the leprosy according to the law of Most, offer gifts and do other works of the law, all this shall be pleasing to me, only that they let me remain their Lord. But if they will not let me be their Lord, their friendship shall be ended.
23 We also see this everywhere in the Gospel writers, that Christ did not challenge the law of the Jews, when they let him teach freely and do miracles, and they accepted him. But when they would not accept him, and blasphemed his doctrine and miracles, and with their law took occasion to reprove and punish him, he passed through as through a spider's web, and would not be bound by any law, saying, "The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath." This day also he does so, saying, "All things shall be evil and right, except that the world receive me as Lord. But if they will not accept me, then we will fight. My Father will not suffer me to be despised or rejected. If they despise and reject me, my Father will not suffer the
The world into one heap. So teaches the other Psalm, v. 8 ff: "Cry out from me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the end of the world for your possession. Thou shalt smite them with an iron scepter; as pots shalt thou break them. Now therefore, ye kings, be instructed; and be ye chastened, ye judges of the earth. Serve your Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, that he be not angry, and ye perish in the way" etc. As if he wanted to say: The world should have good days, body, life and everything from the Lord Christ; only that it recognizes him for its Lord, accepts him and serves him. If it does not do this, its judgment is already pronounced.
(24) Now if we would learn and do these things, we would please God and be saved. But those who do not do this are the world. Yea, saith the world, if I should receive Christ as my Lord, and serve him, all things would be broken up, and all things would go to pieces. Well, says God to the world, it shall come to pass as you say, all things shall fall to pieces: not through the fault of my word, but through the fault of your stubbornness, that you will not accept my word, nor have my Son for your Lord. So the Jews said, "If we let this one go, the Romans will come and take our land and people." I mean, the Romans came right upon them, and the Jews prophesied to themselves that not one stone was left upon another. And the Romans also said afterward, Because these two beggars Peter and Paul are come hither, it is finished with us Romans. I mean, they were rightly finished, and they were prophets over their own necks. Our adversaries now also speak thus: If we accepted the Lutheran gospel and believed in their Christ, then our whole regime, country and people would have to perish. They speak such things freely in public, and yet they know well that they are not true; for our gospel would let them remain if they themselves wanted to. But because they will not, let it happen to them that they fear. Let us leave Christ and them together and see who will be stronger.
25. to the centurion Christ does not say,
that he should go to the priest, does not cast him under the law of the Jews, but lets him remain a centurion under the pagan authorities. Now the office of the centurion was an office of murder: nevertheless Christ leaves him the sword, lets him serve to the blood after the conversion, does not forbid him that he cuts, stabs and murders in the war and in his office; but confirms the centurion with such: Miraculous work, that he healeth his servant with a word. Just as he does not take away the law and justice of the Jews, so he does not take away the status and office of the Gentiles, nor does he take away the status and office of the men of war: not that he likes everything the Gentiles or men of war do, but that he lets the status and office remain. For these two must be well distinguished, office and abuse of office; as John the Baptist also teaches, when he speaks to the men of war, Luke 3:14: "Do neither violence nor wrong to any man, and be content with your station."
26 Therefore the ministry and work of the Lord Christ is passing away, and for this reason he has come,
that he may remove the devil's kingdom from us, that the people who served the devil before may serve him now. Thus we also teach: Whoever served the devil under the papacy with idolatry, masses, vows, etc., let him now leave these things and serve God, and believe in Christ, that through Him alone, without merit of works, he may be justified and saved before God. If this stands and remains firm, we are well satisfied. If someone is not satisfied with one plate, let him make two, for God does not ask much. But without and apart from Christ, relying on caps and plates, God does not like that, for then He will smash everything into one heap. Therefore Christ says: I will take nothing from you, you take nothing from me; so you remain what you are, and I what I am. If thou shalt die after this, thou knowest whither thou shalt go. Summa, Christ only wants to tear apart the devil's kingdom, otherwise he does not want to take anything from us. May God grant us His grace that we may grasp and keep these things. Therefore we will call upon him and pray.