First sermon.*)
Luc. 14:1-11.
And it came to pass, that he entered into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees, on a sabbath day to eat bread; and they kept watch over him. And, behold, there was a man before him, addicted to water. And Jesus answered and said unto the scribes and Pharisees, saying: Is it also lawful to heal on the Sabbath? But they held their peace. And he took hold of him, and healed him, and let him go, and answered and said unto them: What man is there among you whose ox or ass falls into the well, and he does not immediately bring him out on the Sabbath day? And they could not answer him again. He said the same thing to the guests, when he saw them sitting upstairs, and said to them: If you are invited to a wedding by someone, do not sit at the top, lest a more honest man than you be invited by him; and when he comes who has invited you and him, say to you, "Leave this one," and you will have to sit at the bottom with shame. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down at the bottom, that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up. Then you will have honor before those who sit at table with you. For he who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.
In today's Gospel there are two pieces. The first concerns worship, how to act against God; the other, how to act against people.
2) From the first part, the question arises whether it is better in the sight of God to keep the Sabbath or to help people and do good. For this is what the Pharisees are concerned with here, that they hold on to the Lord Christ as to what he will do to the water addict. If he does not help him, they think, he may be reproached for that.
*) Held in the house, 1532.
he is unmerciful and does no good to the people; but if he helps him, he is ungodly and does not keep the Sabbath, so he can be convinced that he is disobedient to God and his word. Now let the good Lord do what he will, and he shall be caught. For they want to lead him astray on both sides, and especially they meant it dangerously with the breaking of the Sabbath; for with the Jews it was such a great holy thing about the Sabbath, since they kept it firmly. But what does the dear Lord Christ do, who is imprisoned and, according to the Pharisees' suggestion, everywhere
has lost? He strikes on both sides, goes through the middle and does what is right, puts the Pharisees to shame and drives them in such a way that everyone sees that they are all fools, even though they have the name that they are the spiritual rulers who teach and lead the people and are therefore considered great doctors.
(3) This then is the sum of this bargain, that he saith unto them browbeaten, They know not what it is to keep the sabbath, or to sanctify it. Your thoughts, he says, are these, as if keeping the Sabbath holy meant doing no good and walking idly. No, this is not how you must interpret the Sabbath; but to keep the Sabbath holy means to hear God's word and to help one's neighbor as much as one can. For God does not want to keep the Sabbath so holy that one should leave or neglect one's neighbor in need. Therefore, if I serve my neighbor and help him, even though I work, I have kept the Sabbath right and well, for I have done a divine work on it. This teaching of the Sabbath, then, is primarily intended to help us understand the third commandment, what it is and what it requires of us; namely, not that we should celebrate and do no good, but that we should hear God's word and act and live according to it. What does it say and teach us? It instructs us that we should love one another according to the other table and do all good. Now if I am to hear and learn God's word on the Sabbath, it certainly follows that I should also do according to God's word on the Sabbath. But if I am to do according to God's word on the Sabbath, it also follows that I must not break the Sabbath or make it unholy by doing good.
4 Therefore, saith Christ, ye Pharisees are very rough teachers, that ye call it breaking the sabbath to do good. For this is what is most preached on the Sabbath, that we should love one another. But what does loving mean? It does not mean to treat one another with thought, or to act by heart, but to be kind to one's neighbor from the heart, to comfort or punish with the word when it is necessary, and to be helpful to him with counsel and action, and thus to help him in body and soul. As St. John says, 1 John 3:18:
"Little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth." That is to love, namely, to do good to one's neighbor. And God commands you to do this on the Sabbath as well as during the week; indeed, He has appointed the Sabbath so that you may hear and learn God's word on it, and love your neighbor and help him, whether kindly with words or helpfully with fist and deed, as your neighbor needs it.
5 Thus the Lord punishes the false saints, who made of God's commandment a perverse mind, and boasted that they kept the Sabbath, saying: I keep the Sabbath so purely that I would not gladly clothe a naked man on the Sabbath, or give a hand to one who is weak and sick. These are wicked men who turn back the word of God. For where God's word commands, "Love your neighbor and do him every good," they say, "Oh no, I would break the Sabbath. This is called unrighteous teaching, and God's command is even wrong. For God commands that even on the Sabbath you love your neighbor, care for him, and do him every good in all that he needs in body and soul. As can be seen in the example that the Lord introduces here. Is it not a disgrace, he says, if an ox or a donkey falls into the water or into a pit on the Sabbath, you do not break the Sabbath by helping the poor little animal? You love the animal on the Sabbath as well as during the week on the workday. If you show such love to an animal on the Sabbath day, why should you not do the same to a human being? Are you not great saints? You can love oxen and donkeys on the Sabbath, work with ropes and poles, and help them out of the water and save them: and I should not love a poor man on the Sabbath, nor help him? O great saints!
