The first sermon.*)
Of the history in the garden, Matth. 26; Marc. 14; Luc. 22; Joh. 18.
Because the time is coming when it is especially customary to preach and contemplate the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us leave our usual sermons for the time being, and give room to the time, and direct our sermons to tell the story of the suffering of Christ. For although we should not forget the suffering and death of our Savior for a moment, as is only right, but always remember it and thank him for such great love and good deeds, it is nevertheless fine, useful and good that a certain amount of time be set aside in the year to preach the history of Christ's suffering publicly, so that the young people who are growing up and the simple-minded people do not forget such history, but keep it in fresh memory forever.
2. throughout the year preach more of
*) Held by Luther on Sunday Judica 1534 in the parish church.
the fruit and power of Christ's suffering, how to believe in him and how to be justified and saved before God through faith in him, and to fight with the same article against all false teachers, yes, against the devil himself, who would like to overthrow and tear away this article and faith from us. Now, however, it is right to deal with history and history at this time, as it has happened. For on this history stands the foundation of our salvation, on which we build and defy, even against the gates of hell; as Saint Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:3, 4: The gospel which he first gave to the Corinthians, and which he himself also received, and which they also received and accepted, is "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
3 Therefore this history should not be forgotten among us Christians, so that
.we are not like the Jews, who forgot about Mosiah and all the miracles and benefits that God had shown them, so that even the Book of the Law was lost among them for a long time, and it happened to us in the papacy, where the suffering of the Lord was preached in such a way that more was said about the suffering of the dear saints and especially of the virgins Mary than about the suffering of Christ.
4 Let us now take the history of the passion of Christ and divide it into several sermons, because it is long and the text is much. If one wants to divide the history of the passion or suffering of Christ in the shortest and most correct way, it has six parts. The first is the Lord's Supper. The other is the story in the garden. The third is the history of Caiaphas' house. The fourth of the history before Pilate. The fifth of the history of the cross. The sixth of the tomb of the Lord. This is the whole Passio in brief.
5. For this time, however, we will leave the first part, and save the Lord's Supper until its time, namely, on Green Thursday, when it is especially customary to preach about it, and now divide the history of the Passion into five parts: First, how Christ fared in the garden; second, what he encountered in the house of Caiphas the high priest, where he was led bound; third, what happened to him before Pontio Pilato, the governor; fourth, what happened to him on the cross; fifth and last, we will speak of the Lord's tomb; and thus recently divide the whole history into these five parts, and speak of each part in turn, as much as God gives grace, for our and your benefit and comfort.
(6) But above all things let it be diligently observed, which is also the most important thing that ought not to be passed over nor left behind in the preaching of the passion, namely, the cause and final opinion of the passion of Christ, that we may have and keep a pure, subtle, and clear distinction between this passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and the passion of others. For where the devil does not challenge history, nor does he lead people to it
He takes away the power and fruit of the story, so that even though they hear and know the story, they understand nothing about it, nor do they have any comfort from it.
(7) Therefore, be careful to distinguish between the sufferings of the Lord and the sufferings of others. For the devil and his disciples also suffer, and so do the pious and the blessed. The dear saints, prophets, apostles and martyrs suffered in their time; and the pious Christians still suffer today, wherever they are scattered in the world. The devil with his angels, apostles, disciples and disciples suffers the hellish fire, but does not become any the better nor holier from it. The dear saints have suffered, and in part still suffer in the world all kinds of persecution and torture, both from the devil and the evil world. But no suffering has this cause and final opinion, which the suffering of the Lord Christ has.
8 For this reason, a distinction should be made: A Christian and a saint, even though he suffers much, suffers only in the sight of the world, and for this reason he honors, praises and glorifies God with his suffering; as it is written in the last chapter of the Gospel of John, where Christ speaks to Petro, v. 18, 19: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast younger, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst where thou wouldest. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and lead thee whither thou wilt not. But this he said," says the evangelist, "to indicate with what death he would praise God." It says: "All the sufferings of the saints (including that of John the Baptist and the virgin Mary) have this cause and final opinion, that God is honored and praised through their suffering. "But Christ was to die for the people, and not for the people alone, but that He might gather together the children of God who were scattered", Joh. 11, 51. 52.
