Martin Luther
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by Martin Luther
A Sermon by Martin Luther; Taken from His Church Postil, 1523
l. In this Gospel the Lord takes in hand the office
of extolling and explaining the law of Moves, for It would not have been
becoming for him to have insisted in an unfriendly manner to make the people
pious. He in not a lawgiver, but a Savior, who never takes aught from anyone,
but always gives. So he also in this instance proves his kindness in explaining
the law and gently instructing; as there is need and want, he does not sternly
insist, as did Moses, who without much ado wished that people were either pious
or dead. For this reason Christ's action on this occasion is to be considered
one of great benefit to us, in that he teaches us where we fail and come short.
Here he particularly treats of the failings due to wrath, which causes so much
havoc among men, as is seen on every side, yea, nearly the whole world is under
its sway.
2. Now let us examine the command, "Thou shalt not kill," in
the sense the Jews took it, and how we should take it. The Jews considered those
only murderers who committed the act of murder with their hands; while those who
abstained from the outward act were considered by them as pious. In like manner
they treated Christ. Having de livered him to Pontius Pilate for trial, they
remained without, thus fancying to be innocent of his blood, and to have
perfectly kept the law, John 18:28. Again, Saul acted the same way toward David;
he believed himself to be godly so long as he only did not kill David with his
hand, 1 Sam. 19. Thus they have interpreted the law, failing to see that its
roots run into the heart. In view of this Christ here says to his
Christians:
"I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no
wise enter into the kingdom of heaven."
3. This is a
strong, yea, a dreadful sentence, whereby all false saints and hypocrites, who
go about with their own external works, are condemned.
4. But how have we
interpreted this commandment? A little better, that is to say, doubly worse is
our interpretation. On this wise: it is indeed a matter of the heart that we are
to be free from hatred. But a man, according to our conception, may conduct
himself friendly and thus banish hatred from his heart. So we have made it a
question of free will going from bad to worse. The Jews have made it a matter of
deceptive appearance; we placed the issue with free will. Thus the hypocrisy of
the Jews rests in their works; ours in our thoughts. For we argue thus: Well, I
will forgive him, will be good to him, and thus lay hold of the doing in the
strength of our free will, then it shall be accomplished.
5. Well, how
then are we to do? We are to take the following position: There is not a man on
earth, unless he be born again, who does not become angry, and give forth evil
words and evil deeds; nature cannot do otherwise. For there stands the law and
says: Thou shalt be a fine, sweet-tempered man in heart, in words and in works;
and no evil fiber shall be found in thee. Well, where am I to find such a man?
My mother does not give him to me; he must come down from heaven. For there is
not a man on earth, so far as he is flesh and blood, that can help becoming
angry and giving forth evil words and actions. But if I abstain, it certainly is
because I fear the sword or I seek a selfish end. If I do not curse, if I do not
calumniate, either the sword or hell deters me, the fear of death or of the
devil; these I have in my mind and abstain, otherwise, I could not abstain. Not
alone this, but I would actually murder and massacre, wherever and whenever I
could. By nature I cannot produce a single kind word or action. If I do, It
certainly is hypocrisy, since the heart at least always remains full of poison.
This you now hear from Christ, who so explains the law as to cause you to feel
ashamed in your inner heart. He would say: Thou art not sweet in heart, thine
heart is full of hatred, full of murder and blood, and so thy hands and eyes
would also gladly be full of the same; nor canst thou prevent it, any more than
thou canst prevent the fire from burning, for it is its nature to
burn.
6. A person might here say, What then am I to do? I feel all that
within me, but I cannot change conditions. I reply, Flee to the Lord, thy
God, lay thy complaint before him and say: Behold, Lord, my neighbor has injured
me a little, has spoken a few words touching my honor, has caused some damage to
my property, this I cannot suffer, therefore, I would cheerfully see him killed.
Oh my God, how gladly would I be amiable to him, but, alas, I cannot! See how
wholly cold, yea, dead I am! O Lord, I cannot help myself, I must stand back.
