Matth. 8, 23-27.
And he entered into the ship, and his disciples followed him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, so that the little ship also was covered with waves; and he slept. And the disciples came to him and woke him up, saying: Lord, help us, we are perishing. Then he said to them: Ye of little faith, why are ye so fearful? And he arose and rebuked the wind and the sea; and there was silence. But the people were astonished and said: What manner of man is this, that the wind and the sea obey him?
1 We see in today's gospel that such a history is held up to us in it, from which we do not learn what to do, for nothing is said here about our works, but about what to believe and how to comfort oneself in distress and adversity. Therefore it is one of the gospels which teaches us of the high article, viz.
*) Held in the church, 1531.
The faith, which we always practice and boast of as the main part of Christian doctrine, is the simple art that everyone thinks he can do, and yet no one can do it without the true Christians and high saints.
2 We will divide it thus: first, we will speak of the cross and suffering, as is the case with those who preach about Christ and faith; second, we will speak of faith and its nature.
The third is about the Lord Christ and his person, and the fourth is about the fruit and benefit that comes after the challenge and from faith. Such pieces will finely indicate how a comforting history the evangelist holds out to us in so few words, which we should not ever gladly concede.
The first part is about the cross, how Christ and his disciples are. When the Lord enters the ship with his disciples, it is still quiet, there is no storm, but the sun is shining, and the sea is also gentle and friendly to look at. But as soon as Christ sits in the ship with his disciples, and they are cast off from the land and come into the sea, the sky becomes dark, and such a great tempest arises that the little ship is covered with waves, as if it were about to sink. The other ships are not so soon attacked by the wind, but the ship in which Christ and his disciples are sitting has to endure.
4 We should take note of this history, so that we know how it is when the doctrine of faith comes on the scene, and immediately make a proverb out of it, saying: "When Christ comes into the ship, it will not remain quiet for long, there will be weather and tempests, the sun will no longer shine, and the sea will rage and rage. Christ himself says, Luc. 11, 21. 22. that the strong-armed man has his palace in peace and quiet until a stronger one comes; then the strife begins and there is fighting and strife. This is also seen everywhere in the history of the Gospels. When all is quiet before, as soon as Christ lets himself be heard with a sermon and seen with a miracle, then it burns in all gazes, then the devil becomes really angry, and stirs up and incites against him the bad boys, Pharisees, scribes, high priests, who want him badly dead. Christ Himself said long before, Matth. 10, 34-36: "You should not think that I have come to send peace on earth. I have not come to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to provoke a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the cord against her mother.
against their brothers-in-law. And a man's enemies will be his own household.
(5) All these things serve together, that if thou wilt be a Christian, and follow this Lord, and enter into the ship with him, thou send thine heart thither, and hold thy soul with patience. For as soon as thou goest to this Lord, and comest into the ship with him, the wind, and the tempest, and the trouble, shall surely come. Thus Jesus exhorts Sirach Cap. 2. to all believers and says v. 1. 2.: "My son, if you want to be God's servant, send yourself to the temptation. Hold fast and suffer thyself." As if to say: If you do not want to be God's servant, always go, the devil will leave you satisfied. But again, if you desire to serve God and to be a Christian, give yourself willingly and forgive yourself of good days, persecution will not remain outside. Take courage; though the waves beat upon the ship, and the sea be mad and foolish, and roar; yet fear not, but think thus: For the world's favor I have not begun, for their disfavor and wrath will I not forbear. This is what the evangelist wants to teach us by saying that the tempest arose first when Christ entered the ship and came into the sea from the land, so that we may make a proverb out of it and say: "If you want to be a Christian, you must wait for the wind and the sea to cause a tempest; if you want to preach and confess Christ and the faith, it will be desolate in the world.
(6) Afterward this also serves that we may know how to answer the poisonous, useless blasphemers, who can do no more than blaspheme and speak the gospel: Before this doctrine arose, it was quiet and all was well, and it was cheap; now it is very shameful, there is so much misfortune that no one can tell, mobs, war, riots, troubled times, Turks and all kinds of misery. To stop such shameful blasphemers, who attribute all misfortune to the Gospel, you shall speak: Dear one, have you never heard in the Gospel, as soon as Christ comes into the ship and on the sea, that a tumult arises?
