First sermon.*)
This service is due to our Lord God, that we preach and listen to His holy gospel every Sunday in praise and honor of Him. Thus writes St. Lucas:
Luc. 18:9-14.
But he said to some who presumed themselves to be pious, and despised others, the like: Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself thus: I thank thee, O God, that I am not as other men, robbers, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican; I fast.
*) Held in the house, 1532.
twice a week, and give tithes of all that I have. And the publican stood afar off, neither would he lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you: This man went down justified into his house before him. For he that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that abaseth himself shall be exalted.
In today's gospel, our dear Lord Christ teaches us how to be righteous Christians and humble. For by this virtue alone do we obtain grace. But where this virtue, namely humility, is not present, God cannot be pleased or gracious; and here Christ sets before us a horrible example. The whole world cannot recognize the Pharisee in any other way, nor he himself, except as pious; only God's spirit judges that he is evil; he is condemned here for the sake of hope. He goes to the temple, thanks God, prays and boasts that he is not like other people, robbers, unrighteous, adulterers; he fasts twelve times a week and tithes everything he has. Few Jews do this; as we see in our time, there is hardly one among ten who takes care of a poor priest. It is commanded by God, but no one does it. Because the Pharisee chastised himself, kept himself in moderation, gave alms, which no one else in the country did, he thought to himself: Well, you must be a pious man; and other people thought the same of him.
2. "I thank you, God", he says, "that I am not like the other people"; for I see that such robbery and stealing are among the people, which is exceedingly. Citizens give evil goods; farmers translate the others with selling, barley, grain, chickens, eggs, wood etc. And nothing else is to be seen in the world, but vain robbing and stealing. But I don't do that, I don't short-change or sell anyone, I sell as it is cheap. Further he says, "I am not an adulterer; neither am I like the publicans." Tax collectors were in such office, because it was so: One of the Romans had a care; just as today the Venetians and the Turk give a mine or land rent to someone, that he gives so much of it annually. These were called publicani, tax collectors, who had thus obtained a land, city from the Romans for an annual tribute and interest. If they should now
They had to gain something from the money they gave them. Where they got a rich, fat citizen or farmer in their clutches, they quickly took him by the head and threw him into a tower; that they thus brought the people from their estate, and what they could obtain in this way was their benefit. Just as even today the magistrates and the stewards cannot well be pious. Therefore the Pharisee says: "I thank you, God, that I am not like this tax collector.
Now Christ makes a strange judgment, saying that the tax collector is righteous and the Pharisee is unrighteous. How is that? Does the Pharisee thank God, pray and live blamelessly? But the tax collector speaks only one word: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner". And shall the tax collector be saved, and the Pharisee be condemned? Someone might say to our Lord God, "Who will be pious, if this is the way it is to be? Does God take pleasure in people stealing, robbing, committing adultery? No, God does not take pleasure in it. How then does He present Himself here, saying to the tax collector, "You are righteous"; and to the Pharisee, "You are a prankster"? Answer: It is because God the Lord does not ask about all virtues, not even about the highest virtues, if humility is not included.
4 The Pharisee did all these things, was not a robber, an adulterer, fasted and tithed. But he was proud and hopeful in doing so. So in our time there are many great, excellent people in cities, item, there are great princes in the country, who rule rightly and well. H.G. governs finely, others likewise have praiseworthy virtues. But besides that, they are proud asses, they think they are sitting in the lap of our Lord God, they take pleasure in themselves, they defy, pride themselves and thus make an idol out of themselves. This idolatry, arrogance, pride and pride corrupts all virtues. Thus a housemother is often skillful in ruling her house and servants, but she becomes proud and boasts that she is good at housekeeping,
She says, "My neighbor does not do half as much as I do, and she has lost her beautiful virtue, because she is good at keeping house. When a maiden is beautiful and becomes proud and despises others, pride corrupts the beautiful.
It is true that a beautiful figure is a great gift, good housekeeping is a great virtue, it is a fine, glorious thing for a pious citizen who keeps a good house: but that one would presume upon it and allow himself to be worshipped for it, that is no good in any way. Then, says God, I will make such a judgment as is written here in the Gospel: the Pharisee who thanks God that he has done well, is not a robber, an adulterer, nor like this tax collector, shall be unrighteous; again, the tax collector who does not have such virtue, but says: O Lord God, I have not done well, forgive me my sin, shall be more pious than the Pharisee.
