Sunday Jan 2, 2011

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Adapted from Complete Series of Luther's Sermons V.I

Grace mercy and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The sermon today is preached from a collection of sermons by Dr. Martin Luther. It is based on our Gospel text from Luke 2.

I. This is a Gospel that presents to us an example of the holy cross, showing us through what experience those have to pass who are Christians, and how they aught to bear their sorrow. For whoever wants to be a Christian must expect to bear the cross. For God will place him between the spurs and thoroughly test him that he may be humble and no one will come to Christ without suffering. Of this we have here an example, which we ought to imitate and shall now consider
Although the holy mother Mary, who was highly blessed and upon whom many favors were bestowed, had undoubtedly the greatest delight in her child, yet the Lord so ruled that her joy was not without sorrow and like all others she did not attain complete blessedness until she entered heaven. For this reason she had to suffer so much sorrow, pain and anguish here on earth. It was her first great sorrow that she had to give birth to her child in Bethlehem, in a strange town, where she found no room with her baby except in a stable. Then her second sad experience was that soon after the six weeks of her purification she was compelled to flee with her child unto Egypt, a strange country, which was indeed a poor consolation. She undoubtedly experienced many more trials, which have not been recorded.
One of them is related here, when her son caused her so much anxiety, by staying behind in the temple and letter her seek him so long, and she could not find him. This alarmed and grieved her so that she almost despaired, as her words indicate: "Behold this child is only mine, this I know very well, and I know that God has entrusted him to me and commanded me to take care of him; why is it then that he is taken from me? It is my fault, for I have not sufficiently taken care of him and guarded him. Perhaps God does not think I am worthy to watch over this child and will take him from me again." She was undoubtedly greatly frightened and her heart trembled and was filled with grief.
Here you see what she experienced. Although she is the mother of a child in whom she might have gloried before all mothers, and although her joy was immeasurably greater than any she had ever felt, yet you perceive how God deprives her of all happiness, in that she can no longer call herself the mother of Jesus. In her great dismay she probably wished she had never known her child and was tempted to greater sins than any mother had ever committed.
In the same manner the Lord our God can take from us our joy and comfort, if he so desires, and cause us the greatest sorrow with the very things that are our greatest joy, and, on the other hand, give us the greatest delight in the things that terrify us the most. For it was the greatest joy of Mary that she was the mother of this child, but now he has become the greatest cause of her sorrow. Thus we are afraid of nothing more than of sin and death, yet God can comfort us so that we may boast, as St Paul says in Romans 7 that sin served to the end that we became justified and that we longed for death and desired to die.
The greatest sorrow of the mother of Christ, who was deprived of her child, came upon her in order that even her trust in God might be taken from her. For she had reason to fear God was angry with her and would no longer allow her to be the mother of his Son. You won't understand what she suffered unless you have endured similar experiences. Therefore we should apply this example to ourselves, for it was not recorded for her sake, but for our benefit. She is now at the end of her sorrows; therefore we should profit by her example and be prepared to bear our sorrow if a similar affliction should fall upon us.
When God entrusts to us a strong faith and a firm trust in him, so that we are assured he is our gracious God and we can depend on him, then we are in paradise. But when God permits our hearts to be discouraged and we believe that he takes from us Christ our Lord, when our conscience feels that we have lost him and amidst trembling and despair our confidence is gone, then we are truly in misery and distress. For even if we are not conscious of any special sin, yet in such a condition we tremble and doubt whether God still cares for us; just as Mary here doubts and knows not whether God still finds her worthy to be the mother of his Son. Our heart thinks in the time of trial thus: God has indeed given me a strong faith, but perhaps he will take it from me and will no longer want me as His child. Only strong minds can endure such temptations and there are not many people whom God tests to this degree. Yet we must be prepared, so that we may not despair if such trials should come upon us.
We find many examples of this in the scriptures; for example Joshua 7. God had given to Joshua great and strong promises, telling him that he would exterminated the heathen and charging him to attack his enemies courageously and vigorously, which he also did. But what happened? When his faith was strong he sent three thousand men against a city to take it. They were proud, seeing that it was small city with only a few people to defend it. When the men of Israel approached, the enemy spilled out of the city and defeated the people. Then Joshua fell to the ground on his face before the Ark of the Lord until evening, crying out before God saying, "Alas, O Lord, why have you brought this people over the Jordan, to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites and cause us to perish?" His faith had become so weak and utterly discouraged so that God himself had to raise him up again. Thus God deals with his great saints, whom he sometimes deprives of Christ, that is, of their faith and confidence.