(9) The sufferings of the saints may well be preached, but care should be taken that they are not at all different from the sufferings of Christ. In former times in the papacy, the sufferings of the Lord were preached in this way.
The only thing that was shown was how to follow his example. After that, the time was spent on the pains and sufferings of Mary, and on compassion, lamenting Christ and his mother, and looking only at how to make it miserable, and how to move the people to compassion and weeping; and whoever was able to do this, was considered the best preacher of the Passion. But we preach the suffering of the Lord as the Scriptures teach us. In all parts of this passion of Christ we add something special, which the holy scripture adds. And thus we say: "It is true that Christ's suffering is in the obedience and will of His heavenly Father; as Saint Paul says in Phil. 2, 8: "He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. He praised and thanked God with his suffering, as other saints praise and thank God with their suffering. But above all this, there is a special reason why Christ suffered, which reason alone this suffering has above all saints, namely, that through his suffering he should redeem the whole world, unlock heaven, shut hell, and acquire eternal life.
(10) This cause and final opinion is not to be given or attributed to any other suffering than the suffering of Christ alone. Christ suffered in praise and honor of God, doing him a pleasing service with his suffering; but to me and to you and to all of us he suffered for redemption and salvation, so that we might be delivered from the power of sins and death, and heaven might be opened to us. I shall not ascribe this honor to any other suffering, no matter which saint wants it; nor shall I ascribe it to the compassion of the virgins Mary. Through the sufferings of the saints I do not obtain God's grace and forgiveness of my sin, not even of the least of sins. It is true that the blood of the dear saints is holy, but I do not become holy by it. And even though I shed my blood, as the dear saints did, I do not redeem my sin with it, nor do I become blessed by it. I do well with my death, when I die for God's sake, a pleasing sacrifice to God.
and pleasant service; but by it neither I nor others will be blessed.
(11) Therefore, the barefoot monks, in particular, were shameful people who, in the name of all the devils, comforted the poor sinners and evildoers who were led out so that they might be taken away, saying: "Dear man, now you will die an ignominious death; but do not doubt that God will put this ignominious death, which you are about to suffer, for all your sin. When they came to other dying people before the deathbed, they said: "Dear son, make your soul's utensils, consecrate so many vigils and masses, give so much to the monastery, remember to keep your poor soul, call upon the saints to make you share in their merit, so that you may be saved. This is preached not of Christ's death, but of our death, as if we should or could be saved by it, and had no need of the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus anywhere. *
(12) If they had wanted to lead the poor people rightly, they should have instructed the evildoers thus, saying: "Dear man, you are guilty of death: first, before God, because you were conceived and born in sins, and are a sinful man, like all Adam's children, on whom sin and death are grounded, Rom. 5; then you are also guilty of death before the world, because you have committed this evil deed. Therefore, see to it that you accept the death you deserve with patience and do enough for God and the world. For the judgment and punishment that now comes upon your body is also God's judgment and punishment: but with your death you do not blot out your sin; for how should the sword that you have deserved, Rad etc. blot out sin? but your death is for others as an example and for correction. But if you want to be saved, call on God's Lamb, who bears the sin of the world. Thus they should have instructed the sinners, showing them that their suffering belonged to them, so that it might be enough for the world, before which they were guilty of death, that they were sinners before God and worthy of eternal death.
But if anyone suffers as a Christian,
He shall say, I will suffer this to praise and honor our Lord God. For I am not only guilty of this suffering, but also of death before God; my skin, hair and whole body is guilty. Therefore I will accept and endure it in God's obedience and will, be it tribulation, or fear, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. And will suffer in such faith that God may be praised and glorified thereby. Only Christians believe such things. An un-Christian and a pagan does not believe this.
14 These are other causae et fines, causes and ends of suffering in the world, namely, that by such suffering one may do enough in the sight of the world, as is the suffering of evildoers; or that by it one may honor and glorify God, as is the suffering of saints and Christians: but causae et finis, cause and end of the suffering of Christ is called: suffered for us. This honor, as has been said, is not to be given to any other suffering. One should not say, as has been impudently preached in the papacy: O holy Virgin Mary, you have suffered more than you were guilty of. Let the rest of your suffering and merit come to my aid and comfort. Nor should one say: O Saint John, and O you holy martyrs, let me share your sufferings; but especially you holy Mother of God, show your breasts to your Son JEsu, and obtain mercy for me from him. The pope has established and confirmed such blasphemy; this was his treasure chest over all the saints' merit, into which he, as he impudently boasts, could reach with his keys and give out to other people from the same treasure for money.
