First sermon.*)
The feast of the conception of our Lord Jesus Christ is approaching. In honor, praise and thanksgiving of the same we want to present this Evan
The feast is about the Gospel, so that this article may remain known in our Church. Thus writes St. Lucas of the Historia of this feast:
Luc. 1, 26-38.
And in the sixth moon the angel Gabriel was sent by God into a city of Galilee, which is called Nazareth, unto a virgin, which was trusted unto a man, whose name was Joseph, of the house of David: and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail. Blessed art thou; the Lord is with thee, thou that givest gift among women. When she saw him, she was frightened by his words and thought: What greeting is this? And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bear a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be called great and a son of the Most High, and God the Lord shall give him the throne of his father David; and he shall be king over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom shall have no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be? for I know of no man. The angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, thy friend, is also with child with a son, in her old age, and now goeth in the sixth moon, which is in cry, that she is barren. For with God no thing is impossible. And Mary said, Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord: be it done unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
This feast is celebrated in faith for the sake of the article, because we say: "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. The women call it "lifting up"; the faith calls it "receiving". Mary has lifted up or conceived of the Holy Spirit. This article must remain in Christianity, for it is an excellent, high article, which is opposed first of all by the devil, and then also by all those who keep company with the devil. And we Christians are called to believe and confess such articles as are most foolish in the sight of the world.
(2) In the sight of reason, it is a foolish thing for us Christians to believe and confess. All women, no matter how great and high they may be, become pregnant in one way, namely,
*) Held publicly in the parish church in 1532, on Palm Sunday afternoon, which was the evening before the Annunciation.
as it is written, Gen. 1, 27. 28.: "God created man in His image, He created them male and female. And God blessed them, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth" etc. But with Mary, God does a special thing that was never heard of before in the world, and shall never happen again as long as the world stands: that she becomes pregnant and a mother, not of a man, but of the Holy Spirit. It is ridiculous in the sight of reason, in the sight of all wise and prudent men; and the wiser and wiser they are, the more foolish they become that Christians believe and confess such things, which are impossible in the sight of all reason.
3 In German, it is customary to say, "If I do as other people do, I will not fool them. This is a common saying, and is finely spoken and has its measures. But in the articles of faith we must put this saying into a corner and speak: Will
If I am to be a Christian, I must believe and do what other people do not believe and do not do, yes, I must make it even strange and weird, so that other people are offended and annoyed by it. Like this, that I should believe that Mary, the pure virgin, is pregnant and has become a mother, and yet no one on earth knows about it but she alone. Such a thing is foolish and impossible. For if such a thing had happened before, it would have a semblance and could be believed. But that God chose this virgin alone from all women and performed such a miraculous work with her, this makes the deal unbelievable. Nevertheless, it is true that Mary is pregnant and has become a mother, and yet she is a pure virgin; and a true, natural virgin, not a stone, wooden virgin, but a born virgin. Just as another man has flesh and blood, and mortal flesh, so she also has flesh and blood, and is a mortal man, like another woman. And yet God does something special with her, that she bears a son, is the mother of him, carries him, gives birth to him, nurses him, and no one knows about it, except she alone.
(4) We Christians alone believe this article, and are therefore considered fools and fools in the world. When Turks and Jews hear this, they laugh and mock at us, and our clever ones laugh at us too. Just as all articles in our faith seem foolish and ridiculous to reason, so this article also seems foolish and ridiculous, that the angel here proclaims that Mary shall conceive and become a mother, and bear a son: who shall not only be true man, but also true God. We Christians are great fools before the world to believe that Mary is the true mother of this child and yet is a pure virgin. For such is not only contrary to all reason, but also contrary to God's creation, who said to Adam and Eve, "Be fruitful and multiply." All women who become pregnant must say: We are fruitful and multiply from our husbands. But Mary conceived and said, "I am fruitful and multiply, but without a husband. This is now
high and great, that the angel saith unto her, Thou shalt conceive in the womb, and bear a son, and shalt call his name Jesus."