Now it is not the fault of the Lord Christ, but of the devil, who is hostile to him and does not want to suffer him. So he is also hostile to the gospel, and for this reason he would like to cause so much trouble and distress on earth that it would have to fall to the ground. But the blind, stubborn people do not want to see or notice this. They only stand on the trouble and lack, and blaspheme that it is the fault of the gospel. But what good comes from the gospel, how one can know God through it, come to forgiveness of sins and be saved, they do not want to see.
(8) And this is not new. For the unthankful, stubborn, unruly and vexed people, the Jews and their captains, did likewise in the wilderness, murmuring against God and Moses, and saying: Why did you bring us out of Egypt? We must die of hunger here in the desert. While they were in Egypt, their sons were thrown into the water, and one of them was put to work for two men. Then they cried out to God to help them from the misery, they wanted to be the most pious children. But what happened? When God delivered them from such misery and they came into the desert, everything was forgotten: what and how much they had had to work and suffer in Egypt, that King Pharaoh had killed their children, that the men had been beaten by their wives; only they remembered the flesh pots and the bread in Egypt, picked out the good things they had had in Egypt, and forgot the misery they had suffered, and desired again in Egypt. Even though they had the man and the bread of heaven in the wilderness, it was nothing to the people compared to the flesh pots; they could make all kinds of food out of the man, soup, porridge, etc., but it was no use, they saw that there were no flesh pots in the wilderness, nor did pomegranates and figs grow there, as in Egypt. Therefore they murmured, and said unto Moses and Aaron, Ye have brought us out of Egypt, not in the name of God, but in the name of all the devils. So they blasphemed, although God gave them angel bread and sent them food in abundance. To keep silent and not to throw in the towel soon is God's patience and longsuffering, no human being would be able to do such a thing.
to suffer the displeasure of beings. In our time, too, there are many unholy mouths that are capable of this art: everything that happens in the world that is evil, theurung, war and other misfortunes, must have been caused by the gospel; they finely believe out of the pontifical what they have had that is good, but what they have suffered in addition, they can keep silent.
9 If one had asked such blasphemous tongues twenty years ago whether they would rather have a year of theuration, or suffer the confession of the ears, the torture of the conscience, for and for (I will now remain silent about the other innumerable drudgeries and plagues that the monks and priests then inflicted on the people), they would have answered without a doubt: We would gladly suffer a year of theurung, so that we could get rid of the heavy, unmistakable torture and endless drudgery. For there would have been the hope that what one year does not grow, the other year would give; but that torture and drudgery went on for and on, and from day to day increased the longer, the more. We have so purely forgotten such and other misfortunes; we look only at the bodily welfare, which we may have had, but at the spiritual misery and murder of souls, which has been in the Pabst's regiment, we do not see that we have not only been deprived of money and goods in such peace, but also of body and soul through false doctrine and idolatry, and yet have not been able to overcome the external accident. For before that time the Elbe also went out; so before that, too, the great time, pestilence, war and other plagues struck. Now all misfortunes, if any, are blamed on the Gospel.
(10) Thus the devil blinds the hearts of men, so that they do not recognize the precious treasure and the great benefits of the gospel, all the good things that have happened to them through the gospel, namely, that they have been delivered from sin and death, from the devil and hell, from the tyranny and power of the pope, which they blaspheme most horribly, blaming the gospel for causing all misfortune, just as the Jews did in the wilderness. But what punishment will follow such blasphemy? Verily, it will be
finally come upon them, which they fear. They say, "Since this gospel came, it has never been well in the land. Well, as they say, so shall it be done unto them. For the manner of the gospel is, that when it is preached, and it is despised, all mischief cometh afterward.
(11) Not that this is the fault of the gospel, but of the ungrateful people who despise the gospel and deserve such punishment by their ingratitude and contempt. For though the gospel be not, yet all manner of mischief is everywhere in the world. The Romans have to suffer war and all kinds of misfortune before the gospel came to them. After that, when the gospel came to them and they despised and persecuted it, the punishments became more severe. When Christ preached the gospel in the land of Judaea, and wrought great and many miraculous signs, the chief priests and Pharisees said, "What shall we do? this man wrought many signs; let him therefore, and they shall all believe on him: then come the Romans, and take away our land and our people." But what they feared they met with; as they had said, so the Romans came and utterly desolated them. Such a reward belongs to the despisers and persecutors of the gospel, that it may be done to them as they said.