15 We have had such horrible, terrible sermons under the papacy. The suffering of Christ was also preached, but it was not distinguished at all from the suffering of the other saints, that is, the suffering of Christ was not treated in such a way that it was indicated how we should be served by it and how we should enjoy it. On the contrary, the contradiction was made, and people were shown how they should make themselves partakers of the sufferings of the saints. Whether it has already been preached that Christ has suffered
The fruit and benefit of such suffering has not only been concealed, but also perverted.
16 Therefore, one should distinguish diligently. All other afflictions have their own syllogism, causes and ends, to which they are directed. Christ's suffering also has its own particular causam et finem, cause and final opinion, to which it is directed. Of the Virgin Mary and of other saints I say thus: Sancta Maria, sancte Johannes, etc.. You have suffered much, but your suffering does not help me to be saved by it. You have suffered for your own person, and have done your part, and have praised God with your suffering; but my Lord Christ's suffering is a peculiar and special suffering, on which I can and ought to rely in the contest of sins and death. So that all our trust and all our heart may hang on the one suffering of Christ JEsu alone, in which alone stands our salvation, for and above the suffering of all others.
17 Let this be diligently remembered, and preached from year to year, and repeated continually, that it may be well formed in the hearts of men, that they may have not only the history and story, and know how Christ suffered; but also why he suffered, and what was the cause and final opinion of his suffering and death. If I do not know why Isaiah, John the Baptist and other prophets and saints suffered, there is no point. If I know, it is good; if I do not know, I am not condemned. But it depends on me to know what, how and why, and especially why, Christ suffered. If I do not know, I am damned and lost.
18 Why then did Christ suffer? Ask the prophets and apostles. Isaiah 53:5: "He is wounded for our iniquity, and bruised for our sin. The punishment is upon him, that we might have peace; and by his wounds we are healed." 1 Pet 1:18, 19: "Know that it is not with corruptible silver or gold that you have been redeemed from your vain walk after the manner of a father, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of an innocent man.
and unblemished Lamb." 1 Petr. 2, 21: "Christ suffered for us/ Item v. 24: "He Himself sacrificed our sin in His body on the wood, that we might be freed from sin and live unto righteousness, by whose wounds you were healed." And 1 John 2:1, 2: "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world." You have the cause and final opinion of the suffering and death of our dear Lord Jesus.
Christ's fine and clear indication; there stay with it and do not let yourself turn away from it.
(19) Therefore, since the suffering of the Lord is to be preached in such a way as not to forget why Christ suffered, and thus to make a pure and correct distinction between the suffering of Christ and the suffering of other saints, let us also do our part, and now begin the Passion at the play in the garden, and tell the story, so that the young people may grasp and retain it. Thus writes St. Matthew, and indeed all four evangelists:
Matth. 26, 36-56. Marc. 14, 32-52. Luc. 22, 39-54.
Then came Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and said unto his disciples, Sit ye here, till I go and pray. And he took unto him Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to mourn and to tremble. Then said Jesus unto them: My soul is troubled even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he came to his disciples, and found them asleep, and said unto Petro, Can ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
And the second time he went and prayed, saying, My Father, is it not possible that this cup should pass from me, and I drink it, and thy will be done? And he came, and found them asleep, and their eyes were full of sleep. And he left them, and went again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then he came to his disciples and said to them: Ah, will ye now sleep and rest? Behold, the hour is here, that the Son of man should be delivered into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us go; behold, he is here that betrayeth me.
An angel appeared to him from heaven and strengthened him, and he struggled with death and prayed more fervently. His sweat became like drops of blood that fell to the ground.
And while he yet spake, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great company with swords and staves, of the chief priests and elders of the people. And the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is he whom I shall seize. And straightway he came to JEsu, and said, Hail, Rabbi; and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, why art thou come? And they came near, and laid their hands on JEsu, and took him.
