Christians Distinguished from Heathen
1. In this Gospel we see how God distinguishes
Christians from heathen. For the Lord does not deliver these teachings to the
heathen, for they could not receive them, but to his Christians. However, he
does not consider those Christians, who only hear his Word, so as to learn it
and be able to repeat it, as the nuns do the Psalter. In this way Satan also
hears the Gospel and the Word of God, yea, he knows it far better than we do,
and he could preach it as well as we, if he only wanted to; but the Gospel is a
doctrine that should become a living power and be put into practice; it should
strengthen and comfort the people, and make them courageous and aggressive.
Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
Love
Gold and Earthly Possessions, Hate God
It is impossible for one, who loves gold and
earthly possessions and cleaves to them, not to hate God. For God here contrasts
these two as enemies to one another, and concludes, if you love and cleave to
one of these two, then you must hate and despise the other. Therefore, however
nicely and genteelly one lives here upon earth and cleaves to riches, it cannot
be otherwise than that he must hate God; and on the other hand, whoever does
not cleave to gold and worldly goods, loves God. This is certainly true.
#5, Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
$100,000
Examine
now and see, if our heart is not a rogue, full of wickedness and unbelief. If I
were a true Christian, I would say. The hour the Gospel is received, there
comes to me a hundred thousand dollars, and much more. For if I possess this
treasure, I have all that is in heaven and upon earth. But one must serve this
treasure only, for no man can serve God and mammon. Either you must love God
and hate money; or you must hate God and love money; this and nothing more.
#8, Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
Little
Birds Teach Us
28. As if the Lord would say: You have never
yet seen a bird with a sickle, with which it harvested and gathered into barns;
yea, the birds do not labor like we; and still they are nourished. By this the
Lord does not however teach that we are to be idle; but he tries by this
example to take all anxiety from us. For a bird cannot do the work of a farmer
as we do; yet, it is not free from labor, but it does the work for which it was
created, namely, it bears its young, feeds them and sings to our Lord God a
little song for the privilege of doing this. Had God imposed more labor upon
it, then it would have done more. Early in the morning it rises, sits upon a
twig and sings a song it has learned, while it knows not where to obtain its
food, and yet it is not worried as to where to get its breakfast. Later, when
it is hungry, it flies away and seeks a grain of corn, where God stored one
away for it, of which it never thought while singing, when it had cause enough
to be anxious about its food. Ay, shame on you now, that the little birds are
more pious and believing than you; they are happy and sing with joy and know
not whether they have anything to eat.
Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
May
the Gospel Break Forth in Deeds
35. Now the sum of this Gospel is: Christians
should not worry about what they are to eat; God provides for them before they
think of their need; but they are to labor, that is commanded them. But what
the kingdom of God and his righteousness are, would require too much time to
discuss, you have often heard about them, if you have been attentive. This is
now enough on today’s Gospel. May God grant us grace that someday we may also
even put it into practice! May the Gospel remain not only in our ears and on
our tongues, but come into our hearts and break forth fresh into loving deeds!
Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
Blinded
by Abundance
6. Thus we may observe all
creatures and become convinced of God’s goodness in them. Christ says in
Matthew 5:5: “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” As though he would say: I give it
to the whole crowd; but who thanks me a single time for it? He enlightens my
and your eyes, but no one acknowledges that it is God’s blessing. If some
morning the sun should not rise, or rise three hours late, what distress and
loss would that cause? How we would open our mouths and eyes? Then everyone
would say: God be praised and thanked, who has given us such a light! But since
it occurs daily, that the sun rises and shines at the appointed time, no one
considers it a blessing. So it is with the rain from heaven, with the grain in
the field and with all God’s creatures. They exist in such abundance, and we
are daily so overwhelmed by their abundance that we fail to see them.
Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity
