Encore Post: Ruth was a gentile and as such cut off from God and His presence. When she married Naomi’s son Mahlon, Ruth became a Hebrew and one of God’s people. When Naomi’s husband died, her sons were her only means of support. When these sons in turn also died, she was a widow without sons — helpless in a society where having husbands and sons are key to survival. On top of that, she was in a foreign country, where no one cared about her. Yet all she could think about was her daughters-in-law. She tried to send them home to their families, but only one of them went back.
Because Ruth truly loved her Naomi and loved God, she refused. She would never leave her mother-in-law. Whatever would happen to Naomi, she would share her fate. So, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law went home to Naomi’s family — the Bethlehem in Judea. Does that town sound familiar?
While she was gathering the grain left in the field for the poor, she met a relative of her late husband. This man, Boaz, went out of his way to provide for Naomi and her daughter-in-law. He claimed the right to marry Ruth under the Levirate law — the nearest male relative marries a widow and their children become the legal heirs of the deceased man.
When he did this, Boaz showed the true, selfless character of a redeemer. God blessed this marriage with children. Their son Obed would later marry. Obed’s was the father of Jesse, whose son was King David. And so the self-giving nature of Ruth and Boaz was blessed. In this way, God put a gentile into the family tree of the Son of David — and his own Son — Jesus (Matthew 1:5, ).
Encore Post: In my first post about accepting Jesus as your personal Savior, I explained that you do not need to do so. Why? Because God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit has already accepted you. God made you his child when God the Father loved you before he made the world, chose you to be his own, rigged your future to make sure you would be adopted as his child. The Son became man, shed his blood to redeem you and the Holy Spirit sealed you in baptism and lives within you as a down payment on your eternal life. (see Ephesians 1)
So, where does that leave those who have pledged their lives to Jesus, invited him into their hearts and believe they are born again? The bottom line is all of this shows some sort of faith in Christ and trust in his promises. That faith saves them. They are mistaken that the commitment in any way saves them. The reason: it is God’s grace alone, received by faith alone that saves us. They have the cart before the horse. Works do not save you. Salvation gives us the power to do good works — including giving our lives to Jesus. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
In fact, Lutherans make commitments to serve God and their neighbors all the time. It begins with vows at our baptism — made by us when we are baptized as adults and for us when we are baptized as children. In every divine service and in private confession, we confess our sins and confess our faith in the ecumenical creeds. At Confirmation and every time we join a new congregation, we renew these vows. These frequent confessions and pledges have a very practical value. Since Christians continue to sin the rest of their lives. It is only at death the we are sin-free. These confessions tap the power of the gospel to strengthen our faith.
The trouble with depending upon our own strength to commit our lives to Jesus for salvation is we can never be certain we’re saved. Were we sincere? Did we really commit our lives to Christ? Or were we in it for the approval of other or to escape hell. So many re-commit themselves at every opportunity. We become unsure of whether God loves us and whether he really love us. This could, ironically cost us our faith and salvation. This is why Lutherans insist on the gospel
Rev. Robert E. Smith Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana
Encore Post: Our evangelical brothers and sisters in Christ are all about making a decision for Christ. They will often ask, “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Savior?” Such a question sounds strange to Lutherans, along with the similar question, “are you born again?” The reason is Lutherans believe these are really the wrong questions. Why? Because Jesus sought us, found us, saved us by his suffering and death, accepted us in baptism and gave new birth in it by water and the Holy Spirit. So, yes, thank you, I am born again, but no, I did not accept Jesus as my personal Savior. He accepted me and made me God’s child and his brother. There is nothing more personal than that.
I once was asked by someone if I could study all the Bible passages with him that talk about accepting Jesus as Savior. My answer was no, because there are no such passages. In fact, if you go through the Bible looking for people who were lost and sought God, you will find very few. Think about it for a moment: God made Adam and Eve. When they sinned, he came and found them. He went to Noah and told him to build the ark. He found Abraham and told him to leave home, promising to give him a son. He came to Jacob when the patriarch ran away and wrestled with him. He called to Samuel in the night. He sent Samuel to find and anoint David. Almost every book of the words of the prophets begin with: “and the word of God came to…” We don’t seek God, he seeks us out.
Why is this? We were dead in our sins. (Ephesians 2:1-3) As the saying goes, “Dead men tell no tales.” As Martin Luther says it, “I cannot by my own reason or strength, believe in my Lord Jesus Christ or come to him.” (Small Catechism 2.3) Because he loved us, he is gracious to us. He was moved in Christ Jesus to become one of us, live a perfect life for us, take our sins upon himself and die on the cross for us. It is by this grace we are saved, through his gift to us of faith.
