First sermon.*)
Today we are to give an offering to our dear Lord God. Since He is rich and has no need of our money and gifts, we should give Him sacrifices of thanksgiving, praise Him, praise Him, listen to His word, and learn from His work to recognize that He is a strong God, and we should strengthen our faith from it. He will remain the same God and Lord, even without our
Thanksgiving, as he was God and Lord before we were created. Nevertheless, he wants his miracles to be praised for our sake, so that there are people on earth who receive such benefits and goods from him. Therefore it is also called Sunday, praise day, thanksgiving day. Such praise and thanksgiving happens when we hear God's word and pray.
Luc. 5, 1-11.
And it came to pass, when the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, that he stood by the sea of Galilee, and saw two ships standing by the sea; and the fishermen being gone out, and washing their nets, he entered into one of the ships, which was Simonis, and besought him that he would lead them a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. And when he had ceased speaking, he said unto Simon, Go up to the high place, and let down your nets, that ye may make a draught. And Simon answered and said unto him, Master, we have labored all night, and have caught nothing: but at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had done so, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was broken. And they beckoned to their companions that were in the other ship, that they should come and help them draw. And they came and filled both ships, so that they sank. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell to Jesus' knees and said, "Lord, go out from me; I am a sinful man. For he was sore afraid, and all that were with him, because of this fishing which they had done one with another: and Jacob and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simoni's companions, were like unto them. And JESUS said unto Simon, Fear not: for from henceforth thou shalt fish for men. And they led the ships to land, and left all, and followed him.
This work was done today by our dear Lord God, that we should give thanks to Him, praise and glorify Him as a gracious God, and learn to trust Him to help us in all our needs, both physical and spiritual. The evangelist Lucas goes through it briefly, and says badly that Christ preached to the people. But it would have been fine if he had added what the sermon had been, just as St. John does, who surpasses all the other evangelists in that he so diligently describes Christ's sermons. The other evangelists all leave it at that, that they recently and in the summa indicate that the Lord Christ taught the people. But what the words
*) Held in the house, 1533.
They do not indicate that there were such teachings and sermons, or even rarely. St. Lucas says here that the people came to Jesus to hear the word of God. That is, the people heard God's promise, how one should trust God and live rightly toward our Lord God; Christ did not preach anything else. It would be nice to have the words of such a sermon. But we will leave that for now.
There are two pieces in this gospel. The first, that Christ makes these poor fishermen in a hui so rich with one word. They fish all night, which is the best and most convenient time to fish, yet they catch nothing. But at noon, when it is inconvenient to fish and one should rest, they catch much. Christ comforts his disciples with this
and Christians, that he will not let them die of hunger; as also the 37th Psalm says, v. 25: "I have been young and have grown old, and have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed going after bread. Whoever can trust in God, He will provide him with so much in the end that he will not die of hunger. If someone dies of hunger, it is a sign that he has not believed or trusted in God, that he has had to repay his unbelief.
(3) The other thing is, that Christ not only giveth unto his disciples a rich draught of fish, comforting them bodily, that they die not of hunger; but comforting also Peter spiritually, and all that were with him in the ship, which feared and were afraid at this draught of fish. For they thought: How come we here together, we poor sinners and this holy man? In such terror he comforted them and Peter, saying to Petro, "Fear not." Comfort him not only with the grace he extends over him, but also promises him that he shall become a fisher of men and catch men. Put a glorious ministry upon him, that the whole world should be fishes, and he should be such a fisherman, catching emperors, kings, princes, noble and base, rich and poor.
These are the two things of which our dear Lord Christ preaches to us in this gospel: first, that he comforts us, that he will not let us die of hunger; second, that he comforts us also, that he will not let us be condemned in soul. Even if our sins are as great as they want to be, we should not despair. The first and physical need, where there is hunger and misery, is great; there he will give enough. The other and spiritual need, where sins are, as we men are all sinners, is also a great need; yea, it is much greater need than the bodily need of hunger. The disciples are all here in sins; therefore they are terrified and doubt. The closer the Savior is to them, the more they want to flee. Lord, go out from me, says Peter, I am a sinful man. He becomes so insane and mad that he wants to push away the one who wants to forgive sin. In such distress Christ will also comfort abundantly, as he did the disciples.
allhier comforts. These two pieces we want to chew the cud a little bit.