Make thou me different, then I will be godly; if not, I will remain like I have
been. Here you must seek your help and at no other place; if you seek it in
yourself, you will never find it. Your heart perpetually bubbles and bolls with
anger, you cannot prevent it.
7. Now, this is the sum of the law: You are
to be kind, amiable and benignant in heart, word and deed; and even though they
take your life, still you are to suffer all in love, and render thanks to your
Lord. Behold, thus a great deal is included in the short sentence, "Thou shalt
not kill," Christ lived up to this; do the same, and you are a good Christian.
When nailed to the cross, his name, which was above every name, and his honor
were profaned by the Jews, while they reviled him by words of the following and
similar import: Well, what a nice God he has! If he be God's son, let him come
down! Let his God come now, in whom he banked and boasted so much, and help him!
Mat. 27:43, Mark 15:32, Luke 23:35. Such words pierced his very heart, hurting
him more than all his other sufferings; still, he suffered all this with
patience; he wept over his enemies, because they would have no part in the great
benefit to be derived from his death, yea, he prayed for their sin. And in the
face of this we are ready to snarl and growl over the least trifle, when asked
to yield even a little to our neighbor.
8. Here you see how far we are
still from Christ. It is indeed necessary to suffer with Christ, if we would
enter with him into glory. He has gone before, so we should follow, as St. Peter
says, 1 Epistle 2:21f.: "For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also
suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps: who
did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who when he suffered,
threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." Now see
what kind of an example St. Peter places before us; truly we should emulate it,
endeavoring to be and to act like him. But this we cannot do by nature, it
follows that we without exception are the devil's own, there being not a man on
earth that is found not guilty. Hence the sentence holds good: You must be
likewise skillful, namely, good at heart, or you belong to perdition.
9.
What then must we do? You must do as follows: You must acknowledge that you are
condemned by the law, and the devil's own property and that you are unable to
rescue yourself by any power of your own. Therefore you must flee to God, pray
him to change you, or all is lost and ruined. This was well understood and
observed by those highly learned, but they argued thus: If we preach that the
whole world is condemned and the devil's own, what is to become of the
sanctimonious priests and monks, for then they too would be condemned? God
forbid! Wait, wait, we will sharpen our tongues, bore a hole into the paper for
our God, make a comment and say thus: Why, God never meant it in that sense, for
who could keep it? He did not command it, but merely suggested it to such as
wished to be perfect. Again, the perfect are not under obligations to be so, it
suffices if they strive after perfection. Many large books, called Formas
conscientiarum, treatises to comfort and acquit the consciences, have been
written on this subject. Thomas Aquinas was about the leading heretic in this
line. Later the same doctrine was confirmed by the Pope, and diffused throughout
the world; this explains the later origin of the Orders, which aimed at
perfection. Well, God be praised that we have understood the error, so that we
can avoid it.
10. We comfort consciences in a manner quite different,
namely thus: Dear brother all this is addressed not to the monks and priests
only; Christ is not trifling with his words; it is a direct command, you must
conform to it, or you are the devil's property. This Is our way of comforting.
Alas! exclaims our nature, Do you call that comforting? It is rather a transfer
of souls to the devil. True, friend, but I must first take you down to hell
before taking you up to heaven, you must despair in the first place, then come
to Christ, behold his example, how he conducted himself: toward his enemies, in
that he wept over them. But the bare example alone moves you; yet, it does not
help you to any extent.
11. In view of this lay hold of his word and
promise, that he will change you; this only will help you. Pray thus: Oh my God,
thou hast placed Christ, thine only beloved Son, before me as an example, so
that I might lead a like life; but I am not able to do this. O my God, change
me, grant me thy grace! God then comes and says: Behold, since you know yourself
and seek grace from me, I will change you and do as you desire. And though you
are not so perfect as Christ, as indeed thou should be, I shall nevertheless
have my Son's life and perfection cover your imperfections. So you see we must
always have something to keep us in the right humility and fear.