(12) Nevertheless, God saves His faithful from calamity, however much and great it may be. At the time Jerusalem was destroyed, God preserved His apostles and believers, even though all the people perished and were destroyed with priesthood and kingdom. God can and will do the same in our time, save His own and punish the ungodly, ungrateful world. The first part of this gospel is that if you want to be a Christian and have the gospel, you must go into the storm, because it will not remain outside.
The other piece is about the right kind of faith, when it stands in its right work and struggle. It is a small thing to behold when one hears the word "faith"; just as our adversaries, the papists, laugh and mock at us when they hear us preach about faith. O, they say, what is faith? But against this hold
they said a lot about free will. But I would have wished them to have been in the ship with the disciples and to have tried what free will could do in such anxieties and distresses.
The apostles have learned finely here, and free will has passed shamefully here. Let their faith have been as weak and small as they wished: nevertheless, if it had not been for such weak and small faith, they would have despaired of free will and sunk into the abyss of the sea. But because there is little faith, as Christ himself testifies when he says, "O you of little faith!" they have a remedy so that they do not despair, and they run to Christ, wake him up and desire his help.
(15) Therefore, if those who have faith, however weak and small it may be, cannot stand in adversity, and if the apostles cannot stand when the trains come, what then can your free will and human reason do? I also confess and say that you have a free will to milk the cows and build a house, but no further. If dll sit in safety and freedom, are without danger and are in no need, you may well think that dll have a free will that is capable of something. But when there is need, there is neither food nor drink, there is neither stock nor money: where is your free will here? It loses itself and cannot stand when it comes to the meeting. But faith stands and seeks Christ. Therefore faith is much different from free will; indeed, free will is nothing and faith is everything; free will is a powerless thing, but faith is. This is finely seen here in the disciples who are in danger. There is comfort, joy and everything gone. This means in good German: Man is not able to do anything, but the power is of God. What now the disciples have failed, each one will also experience in his own time. Try it, if you are bold, and lead it out with your free will, when pestilence, war, theure time comes. At the time of pestilence you cannot start anything because of fear, then you think: Oh Lord God! If I were here or there; could you
If you wished to go a hundred miles away, you would not have lacked the will. In dear time you remember: Where shall I take food? These are the great deeds that our free will does, that it does not comfort the heart, but makes it more and more despondent, that it is afraid even of a rustling leaf.
(16) But faith, on the other hand, is the Lady Domina and Empress; even though it is small and weak, it still stands and does not allow itself to be frightened to death; it has great things ahead of it, as can be seen here in the disciples. Waves, wind, and sea all drift together toward death; the little ship is covered with waves. Who should not be pale in such distress and deadly ride? But faith, no matter how weak it is, still holds like a wall and stands like little David against Goliath, that is, against sin, death and all danger; but especially it fights like a knight if it is a strong, perfect faith; a weak faith also fights well, but is not so bold. The disciples in the ship have a weak faith; nevertheless, they seek help where it is to be sought, namely, from the Lord Christ, wake Him up, cry out to Him: "Oh, Lord, help us, we are perishing!"
17 The Lord calls them of little faith, confessing that they have faith, but it is a small and weak faith. For if they had had no faith at all, they would not have awakened Christ in the emergency. But that they awaken him is a part of faith. For no one can call upon God, especially in trouble, unless he has faith. Even though there is only a spark of faith in the disciples, it still shines forth and takes hold of the person who can command even death. For they cry, "Lord, help!" These are the words of faith. If their faith had been strong, they would not have been afraid of the wind and the sea, but would have thought, "We will be safe from the wind and the sea, just as Jonah was preserved in the midst of the sea, even in the belly of the Welsh. For we have the Lord of the sea with us, and even if we did not have him with us, we would still find a vault in the midst of the sea, where we could sit dry, and
not drown. For this our Lord is able to help us and save us, not only above the sea, but also in and under the sea.