First, a Christian should trust our Lord God body and soul. The body: even if he does not catch anything for a whole night, he should not despair, but firmly believe that God will feed him; then he will have enough. The soul: that God wants to help, as Christ helps Petro, and makes him an apostle. A believer has food and drink; even if he is not emperor, there is no power in it. For God does not promise his own people goods of this world, great riches, power, much less half the world; but promises them eternal life, and still wants to give them food and drink here on earth. Now let us see how the people oppose this.
Peter has a peculiar great virtue, and must have been a pious heart, that he can break himself so finely and hold to the word of Christ so stiffly and follow it. For here it is as usual that our Lord God leads and pretends his commandments and works (as reason sees it) very foolishly. Christ tells the disciples to cast the net in the middle of the sea, where it is highest. Otherwise, fishing is such that one does not catch much at noon; the night is much better for it. Also, fishermen do not go out to sea, but stay on land and on the shore, where there are plenty of fish, as fishermen know well. The Lord reverses this and calls Peter to go up to the heights, that is, to go into the sea. And since they had caught nothing the whole night before, he now tells them to cast the net at noon. This sounds like a foolish command. Peter senses that this is not a command of skill, so he answers very politely, "Lord," he says, "we have worked all night and have caught nothing, and if it is to be according to our skill, there is little hope that we will catch anything now. But still, on your word, I will dare; if it does not produce something special, it is lost.
This is a very fine, polite answer. For when God is called something, the thoughts always strike that human reasoning
Says: "What a foolish commandment is this! When Abraham was ninety and nine years old, and was commanded to circumcise himself and all his household, his reason said, "Pooh, what a foolish commandment is this! So also here, when Christ says, "Go up on high, and cast your nets," thoughts strike from the beginning: What is this? One pretends foolishly. If we were to catch something, we would have caught it by night. What shall we do now? So all the commandments of God are foolish in the sight of human reason; and our manner and nature is that we always want to be wiser than our Lord God. Therefore Peter could have said here: "Should you first teach me to catch fish, and have caught nothing all your life? I know the trade too well. If there should be fish to catch now, I could do it. This is how nature strikes.
8 Peter feels such thoughts and challenges, but he is so pious that he drops all such thoughts and thinks, "I can and know what I want about catching fish, but I will not despise this word, but follow it. Another would have answered: "Dear preacher, forgive me, do not teach me to catch fish; I certainly know better than you can teach me. Wait for your preaching, let me lay the net and fish, it will not do so. Peter also feels such thoughts, could reproach the Lord with them as well as another, and does so politely. But he does not cling to such carnal thoughts, but turns away from his beautiful reason and clings to Christ's word. As if he should say: If I wanted to follow my reason, we would catch a mud. (For reason considers this a foolish commandment, as it well knows how to catch fish; the craft gives it). But I will not now follow my reason or my craft, but the word which thou, O Lord, sayest unto me I will follow; I will put away my mind, and do according to thy word.
(9) This is a fine piece of faith; who could but follow the example of our beloved Peter, and leave all that comes into our minds, and keep the word alone. For this he
We know that one man likes another to believe and follow him. If the master says to the servant, "Hans, do this," it pleases the master when the servant does it; and even if it is wrong, the Lord is not angry about it. Again, it is a very annoying thing when the servant wants to be smarter than the master; when the master orders something in the house and the servant does not want to follow, but says: "Lord, it is really no good, I tried it before, it did not want to do it, it wants to go this way and that way. There the devil is with vain reason, and the servant becomes so clever that nobody can get along with him before great cleverness. No one likes to have such a servant in the house. But truly, the children of men always do this before God in heaven, letting their reason go astray, so that they do not follow the word as they should. As can be seen in the sacramental devotees. Christ says, "Receive and eat, this is my body; drink, all of you, this is my blood." But they say, "No, no, it is not his body and blood, but only a sign of his body and blood; for Christ is seated at the right hand of God. So they do not look at the word, but consult their reason, whether it is fitting that Christ should sit bodily at the right hand of God, and at the same time his body and blood should be presented in the sacrament. Fie thy times; that is, to teach the chickens to lay eggs, and the cows to calve, and to teach our Lord God to preach and to speak. If thou hast a servant or a maid to teach thee, thou shalt have great delight in it.