And, behold, one of them that were with JEsu put forth his hand, and drew out his sword, and smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up thy sword into his place: for he that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot ask my Father to send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how would the Scripture be fulfilled? It must go like this.
At that hour Jesus said to the multitudes: Ye went out as to a murderer, with swords and with staves, to see me. I sat daily with you, and taught in the temple, and ye took me not. But all these things came to pass, that the scripture of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him and fled.
20 This is the first part of the Passion, in which it is shown how Christ fared in the garden; from it we will take two pieces for this time. First, hear your love here from the words of the Lord Christ,
as the evangelist Matthew describes, that his suffering had its own and special cause, which the cause of the other saints' suffering did not have. For since Peter wants to defend him with the sword, that he had been
The Lord forbids him and says to him, "Put your sword in its place. For he that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot ask my Father to send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how would the Scripture be fulfilled?" One angel would have been enough to protect Christ from the Jews. Now Christ says he could have more than twelve legions of angels; that is, more than seventy thousand angels. One angel would have been enough to defend Christ, even against the whole world. But Christ says, as St. Lucas writes: "Let them be so far off. Or as Saint Matthew writes: "Peter, put your sword in its place. How would the Scripture be fulfilled?" As if he wanted to say, "If I did not suffer, the Scripture would not be fulfilled. Now the scripture must ever be fulfilled: therefore it must be so. Now this is the reason why Christ suffers, namely, not because he had to suffer as forced, or that God could not have found another way to deliver his praise and glory; but so that God would be found true and keep his word, which he had spoken through his prophets.
(21) The evangelist has indicated this for the sake of the wise men and great masters, who ask God about all His works: Why are you doing this? For there is no more wretched disciple, that I speak thus, in heaven and earth, and under the earth in hell, than our Lord God. For not only does the devil want to be God's master, but also all the world is so clever that it presumes to teach God how to rule the world. Could God, says Master Wing, invent no other way to redeem the human race than this, that His Son must suffer such an ignominious death? Why does God give His son into the hands of His enemies? Could he have sent an angel to strike the whole world, let alone this crowd of Jews? Yes, indeed, he could have done so; for he is almighty, so he also knows everything; he is also prudent, wise and kind enough, does not need your prudence anywhere, how he wants to do it: but here
is not a question of being able, but of wanting.
Our enthusiasts are also very clever in mastering God. Why does Christ, they say, take bread and wine for communion? Why does he take water for baptism to wash people from sins? Why does he not create all men righteous and without sin, as he created the first man Adam? Is his power and authority not greater than this? So the devil is always in the world, but especially in the enthusiasts, that they want to lead God to school and teach him what he should do.
(23) Therefore the evangelists say that Christ suffered so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. God wanted to do it the way it pleased him. He could and would have done it differently, but he would not. And how would God want a foolish man to teach and govern him in the first place? Yes, says the wise reason, if I were God, I would show my goodness and mercy to the world in such and such a way. This is the greatest plague in the world, that the children of men regard our Lord God as a fool, that God, who is supremely almighty, wise and kind, should act so foolishly and not do otherwise, that His Son should be born of a woman, be crucified and die.
(24) Well, the world cannot help but consider everything that God speaks and does to be pure foolishness. But what righteous Christians are, to them God's word is a serious matter, they believe God, their Lord, without any pretense, and hold that greater power of God is shown in what seems to the world to be weakness and foolishness, than we can understand and comprehend. The unbelievers and unbelievers speak: It is foolish thing; in the same way as our bishops and our worldly wise men now say of what God does: It is foolish and is foolish; if I were God, I would do it this way and that way. But if you want to be a Christian, beware of such cleverness, and say: Let him be clever in God's matters who does not want to leave it; but I want to stay with the small group of righteous Christians who say: I could also be clever:
But before God, who is almighty and knows how to do everything well, I will not be clever, but will badly believe his word and follow it, and command him how to do it, as he knows better than I do.
025 This is Christ saying, "It must be so, that the scripture may be fulfilled. As if he wanted to say: I could have started it differently. But ask no further questions, but believe the Scriptures. If thou wilt not believe the scripture, nor follow it, let it be. So we also say to our fellow clergymen: We do not teach any new doctrine or preach any other faith than that which is found in the Scriptures. And if we have taught and preached according to the Scriptures, then we have done our part, and let others be wise here; but we remain with the small group that believes and follows the Scriptures.