In a sense, we can talk about decision theology, then. God decided to save us. He is our personal savior, because he made it so. We will live with him forever because of this. We can rest in the peace this brings, confident that he will remove every sin from us one day, the day he calls us forth from our graves and dries every tear in our eyes.
Rev. Robert E. Smith Pastor Emeritus Fort Wayne, Indiana
Sermon on Matthew 9:36; Luke 10:1-20 4th Sunday after Pentecost Our Hope Lutheran Church 3 July 2022
Text: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest… “Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you” … “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” … Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Intro: These past few months have been filled with tragedies that made the news. School shootings, natural disasters, brutal warfare, the incredible evil one human being can do to another, especially the innocent and defenseless. We confront this coming out of a truly scary plague and the overreaction of those who meant well making it worse. We can’t help but feel bad for people. And so we reach out and offer our thoughts and prayers – and we follow through, too! It all seems so weak a response. What can you do when you want to do something! When there is not much you can do?
A question that leaps to mind – especially for a man of my generation – is what would Jesus do? The gospel lesson and its sister passage in Matthew begin to answer that question and its follow up – what would Jesus want us to do?
Jesus reacted as Jesus often does… his heart went out to them and he sent help.
Christ’s heart goes out to us.
There are several Greek words the New Testament uses to talk mercy talk. Two of them are:
ἔλεος – to be kind to people, even if they do not deserve it. It is used in the most ancient prayer of the church — Κύριε, ἐλέησον, Lord, have mercy
Σπλαγχνίζομαι – To feel compassion in your internal organs. In the New Testament, it is almost always entirely used of Jesus. The closest we can come to translate it is to say: “his heart went out to them” or “it broke his heart.”
Our English word is not too bad – it comes from latin: compassio – to suffer with.
When Jesus’ heart goes out to people, compassion results in action.
He feeds 5000.
He heals the sick.
He raises the dead.
He calls on us to pray – and sends workers out.
Sometimes our compassion doesn’t go that far.
We see something and say, “that’s awful”
Sometimes we pray, which is not chump change, by the way, but that’s it.
Once in awhile, our heart itself moves, and we do something. But not much.
God wants us to always have compassion, but most of the time we don’t have that emotional bandwidth. Our heart is not in it.
Jesus invites us to share his compassion.
Why didn’t God just crumple the world into a ball and build Earth 2.0? He loved us.
The heart of God went out to us, and his Son became one of us.
He lived a perfect life for us, suffered and died for us, rose again for us, because he had to do something, but not just anything!
The Holy Spirit took out our heart of stone and gave us a heart of flesh in Baptism.
Now we want to show mercy, as our Father shows mercy.
Conclusion: So what to do? Pray for sure. Jesus invites you to do so. Donate? Of course; either in kind or cash. Roll up your sleeves and go to work on the ground? There are many churches and non-profits here in the Fort that would love to have you. Mister Rogers used to say, when asked what to tell children with disaster comes to TV was, “Look for the helpers. There are always helpers.” Maybe one of them is you.
Rev. Robert E. Smith Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana
Sermon on Galatians 5:16-25 Pentecost Monday 6 June 2022 Kramer Chapel Fort Wayne, Indiana
Text: “But I say, keep walking with the Spirit, and you definitely will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
Intro: 78 years ago today, the largest amphibious assaults in history, known today as D-Day was underway on the shores of France. The battle for control of the beaches led to the defeat of Nazi Germany once and for all. We are engaged in a more ancient war – the war between the Holy Spirit and our sinful nature. The war is already won; Jesus defeated sin, death, and the power of the devil when he suffered and died to atone for our sins and rose again to break the seal of the grave forever. Yet the battle is not over. Even though our sinful nature, the flesh, was defeated on the cross and drowned in the waters of baptism, it’s not quite dead yet. As the old saying goes, the Old Adam (and Eve!) is a good swimmer! Yet because Christ has defeated it, we no longer haveto sin. We already live our lives following the Holy Spirit and what he wants. If we keep walking around with him – when we follow his lead, our victory is guaranteed.
The war is between the Spirit and the Flesh
Easier said then done! For our sin-soaked and warped emotions are very powerful.
Our culture urges us to follow our dreams, to our own self be true, to pursue happiness above everything else, to ignore reality when it doesn’t feel right.