005 But this is greater and higher, that he saith further, The son which thou shalt bear shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and his kingdom shall have no end. With this he paints this child and this fruit so that heaven and earth are too close to him. This seems foolish to nature and reason. How is it possible, says reason, that this child should be called the Son of the Most High, and yet be the natural son of a poor, mortal servant? Now the angel thus proclaims, and we Christians also thus believe, that Mary is not only a pure virgin, and yet conceives and becomes the mother of a natural son; but also that the same son, whom Mary conceived, bore, nursed and waited for, is called and is truly the Son of God, just as a mother nurses and waits for her natural child. This first of all offends all the wisdom of the world and especially annoys the Jews. And indeed, if the world is to stand longer, one will well realize what the devil will raise against this article through the mobs; they are already beginning to poke at this article and to sow their poison against it.
(6) Therefore, let us grasp this article well and hold fast to it, so that we do not hear what reason has devised here, but what God's Word says about it. This article is firmly attested both in the Old and New Testaments; therefore, it must surely be true. If it were right and good, I could ridicule it just as cleverly as they ridicule it, and could find as sharp a head among us to outsmart it as they outsmart it. They think that no one can calculate it as sharply as they do, and consider us great fools. But however great fools we are, we also understand their foolishness, which they consider to be great cleverness, and thus say: "Because it seems so foolish to them, we believe it to the praise of our Lord God, to our blessedness and to the defiance of the fools.
I could also calculate and count on my fingers that no woman or virgin (to speak according to nature and reason) would become pregnant of herself. And it would not only be foolish, but also an evil, dangerous example, if a woman or virgin wanted to say that she was pregnant by herself. But we have here a Master above us, God in heaven, who gives this virgin testimony that she has become pregnant and a mother without a man.
7 He has reserved for himself that he has more wise men to create than one alone. In the beginning, he did not create man and woman at the same time. He does not pour out his art all at once, as did that fencing master who taught his pupil everything at once and was then paid by him; but he remains master and creator forever, and we shall know no end to his art, power and wisdom. He created Adam from a lump of earth and breathed into his nostrils the living breath, so that man became a living soul. Then he created Evam from the man's rib. Now he could have created man and woman at the same time and in the same way, but he did not want to do it. He could have created Evam alone first and let other men be born from her: but he did not want to do it either; but created Adam first, then Evam, then Adam and Evam together, and arranged it so that from human blood and seed all men should be born; as St. Paul says, Acts 17, 26. 17, 26: "He hath made that of One blood of all men shall dwell generations out of all the face of the earth." These are three ways to create human beings.
(8) But as our Lord God did not want to be captive to create all men either from the earth's womb, or from the man's womb, or from human seed, so much less did he want to be captive to keep one of the former wise men; but he established a new one, which should have been the fourth wise, namely, that he once wanted to create a child from a virgin; as the prophet Isaiah, chapter 7, says, v. 14: "The Lord is with us.
will give you a sign; behold, a virgin is with child and will give birth to a son, whom she will call Immanuel. As if he wanted to say: God does not want to keep his order of the creature here, but to make a new one. A virgin shall conceive, and this shall be a sign or miracle. But here he keeps the order almost in half, that the child is born of a virgin. There is no man and woman, but there is one, the woman, and she stands alone, without a man.
(9) So then we Christians should say: According to reason it is foolish that a virgin should conceive and become a mother, and bear a son who is not only her natural son, but also God's natural son. But here I must put reason and human prudence under the bench, and not hear what reason says about it, but what God says in His Word. For He who is above in heaven and has created all reason will know something more than all men's reason knows. And he who has put eyes in my head and in yours will see further than I and you see, as the 94th Psalm says v. 9: "He who planted the ear, should he not hear? He that made the eye, shall he not see?" The Creator must be greater, wiser and wiser than the creature.