With twelve legions of angels the Lord could have killed not only all the Jews, but also the whole world, even a hundred thousand worlds. But he must suffer so that the Scriptures may be fulfilled. Therefore he does not suffer out of necessity or compulsion, but that the Scriptures may be fulfilled and that God may be found true in his Word. Reason says: "Is God so weak that he allows himself to be crucified? Why does he present himself in this way? But Christ says: "Go on, and be wise; I could have done it differently; I have angels enough for this, and one angel is stronger and more null than ten Turkish emperors. But it shall be with kindness, not with swords; as the Scripture saith, Isa. 2:3, 4; Micah 4:2, 3: "Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. He will judge the nations and punish many peoples. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. For no nation shall lift up a sword against another, neither shall they learn war any more." That is one.
27 Secondly, the evangelists very diligently describe Christ's death throes in the garden, as being of great concern. After the Lord's Supper, Christ went out, as St. John writes, over the brook Kidron,
into a garden, which lay hard by the Oelberg, by a yard or outwork, where the Jews had their sheep inside. St. Lucas writes that the Lord went out according to his custom to the Mount of Olives. This is to be understood as follows: when the Lord had preached and conducted his ministry in the city of Jerusalem, he went out to the Mount of Olives and camped there in the garden on the grass and under the trees until morning. And in the morning he went again into the city, and did his office again. Judas the betrayer knew this very well.
028 And it came to pass, when the Lord also went out at that time according to his custom, and came into the garden, that there was a new and different thing with him. He divides and separates his disciples from one another, taking Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him. And to the other disciples he saith, Sit ye down here; I must go and pray. And having gone there, he falls down on his face and prays, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not as I will, but as thou wilt." Now this is a new and special prayer. Before that he often prayed. But he did not separate his disciples before as he separates them now. He takes three disciples to himself, Peter, the great Jacob and John. The other disciples, however, he leaves sitting here. These three will have been his special disciples, to whom he will have spoken in his fear and distress.
Our dear Lord Christ presents Himself for our sake as a poor, sinful man, and the divine nature abstains here, and Christ does not flow here full of comfort and security, as before. There the tempter, the devil, is given room to come closer to him and attack him harder than ever before. Therefore he speaks here as a man who is in battle and wrestling with death, seeking comfort from his disciples, to whom he had been comforting before. He trembled and shook, and his heart was full of sorrow. For he despaired of his life and felt death, and saw that he was now to die. The same he laments to his
disciples. The great anguish and distress breaks out that he has refuge in his disciples, who are lesser than himself.
The suffering of our dear Lord Jesus Christ in the garden cannot be explained with the tongues of men, but surpasses all human reason and thoughts, especially in the case of this great, high person. If it had been another person, and the devil had been so hard on him, he would have strangled him in an instant, especially in this life, when body and soul are still together. In the next life the damned will be even more bitter; yet they will not die, but will have to remain in such torment forever. Therefore we cannot understand, nor can we conceive, much less explain, what kind of anguish this was that Christ encountered in the garden.
31. He himself says, "My soul is troubled even unto death." There you hear his words, which he speaks in this fear. So I want to say: I am in such great fear, I am so frightened, grieved and despondent, just as if my soul should now go out. If a pure man should feel this fear for a moment, he would not be able to live, but would have to die from that moment on. Our Lord God has given the devil the fine, tender little lamb here in the jaws. That is why he will have gnashed his teeth over it and thought that he wanted to devour it. But he had to leave it unswallowed. Christ laments this here, saying: "My soul is sorrowful unto death. As if he wanted to say: "There is no more life here, there is no salvation, I must die.
(32) Why art thou, O Lord Christ, so afflicted and dismayed? Did you not say that you could ask your Father to send you more than twelve legions of angels, but that the Scriptures must be fulfilled? If you fear death so much and are so terrified of it, what will we poor, miserable people and sinners do when we are led to the gallows or to the fire, or when pestilence and other diseases strike us in the face? Then we will despair, because you tremble and hesitate before death. And it is true, in the eyes of the world it is ridiculous and mocking that
Christ, who is a Lord of death, so shall fall down, and lament, "My soul is sorrowful unto death."