(6) It is a great art to keep oneself temperate and humble when God gives gifts. He who is a doctor of the Scriptures and has gifts from God to interpret the Scriptures: if he is proud, it is because he wants to hope from God's gifts. This is what the spirits of the wicked do, they set themselves above all and despise all men. What they have done is valid; what they have not done must be nothing. Then they say, like this Pharisee, "I am not like other people. I will not have this of thee, saith Christ unto me, and to thee, and to every man. That I have made thee a doctor of the Scriptures, and learned, are my gifts: otherwise thou wouldest be as unlearned as he. If you want to become proud with my gifts, I can take them away from you. Thou canst rule, but he cannot rule, neither can he do anything else; but I can take from thee and give to him; I can adorn him and make thee bald. So Christ here takes from the Pharisee all his prayer, fasting, chastity, and throws it there to the publican; makes the Pharisee naked and bare for the sake of his hope, so that he boasts about it as if it were his.
7 Therefore, if anyone is learned, let him give thanks to our Lord God. It is not his gift, but God's; only he does not defy God.
so that. If a man is a prince and can rule well, he should give thanks to God and not be proud, for it is not his but God's gift and bounty. But there are few people who do not feel proud when they feel. The nobility is now in charge, so they do not know where their arse stands; there is neither an end nor a measure to their banging and pawing. For this reason they are so despised before God that there is no more shameful people before Him than the nobility; they are inferior before God than the dogs under the table. For God the Lord is a God who does not like pride. He gladly gives art, fortune, nobility, princedom, kingdom, dominion; but do not become proud, for he cannot stand that.
What happened in Paradise? Lucifer was the most beautiful angel, God had adorned him so that he was the most beautiful of all God's angels, and his army was the most beautiful army of all God's creatures. But when he saw that he was so adorned and so well dressed above all others, so sensible and wise, that he could have ruled five worlds, he became proud and wanted to despise God. Then God said, "Listen, Lucifer, this is why I did not adorn you and clean you, so that you should be proud and despise me," and threw him into the abyss of hell. Then Lucifer would also say: "Was I more pious than all the Carthusians and better than all the others: why then did I fall so low? It is true that Lucifer was more pious and better than the others, but because he wanted to be hopeful and despise God, he fell so low.
9. Adam and Eve were pure in body and soul, had sharp eyes that they could have seen through a wall, and such good ears that they could have heard for two miles; all the animals on earth were obedient to them, the sun and the moon laughed at them. But when the old serpent, the devil, came and preached to them, "God knows that the day you eat of the tree, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, and know what is good and what is evil", Adam and Eve thought, "God will be well pleased with us, will suffer this well; what is the matter with an apple? But soon and unexpectedly it went plitz, platz, and Adam and
Eve lay there under God's wrath, sins, death and condemnation, and this is still hanging around our necks today.
10 Thus God overthrows the proud and exalts the humble; as St. Peter says, 1 Peter 5:5: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. If anyone wants to be in good standing with our Lord God, let him do this: If he has art, beauty, power and dominion, let him see to it that he does not exalt himself. If he rises, he must come down.
(11) But although these things are certain and true, and daily experience bears witness to them, yet there is no humility among men but among Christians alone. The unbelievers fall into hope and go to the ground over it. God lavishes His gifts, gives beautiful clothes, healthy eyes, sun, moon and everything that is needed, and speaks to us, the children of men: Effet, drink, adorn yourselves, preach, govern, it shall all please me; only be humble about it. But the children of men can not let it go, boast and become proud.
12 This Pharisee prays and gives thanks to God, but the heart is proud and the tongue is humble. For he is presumptuous and despises the tax collector and the other people. If he had wanted to thank God from his heart, he would have had to say, "Lord God, this beautiful robe and fine virtue that you have given me is your gift; if you had not given it to me, I would be as naked as this tax collector. So also, if thou art learned, or fairer in form, and art beautifully adorned, and decked out, and hast a fair chain of gold about thy neck, see thou be not proud. If thou thinkest thyself high, and wonderest, and seest that another hath not, and goest up and exalteth thyself above him, God saith, Who art thou that thou art so proud? Have I not given thee this bead, and this ribbon, and all that thou hast? All the jewels are mine, and I can take them away from you and give them to another. I have given you art, understanding and skill; I can take them away from you and give them to someone else.