(10) Therefore, God considers it a great honor when we act against Him and His word, as Peter does here. Even though reason wants to lead us elsewhere, we should still stick to ourselves and speak: Reason this way, reason that way; here is God's word and command, and I will keep it that way. So whoever can keep to the word, our Lord God and the whole heavenly host laughs. People like such obedience. If a prince tells his servant to do something, and he quickly goes and does it, he does not argue long about how it should be done, but thinks: "My master told me to do it, and I will do it in the name of God; if it is right, it is right for him and for me;
If it doesn't work, it's bad for him and not for me. If it is foolishly ordered, then it is foolishly directed, what is it to me? I am there to follow etc. So it pleases God in heaven when a man keeps the word and says: Away, away, reason! God has commanded me thus in His word; I will do thus as He has commanded me.
(11) If one did what one is obligated to do against God and His Word, there would be great peace on earth. There would be neither sectarianism nor heresy, but all churches would remain finely united and healthy in doctrine. There would be neither war nor dissension, but peace in the land, in the hearts of men, in homes. But because they do not do so, and most of the people are puzzling and disputing, neither wanting to base themselves on God's word nor merely following it, that is where all error and disunity come from.
It is true that we are not without challenges. When it happens to us like Petro, that we work in vain even for one night, we are not lacking in sorrow, and soon we grumble about it, become impatient and think that we want to leave everything and walk away. But one should not give room to such temptation, but remain in one's profession, one way as the other, and let God take care of it. For this we often see, that fine, pious, obedient children are, to whom nothing will go wrong or happen. On the other hand, other bad, disobedient boys are fine and do as they please. But it does not last long, and in the end it is found that the bad things in the beginning at last go well, and the good things in the beginning at last go badly. Therefore, even if it happens to you that you are not well, just hold on and do not let yourself get tired. For it is better to go wrong where thou remainest in obedience, than to go well there. In the end, God brings down disobedience with happiness, however great it may be, and helps obedience with misfortune and adds happiness to it.
(13) Therefore, we must take note of this and follow the beautiful example that Peter
If a man looks only at the word and follows it, he does not let other thoughts that would have occurred to me and to you, and which undoubtedly have occurred to him as well, either err or hinder him from such obedience. If you are a pastor, say: I have begun to preach and to teach the people; but they do not want to go away, they bump here and there; but that does not hurt. Because God commanded me to preach His word, I will not desist from it. If it is wrong, it is wrong for our Lord God; if it is wrong, it is wrong for me and for him. So shall one do in another office and profession, saying, Here is God's word and command, and I will go and cast my net, and let God take care how it is done.
14 For as Peter has the word to cast the net, so God's word and command is upon us, that God commands us to work and do what our profession requires. Whoever looks to such a profession and works diligently, even though good fortune is withheld and blessings are not forthcoming for a time, will at last be prosperous. Peter had the word: "Cast out your nets, that ye may make a haul." This seems to be a ridiculous, even foolish and forgiven promise. For Peter sees neither fish nor burr, hears only the bare word. But on the bare and living word he casts the net there. And because he follows the word, the word is such an excellent word that they decide such a great number of fish that the net also tears and the ships sink. So God will have pleasure and joy in obedience, and will take it to his credit when he finds a man who dares and begins something at his word, and will also give him luck, so that the same man will have enough. Let this be enough of the first consolation and teaching, which is bodily and goes to food, that Christ does not always want to leave his Christians to work in vain. He wants to be with his blessing at their work, and not let them die of hunger, if they only dare to do it confidently and cheerfully on his word.
The other consolation is spiritual. A Christian should also trust his soul to our Lord God. For God in the Gospel comforts abundantly, that he will accept sinners for the sake of his dear Son, will forgive them their sins, and will
and make them blessed. But such riches of spiritual consolation, concerning forgiveness of sins and salvation, will not go anywhere with us people, even if we are already Christians and have God's word. Our heart speaks forever: I would gladly pray and trust in God, but I am a sinner; where can I go to become pious? Our Lord God is too great, I must not come before Him and pray. In such pusillanimity, fear and trembling, Christ also comforts abundantly in this Gospel, saying: "Do not be afraid, but dare confidently and cheerfully to trust in my word. For Peter also is a sinner, afraid and running; but I will not have him despair, but that he may take heart and courage, and stand in cheerful confidence that I will not cast him out nor reject him for his sin.