(33) But it was for our sake that the man became more sorrowful than any man on earth, nor was any man more afraid of death than this man. When men are imprisoned in the dungeon for a time, and it is said to them: Send thyself, thou must die, there is no other way out of it; then the same man begins to press and fear, writhes a day, three or four, and the same terror becomes much more sour to him than when the executioner comes upon him and judges him. For this is true death, when a man bites and eats himself in prison, and the devil gives him such thoughts: You must serve, you are mine. Then the man becomes quite different, speaks differently, presents himself differently, and all in all, this is a different disease than pestilence or the French; for it is the real fear of death and the struggle for death, before which one does not feel the bodily disease and the bodily death.
(34) And so it is with all of us humans that the struggle before death is the highest and more difficult than death itself. If the devil wins, it is done. A man who stands in such a battle, the face becomes pointed, pale and white, the eyes become deep and dark, the ears cold etc. But all this is nothing compared to this fight of our Lord Christ in the garden. That is why St. Lucas says: "He wrestled with death and prayed more fervently. But his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." Christ came further than we do; he came into such heat and fire that he had to let bloody sweat fall over it.
(35) Of the battle, as I said, we know nothing. For it was greater in Christ than it can be in all of us. The reason is this: Christ should have been the greatest martyr among all the martyrs on earth. Above this, his nature was also finely pure and healthy. We human beings, conceived and born in sins, have an impure, hard and leprous flesh that does not feel soon. The fresher, healthier the man, and the finer the skin and the purer the blood, the sooner it feels and
feels what happens to it. The more unclean the skin and the more unclean the blood, the less it feels and senses, as we learn from leprous people. Since Christ's body, flesh, and blood are fresh, healthy, pure, and without sin, but our body, flesh, and blood are leprous, impure, and full of sin, therefore, when we hear of death and feel the terror of death, we hardly feel it in two degrees, since Christ felt it in ten degrees. Since he is the greatest martyr, and should feel the greatest suffering and terror, and the greatest bitterness of death, and in addition his nature is pure and clean, he has felt the fear of death better and more than all of us.
(36) Therefore no saint was said to be so afraid that he sweated bloody sweat, as the evangelists write of Christ. We can see that a frightened man, especially one who struggles with death, cannot cry; he neither sees nor hears well, his tongue becomes as dry as a bark and his eyes as dry as a stone. All the moisture, sap and blood that he has in his whole body goes to his heart. But in Christ the terror and fear is much greater. For there one sees that in the heart nature is so overwhelmed that it has driven the blood, which in terror comes to the heart, out of the heart again, so also that drops of blood have flowed from his whole body, as St. Lucas writes. Therefore, it must have been such sadness, fear and distress, which no human heart can reach with thoughts. In great sadness, we humans come to the point that our tongues become dry, our ears deaf, our hands insensitive, and not a drop of blood can be felt in our entire body. This is what happens to us human beings. But with Christ it has come to the point that the blood again flows from the heart out of the body.
body has come out. This is contrary to all human understanding.
Our dear Lord Christ wanted to suffer such fear in honor of His heavenly Father and for the benefit of us men, so that we might have a master over fear when our faces become pointed, our eyes black and dark, our tongues unable to speak and our heads unable to think: that we might then hold on to this man who overcame this terror and was drowned in Himself. Wherefore also our fear cannot be so great as it was in this heart; for Christ overcame the greatest fear in his innocent heart, and in his pure, fine blood quenched and subdued the devil's bitter fury and poisonous fiery darts, that we might take comfort in his victory. The devil will have shot his fiery arrows into him and pressed them into his heart, saying: You are in God's disgrace etc. And the same arrows he has quenched in his innocent heart, tender body and pure blood, and put them in so deep that they have become blunt, that they have no more power against us. The suffering of other saints cannot do this, for in their blood the devil's arrows are not dulled nor made powerless, but in Christ's blood alone.
Now this is the fight of our dear Savior Jesus Christ in the garden, which fight should have preceded his death, and he should have felt that he should die. And the devil stirred him up, and frightened his heart with the thought: You have to serve etc. And the pure nature was terrified of it. For the purer his nature has been, the greater the pain has been, that we might have the consolation of it, as I said, and give him thanks for this great, infinite love and goodness from our hearts forever, amen.