013 Therefore let us not be presumptuous, nor despise other men: but let him that hath much take heed to himself, and cast himself forward.
among them, say: One is like the other; why then would I be proud? Before God I am no more learned than the least disciple. On earth there must be and remain such a difference, but before God everything is equal. From God we have received all that we have; He can give to another just as much as He has given to me. On earth we cannot be equal, we cannot all be masters, but some must be masters and some must be servants. But in the sight of God we are to learn to do away with such distinctions and say: O Lord God, you are the one who makes such distinctions among men on earth; it is your gift that you give wine to this one and water to that one to drink; you make one sit on a royal throne and another lie on straw in a stable. And because thou alone givest these things according to his good pleasure, thou wilt not suffer defiance before thee, nor other men's contempt.
14 Our peasants in the villages are proud and defiant because they have a lot of Jáchymovs; but they will not be there for long, they will be overthrown. Our citizens in the cities are also defiant and hopeful; if each one could make himself a king, he would. So the devil is everywhere in the hopefulness, if the people on earth have a little gifts. The nuns in the monasteries were especially damned people because of their courtship, for they boasted and said: Christ is our bridegroom, we are his brides; other women are not. So they have made vain hope out of chastity. Therefore God has also said: "If you nuns in the convents are so hopeful because you have vowed chastity, which you keep, as I well know, then I will (with leave that I speak so) go to the whorehouse and have these sisters baptized and repent, and I will take them to heaven and let you go as hopeful nuns.
15 Thus God forgives all sin, but He cannot and will not forgive hope. Where there is hope, there cannot be forgiveness of sins; for there all the greatest vices go and reign under the appearance of piety. And yet hope is a common thing.
Vice, and reigns in all classes. A servant who is otherwise pious, if he can work, soon becomes proud and lets himself think that one needs him. A day laborer, likewise, does not know how to make himself shitty enough when one needs him. So the health of the body gives us hope when we can work. What would become of us if we became kings and princes?
16 Therefore, if anyone has gifts, whether of art, beauty, health, power, or dominion, let him remember to be humble and to despise no one. If he is presumptuous and despises other people, the judgment has already gone: He who has nothing and fears God and is humble is blessed; again, he who has gifts and could serve and help his neighbor with them, but is presumptuous and despises his neighbor, is of the devil. He who is proud and exalts himself for the sake of being needed does not accomplish anything with it, except that he may fall to the ground the sooner. Just as we see today in kings, princes, nobles, citizens and peasants who fall from great estates and become poor. They want to make Christ a liar, who has threatened all hopeful people with this example; they will miss that. They could be pious and serve the people, then God would not only let them have what they have now, but also give them much more. But they do not want that
They do not do anything, but make themselves proud; therefore this is their judgment that they have to come down like this.
(17) Now this is a horrible, horrible example, that this Pharisee, who cannot be reproved before the world, is condemned because he is presumptuous and despises other people. For where there is hope, as reported above, there is not forgiveness of sins. Presumption threw the most beautiful angel out of heaven; and the most beautiful two people on earth, Adam and Eve, when they became presumptuous and wanted to be like God, had to come down and were pushed out of paradise. God's own people, to whom God had given so many prophets, worship, temple, kingdom and priesthood, have fallen through hopefulness in such a way that even the dogs are not so despised as the Jews are despised in all the world. The pope, whom all the world feared and worshipped before, is now also descending. Therefore, everyone should humble himself before God, and gladly share with his neighbor what he has that is good, and despise no one, faithfully serve and receive wages, eat and drink, and see to it that he does not become proud and throb when he notices that his filth also stinks. God gives grace to those who do this; those who do not, must fall. For God does not like hopefulness; as Mary testifies in her hymn: "He scatters those who are hopeful in their hearts. He pushes the mighty from the throne, and lifts up the lowly."