(6) Thus it is with those who want to master and teach the Lord Christ, that they must catch themselves and show publicly that they are great fools. As the Pharisees presume to think that the Lord cannot escape them: if he help the poor man who is addicted to water, let him do it.
Sin against the Sabbath and against the third commandment; if he does not help him, he acts against the love of his neighbor and is unmerciful. So, they think, the way is lost to him on both sides. But he gives them such an answer that they are ashamed and do nothing more against him, saying, "You boys, you are unholy and break the Sabbath. What you seek from me, you do yourselves. To keep the Sabbath holy means to hear God's word and to do holy works, to love one's neighbor and to do to him what he needs, to be obedient, to be merciful, to be helpful, comforting, to give food and drink etc. This is also to be done on the Sabbath, for God has commanded that the Sabbath be set apart for holy works, and this is the right worship that pleases God. For He has no need of other foolish services, and does not want people to cry in church all day long, as the papists do. He wants us to hear his word and live and do according to it.
7) This is the reason for the beautiful saying of the prophet Hosea (Cap. 6, 6.): "The Lord delights in love more than in sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God more than in burnt offerings. What does it mean to know God? Nothing else, but hearing God's word. Cause, without the word, no one can know God. But when the word comes and says: I am your God, who sent my Son and gave him to die for you, who accepted you in baptism etc.; by such a word we learn to know God, that he is gracious and merciful. Otherwise, if God had not revealed Himself to us through the Word, no human reason would know or understand that we have such a God who has given us His Son and through the Son wants to make us blessed. So the third commandment says, "You shall keep holy the Sabbath"; that is, you shall hear God's word on the Sabbath and learn to know God. This means to serve God and to sanctify the Sabbath properly. And when the works follow, that one lives and does according to the word of God, that is also called serving God. So the unholy drips and hypocrites, the Pharisees, go to and leave such things standing; they hear God's word.
They do not, nor do they act according to it, yet they want to have the name, they do not break the Sabbath.
(8) So do our papists, kings and princes, who are still opposed to the word, hear mass every day; this is the high and special service with them, which they cannot attend a day. On the other hand, they do not hear a sermon in a month, in half a year, or even in a whole year; and even though they hear a sermon, they do not hear anything from the Scriptures or the true Word of God, but only human fables and lies. This is their worship, that they may sanctify the Sabbath or feast day, which can be done in no other way than by hearing the word of God and doing it. This is the right service and the right mass.
(9) Now with us Christians there should be a Sabbath every day, for we should hear God's word every day and live our lives according to it; nevertheless, Sunday is set aside for the common people, so that on the same day they should hear and learn God's word in particular and live according to it. For the other six days the common people must wait for their work and work with their hands, so that they may be fed; God will gladly let this happen, for he has commanded the work. But the seventh day he will sanctify, that no work shall be done on it, that every man may be unhindered to practice and do the word and works of God, not concerning temporal things, but what God requires and wants in his word.
(10) This is the first part of today's Gospel, that everyone may learn that it is called serving God and sanctifying the Sabbath rightly and well, when we hear God's word and do according to it. Therefore, when you go to the sermon, and afterward, when you come home again and take the book in your hand and read a gospel, this is called serving God, and is much more pleasing to Him than all other sacrifices and holiness, as Hosea says. For he who hears God's word and believes it, learns to know God and knows what He wants from us.
The other piece teaches about humility. For thus the Lord himself interprets the equation at the end: "He who exalts himself,
he shall be humbled, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted." This you shall learn, that it is not only true before God, but also before men. For all men are of this nature, that they are enemies to those who hope. But it must be a particularly wicked man who is hostile to a humble, pious heart; it is natural that everyone should love it. As you can see, when a maid in the house is willing and obedient, and does what she is told with a simple bad heart, she soon takes away the woman's heart, so that she cannot be hostile to her. So it is natural that one cannot be hostile to humble people.
(12) Again, no one can be kind to trustworthy people. As soon as father and mother notice disobedience and pride in a child or servant (for these two bad habits are always together), they say, "I must not do as I am told;" then the heart is gone, and father and mother, lords and ladies, think how to break their pride and humiliate them, or push them out of the house. Secular authorities also do this: whoever wants to be proud and not obedient, they teach him with a rope or a sword through Master Hansen.
