V.1-8. Then he got into the ship and crossed over again, and came to his city. And, behold, they brought unto him a sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Be of good cheer, my son; thy sins be forgiven thee. And behold, some of the scribes said within themselves: This one blasphemes God. And when JE saw their thoughts, he said, Why think ye evil in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee? or to say, Arise and walk? But that ye might know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, he said unto him that was sick of the palsy, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go home. And he arose, and went home. When the people saw this, they marveled and praised God, who had given such power to man.
Included in this chapter:
First, the miracle on the gouty man.
Secondly, the profession of Matthaei.
Third, the question of fasting.
Fourth: The twofold miracle, on the woman with the blood, and on the dead daughter Jairi.
Fifth, the miracle of the two blind men.
Sixth, the general narrative of Christ's teaching and the works he did for many others.
From the gouty man.
1 Lucas, Cap. 5, 18. ff, and Marcus, Cap. 2, 3. ff., describe more extensively the faith of those who brought the gout-broken man to Jesus etc. Here see what pleasure Christ has in faith, that he does not call all that which these did for the sake of the gout-broken man works or a request. For Matthew does not say, Jesus saw their request, their effort and works, but their faith itself, out of
To whom these works and their silent prayer flowed. This means, in truth, to hear the mute, because these people speak nothing, pray nothing, ask nothing with their mouths, but cry out with their faith itself and with their deeds, so that he puts everything else aside and sees nothing but their faith. And by this we are encouraged to believe, and also to pray for others in such a way.
2 Likewise, we see here that God also hears silent prayers, that is, the desire and longing of the heart, without verbal word, so that we should know that we can always pray; as Luc. 18, 1. commands, "that one should always pray and not be slack. For as long as we groan in our hearts, long for something, and anxiously want something from God, so long do we pray, not with our mouths, but with the inexpressible groaning of our hearts, and with an everlasting cry, as Moses cried out, when the Lord said to him, "Why do you cry out to me?" etc., Ex. 14, 15.
And here the question of one's own faith and the faith of others must be dealt with. It is a common saying that little children are baptized in the faith of the church because they have no faith of their own. This must be understood with caution. On the faith of the church, that is, by the church praying in faith, the little children are given their own faith, just as here, by the people bringing the gouty man to JEsu praying in faith, the gouty man was given the health he did not have. For the prayer of faith is omnipotent; as Christ says, "All things are possible to him that believeth" [Marc. 9, 23.]. Although we do not always feel that what we ask in faith is there, it is certainly obtained and will be seen in its time.
Now the speeches and words at this miracle must be dealt with. The
first is the word of Christ: "Be of good cheer, my son, your sins are forgiven you". With this word Christ depicts himself as he is. And this speech is a true image of his heart, and what his heart is full of, his mouth passes over, namely, that his inclination is entirely to forgive sins gladly and to deliver from punishment. But this is only to those who are sorrowful and in need of such. He does not say this to the Pharisees or to other secure people (of whom there was a great multitude). For these have no need of remission of sins, or of health; but are in health, and have no need of a physician.
Therefore, a distinction must always be made among people according to their nature. Some are secure and live in peace; others are sorrowful and poor, that is, they are in need. And when these are mixed together, nothing can be taught or learned rightly. For Christ and his word belong only to the afflicted; the law, the threats, terrors etc. belong only to the secure. Yes, those who write against us and cry out that our gospel is too sweet and deceives men are the greatest asses, although it is true that the gospel is too sweet for the secure and godless, just as, on the contrary, the law is too hard for the fearful. Therefore, both those who want to set the law over all men, whether they are secure or fearful, and those who want to set the gospel over all, are wrong. For in this way the law and the gospel are mixed together to the greatest harm. For in this way it happens that the godly, whom mail should comfort with the gospel, are crucified by the law, and the ungodly, whom one should frighten with the law, are hardened by the gospel etc. Therefore Paul teaches Timothy that he should rightly divide the word of God [2 Tim. 2, 15], as Christ does here, who presents the gospel to the afflicted gout-breaker, but punishes the Pharisees as blasphemers and wicked men. "Why do you think such evil in your hearts?" he says. To the gout-broken
But he does not say, "Why do you think so evil? Neither does he say to the Pharisees, "Be of good cheer," etc., sharing the word of God very well.
Those who pay attention to this difference are rare. For under the papacy, all this was in the greatest confusion. Therefore they could not teach what faith and works were, or how they differed from each other, or how they were to be distinguished from each other, as even today our Pharisees, the Papists, and other heretics do not know.
7 Therefore, these words of Christ, which are of infinite sweetness, must be further elaborated. First he speaks, "My Son." He calls the one Son, whom yet he describes as a sinner, saying, "Thy sins" etc. How is he his son, since he is a sinner? Who can rhyme this together? Can a teacher of the law, a philosopher, a monk, or reason do this? All these will declare: These are impossible things, that one should be called a son, and at the same time be a sinner. But faith rhymes it so that there are two kinds of sinners: A fearful and broken sinner, who would like to be rid of sin, is a son. But a sure sinner, and one who does not recognize his sin, but makes himself believe that he is righteous, is an enemy and a devil. The former is raised up, but the latter is punished.
8. secondly, it says, "Be of good courage, be strong," etc. He does not use the word, "believe," but a far more emphatic and magnificent: "Be bold, undaunted, undaunted." Though sins make thee fainthearted and cast thee down, yet shun not the evil, but meet it the more courageously. Rise up, and be bold. Here behold the most learned physician, how beautifully and surely he knows the diseases of a troubled conscience. He says: "I see that you are frightened and that you do not have the courage to hope for help; this comes from your sins. And though they make thee fainthearted and despairing, yet put something else in thine heart than thy sins: Hear me.