18 Therefore, it is a great grace of God, even if we have weak faith, that we are not among the multitude of those who despair of God's help. Free will looks only at the present, but faith looks at the future. He has before him the contradiction of all comfort, salvation and joy, sees the teeth of death and the jaws of hell: nevertheless, he braces himself and holds on to the comfort that he can still be helped, just as here the disciples hold on to the help and comfort of the Lord. Both are together, the perimus and domine, adjuva! "We perish," and, "Lord, help!" But the "Lord, help!" finally wins and keeps the victory.
This is the art of faith, which everyone thinks he can do very well. But whoever can do it and has experienced it, everything becomes too narrow for him in times of need. Again, those who think they have a strong faith are bold, brave, proud spirits, as long as the sea is calm and the weather is fine; but when it rains mud and goes badly with them, courage, comfort and everything fall away, and they want to despair badly. That is the glorious free will.
The third part is about the person of the Lord Christ. This history describes Christ as having slept in the ship. It was a proper, natural, strong sleep; for the Lord worked and preached so much during the day, and prayed and watched so much at night, that he also became tired, and sometimes slept during the day when other people were watching.
21 For Christ is not to be regarded as having had good days on earth. And if it were all written, we would read many a strong challenge that he suffered from the devil. As he complains in the 88th Psalm v. 16: Pauper sum ego et in laboribus a juventute mea: "From my youth I have been wretched and have suffered much. I suffer thy terrors, that I seem to despair." Therefore, he was seldom cheerful, always walking in great trials and heavy thoughts, as the one full of sorrow and sadness.
He has been a sleepless man, many a night without sleep, and seldom laughed; as the same psalm indicates, v. 4: "My soul is full of sorrow, and my life is near hell. And yet, though such sleep is right and natural, yet it must have served for the faith of his disciples, to exercise the same, and to amend it, as all his works do.
22 This still happens today, that the Lord stands against his Christians as if he did not see us and did not know about our temptation, and did not ask anything about it, even as if he had ignored us; as he does here in the ship: lying and sleeping, he does not care about anything else, neither for his disciples nor for the ship. But he is still in the ship, even though he is asleep; even though it seems before reason that Christ does not see or hear the storm, the wind and the sea, he still sees and hears. Therefore we should make a common saying out of it: Christ is still in the ship, even though he sleeps.
23 These are the temptations that always strike us, that our dear Lord Christ lets the waves fall over the little ship, that is, he lets the devil and the world rage against the Christians, so that one must fear that it will completely sink to the bottom. This past year, at the Imperial Diet in Augsburg, we also learned something of this, since the emperor, the pope, the bishops and the princes sat down against us. We had no other courage than that of the disciples in the ship. Then reason said: Where now? What are we against so many mighty monarchs and princes? For human reason with its free will cannot do otherwise. And even at this very hour Pabst and his followers are trying to overturn the little ship. We feel their waves, anger and power, and the devil also strikes. Then our worldly wise men speak: What shall we do now? We sit in the ship and see nothing before us but certain death. In addition, the Lord sits still and does not let us know that he wants to help us.
024 But then we must take courage, and think that it is not yet necessary: for he also, the Lord, is with us in the ship. Whether he is already asleep, that is, pretending not to see us.
Let us make ourselves believe that he is the Lord over the emperor, the Turk, the pope, the devil, the pestilence, and all calamities, and that he is able to ward them all off.
(25) So shall we also do in private trials, in our own journeys and temptations, which are peculiar to each one. For every one that is a Christian findeth in himself that the devil smiteth against him, as the waves smote the ship. When such temptations come, and the devil reproaches you for your sins, and frightens you with the wrath of God, and threatens you with eternal damnation, do not despair, but firmly believe that Christ is with you in the ship, who, even though he is asleep, will surely hear and save you if you cry out to him and call upon him. If he does not help soon, when the calamity comes, it does no harm; only hold fast and do not waver, but believe assuredly that Christ is with you in the ship. For he helps in his time; meanwhile you must hold out and let the devil drink, so that you may know the power of faith, how it fights and resists, and also that you may see what free will is capable of when Christ withdraws his hand and does not help. This means that faith is exercised and strengthened when one stands firm in the face of adversity and waits for it to come, and dares to trust in Christ cheerfully and confidently, no matter how great the adversity may be.