As if that was not bad enough, we are told that we must celebrate the choices of others – from same-sex marriage to pretending that some men are women and some women are men, to killing babies in the womb and sick people in their beds.
The flesh leads to destruction
When we compromise with these forces, we find ourselves curved back in on ourselves, dividing into ever smaller group and turn to fighting, even among ourselves.
God warns us that the works of these desires lead to destruction and ultimately to hell.
Yet the urgings of the Old Adam are a lie; He is dead.
The fruit of the Spirit comes from life in Christ
Our New Adam or Eve lives. For when Christ rose from the dead, we rose to new life.
The Holy Spirit created our new self within us when we were baptized.
He brings fruit from that new nature to us and to our brothers and sisters in Christ through us.
When our work in this battle is done, our life is hidden with God, until the battle is over and we rise glorious in his victory to live with him forever.
Rev. Robert E. Smith Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana
Sermon on Romans 6:3-5, 9-11 The Vigil of Easter April 16, 2022 Our Hope Lutheran Church Huntertown, Indiana
Text:Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. … We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Intro: Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed, Allelujah! Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who by his death has destroy death and by his rising again opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
The Easter Vigil is one of the oldest worship services the church celebrates. As early as the first or second centuries, the church at Jerusalem met at sundown on Holy Saturday to tell the whole story of salvation – from the creation of the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus. People love stories. We read them, tell them, quote them and enjoy them over and over again. Even ones that are of real people, often embellished, have a charm for us.
The story of salvation is the best of them all, not only because it has great power and drama, filled with one water rescue after another, but because we are a part of it. This story is not over yet and that makes all the difference in the world. This story, you see, will actually end happily ever after, when Jesus will raise us from our graves to live with him forever.
Jesus is at the center of this story
As God, he created the world.
He kept Noah and his family safe on the Ark.
He spoke from the burning bush to call Moses and was in the pillar of cloud and fire.
He is the Redeemer Job will see on the last day.
He stood with the three witnesses in the fiery furnace.
At just the right time he was born of the virgin Mary,
As the Lamb of God, he was slain for us.
Through apostles, faithful witnesses, pastors and countless others, he brought the word of God to us.
We are in this story.
In our right time, his Holy Spirit, united us with him in Holy Baptism.
When he died, we died with him.
When he rose again, we rose with him, too.
On a day very soon, he will come for us to bring us home.
And on that last day, he will call our bodies from the grave and we will live with him forever.
So now, we consider ourselves dead to sin but alive it him.
Sermon on Luke 15:1–32 Fourth Sunday in Lent Our Hope Lutheran Church & Kramer Chapel March 27th-28th, 2022
Text: “[The Father] said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”
Intro: The Parable of the Prodigal Son is, ironically, not about the lost son. It is about the Father and another son – the older one. Nor is the other two lost parables about the lost sheep or the lost coin. Nor are they about the ninety-nine sheep, safely grazing in the pasture or the nine coins still in the woman’s purse. They are about the friends and neighbors and the angels of God. God looks everywhere for the lost and rejoices when he finds them. He throws a party and wants us to rejoice with him. For they were dead and now are alive again; they were lost and now are found.
Before He made the world, God loved us.
He chose us to be his children, rigged things so that we would be adopted as his heirs.
In Jesus, he became one of us, sought us, died for our sins and rose so that we might live with him forever.
His Holy Spirit put faith in our heart, keeps us safe in his care and is a guarantee of our salvation.
God loves sinners and wants us to love them, too.
Yet we are not alone. God has countless lost children, who have wandered far from home.
Jesus searches everywhere for them.
When he finds them, he rejoices and brings them home.
He throws a party for them and wants us to celebrate and be happy with him.
Yet sometimes we do not feel like celebrating.
Most of us have lived our lives as faithful Christians.
Yet we live in a world that at best ignores God’s will and worst defies it.
When they finally come to their senses, are we really all that happy about it?
What we forget is that we are sinners, too.
Jesus came from heaven and sought us.
He was born and lived in every way we are, except he didn’t sin.
He bore our sins and complaining to the cross, where he died in our place.
He rose to break the power of sin and death.
He brought us home, singing and rejoicing.
In the end, we will share his joy in the party that lasts forever.
A Short Summary of the Sermon of Dr. M. Luther Delivered on Reminiscere Sunday March 16, 1522 Martin Luther Preacher at Wittenberg
Now we have heard all the things which ought to be considered here, except confession. We speak about it now.