9 Third, he says, "Your sins are forgiven." Before he heals the disease of the gout, he does it like a perfect physician, and first takes away, as they say, the cause of the disease, namely sin. As if he wanted to say: It is easy to heal a disease of the body if the disease of the soul is taken away, which is the cause of the bodily disease. Therefore, he first heals and raises the mind, and after the mind is raised, the body is already more than half helped.
(10) But there is an emphasis in the word "they are forgiven," namely, that no man can be freed from sins without the forgiveness of them. But where there is forgiveness, there is no satisfaction or merit, but a free gift. And this is the teaching of the gospel, which is contrary to the teaching of the law.
Fourthly, the words "you", "your" must be inculcated, by which two things are done. First, it is affirmed that you are a sinner, because the forgiveness is given to you, and it is a forgiveness of your sins. Secondly, that you know that they are not given to another, but to you, that is, that you remember not St. Peter or Isaiam, but you; you, you sinner, I say, this evangelical voice addresses etc.
(12) Then it is described how this doctrine is full of offence, as Paul says: "Christ is an offence to the Jews," 1 Cor. 1:23. For this word, "Thy sins be forgiven thee," is intolerable to all those who deal in laws and works. For the whole meaning of those who deal with the law is this: one must satisfy God by works; as all their deeds, speeches and writings testify.
(13) For this reason also our gospel is hated in like manner by our Pharisees, because they cannot bear the word, "Thy sins be forgiven thee. For these two things are contrary to human reason: one should keep the law, and yet those who do not are forgiven, even though they have not kept the law.
(14) All this flows from the error that they think man can fulfill the law and that God wants to be atoned for sins in this way, both of which are false. But they do not want it to be said that it is false; therefore they grumble when they hear that sins are not sufficiently atoned for, but that they are taken away by forgiveness, just as they get angry when they hear that we fulfill the law in vain. Therefore here the Pharisees, who were very angry, say, "This one blasphemes God." For they could find nothing harsher than to call it blasphemy, and that under the appearance of being right, because (according to their conceit) by it they were acting contrary to the law of God, since the law was not to be enacted but fulfilled, but it was for God alone to enact the law. Therefore, the offense of the Pharisees was, in appearance, very just, just as today and always the offense and zeal for good works seems to be very just. For they do not understand what the law or good works are, but object to them: God, God, God gave the law; it is the law of God, it is the law of God; God commanded to keep the law. With these speeches they close their ears, and say: blasphemy, blasphemy etc.
15 But Christ answered reluctantly: "Why do you think such evil in your hearts? As if he wanted to say: "How poisonous you are, that you begrudge people the grace of God, since you lose nothing by it! Here he covertly punishes their avarice and idolatry. For the priests thought that if someone wanted to make atonement for God, this had to be done through sacrifices and the intercession of the priests; as there are commandments and examples of this in the Law of Moses and in the books of the kings. But now that Christ publicly says that God will be reconciled through faith alone/without sacrifices and without their intercession, they are worried because of their belly, and think to themselves: "If it is possible to get grace through faith alone, without our sacrifices, then we will have to perish completely. And not only
This, but the whole Moses with his sacrifices will fall over the heap. For who will continue to sacrifice when one can propitiate God by faith? etc. Therefore it is certain that he is a blasphemer against the sacrifices and against Moses, consequently also against God.
(16) It is the same with all things in the priesthood today. When they hear that a man is saved by faith without works and sacrifices, they become quite furious, because they realize that this is detrimental to their belly, and they claim that it is blasphemy, because this doctrine of faith, which teaches against their sacrifices, which are sold for money, is supposed to be against the church, and therefore against God; although they have less proof for themselves from Scripture than the Pharisees.
17 Christ then sharply rebukes them in a mocking (ironica) unwilling speech, pitying him that they were so ill-disposed against him, saying, "Which is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? As if to say, "Yes, you are fine fellows, you know well which is easier or harder to say, this or that, one as well as the other. If you had the sacrifices of it for your belly, you would let both, the gout and the sin, have the misfortune, and would not ask much, which would be easy or heavier.
18) However, besides this mockery, he also punishes their opinion, because they would have said that it is easier to forgive sin than to heal a gout-ridden man, because they had the certain opinion that they could obtain forgiveness of sins for themselves and others through their sacrifices and works, which in and of themselves pleased God; but to heal a gout-ridden man, they would not have presumed so easily. Therefore Christ decides and says: "That you may know" that your sacrifices and merits cannot forgive sins, "I will do both: I will forgive sin and heal the gout without any sacrifice and without your merit, although you think,
1) For this translation of opera operata, see Walch, St. Louis Edition, vol. 19, 440.
both are impossible for me. So that you may see that this is easy for me (namely, to forgive sins without sacrifice), which seems to be impossible for you, and on the other hand that this is something impossible for you (namely, to heal the gout by sacrifice), which is something easy for me. Therefore, it is as I have said: Ye know not what is easy, nor what is hard. For you measure me by the law and by your works. But everything is easy for me, not only possible.
Of the calling of Matthew.
V. 9-13. And as Jesus departed from thence, he saw a man sitting at the receipt of custom, whose name was Matthew, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat in the house, behold, there came many publicans and sinners, and sat at meat with JEsu and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your Master eat with tax collectors and sinners? When JE heard this, he said to them: The strong have no need of a physician, but the sick. But go and learn what this is: I am pleased with mercy, and not with sacrifice. I have come to call sinners to repentance, not the pious.
19 Here you see once again that Christ's ministry is to save sinners. He testifies to this first by deed, then by word. The deed consists in the fact that he does not call the Pharisees or the saints, but a tax collector. He calls him in such a way that he not only makes him righteous through the forgiveness of sins, but also sets him up as an apostle, who should then himself administer this ministry among all the Gentiles who are to be saved from sins.