But he will have dared on his word. Just as he gives Petro a rich haul of fish when he dares on his word, so he will not let us sink in this spiritual temptation if we dare on his word. If Peter had done this fishing at night in his work, he would have thought that he had obtained the fish through his fishing skill and work. But because he fishes all night and catches nothing, and the Lord gives him the word first and tells him to try again, Peter must conclude that he did not catch the fish, that the word and the blessing of God did it, and that his work did not do it at all. Just as the fish are given free of charge and by grace, so it happens here. Sins are forgiven, not because of our merit, but by grace through the Word. Therefore, we should be accustomed to insist and build on the word, in prayer and otherwise, and let go of unworthiness.
(17) But it is difficult to trust in the word and to reject unworthiness. For the devil always stirs up thoughts in the heart: I am a sinner, I must not come before God. With these thoughts he destroys many a prayer and joy in the heart. Thus we are also inclined by nature to always want to base ourselves on our worthiness, and cannot believe that our
Sins are forgiven by grace. There, in the temporal good, one does not want to follow the word, as Peter is obedient to the word and follows it. If another had been with Peter in the ship, and had heard Christ say to Peter, "Go up on high, and cast your nets, that ye may make a draught," he would have said: Dear Lord, wait for your preaching; I know the fisherman's trade well, I know better how to start it than you can tell me. So it is the same with Petro. Peter thinks and disputes with himself: Dear Lord, I hear you say that I should not be afraid, but I feel it in my heart as it is. If I should not fear, I should not be a sinner, but righteous. If I did not have such a feeling in my heart, I would let your word stand. But because I feel that my righteousness and worthiness do not do it, I cannot believe that your word of comfort should do it. So he lacks faith.
18 In temporal goods Peter can grasp the word a little; but here in spiritual goods he cannot do the art at all; and yet he has a testimony and sign of divine goodness, grace and mercy, that so many fish were given to him before; and it is a wonder that the goodness of our Lord God so terrifies him. So we are also terrified by the greatness of divine goodness and mercy. It is great and unspeakable that our Lord God gives us His only Son, and in addition forgiveness of all our sins, and we do nothing in return. Should one not be terrified and despondent at this? It is said of St. Bernard that at one time a great sinner confessed to him; to him he set five Pater noster for penance. He was frightened and said, "Lord, what do you mean? Have I committed such a great sin, and you impose such a small penance on me? St. Bernard said: "Dear friend, do you think you will atone with this? You would have to live longer if you were to atone for your sin. Now as this man is minded, so are we all minded: if we do great sin, we will have great penance. It is true that we should repent, confess our sin, and amend; but on our repentance, worthiness, and merit, we shall not
but on the pure and honest grace of God, promised to us in Christ. Apart from Christ and His word we will never come to forgiveness of sins.
19 Therefore Peter gives us here an example to beware of, as he gives us above an example to follow. He says, "At your word I will let down the net." So also shall we say, At thy word will I labor in my profession; at thy word will I take a wife; at thy word will I accept the preaching office. But here he cannot do the art. He should say, "Lord, at your word I will stay here, and thank you for such rich comfort, that you have made me joyful. But he says: "Lord, go out from me, for I am a sinful man"; he wants to despair in his sins. Such is an evil example of unbelief. Here he sees no word of God, but sees only his sin. He should have soon put out the eyes of his reason, blinded the horse, and caught all that is and is called five senses, and kept the word; but he does not do this, but pushes Christ away, saying, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should be with me; go out from me.
20 Now it is true that Peter is not lying when he says that he is a sinful man; such a confession is right. But it is not right that he should call Christ to depart from him. For in this case, if it is important to be and remain with Christ, one must turn one's eyes straight away from our worthiness or unworthiness, sin or righteousness, and not look at any of these, but hold firmly to the word and take hold of Christ in the word. Up there Peter forgets what he is and says: "Lord, I am a fisherman and can fish, but I let go of my craft and at your word I cast my net. So should he do here also, and say: Lord, I am a sinner, and not worthy that thou shouldest be with me; yet now I look not to my sin, but at thy word I dare, and abide with thee. But Peter drops the word here, and looking at his unworthiness, says, "Lord, go out from me; I am a poor sinner." Well, dear Peter, you were such a fine master when you were up there, and here you forget about the
Art altogether. Over there you say: Away, away with the fisherman; here is a word that I should follow. So you should also say here: Away, away with the sinner; here belongs another man, who does not see whether he is a sinner or holy, but who is not afraid, clings to the word of forgiveness of sins, and believes it. In the past you did not see if you were a fisherman, so here you should not see if you are a sinner.