In addition to this beautiful and comforting teaching, the person of the Lord Christ is also described here. First, the text says that Christ slept in the ship. With such sleep the Lord did not pretend, but slept of the right, natural sleep. Now the natural sleep is a certain indication of a right, natural person. Since the gospel says that Christ slept in the ship, it wants to present Christ to us as a right, natural man, who has body and soul, and therefore needs eating, drinking, sleeping, and other natural works done without sin, as we do. Lest we fall into the Manichaean error, who took Christ for a ghost, not for a true man.
27. but that he had the sea and the wind
and the sea and the wind are obedient to him, he proves his omnipotent deity that he is a lord over wind and sea. For to be able to calm the sea with a word and to cause the wind to cease is not the work of a man; it requires divine power to ward off the impetuosity of the sea with a word. Therefore Christ is not only natural man, but also true God. That he sleeps is a sure testimony that he is truly man and the natural son of the virgin Mary; but that he simultaneously watches and looks and threatens the sea is a sure testimony that he is truly God and God's natural son.
Thus the Scriptures speak of Christ, that though he is truly God and man, yet he is one person. For the two natures, divinity and humanity, are thus united in Christ, that he is one person. The clever ones speak of this person only according to the human nature and not according to the divine nature. This is very dangerous. But the holy Scriptures and St. Paul do not speak in this way, but testify powerfully that Christ is one person, and yet that same one person is both truly God and man. We are to take note of this. For there is no other article that sustains us in all our needs, bodily and spiritual, than this, that Christ is true God and man, the only Savior of the human race, promised to the fathers, Genesis 3:12, 22, and sent to the world.
(29) We must have temptation, but happiness and salvation must also be with us. For this person, Christ, true God and man, helps all those who believe in him and call upon him in all trials and tribulations. All believers have this comfort, protection and protection; whether they have to suffer and dare much over it is not the point. The wicked also have their adversaries and enemies, whether they are better off in the world than the faithful. Why then would we not have patience in our tribulations and sufferings? Although our afflictions are greater than the afflictions of the wicked, we also have greater gifts and goods than they.
The devil is not as hard on them as he is on us Christians. But what is more to him? They have an evil conscience and must finally await eternal damnation.
(30) The fourth part is about the fruit that comes from faith, namely, that others also perceive such miracles, are converted, marvel, and say, "What kind of a man is this, that the wind and the sea obey him? Until now, they may have considered him a bad carpenter, Joseph's son and a bad man, and not have known or believed that one should seek and find help from him in deathly distress. But now they get to know him, that he is the highest and best helper in an emergency, since no one else can help.
31 Thus it is that the greater the challenge, the greater the fruit it bears. That is why temptations are very useful and necessary for Christians. And that we should set an example: After the next Diet of Augsburg, if God wills, it will also happen that the fruit of faith and the power of our prayer will come and make us joyful; so that we will give thanks to God, God will again honor our teaching, His Gospel, for the shameful blasphemy and bitter hatred and envy of our adversaries; The truth that we have publicly confessed and testified to will come to light; and what I have suffered for it, as well as what each one has suffered for himself, none will come to pass without fruit. Therefore, we should not be frightened if it looks as if it is all going to fall in one heap.
32 This gospel, then, is a good and beautiful gospel for those who earnestly desire to be Christians, from which we are to learn when the storm comes, that Christ will not only be there to help us out, but that great benefit and glorious fruit will also follow from it, that we should not desire it, for we have tried it and have learned strength and virtue through our own experience of the word and faith. As the 50th Psalm says, v. 15: "Call upon me in trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." And the 91st Psalm v. 15: "He calls upon me, and I will save him.
I am with him in trouble; I will pluck him out, and make him to glory." If thou wilt be a Christian, thou must enter into trouble; but if thou call upon Christ in trouble, he will hear thee, and pluck thee out with fruit and great glory; and thou shalt have enough here for thy need, and hereafter eternal life. But it does the
Woe to the old Adam from the heart, he does not like to go out to sea in the wind and waves, he would rather stay outside. But it can't be helped, we have to get into trouble first, then comes salvation and praise.
33. May our dear Father in heaven grant these things to us all for Christ's sake through his Holy Spirit, amen.