20 And this is a wonderful comfort, that ex chooses such unworthy sinners to be apostles, so that they would not be proud because of such a high office, or so that not a single sinner would have any distrust or despair of Christ. For who are those who sit in the highest choir and in the innermost council of the saints? Truly, they are outstanding sinners and tax collectors.
According to their righteousness, they should sit in the midst of hell. Therefore Peter has no cause to despise me or to boast against me, however great a sinner I am; for he has cause to think back, namely, that he has been a good comrade of sinners in the greatest sins etc.
(21) And in this the Pharisees (as was said above, 14) were very angry, who hated sins and sinners, according to the precept of the law, and considered that all this was done against the law. But if something is done against the law, one has (according to reason) a very just cause to be angry about it; because it is just as much as if it were done against God. This is also an annoyance today, that we exalt grace in such a way that it seems as if all laws and discipline were abolished. In short, the gospel is an offense to the Jews (that is, those who deal in works and insist on the law), and a foolishness to the Gentiles (that is, the "epicureans" and atheists) [1 Cor. 1:23]. They rage against it as if it were the most dangerous plague; these ridicule it as a vain and idle opinion of men. The former consider it blasphemy, the latter fairy tales. But the church and Christ pass through the midst of these, and with the right ear despise blasphemies, and with the left the fables, and live in the truth of faith, which worships God without blasphemies and fables.
22) But this story can be elaborated by a vivid description (proZopopooias), how Christ is there happily sitting among the tax collectors as a companion of sinners, and how he, as it were, approves of their life. Meanwhile the Pharisees stand around them, frowning, mouthing, unwilling, judging, condemning, etc., that is, they only look at the law against the one who is not under the law, nor can be, and who redeems all from the law.
The speech that Jesus gave is very sweet, and contains in itself: first, a sentence; second, a sentence of Scripture. The sentence is taken from nature:
"The healthy have no need of the physician." Here Christ philosophizes, that is, he speaks of the nature of things, and he applies this philosophy very well to his purpose; that is, he uses philosophy, that is, the knowledge of natural things, correctly. The other philosophers only speculate. They say how nature does things this way and that, but they do not teach what these things mean; as here Christ beautifully applies the art of medicine to religion or faith.
The scripture is beautiful and powerful against the law, against sacrifices and works, and deserves to be treated in a special sermon, because here it abolishes the law, even condemns it in the highest parts of worship, namely in the sacrifices, and prefers brotherly love to them etc.
25 Here the word "I will" (volo) or I have pleasure must be inculcated. Who is it that says: "I will"? The majestic God, with whom everything has the same will at the same time; his will suffers no resistance, nor can it be changed so that it could will something else. Therefore, we have a certain knowledge in this word, and we are quite sure about the divine will. What do we care if sin, the law, death, the flesh, the world, wants something else? If God's will is for us, who can be against us? Here is the revealed word of God: Volo, this is what I want, this is how I am minded. And this word does not only mean to want something, but to take pleasure in it, to delight in it, to desire it from the heart, so that we can be sure of God's pleasure and approval in every way.
(26) Here we can digress a little, namely, how much trouble people have taken to know what pleases God or what His will is. For this reason, countless sects and ways have been invented through which people have searched for God's will. And behold, all of them have passed by this revealed, public and clear word "I will". So great is the blindness and stupidity of unbelief, because one has not believed that this word, spoken by
God is spoken in earnest, but one has only looked at the syllables according to the art of speech, and has passed it by. This one word could have prevented all monasteries, sects, and special ways of life, if one had paid attention to it. For what do all sects seek but this: O that I might know what God wants, what pleases Him? I want to put on a robe of harshness, a monk's habit, a sackcloth; perhaps it will please God. And in short, all seek this will of God, who says, "I will." And behold, Him who offers Himself freely and cries, "I will," Him they do not see or hear. This blindness and misery of men is greater than can be expressed, that they seek God by their own suggestions, and reject Him, since He offers Himself by His own words. The saying of Isaiah actually belongs to this: "I am sought by those who did not ask for me; I am found by those who did not seek me" [Is. 65, 1]. For God cannot suffer that he is sought by our suggestions, since he presents himself in such a way that one can find him very easily.
27 "In mercy." Having revealed himself and his heart's desire by the word, "I will" [or I am well pleased, he here gives the child his name, and declares what that is which he so heartily desires, saying, "Mercy." This word must also be inculcated against all other works that are not mercy, especially, since the Lord himself insists on it, against the greatest works of the whole synagogue, also against those that were prescribed in Moses, namely against the sacrifices, as much more against the self-chosen works of the monks, pilgrimages, and other services, by which not mercy but one's own righteousness is sought.
(28) Hereupon [one can also explain] what mercy is, and how many duties belong to it. But it is mercy, that one may do good to his neighbor in his misery or need. Here one can enumerate the needs of one's neighbor, and then one will also know what 'mercy' is.
29. but there is a need or misery of the
Neighbor, 1) the sin. Therefore he must be taught, reminded, punished, borne, comforted. Behold, how many kinds of mercy are manifested in this single trouble? And this mercy the sectirians and the monks leave, who flee from the troubles etc., or those who have gone after their own works etc., while yet God speaks that he wants ^mercy]: "I will, [I am well pleased with] mercy."
30. 2) Sadness, illness, or other deficiencies of the body. In how many ways can a man help his neighbor? If not by deed, money, effort, favor, at least by favor and a good word. And in all this he knows that God also says to him: I will, I am pleased with it, persevere in it, my son, and you will walk on the right path. And with how great a cost should we not purchase this honor, that the man in these works of his is certain that this voice of God is as a halo upon his head: I will have this, I am well pleased with it? With how great joy would we not do all this, if we believed this voice, I am well pleased Dt mercy? O wretched Pharisees, and all works saints, who have not this wreath on their head. Therefore, the saints are also painted with a holy wreath of honor around their head, to indicate that they walk in the word of God and do everything.