12. This
is true comfort that does not rest on our ability, but on the fact that we have
a gracious God, who forgives our sins; on the fact that we believe in Christ and
not in our own worthiness, he cleansing us from day to day; on the fact that
whenever we fall short we should always place our hope and trust in Christ. See,
this is the main drift of our Gospel. Now let us briefly run over the text and
consider the contents.
13. The Lord here notes four grades or degrees of
anger or wrath. The first is the anger of the heart; and that is the main grade;
it should be so pure that you are not sensible of it. But this cannot be in our
present state. Hence when you are sensible of it, come direct to Christ and ask
him graciously to change you; ask him to extinguish the fire where it starts to
burn; you cannot work a way out by your own efforts.
14. The other grade
is "Raca," which means an angry, unfriendly expression with the eyes, with the
neck and with the whole countenance, and in whatever other way it may be made.
This too should by no means be. So you should at all times know when and how to
obtain help.
15. The third grade consists in saying, "Thou fool." This
implies the use of all kinds of scolding and profane words, by which our
neighbor is degraded. This should also be laid aside; but we should defend
and protect our neighbor with the utmost zeal, wherever we can.
16. The
fourth grade consists in gross murder with our hands. The meaning is that we are
to help our neighbor with our hands, give and advance to him, so that he way be
sustained. For if I behold a poor person lying in distress and fail to help,
protect and give, so that he be sustained, I murder him with my own
hand.
17. Now if you want to see and know who you are, you must not judge
yourselves by those whom you love. Nature teaches that we do not want those we
love to meet with any ill. But judge yourself by your enemies, and you will soon
see who you are. Do you find that you are not in your heart kindly disposed
toward them, nor kind in con duct, but speak evil of them, failing to help them
with your hands, you are a murderer.
18. But in that our Lord says:
"Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and
whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and
whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire," he uses
the language in vogue in the civil courts, when the accused is brought before
the court, the question of guilty or not guilty is first discussed; afterwards
the deliberations are on the penalty to be imposed; and lastly, the culprit is
delivered over for punishment. The same holds true with these grades of wrath;
that is to say, as they advance, the one is punished more severely than the
preceding. There is indeed but one hell, but there is a variety of penalties and
punishments, and of these the one is always nearer infliction than the other:
just as he is nearer death concerning whom the question is being debated what
death he is to die, than the man just cited before the court.
The Lord
himself further explains his words when he says:
"If therefore thou art
offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath
ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way, first
be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine
adversary quickly, whilst thou art with him on the way; lest haply the adversary
deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou
be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out
thence, till thou has paid the last farthing."
19. Here you see what
God demands of us, that he does not want anything done even for himself unless
it be done in love, after the proper relation has been established with one's
neighbor. So you see, anger cancels all good deeds that might be done, for
instance fastings, self-mortification, giving of alms, and other like deeds. And
God in the first place, wants those to be reconciled who live in discord, they,
asking the pardon of the ones they have offended, as indeed is proper. This is
the meaning he would convey when he says: "If therefore thou art offering thy
gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against
thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled
to thy brother," that is, ask his forgiveness. Again: "Agree with thine
adversary quickly;" and even though he does not come at once to you and beg
pardon, be kindly disposed toward him nevertheless and forgive him. See how God
has balanced both sides: on the one hand, offended, we are to be kind and
forgiving, on the other hand,
the offender is to beg pardon, so all things,
may go well.
20. Now one might ask: You tell us not to say, "Thou fool,"
but how about Christ often calling his disciples "fools" and "unbelievers," Mark
16:14, a great and strong slander for a Christian? Reply: We must judge
according to the condition of the heart: that determines the nature of our
actions. Christ and Paul rebuke and reprove harshly, but they have the best of
intentions, hence their words are to be counted good deeds. Even as a father
ofttimes calls his son a fool, yea, and adds bodily correction, yet he does all
this out of love, in that he is always kind in his heart to his son; so Christ
and the Apostles and all the faithful act; whatever they do, they do from a
paternal and maternal heart, hence they are truly good deeds. Therefore we must
judge such questions according to the heart and the person. This may suffice for
the present on this Gospel.