In the first place, one form of confession, founded on the Scriptures, occurs when someone commits a sin publicly, or with other men’s knowledge, and is accused before the congregation. If he abandons his sin, they intercede for him with God. But if he will not hear the congregation, he is excluded from the church and cast out, so that no one will have anything to do with him. This form of confession is commanded by God in Matthew 18:15, “If your brother sins against you (so that you and others are offended), go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.”
There is no longer even a trace of this form of confession to be found. In this particular case, the Gospel is put aside He who could reestablish it would perform a good work. Here is where you ought to have taken pains and reestablished this kind of confession, and let the other things go. For by this no one would have been offended, and it would have been accomplished without disturbance. It should be done in this way: When you see a usurer, adulterer, thief or drunkard, you should go to him in secret and admonish him to give up his sin. If he will not hear, you should take two others with you and admonish him once more, in a brotherly way, to give up his sin. But if he scorns that, you should tell the pastor before the whole congregation, have your witnesses with you, and accuse him before the pastor in the presence of the people, saying:
”Dear pastor, this man has done this and that, and would not receive our brotherly admonition to give up his sin. Therefore I accuse him, together with my witnesses who were present.” And then, if he will not give up and willingly acknowledge his guilt, the pastor should exclude him and put him under the ban before the whole assembly, for the sake of the congregation, until he comes to himself and is received back again. This would be Christian. But I cannot undertake to carry it out single-handed.
Secondly, a confession is necessary for us, when we go away in a corner by ourselves, and confess to God Himself and pour out before Him all our faults. This confession is also commanded. From this comes the familiar word of Scripture: “Facite judicium et justitiam.” (Genesis 18:19) Judicium facere est nos ipsos accusare et damnare; justitiam autem facere est fidere misericordiae Dei. As it is written, “Blessed are they that keep judgment and do righteousness at all times.” (Psalm 106:3) The judgment is nothing else than a man’s knowing and judging and condemning himself, and this is true humility and self-abasement. The righteousness is nothing else than a man’s knowing himself and praying to God for mercy and help through which God raises him up again. This is what David means when he says: “I have sinned; I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord,” (Psalm 32:5 ff.) and, “You forgave the iniquity of my sin; for this all your saints shall pray to You.”
Thirdly, There is also a confession when you take another aside, and tells him what troubles you, so that you may hear from him a word of comfort. This confession is commanded by the pope. It is this urging and forcing which I condemned when I wrote concerning confession, and I refuse to go to confession just because the pope wishes it and has commanded it. For I wish him to keep his hands off confession and not make of it a compulsion or command, which he has not the power to do. Yet I will let no man take private confession away from me, and I would not give it up for all the treasures in the world, since I know what comfort and strength it has given me. No one knows what it can do for him except one who has struggled much with the devil. Yes, the devil would have slain me long ago, if confession had not sustained me. For there are many doubts which a man cannot resolve by himself, and so he takes a brother aside and tells him his trouble. What harm is there, if he humbles himself a little before his neighbor, puts himself to shame, looks for a word of comfort from him, and takes it to himself and believes it, as if he heard it from God himself, as we read in Matthew 18:19 “If two of you shall agree about anything that they shall ask, ill shall be done for them.”
We must have many absolutions, so that we may strengthen our timid consciences and despairing hearts against the devil and against God. Therefore no one should forbid confession nor keep or drive any one away from it. And if any one wrestles with his sins, is eager to be rid of them and looks for some assurance from the Scriptures, let him go and confess to another in secret, and receive what is said to him there as if it came directly from God’s own lips. Whoever has the strong and firm faith that his sins are forgiven, may ignore this confession and confess to God alone. But how many have such a strong faith? Therefore, as I have said, I will not let this private confession be taken from me. Yet I would force no one to it, but leave the matter to every one’s free will.
For our God is not so miserly that He has left us with only one comfort or strengthening for our conscience, or one absolution, but we have many absolutions in the Gospel, and are showered richly with them. For instance, we have this in the Gospel: “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14) Another comfort we have in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses,” etc. (Matthew 6:12) A third is our baptism, when I reason thus: See, my Lord, I am baptized in Your name so that I may be assured of Your grace and mercy. After that we have the private confession, when I go and receive a sure absolution as if God Himself spoke it, so that I may be assured that my sins are forgiven. Finally I take to myself the Blessed Sacrament, when I eat His body and drink His blood as a sign that I am rid of my sins and God has freed me from all my frailties. In order to make me sure of this, He gives me His body to eat and His blood to drink, so that I shall not and cannot despair: I cannot doubt I have a gracious God.