(10) Therefore, we should give ourselves over to the Word and not investigate or puzzle any further. But God lets us proclaim in the Word that this child is true God and true man, born from eternity of the Father, and born in time of a true, natural woman's image, who has natural limbs like another woman's image, and cares for her child like another mother; without this conception and birth taking place supernaturally, and this son being born of a virgin. In such a word of God we should give ourselves captive; for we cannot fathom it with our reason, but must drown in it, if we want to speculate it out; as the clever ones drown in it, who want to calculate it with reason.
11 Now this is the angel's announcement of how our faith holds, as we speak:
I believe in Jesus Christ etc., conceived by the Holy Spirit; that is: I believe that the Virgin Mary became pregnant with a Son, who is also God's only Son. By whom did she become pregnant? By no one, but herself. She stands alone and without a man, and no one comes to her but the Holy Spirit alone.
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be? for I know of no man. The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born of you will be called the Son of God.
Then Mary disputes with the angel how this will happen. At that time, people did not think much of virginity. Now the angel comes to Mary and speaks kindly to her, saying that she is kind and pleasing to God and man, and brings the message that she shall conceive and bear a son, who shall be called the Son of God. Then thoughts occurred to her that she thought: "I am a poor little Cinderella; shall I now become a mother and bear a son, and know of no man? Who will believe that I am pregnant by myself? So she feels that she is led by this message of the angel into danger of death. Therefore she thinks: Will they find out from me that I am pregnant, and then ask me: how will I prove that I do not know about any man? And this is also the truth; if our Lord God had not kept a special watch over Mary, it is no wonder that she would have been stoned or burned. For to be with child, and yet not to know of any man who is the child's father. Father be, there stone and fire belongs to under Moses. Because this conception should not happen as it is the common way in the world, Mary is afraid and asks how it will happen.
013 Then the angel gives the gloss, saying, Mary, if thou wilt speak of this according to reason, thou shalt never conceive; and though thou be with child, yet must thou die according to the law. But you have a great advantage: "The Holy One.
Spirit will come upon you." As if he wanted to say: I will announce the right bridegroom to you; the Holy Spirit will be with you; let him see to it that you become pregnant, "and the power of the Most High will overshadow you"; the Most High God will thus provide, so that neither the devil nor the whole world can raise anything against you. You will be a mother and bear a son, and yet no one will know about it except the Holy Spirit and God Most High alone. Therefore, let our Lord God see to it that it is brought forth and led out. If he is involved, let us see who will prevent it. For what power is there on earth that can hinder the Most High? Yes, the power of the Most High will overshadow you and darken you so that the devil will never notice how you become a mother, and this miracle of God will be hidden from all the world. You will be taken for the mother of this child, but no one will know how you will become a mother until it is revealed in its time. Therefore, do not be afraid; you will be safe.
And Mary said, Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord: let it be done unto me according to thy word.
14 On the day and at the moment when Mary gave her consent to the angel Gabriel, she was taken up with Christ. The Holy Spirit made her fruitful in the hour when she said: "Let it be done to me according to your word", and she became God's mother, and Christ was both God and perfect man in one person. Even though he was small, at that moment he was both God and man, a child in his mother's womb, and Mary is God's mother.
(15) As I have said, the Turks and Jews laugh at this article and think that it is a fine, high art that they can laugh at it in this way. But if it were good, we could laugh at it just as well as they. But we Christians should hold fast to this article and stick to it. For these things were proclaimed from the beginning, that the Son of God should become man, and that his mother should be a virgin; as the first promise,
which God gave soon after Adam's fall (Gen. 3:15): "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. He does not say: the man's seed shall do it; but: the woman's seed. Therefore the mother of the serpent must be a virgin. After this the dear fathers and prophets continued to proclaim it, until finally the dear apostles preached it to all the world, and now we are also baptized into it and called Christians, because we believe and confess such things. That is why we should stick to it. Now if in the last days there come any scribblers and talk against this article, see that you stand firm.