How is it then that no one can suffer pride? It is not otherwise than that God wills it, and his word stands there and says that he will confidently help to humble those who are proud and hopeful. As can be seen in all classes, what is rich, learned, sensible, beautiful, strong, powerful and mighty, as soon as they have fallen into hope and have not willingly given themselves down, God has overthrown them, so that they have had to fall. *) For thus it is written: Deus resistit superbis: God Himself sets Himself against the proud. For this reason, those who are worthy of hope burden themselves with one whom they cannot bear, namely, God in heaven, who presses them to death with the whole world.
14. but he who is humble wins over the heart of God and man, so that God, with all his angels, and
*) Here the marginal note: "Hic nominavit (here he named) C., king from D- Item H. V. W. The pope is fallen and still falls all day."
After that, people laugh at you. Angels and people look at such a heart as a particularly noble jewel. Happiness and blessing also follow after it. As can be seen, often the son of a poor citizen or farmer, to whom his father does not have to give three pennies, becomes a chancellor, councilor, etc., and comes to such honors that princes and lords have to take notice of him because of his intellect and art.) Where does such luck come from? From the fact that our Lord God cannot leave it alone: what is humble, he adds to it with his grace and mercy and all that he has. As the 113th Psalm says in vv. 5-8: "Who is like the Lord our God? Who has set himself so high, and looks upon the lowly in heaven and earth. Who lifts up the lowly out of the dust, and exalts the poor out of the dung, to set him beside the princes, beside the rulers of his people." This is what God does to the humble. But those who are proud and want to be on top, and nowhere, do not want to obey, against them he lies down with all disgrace and does not stop sooner, they lie down. Whoever desires examples of this will find enough of them everywhere.
(15) This should move us to humble ourselves, and the children and servants in the house to be obedient and to remember: God wants me to do what I am told; I should not be hopeful, but humble. Therefore what others will not do, that will I do; I will not care that I am lowly, despised, and a Cinderella. For I know that if I conduct myself in this way, God will in His time bring me up and lift me up.
16 So it was with Saul. He was obedient to his father, tended donkeys and considered himself the least of the tribe of Benjamin. To such a donkey driver and poor beggar God sent the prophet Samuel and anointed him king. Because he was humble and unworthy of hope, God bestowed upon him all grace and mercy. But what happened? When Saul was king, his heart swelled so that he became proud and asked for our Lord.
*) Here the marginal note: "Hic nominavit (here he named) D. Gregorium Brück."
God and His word nothing. Therefore, just as God had lifted him up before, when he was humble, so afterwards, when he became proud, He brought him down again, when he stabbed himself out of despair and his race was exterminated.
(17) David, likewise, was humble, and tended the sheep, keeping himself in obedience to his father. If he had been hopeful, he would have said, "Shall I tend the sheep? That is too close for me, I want to climb higher. But he did not do that, but remained in obedience and humility and tended the sheep. He was such a fine, strong, learned young man that he might have said, "What shall I do among the sheep? I want to excel and rise higher. But he remained a shepherd and did what his father told him to do. To such a shepherd God turned his heart and sent the prophet Samuel to anoint him king. And history tells us that David had seven brothers, all of whom were proud and hopeful and thought their young brother was nothing. But God said unto Samuel, Thou shalt not look upon the person, nor inquire of the great men; but thou shalt anoint me king, whom I will shew thee, even the shepherd: of the rest I like not. Also, since God exalted him, David was able to remain humble; otherwise, if he had become proud, God would have overthrown him, like Saul. But because he remains humble, even though he had already been driven out of the kingdom, he comes back to it, and
God still does him such a great honor that he promises him that Christ shall be born from his tribe.
(18) All these things are written and preached to us for this reason, that we should be humble and beware of court, and not say, as the wicked housemaids do, "Who will always work in the kitchen, scouring dishes, washing up and sweeping? I want to go to the dance for that. Must I not always do what I am told etc. Be careful! Will you be proud, what is it, God will oppose you? For he is not a liar, he cannot suffer hope or pride, as we see before our eyes. For what do you think is the fault that things are so bad everywhere in the world, that so many rough, clumsy, unhappy men and women are everywhere? Nothing else, because when they are young, everything wants to be proud, no one does what they are called to do and what they should do. Therefore our Lord God lets them go like swine, so that they will never learn anything righteous. For thus it is decreed: That which is lifted up shall be brought down again; and that which is brought low, he cannot leave it; he must lift it up. Let this be said.
(19) Let this be our worship today, that we learn and keep these things. Praise and thanks be to God that he teaches us this way on this day, and give his grace that we may learn it, keep it, and do it, for the sake of his Son Jesus Christ, amen.