31. 3) Poverty and other things more etc. Who can enumerate all the ways in which mercy can be exercised? Namely, by giving bread, drink, clothing etc. as Christ indicates Matth. 25, 35. 36: "I was hungry, and you fed me. I have been thirsty, and you have given me drink. I was a guest, and you gave me shelter. I have been naked, and you have clothed me. I have been sick, and you have visited me. I have been a prisoner, and you have come to me." The saints of works, who prefer to live on other people's goods and consume the wealth of others, do not have all this.
but in the meantime walk idly in their righteousness. These false saints should have the devil's dirt painted around their heads instead of the scroll of the halo.
The third word is: "And not in the sacrifice. This is a harsh and terrifying thunderclap of the divine pronouncement on the supreme work, namely, on the sacrifice, wherein the worship itself consists. And it would have been hard enough, because he would have made such a comparison between your sacrifice and mercy, which is not equally favorable about both, namely in this way: "The sacrifice is pleasant to me; but the mercy is still more pleasant to me. Even this would have been unbearable enough, if the mercy had been preferred to the sacrifice.
But he also does not allow the sacrifice this place, that he lets it count something next to the mercy, namely in such a way: I leave the sacrifice in its honor and permit it, but the mercy I want etc.' Even this place of honor he does not concede to it, although it is very small and very detestable to the saints of works, but he destroys it absolutely and says: I do not want the sacrifice, I have no pleasure in the sacrifice etc. Nothing can sound more blasphemous in the ears of those who dealt with the sacrifices than this word. But he is not concerned that they are offended by it; he continues and confidently says: "I do not want the sacrifice", "I am not pleased with it, my soul abhors it"; as he also says in Isaiah in the first and last chapter [Is. 1, 11. ff. Cap. 66, 2. 3.].
34 Here one rightly asks: why does God so utterly abhor the sacrifice, which He has very much approved with many fathers, and moreover everything that a righteous person does in faith is pleasing? To this is answered from the 18th Psalm, v. 26, 27: "With the saints thou art holy, and with the perverse thou art perverse" etc. A distinction must be made between the persons of the holy and the perverse. For since the saints live rightly in faith toward God and in love toward their neighbor, therefore everything they do, whether it be sacrifices or works, pleases God.
of their hands etc. Yes, the Lord is so pleased with His people that even their sins and errors do not harm them; and God is holy with the saints even when they sin. On the other hand, because the wicked live wickedly, and do not care about faith toward God and mercy toward their neighbor, but only magnify their sacrifices and works and seek glory in them, God is also wicked with them, and is also wicked to them. As if he wanted to say: Because you reject my commandment of faith and mercy and consider it completely worthless, I also do not want to consider your highest work, the sacrifice; indeed, I do not want it at all. There is so much missing that your sins should not harm you, that even your highest merits become your highest sins. Why is that? Because I do to you as you do to me. If you boo there, I boo here. You have no pleasure in all that is mine; therefore I have no pleasure in all that is yours. So we are separated. What you have the highest pleasure in, namely in the sacrifice, I have the highest displeasure in, because your person is not as I want it to be etc.
I have come to call sinners to repentance, not the pious.
(35) It is a great comfort that the Lord himself says that this is his calling, or that this is why he was sent by the Father, to call sinners and not the righteous. For that he saith, "I am come," is as much as when he saith elsewhere, "I am sent." For he came because the Father willed it so, because he commanded it, because he sent him. Therefore he says it is the Father's will that he should call sinners, and not the righteous. Therefore he did not come to judge the world, but to save the world, John 3:17, according to the will of the Father.
36 Therefore it is established, first, that the ministry of Christ is not the ministry of sin, nor of death, but of righteousness and life; which the Father would have us believe. etc.
Secondly, with these words Christ mocks the Pharisees, who might have said: Do we not also teach that sinners should turn to repentance? What new thing do you bring forward? Does not the ministry of Moses or the Law also call sinners to repentance? In (he says), you want to be righteous, yet you are sinners, and do nothing else but declare both yourselves and others to be righteous, yet they are terrible sinners before God. These righteous ones I do not call to repentance, nor do they need repentance, since they are righteous according to your judgment. Go then always, ye righteous, with your righteous, be saints with your saints, and let me deal with my sinners, until I also make them righteous; yet not, as ye do, by works of the law, but by grace and forgiveness. You call sinners to repentance according to the righteousness of the law, so that you may make them double-minded sinners, just as you are. I call to repentance, according to the forgiveness of sins, that I may make twofold righteous, even as you are in grace and truth. In grace, because their sins are forgiven. In truth, because they truly begin to be godly and to do good works. You make two-fold sinners by your repentance, namely by guilt and falsehood. By guilt, because they are more proud because of the righteousness of the law than when they were yet sinners. By falsehood, because they think that the works they have invented are good. So they have far more guilt on them, both inwardly in their hearts, because of their unbelief and hopeful trust, and outwardly, because of their works; for there they are liars and hypocrites, because of the false appearance of the works, and the glory of them. Such people are you also. Ans with you and such saints; you do not belong to my repentance.
(38) This must be very well noted against the perverse and those who abuse the grace of God, or, as Jude says in his epistle (v. 4), "those who draw the grace of God upon themselves. For very many today abuse Christian salvation, and say: Grace, grace! therefore it is not necessary to do good or to suffer evil. These make
grace a will of courage, that is, a freedom to do what they want according to their own desires, and from the forgiveness of sins a freedom to sin, as all too many do today. But Christ speaks here: He does call sinners, but not to the freedom to sin, nor even to do what they want according to their desires, but to repentance, namely to the death of sins; as Paul teaches Rom. 6, 2: "If we have died to sin, how should we want to live in it?" For what is repentance but to put sin to death? Therefore, when sinners are called to repentance, it is so much that, even though their sins are forgiven, they are still called to a perpetual effort to recognize, hate, kill, and bury sins, according to the words of Paul, Rom. 6:4; not that sin is left to them to do as they please.
V. 14. Then the disciples of John came to him and said: Why do we and the Pharisees fast so much, and your disciples do not fast?
39 It seems that this is connected with the previous one. For Christ had said: he calls the righteous 1) to repentance. Now fasting is a part of repentance, as can be seen from the example of the Ninivites and others, as well as from the Proverbs of Scripture. Therefore it seems that the disciples of Christ do not repent, because they do not fast; and therefore their call to repentance is nothing; therefore they cannot be called righteous, because they are without repentance, to which, as you say, you call the righteous. Therefore, according to your own words, we and the Pharisees are much more righteous than you-your disciples. To this Christ gives the following answer:
V. 15-17. Jesus said to them: How can the wedding people bear sorrow as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast. Never-
1) Here the word "the righteous" is used in a different sense than before, where the Lord speaks of those who make themselves believe that they are righteous. The text is correct.
mand mend an old garment with a rag of new cloth; for the rag tears again from the garment, and the tear becomes worse. Nor does one put must into old wineskins, otherwise the wineskins tear, and the must is spilled, and the wineskins perish. But put must into new skins, and they will be kept together.
It is not fasting time now, they have other things to do. Your fasting is quite inconvenient, not only in time but also in person and manner. So he rejects them with their fasting; just as he rejected them above [vv. 12, 13] with their repentance. It shall all be nothing. In sum: It does not apply patching with new cloth on an old skirt. This is pronounced in the German proverb for a garment that is too worn out: Oh, the skirt must be patched with a new one, no more patching will help, that is, one must throw away the worn-out skirt and have a new one made in its place. In the same way, one can say of a wine cask that is too worn out: "Oh, no more hoop or binding will help; it must be bound with a new cask, that is, one must have a new cask made. Otherwise, where you tie it in one place, it will run in two other places. If it is only piled up and thrown into the fire, a new cask must be made, and the must will stay in it and the cask will stay in it. Such similes can also be used of all things that are so worn out by age that other things must be used in their place. For example, of an old house: This house must be roofed, painted, supported etc. with a new house. This axe must be sharpened with a new axe. This net must be completed with a new net. This bag must be mended with a new bag.
41 So also here it is said: Your fasting and whole repentance and righteousness must be improved by a new fasting, repentance and righteousness; that is, all your doings must be thrown away, and all made new. Your old doings do not contain this new. Neither can they stand together, or rhyme together, the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of faith.
bens. Now is the time of the bridegroom and the wedding, and also of the wedding people; there your fasting and sorrowful righteousness has no place, but joyful righteousness and an abundant wedding feast in faith. Therefore, now are quite different people, everything is quite different, different times, different works, different words etc. Therefore your sad fasting, your hard and severe righteousness in works, is nothing. That is, put everything in the heap, and instead of the sad and burdensome fasting (that is, legal righteousness), celebrate a feast, and that a wedding feast (since it is most joyful); that is just the feast day of faith, "which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" [Ps. 118:24].
42 And here it is to be noted that he calls the fasting of the Pharisees a bearing of sorrow. For he says, "The wedding people cannot bear sorrow," since they had asked him about fasting. For he should have said: The wedding people cannot fast; just as afterwards he says, "Then they will fast"; he does not say, Then they will suffer etc. For by this he means that the righteousness of the law and of men is sorrow-bearing, that is, a sorrowful service, such as is held because of one who is dead, whom the prophets call Aven, that is, affliction and pain, toil and unpleasure; of which much and often has been said elsewhere. But the righteousness of faith is the service of the living and the joyful, for Christ's sake, who lives and reigns, and who is our righteousness and life etc.
But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.
This can be understood in several ways. First, that after Christ has gone to heaven, his saints are forced to fast truly and to endure all evil, but this they do gladly. Secondly, in a prophetic sense, because after Christ is taken away from the Jews (or from us), the joyful feast of faith is gone, that is, there is nothing but death and destruction. But
I like the third opinion, that Christ would say this much: I will give my saints fasting and mourning enough without your fasting and mourning, which is nothing; that is, I will leave them in many temptations, as Paul did, so that they will not see or feel me as their bridegroom. Then they will suffer and truly fast. For this is sufficiently clear that Christ digresses in this place, full of Jewish fasting, to an allegory, speaking of the joy of a wedding and a banquet, against the fasting of the Pharisees and their sad righteousness.
From the daughter of the chief du school and from the bloody willow.
V.18-26. While he was talking to them, one of the chiefs came and fell down before him, saying, "Lord, my daughter is now dead, but come and lay your hand on her and she will live. And Jesus stood up, and followed him, and his disciples. And, behold, a woman, which had bled twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment. For she said to herself: If only I would touch his garment, I would be healed. Then Jesus turned and saw her, and said, "Be of good cheer, my daughter; your faith has helped you. And the woman was healed at that very hour. And when he was come into the chief's house, and saw the pipers, and the tumult of the people, he saith unto them: Go away, for the maiden is not dead, but sleeps. And they laughed at him. But when the people had been driven out, he went in and took them by the hand, and the maiden stood up. And the rumor went out into all that land.
The allegory of the bloody woman and the dead maiden must be postponed to another time; then this story from the evangelist Marcus must be explained more extensively etc. And it is to be noted that here first the miracle of a resurrected dead person, namely the chief's maiden, is described; but before that the woman with the flowing blood is made well with the very words with which above [Cap. 8, 2.].
the gouty man was made well: "Be of good cheer, my daughter, your faith has helped you.
(45) Here the power and glory of faith must be praised, which without works and merits brings the sick woman her health, as above [Cap. 8, 2] the forgiveness of sins to the gout-ridden man. For such scriptural passages, which deal with faith, must be inculcated at all times and in all places, against reliance on works. For here no work can be cited by which this blood-fluid woman should have earned this grace. Rather, she despairs of herself and puts all her trust in the touching of his hem, considering herself most unworthy to approach him publicly with a plea or to send someone to him to plead for her. Yes, the Lord pretends that he does not know who touched him, so that he would understand that he does not know anything about the merits of this woman, and yet he confesses that a power went out from him [Marc. 5, 30]. Therefore he says: "Your faith". As if he wanted to say: "You see how you have done me no good at all, how you have done me no service at all; but because you believed, you received your request.
Here the saints of works may say what merits the deceased maiden or the bloody woman had here etc. One must necessarily conclude that both were healed in vain and without merit, and only through faith in the mercy of God. And these examples are written so that grace may be praised against works, although works must not be omitted afterwards. Therefore we also must inculcate these [examples] against works. For the words are clear, "Thy faith hath helped thee"; works have not. And it is expressly added, "that she was healed at the same hour," so that one might not get the idea that the works of righteousness intervened, which, however, had to be done by her afterwards, when she was healed, according to the nature of her state.
Now we come to the miracle of the dead girl, which is explained with many circumstances.
48. first, that the father of the maiden is a chief of the school (as Marcus [Cap. 5, 22.] reports).
Secondly, that the whistlers are already there, who, as it were, blow the whistle to rest.
Third, that the friends make a fuss with their sorrow to comfort the father, etc. so that one would be assured above all things that she was truly dead, so that the miracle would be all the more glorious.
Fourth, that they laughed at Christ, because they were sure that she was dead.
Fifth, what is most joyful is that Christ ridicules death itself in such a way, calling it a sleep in clear words.
This passage is very strange, that even the Lord himself calls death nothing but a sleep. This is a wonderful comfort for all believers. For Christ not only says here that the deceased maiden is asleep, but he also proves in fact that the deceased is asleep, because he speaks to her with light words, as if he woke her up from sleep. This wisdom no worldly wise man has attained; and although they have an infinite number of opinions about it, here all their questions are resolved in one word, namely: "she is asleep. O! it sleeps; where then art thou, O death? Death, with Christians, is not death, but sleeping. Yes, even the place where the Christians are buried is called
that is, a sleeping chamber. The pagans cannot call their graves like that; the Christians alone say: My grave is my bed, my sleeping chamber. I do not die, but I sleep. Thus Christ says, "He that believeth on me, though he die, yet shall he live," John 11:25. and of Lazarus he says [John 11:11], "Lazarus our friend sleepeth."
(54) But here you see how many obstacles stand in the way of this belief in eternal life. For what happens here with the deceased maiden, since she is to be raised again, also happens in every believer when he is to die.
First, there is a timidity, as if he would not live in eternity. And to this agrees the great multitude (that is, the examples of the whole world), who say, "Why do you alone doubt, since you, like all of us, are dead forever? Secondly, the pipers also mock at the promises of life; that is, the law and the wisdom of the flesh say that death is death, whereas the promises of eternal life are nothing and only in vain; because the law otherwise knows nothing but that it kills. For this is how the conscience feels. Therefore one must pay sharp attention to this word of Christ, "she sleeps," which is overwhelmed with so much turmoil and astonishment, and against the whistlers, against the law, and against all the objections of conscience, pay close attention to the mouth of Christ, and cling to it, saying, "Behold, this one says that she sleeps; so I do not care what all thoughts object to with one another. I listen to nothing in the midst of so much tumult, but to this one, which is not quite audible before the tumult; but, in my ears it is clear and distinct, in that he says, "Soft! the maiden sleepeth," yea, "she is not dead."
(55) These words befit such a teacher, and he is worthy of the faith of the believers. It behooves him to say, "Death is not death to me, but sleep; no one dies to me, but all sleep. And we are to answer: Amen, my Lord, I believe. Help believe, my Christ. You do not lie; it is only because I do not lie to myself, and firmly believe that I cannot die for eternity, but that I die, that is, that I sleep for a time; but give me this faith. Say thou to that tumult, and to the pipers, "Depart!" so that they may depart, that they may cease from troubling and ridiculing this faith of mine. If you do not tell them to retreat, I will not be able to resist. But I will believe that I do not die when I die, but only fall asleep, and that I live even when I die. For I live unto thee whom I believe; and thou makest me alive, when thou hast heard of me.
Saying, This man is not dead, but liveth unto me: meanwhile he sleepeth, until I raise him up, that he also may live unto himself.
56. And it would be desirable that (as the text says) this rumor of the power of Christ, who raises from the dead, would resound in all lands, yes, in all hearts, so that all would believe that he is one who takes us who are dead for living, and who shall be raised again from their sleep, so that we might cheerfully despise death, and be sure that he does not lie, who will raise us up, who make believe that we are dead, but are sleepers before him.
The miracle at the Minden.
V. 27-31. And as Jesus departed thence, there followed him two blind men crying out, and saying: O Son of David, have mercy on us! And when he was come home, the blind came unto him. And Jesus said unto them: Do you believe that I can do these things to you? And they said unto him, Lord, yea. Then he touched their eyes, and said, Be it done unto you according to your faith. And their eyes were opened. And Jesus troubled them, saying, See that no man know it. But they went on, and made him accounted throughout all that country.
57 These blind men also teach that grace is given without merit, through faith alone. For when they heard of the mercy that Jesus had shown to the maiden who had died and to the woman who was covered with blood, they had faith and courage; therefore they followed him and cried out, saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us. (For this is the quality of faith, that it calls upon the Savior in time of need and cries out to Him).
58 Secondly, Christ affirms this very thing by saying, "Do you believe that I can do these things to you? As if to say, "Faith can do all things, even to unworthy men like yourselves. Immediately they answered, "Lord, we believe," and he gave them face before all their merit.
59. the words: "be it unto you according to your
Faith", must be treated in the same way as I treated the above statement against the captain in the eighth chapter [§ 8 ff.]: "Be it done to you as you have believed", in a special sermon that appeared in German. For it is the same opinion.
60 It is to be noted that Christ does not heal the blind immediately, but lets them follow, cry out and come to Himself in the house, in order to teach that faith should be persistent, persevering, brazen, undaunted, impetuous, should not let up; for shame in adversity is harmful household goods, just as Christ Himself, Luc. 18, 1. ff, praises the woman's undauntedness before the unjust judge. Christ delights in the tirelessness and perseverance of our faith. He does not want us to doubt his goodness, nor to grow weary with impatience and lose heart if he does not help immediately, but he wants us to pursue him on the way, to cry out to him, and to break into his house, as these two blind men did. For in this way he tries our faith, whether it be true or fictitious.
61 Here the question arises: Why does he command them to keep the work of his grace secret? The answer is common to all and easy. Let it be an example to us that he who does a good deed to others should not boast of it, or seek his own glory in it; but should do it cheerfully and freely, to the glory of God, not as the world and the flesh do, who either seek retribution, or when they have been offended by ingratitude, cease to do good, yea, hate the ungrateful and unworthy.
From the possessed.
When these had come out, behold, they brought unto him a man dumb and possessed. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb man spoke.
62. the last miracle, which is described after the sermon on the mountain, han-
1) This refers to the sermon found in Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XII, 1190 ff.
He was a blind man possessed, and Christ performed four miracles on this one man. For he was not only possessed and blind, but also mute and deaf. For every mute is also deaf, and vice versa. After this miracle, the evangelist, as it were to indicate that this is enough, says in general: he did many miracles. And so he finally comes to the election of the apostles, so that they too, after they had been sent by him, should teach and do this very thing, as will follow, and in this way the gospel might be richly propagated through the word and works, not only of the Lord himself, but also of the apostles etc.
In this miracle, one not only sees but can also grasp that the divine benefits are given without merit. For this blind man could not have faith, because he had neither sight, nor hearing, nor perhaps even smell, so that he could not have been moved or encouraged to it either by word or by work. For as it cannot be said that he saw Christ perform any sign, neither can it be said that he ever heard of any sign that he performed.
And indeed, this blind man is undoubtedly almost only a lump, a block or body without face, without hearing, and, as it were, a shapeless body, which only knows how to live according to feeling and taste, and yet is so possessed by the devil that he has not been able to understand or miss what taste or feeling is. In sum, he was only a man in form, who did not know of himself whether he was anything, whether he lived or did anything; and in and for himself he was a true nothing, and just as much as if he were not, so that Christ did just as much here as if he had made a new man out of nothing, just as he brought forth Adam and Eve out of a lump of earth and out of the nipple, and all men out of the seed etc. And there is no doubt that this blind man, having attained health, thought that he had been nothing at all in the world before, but had
He could not remember anything that had gone before, just as Adam could not think otherwise than that he had not been before. Therefore, this miracle is very great, which the Lord performed on him for nothing and by grace. However, there is the faith of others, who bring him to Jesus, ask and plead for him, so that we may be provoked to pray for faith, also for others; this foreign faith has also been mentioned above [§ 3].
(65) Here one can ask if this miracle is the same as the one told below in chapter 12, v. 22 ff, that he heals a possessed man who was blind and mute, where the people also praise him and the Pharisees blaspheme him: "He does not cast out devils except by Beelzebub, the chief of the devils" etc. But it must be considered that they are different miracles, because the evangelists never repeat the same miracle. For just as Christ often spoke the same speech twice, and often taught with the same words, so he also often performed many miracles that are the same. As also follows in the text [v. 35], that he healed many from all kinds of pestilences and diseases. And Matth. 11, 5. he does not say: One blind, One dead, but speaks in the majority, of many: "The blind see, the deaf hear, the dead rise" etc. So one must also believe that the miracle with this blind man, although it has a similarity with the one told in the 12th chapter, was a different one.
V. 33, 34. And the people marveled, saying, Such things were never seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said: He casteth out devils by the chief of the devils.
(66) Here you see two disciples, namely the people who believe and praise God, and the Pharisees who are angry with him and blaspheme him. And as much as the people exalt their deed, so much do the Pharisees rage, attributing it not to the devil per se, but to the chief of the devils, in order to make Christ suspect as the greatest evil-doer among all men etc. This is the nature of the world; this is how it must be. The more the
The more the grace of God is praised, the more this teaching must be heretical and devilish. But Christ is silent here and does not refute it, as he does in chapter 12, v. 25 ff, perhaps because the Pharisees were not present, but blasphemed him absent after they heard about this miracle, just as they also said of him in his absence: "Man is not of God, because he does not keep the Sabbath. [Joh. 9, 24.:] "We know that this man is a sinner."
vv. 35-38 And Jesus went about all the cities and towns, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And when he saw the people, he was sorry for them, because they were faint and scattered, like sheep that have no shepherd. Then said he unto his young men, The harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.