(16) For it is in this article that we are concerned. Christ asked to be lifted up when we are lifted up, but without sin, because he wanted to sanctify us through and through. We are conceived and born in sins, whether emperor, king, prince, rich or poor; all that is called and is man is conceived in sins, Psalm 51:7. But Christ alone has the title and glory of being conceived by the Holy Spirit. We are conceived in sins, and are such people, since flesh and blood, and all that we have about us, is unclean and corrupted by sin; as every one well feels in himself, and sees in other men, that we and all the world are full of evil desire, full of hope, full of devils, and possessed with grievous unbelief. This is how we are conceived and born. For all men, how many conceive and are born, are conceived and born after the common manner and creation, of which it is written, Genesis 2:28: "Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth." Christ did not want to be found in such an unclean, sinful conception and birth. He became a real, true, natural man, but was not conceived and born in sin, like other Adam children. Therefore his mother had to be a virgin, whom no man had touched, so that he would not be conceived and born in a curse, but without sin, and the devil would have no right or power over him. The Holy Spirit alone was there and worked this conception in her virgin body. The Mother Ma
ria was born of sinful parents and in sins like us, but the Holy Spirit came upon her and sanctified and purified her, so that this child was born of flesh and blood, but not of sinful flesh and blood. The Holy Spirit made the Virgin Mary remain a true, natural human being who had flesh and blood like we have. But He swept the sin out of her flesh and blood, so that she would become the mother of a pure child, who would not be poisoned with sins like us.
17. it is also that the angel says: "the holy thing that is born in you will be called the Son of God. For soon after Mary conceived, she was a holy mother, full of the Holy Spirit, and her fruit was a holy, pure fruit, both God and perfect man in One Person. And after that the holy mother gave birth to God's Son, a holy man, without any sin. His blood may have been red and his flesh white, he sucked his mother's breasts, ate porridge, cried, slept, like another child; but his flesh and blood is holy, pure flesh and blood. He is a holy man, son of a holy virgin and Son of God, true God and man in One Person.
(18) This article we preach from this day, that our Lord Jesus Christ is truly God and man, in One Person, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. Which article is our sole defiance against the devil, yea, against all angels. "For he nowhere taketh the angels unto himself," as Heb. 2:16. is written, "but the seed of Abraha he taketh unto himself." He did not become God and angel, but God and man. He did not take upon Himself the angelic nature, but the seed of Abrahä, which is a man, having flesh and blood. That is why he is called Immanuel, God with us: not only because he is around us and with us, and dwells among us, which would be enough; but also because he has become what we are. He came so close to us that he took to himself the very flesh, blood, and bone (yet without sin) that we have. This defiance hears
the devil does not like that our flesh and blood is the Son of God, yes, God Himself, and reigns in heaven over all. In former times, the Symbolum Nicänum or Confession of Faith, which was made at Nicaea at the Concilio, was sung every Sunday in church; and when the words were sung: Et homo factus est (and became man), everyone fell on his knees. This was a fine, praiseworthy custom, and should still be kept in such a way that one thanked God from the bottom of one's heart for the Incarnation of Christ, that He has placed us in such great, high honor, and has allowed His Son to become man.
For otherwise it seems as if God is hostile to the world. It is so shameful in the world, and God allows so many hordes to come and so many murders and misfortunes to happen, that someone would think that God alone is the angel God and Lord and does not care about mankind. But here we see that God is so close to us humans that He is not so close to any creature as He is to us; and we humans, in turn, are not so close to any creature as we are to God. Sun and
Moon do not come as close to us as God has come close to us, for He has come into our flesh and blood. God does not reign over us alone, nor does He dwell in us alone, but has also personally wanted to become man.
20, Such grace we celebrate today, that we may thank God for cleansing our impure, unholy conception and birth by His holy conception and birth, taking away the curse from us and bringing blessing upon us. We have by nature an impure, sinful conception and birth: but Christ has a pure, holy conception and birth; and by his holy conception and birth our impure nature, flesh and blood are blessed and sanctified. Therefore we are put into baptism, so that we may enjoy His holy conception and birth through the means of His Word, Sacrament and Spirit. Would God that we also thanked Him for such grace, and did not become so weary and tired of hearing and learning such things; as, unfortunately, the majority of the world does, thinking they can do it once they have heard it.