021 Then Christ cometh to Petro's help in such fear and trembling, saying, Fear not: for henceforth thou shalt catch men. As if to say, "Do not look upon your sins; your sins are forgiven you. I will not swallow thee up, but will be gracious unto thee; and will not only do these things unto thee, but I will also work a great miracle with thee, that thou shouldest catch men unto the kingdom of heaven. Why then wilt thou be afraid? I will not condemn you. I am not come to smite sinners with my righteousness and holiness. It is true, I could do it, I would have good reason to do it, but I will not do it, I will not use my right: as I am pious and holy, I will not go away from you for that reason; and my righteousness shall not drive you away, but shall draw you to me, that ye also may be justified and sanctified by me; and I will do this abundantly, that ye may bring others also, whole kingdoms and principalities. Such a net I will give you, namely, my dear gospel. Therefore do not be afraid, Peter; not only shall you have a gracious God, but you shall also help many others to come to what you have come to. With such a net one still fishes today. When the gospel is preached, one casts the net, which then falls over the hearts; the people are the fish that are caught. This is a different kind of fishing.
In this gospel, Christ offers to help us abundantly in body and soul. He gives Petro two ships full of fish, so that he has enough, not only for himself, but also for all the others. So he also gives Petro a rich comfort, and commands him such a ministry, so that not only he may be just and
but that others may also be brought here, so that they too may become righteous and holy. This is said to be abundantly given; it is only unfortunately lacking in us that we cannot believe it, that we cannot think like this: God will not deny you your daily bread, will not let you be thrown into hell.
(23) Therefore it is the devil that preacheth unto our hearts, Fear. Item: What will I eat and do? Wherewith shall I feed? Christ's word is thus, Thou shalt make a haul. Item: "Fear not." Therefore the thoughts that cause despair, whether of the body or of the soul, are the devil. Christ does not want to feed Peter alone, but also other people with the fish. So he does not want to comfort Peter alone, but also other people, and help them to the kingdom of heaven, if one only wants to follow his word. This is how abundantly he wants to honor faith. Just as he wants to show with this miraculous work what an honor and sacrifice it is to believe in him. He is very pleased, and all the angels laugh when we believe in him and say: Lord, upon thy word I will confidently venture, whether it be spiritual or bodily things. If we would do this, we would be blessed, and it would be as in paradise. After that we would also be right in all things, in life, death, sickness, poverty etc. We would say, "Lord, at your word I will be sick; at your word I will be a sinner; at your word I will come before you and pray; at your word I will die; at your word I will keep. Thou sayest, I shall go fishing; thou sayest, I shall not be afraid: I stand by it; and whatsoever is preached contrary to such a word in my heart, that know I that it is not the word of Christ, but am sure that the devil speaketh it.
24 So we are to learn these two pieces,
Christ says to Petro, "You shall go fishing"; item: "Do not be afraid. And this is highly necessary for us; for hunger, sin, death, the devil, which we have before us, are strong mountains that cannot soon be thrown away. If these mountains are to be thrown away from us, the word in our hearts must be stronger than hunger, sin, death and the devil. Such things are soon spoken; but when it comes to the meeting, we can do it, just as Peter can do it here. Even though we cannot, we should not lose heart. For Christ did not cast off the disciples as soon as they could not do it; so he will not soon cast us off either. He would gladly have us be able to do it, but because we cannot, he says, "Send thyself a little, that it may be lifted up, that thou mayest not be such a wretch, and say, "Shall I fish first? I tried it before, but it is of no avail; it is a mere word, and seems to have no power; but that thou shouldest follow the word, and say, Lord, at thy word will I do it; and thy word is so strong, that I will fish.
2รถ. In spiritual goods it should also be so that we follow the word and dare to trust the word. But we have to learn this all the time, because we are and remain weak, and we have to reckon with this. If we were perfect, we would already be in heaven. The young children know the art, they are not afraid of hunger, nor are they afraid of death. When they die, they go to heaven like angels; neither their soul nor body is afraid; they do not fear where they are going. So should we, at the word of the Lord, go fishing and not be afraid. We should esteem the words as great as heaven and earth. God help us that we may learn it once, amen.