But God does all this out of superabundant grace and goodness in order that we might perceive on every had how kindly and lovingly the Father deals with us and tries us, so that our faith may be developed and become continually stronger and stronger. And he does this especially so as to guard his children against a twofold danger which might otherwise threaten them. In the first place, being strong in their own mind and arrogant, they might ultimately depend upon themselves and believe they are able to accomplish everything in their own strength. For this reason God sometimes permits their faith to grow weak and be prostrated, so that they might see who they are and be forced to confess; "Even if I would believe, I cannot. Thus the omnipotent God humbles his saints and keeps them in their true knowledge. For nature and reason will always boast of the gifts of God and depend on them. Therefore God must lead us to a recognition of the fact that it is he who puts faith in our heart and that we cannot produce it ourselves. Thus the fear of God and trust in him must not be separated from one another, for we need them both to keep us from becoming presumptuous and overconfident, depending on ourselves. This is one of the reasons why God leads his saints through such great trials.
Another reason is that he wants to give us an example. For if in the Scriptures we had no examples of saints who passed through the same experiences, we would be unable to bear our trials and would imagine that we are alone in our suffering, that God never dealt with anyone in this manner; therefore my suffering must be a sign of God's displeasure with me. But when we see that the Virgin Mary and other saints have also suffered, we are comforted and do not need to despair, for their example shows us that we should calmly wait until God comes to strengthen us.
We find many examples of similar trials in the scriptures and here we might offer the words of David in Psalm 31:22 "As for me, in my haste, I am cut off from before your eyes," just as we sometimes think that God does not want us. Such trials are unendurable and severe beyond measure, and the saints who pass through them lament greatly, and if God would not deliver them they would be in hell. compared with these trials other temptations and sorrows are trivial, as for instance when our possessions and honors are taken from us, or when the innocent babes were murdered and Jesus was forced to flee into Egypt. The prophet speaks of this in Psalm 94, "Unless the Lord had been my help my soul would have soon dwelt in silence." So great is the terror and anguish of such visitations. But God permitted them that we might lay hold of these examples, be comforted and saved from despair. At the end of our lives we must also pass through similar trials. Therefore we must be armed and prepared for them.
II. An Example of Comfort Under the Cross.
Such is the narrative and example of the great sorrow as it is portrayed in this Gospel, but we are also shown where comfort may be found. The parents of Jesus lost him, going a day's journey and seeking for him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances, but they could not find him. The returned to Jerusalem and after a three day search found him in the temple. Here God has pointed out how we are to find consolation and strength in all our sorrows and especially in these great trials and how we can find Christ the Lord, namely by seeking him in the temple. Jesus said to his parents, "Did you not know that I must be in my Fathers house?"
This consolation is that Christ is only to be found in the temple. that is to say in the House of God. But what is that house of God? Is it the whole creation? It is indeed true that God is present everywhere, but he is especially present in the Holy Scriptures, in His Word more than anywhere else. We learn therefore here that no one can presume to have any comfort from anything other than the Word of God; you will find the Son only in the temple. Now look at the mother of Jesus who does not yet understand this and does not know that she must seek him in the temple. When she looked for him among her family and friends, and not in the right place, she did not find him.
Therefore I have often said and will say again, that in the Christian church nothing should be preached but the pure Word of God. With this the Gospel agrees when it says that they did not find the Lord among their family and friends. We must point to what Christ has said, to the place where he may be found, which he points out when he says that he must be in his Father's house, which means that he can only be found in the Word of God. We should not derive any comfort from any other man made source.
We know that consolation may be found only in the Scripture, the Word of God. For this reason God caused this to be recorded, as St Paul writes to the Romans: "For whatsoever things were written down before hand were written for our learning, that through patience and comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope." Rom 15:4 Here he says that the Scriptures are comforting, that they impart patience and comfort. Consequently there can be nothing else that comforts the soul, not even in the most terrifying temptations. For everything else with which man comforts himself, however great it may be, is altogether uncertain and the heart inquires constantly: Who knows whether it is right? If only I were sure about it! But when the heart clings to the Word of God it can say without wavering; This is the Word of God, which cannot lie or err, of this I am certain. And this is our greatest struggle, that we keep and hold firmly to the Word; for if it is taken from the heart, man is lost.
This is then the sum total of the Gospel and if anything is to be said on it we will let those explain it who have leisure; but whoever studies it faithfully will easily understand it.
Amen.