(67) After recounting other miracles, he ends with the election of the ministers of the Word, for which he was moved by the multitude of those in need of instruction and help, saying, "The harvest is great, but the laborers are few. For he saw that they were faint and scattered, like sheep that have no shepherd"; of which we shall speak hereafter. And Matthew beautifully describes the movement of the heart of the merciful Christ: "When Jesus saw the people without a shepherd, he was grieved by them." For this was a very miserable sight to his heart, to see so many souls abandoned by the teachers and without a word. But he paints this sight and continues it under the image of abandoned sheep. For here one must imagine how sad it is to see such a flock, miserable in and of itself, firstly emaciated by hunger and thirst, being given neither food nor drink, but left to pine away from hunger and thirst. Secondly, when one sees that it is not kept or provided for with any stable or fence, but wanders around in the wilderness, free from the rapacity of all.
and leave them to it. For both of these things necessarily happen to a herd that has no shepherd. For it cannot feed or protect itself.
In this way, the souls that are left without God's word perish through hunger and thirst, because there is no one to feed them or give them food. Then they are scattered and forced to wander here and there, since there is no guardian or sheepfold in which to wait for them. These two things devastate the Church and the people of God, namely, first, when they are deprived of the Word of God by which the Church is nourished and sustained. Secondly, if they are not defended against ungodly doctrines, it happens that, after the doctrine of godliness has been lost, the consciences go astray, full of sadness and pining away, and get lost in endless sects and superstitions, because they want to be healed; as we have seen under the papacy, where innumerable kinds of works were chosen after the word of faith had been lost. One chose this order, another the holy virgin, another worshipped St. Jacob; one strove to serve GOtte by pilgrimages, another by fasting, another by certain clothing, food, in a certain place, at a certain time etc. And who can enumerate all the wrong ways in which we wandered? And yet it has helped us nothing, because by all these things not a single conscience could be "neither" nourished nor protected against the devil. And so, by these two words, "they were faint and scattered," he has abundantly expressed the whole heap of evils by which souls perish when they are without a word; and both cannot be adequately explained and magnified.
69. but, o a frightening word against the whole state of the Levites, which is here punished, that they are "the shepherds" and "the idolatrous shepherds who leave the flock", Zechariah 11:16, 17. namely, in this whole priesthood all are hypocrites and larvae, and none is a true priest or shepherd.
(70) Now, if it is so terrifying to leave the flock without a word, what do you think it will be to be a wolf instead of a shepherd, or to become a wolf from a shepherd? Such people are those who not only set aside the word, but also teach the opposite, and even devour the sheep. And if this is added, that they also become tyrants and kill the godly for the sake of the word, then such a shepherd can be nothing more than the devil himself. But such were the Pharisees and scribes then, and now it is the pope and the bishops, who have long since neglected the word in the church and, having become wolves, have imposed their statutes in its place. Now they also persecute and kill the faithful for the sake of the Word, which they themselves, because of their office, are bound to teach. Therefore, the figure of the pope, the cardinals and bishops is very frightening, who appear to be bishops, but in reality are wolves and even devils in the church; the heretics, however, are only wolves etc.
V. 37, 38. Then he said to his young men, "The harvest is great, but the laborers are few. Damm asks the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.
With this last saying: "The harvest is great, but the laborers are few," he explains how rare good shepherds are, while the number of those who seem to be good shepherds in the church is infinite. So Paul also complains: "They all seek their own, not Christ's" [Phil. 2:21], and again: "Now they seek no more in the stewards, but that they may be found faithful" [1 Cor. 4:2]. And Christ says, "How great a thing is it for a faithful and prudent steward, whom his lord hath set over his servants, to give them their hire in due season? [Luc. 12:42.]
(72) Therefore he teaches that one should ask for right shepherds, because it is certain that all the infinite misfortune now told will come upon the abandoned sheep, even though the whole world, through the ravings of Satan, considers nothing less or more contemptible than the ministers of the Word or the laborers in the harvest.
of the Lord, as if she still had a joy over her infinite misfortune. And woe! woe! woe to those who are the cause that the churches are left without ministers and word. For to them will be imputed the blame for all the calamities that come upon the sheep etc.
73 And it is to be noted that Christ compares the ministry of the word with the harvest, by which he indicates that the souls are eager for the word and want to be gathered into the barn of faith, as he also says John 4:35: "Lift up your eyes and look into the field, for it is already white for harvest. Secondly, that his gospel is the gospel of the last time and the last doctrine, according to which one cannot hope for any other. All the more care must be taken that laborers are sent and not despised.
74. one can also deal with the special emphasis that lies in the word "send"; namely, that no one should take honor for himself, or impose himself, but he should be called etc. [Heb. 5:4.] A whole sermon could be preached on this matter; but it has already been dealt with elsewhere and by many: How many kinds of profession are there? And whether it is a good thing to desire the office of a bishop? etc.
From the profession.
For the first calling is directly from God, as the apostles and prophets had it. The other is done indirectly through people who have a high rank or are in public office, as the apostles called their successors, and as is still called by earthly authorities and authorities or congregations. One of the two types of profession must have the one who is to teach in the church.
76. Here now the question occurs: whether it is permissible to offer oneself to a profession etc.? The answer is this: If it is done out of a carnal sense, that is, out of greed or avarice, it is not at all suitable (although if one has come into the preaching ministry in this way, and later be-
If a bishop turns around and becomes another man, it is good for him to remain in it, because avarice and greed also corrupt the highest and divine profession of the apostle Judas, as well as the profession of all priests, Caiaphas, and the likes of him. If it is done with the intention of serving God or living in the state of blessedness, it is a good work, according to the testimony of Paul: "This is certainly true, if anyone desires a bishop's office, he desires a good work" [1 Tim. 3:1]. So also Moses commanded that
to receive the Levite who comes from any region to the place of the Lord's house to serve the Lord [Deut. 18:6, 7, 8]. In addition, emergencies can also arise, as when our brothers in faith find themselves in the midst of enemies who need to be baptized, taught, comforted and admonished; then each one of them should present himself as one who has been called to do so by the necessity of brotherly love, and should do everything that is necessary for the salvation of souls. .