Thus we see that confession must not be despised, but that it is a true comfort. And since we need many absolutions and comforts, because we must fight against the devil, death, hell and sin, we must not allow any of our weapons to be taken away, but keep intact the whole armor and equipment which God has given us for use against our enemies. For you do not yet know what work it is to fight with the devil and to overcome him. I know it well. I have eaten salt with him once or twice. I know him well, and he knows me well, too. If only you knew him, you would not in this manner drive out confession.
I commend you to God. Amen.
Copyright: Public Domain
Translated by A. Steimle. Edited and Language Modernized by Robert E. Smith From: The Works of Martin Luther. Philadelphia: A. J. Holman, 1915, 2:387-425.
March 15, 1522 Dr. Martin Luther Preacher at Wittenberg
Yesterday we heard about the use of the holy and Blessed Sacrament and saw who are worthy to receive it, those who fear death, who have timid and despairing consciences and who live in fear of hell. Such people come prepared to partake of this food for the strengthening of their weak faith and the comforting of their conscience. This is the true and right use of this sacrament. If you do not find yourself in this state, refrain from coming to the altar until God also takes hold of your and draws you to the Sacrament through His Word.
We will now speak about the fruit of this sacrament, which is love. That is, that we should treat our neighbor in the same way that God has treated us. Now we have received from God nothing but love and favor, for Christ has pledged and given us His righteousness and everything that He has. He has poured out upon us all His treasures, which no one can measure and no angel can understand or fathom. For God is a glowing furnace of love, reaching from the earth to the heavens.
Love, I say, is a fruit of this sacrament. But I do not yet perceive it among you here in Wittenberg, although there is much preaching of love and you ought to practice it above all other things. This is the principal thing, and the only thing that matters for a Christian. But no one is eager to do this. You want to do all sorts of unnecessary things, which are not important. If you do not want to show yourselves Christians by your love, then leave the other things undone, too, for St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am like a trumpeting horn or a clashing cymbal.” This is a terrible saying of Paul.
And further: “Although I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries of God, and all knowledge. And although I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And if I give all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:2-3) You have not gone as far as that, although you have received great and rich gifts from God, especially a knowledge of the Scriptures. It is true, you have the pure Gospel and the true Word of God, but no one as yet has given his goods to the poor, no one has yet been burned, and even these things would profit nothing without love. You want to receive all of God’s goods in the sacrament, and yet do not pour them forth again in love. You will not lend a helping hand to others. No one thinks first about another, but everyone looks out for himself and his own gain, seeks only his own interests and lets everything else go as it will. If anybody is helped — well and good. No one looks after the poor or seeks how to help them. It is pitiful. You have heard many sermons about it and all my books are full of it and have the one purpose, to urge you to faith and love.
If you will not love one another, God will send a great plague upon you. Let this be a warning to you, for God will not reveal His Word and have it preached in for nothing. You are tempting God too much, my friends. If someone in times past had preached the Word to our ancestors, perhaps they would have acted differently. Or if the Word were preached today to many poor children in the cloisters, they would receive it with much greater joy than you. You do not listen to it at all, and give yourselves to other things, which are unnecessary and foolish.
I commend you to God.
Copyright: Public Domain
Translated by A. Steimle. Edited and Language Modernized by Robert E. Smith From: The Works of Martin Luther. Philadelphia: A. J. Holman, 1915, 2:387-425.
March 16, 1522 Dr. Martin Luther Preacher at Wittenberg
In our discussion of the chief things we have come to the reception of the sacrament, which we have not yet finished. Today we shall see how we must conduct ourselves here, and also who is worthy to receive the sacrament and who belongs there.
It is very necessary here that your hearts and consciences be well instructed, so that you distinguish well between the outward reception and the inner and spiritual reception. This is the bodily and outward reception, when you receive with your mouth the body of Christ and His blood. Anyone can receive the sacrament in this way, for such reception may be without faith and love. But that reception does not make you a Christian, for if it did, even a mouse would be a Christian, for it can likewise eat the bread and drink out of the cup. It is such a simple thing to do. But the true, inner, spiritual reception is a very different thing, for it consists in the right use of the sacrament and of its fruits.
I would say in the first place that such reception is the true inner one, and is a reception in faith. We Christians have no other outward sign by which we may be distinguished from others than this sacrament and baptism. But a mere outward reception, without faith, amounts to nothing. There must be faith to make one well prepared for the reception and acceptable before God, otherwise it is all sham and a mere external show, which is not Christianity at all. Christianity is a thing of faith, which is never bound to any external work.
But faith (which we all must have, if we wish to go to the sacrament worthily) is a firm trust, that Christ, the Son of God, stands in our place and has taken all our sins upon His shoulders, that He is the eternal satisfaction for our sin and reconciles us with God the Father. If you have this faith you may receive this sacrament, and neither devil nor hell nor sin can harm you. Do you ask why? Because God is your protector and defender. And when I have this faith, then I am certain God is fighting for me. I can defy devil, death, hell and sin and all the harm with which they threaten me. This is the great, inestimable treasure given us in Christ, which the words of man fail to describe. Only faith can take hold of the heart, and not everyone has such faith.
Therefore this sacrament must not be made a law, as the most Holy Father, the pope, has done with his fools’ commandment: All Christians must go to the sacrament on holy Easter, and he who does not go shall not be buried in consecrated ground. Isn’t this a foolish law which the pope has set up? You ask why? Because we are not all alike. We do not all have equal faith. The faith of one is stronger than that of another. It is therefore impossible that the sacrament can be made a law, and the greatest sins are committed at Easter solely on account of this unchristian command, which tries to drive everybody to the sacrament. And if all robbery, usury, depravity and all the other sins were thrown into one pile, this sin would surpass it — even though it seems to be the holiest of all deeds. And why? Because the pope can look into no one’s heart to see whether he has faith or not.
But if you believe that God is with you and that He stakes all His treasures and His blood for you, as if He said: “Walk behind Me without fear or delay, and then let anything try to harm you. Let the devil, death, sin and hell and all creation try it! I will go ahead of you. I will be your captain and your shield. Trust Me and rely upon Me completely” — if you believe in this way you cannot be harmed by devil, hell, sin or death. If God fights for you, what can they do to you?
If you have such faith, you are ready to come to the altar and receive the sacrament as an assurance, or seal, or sign to assure you of God’s promises and grace. But such faith we do not all have. I wish that one-tenth of the Christians had it! See, such rich, immeasurable treasures, which God in His grace showers upon us, cannot be the possession of every one, but only by those who suffer either bodily or spiritual adversity. Bodily adversity comes through the persecution of man, and spiritual adversity by despair of conscience. Outwardly or inwardly, the devil causes your heart to be weak, timid and discouraged, so that you don’t know how you stand with God, and when he reproaches you with your sins. And in such terrified and trembling hearts alone God desires to dwell, as the prophet Isaiah says. (Isaiah 66:2) For if you have not felt the battle within you, if you are not distressed by your sins nor have a daily quarrel with them, and if you do not wish for a protector, defender and shield to stand before you, you are not yet ready for this food. This food demands a hungering and longing man, for it delights to enter a hungering soul, one that is in constant battle with its sins and eager to be rid of them.
He who is not prepared in this way should abstain for a while from this sacrament, for this food is not for a satisfied and full heart. If it comes to such a person, it is harmful. Therefore, if we think about, and feel within us, such distress of conscience and the fear of a timid heart, we will come with all humbleness and reverence, and not rush to the altar carelessly, with insolence and without fear and humility. We are not always ready for it. Today I have the grace, and am ready for it, but not tomorrow. Yes, it may be that for six months I have neither desire nor fitness for it.
Therefore you are the most worthy to receive the Sacrament when you are constantly harassed by death and the devil. Then you receive it best. It strengthens you in the faith by reminding you that no harm can come to you, because He is now with you. No one can take you away from Him. Let death or the devil or sin come. They cannot harm you.
This is what Christ did, when He prepared to institute the Blessed Sacrament. He brought anguish upon His disciples and trembling to their hearts when He said that He would leave them, (Matthew 26:2) and again they were tormented when He said: “One of you will betray me. (Matthew 26:21) Don’t you think that that cut them to the heart? Truly, they received the word with all fear, and sat there as though they were all traitors to God. And after He had made them all tremble with fear and sorrow, then only did He institute the Blessed Sacrament as a comfort, and consoled them again. For this bread is a comfort for the sorrowing, a healing for the sick, life for the dying, a food for all the hungry, and a rich treasure for all the poor and needy.
Let this be enough at this time concerning the proper use of this sacrament. I commend you to God.
Copyright: Public Domain
Translated by A. Steimle. Edited and Language Modernized by Robert E. Smith From: The Works of Martin Luther. Philadelphia: A. J. Holman, 1915, 2:387-425.
