Happy Easter 2013 A.D.

Happy Easter!

He is risen!

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Holy Week Message from Pastor Harrison

In Christ God’s power was made perfect in weakness.

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.”

— Ephesians 3:14-21, NKJV.

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Gollum’s Song

Where once was light
Now darkness falls
Where once was love
Love is no more

Don’t say—goodbye
Don’t say—I didn’t try…

These tears we cry
Are falling rain
For all the lies
You told us
The hurt, the blame!

And we will weep
To be so alone
We are lost!
We can never go home

Gollum is a little forlorn character in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.  His original name was Smeagol when he found the One Ring.  A golden ring, a precious thing that exploited his inner weakness.  With the power of The Ring (that granted invisibility and immortality among other things) his character grew inward, twisted inside itself away from people, and toward The Ring which was treasured in his heart.

This violence to his character was so complete that it cleaved him into almost two people: Smeagol and Gollum.  (Sam referred to Gollum’s two sides as “Slinker” and “Stinker”).  The two sides struggled for control, and even argued out-loud with each other.  The Gollum side often referred to itself in the plural, identifying The Ring, a precious thing, with himself.  That which we love becomes a part of us.

He is symbolic of what we become when we love things such as power, wealth, fame, or shiny gold more than other people.  It leads to hatred which is spiritual murder.  We become dark, twisted, evil, alone.  We die.

This picture shows what looks like a dark and twisted tree.  But how much different is it from a summer tree?  What it needs is warmth, water, light, life, love.  The tree cannot obtain these, rather they are gifts from God.  God gives them to the tree so that the tree will bless other people.

In the Lord of the Rings, Frodo has a good friend named Sam who always helps him.  In his turn, Frodo is kindly toward Smeagol, and protects him.  Will Gollum live in the life of Frodo’s kindness, or will he twist back in on himself?  In the books, the word gollum is a name, a behavior, and a characteristic.  Gollum’s song continues:

So in the end
I will be—what I will be
No loyal friend
Was ever there for me

Now we say—goodbye
We say—you didn’t try…

These tears you cry
Have come too late
Take back the lies
The hurt, the blame!

And you will weep
When you face the end alone
You are lost!
You can never go home

— “Gollum’s Song,” The Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers, Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
lyrics by Fran Walsh.

The sun sets behind the trees in Calumet County Park.

In Christ, we can always go home.  Christ did nothing for himself.  He did everything for us.  He is our Sam and our Frodo.  Instead of invisibility, He became incarnate and hung naked on a cross for all to see.  Instead of immortality, He died so that we might have life.

Will we repent, and live in the light of His love?

The Hobbit Movie

The official trailer for an upcoming movie based on The Hobbit is embedded below.  Gollum is at the very end:

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Dark Clouds

Maybe these clouds are too dark.  Sometimes life seems like it will be darker than we will be able to handle.

This storm of whirling air blew in on Thursday.  At some point, all human life and human organizations experience severe turbulence.  These storms and sufferings in life are caused by sin.

Pride goes before a great fall because pride is unaware of the relentless corruption of sin.  (Proverbs 16:18-20).  We live in a world of make-believe where we often delude ourselves into thinking everything, even that which is evil, is good.  However, it is better to know and repent of sin, than through pride to be deceived and think that all is well, when all is far from well.  When a delusional blind man falls, he falls hard.

Jesus says, build on the rock so that when the storms of life come, we will stand the test.  (Matthew 7:24-27).  By building on the rock, he means that we should meditate on his word and receive his sacraments, so that they go down deep within us.  (Psalm 1:2-3).  The Lord’s word enlightens and enlivens, it changes who we are; and when we are changed, how we live is also changed.

The enemy is like a stealthy and anxious tiger.  His keen eyes burn with fear and hate, and he seeks to devour us.  (1 Peter 5:8).  Satan has asked to have us so that he might sift us all like wheat, but the Lord Jesus prays for us so that our faith will not fail.  (Luke 22:31-32).  The Good Shepherd reaches out his hand, and we are saved.  (Matthew 14:30-31).

The tiger is one of the few animals that will attack when it is afraid.  In part, this is what makes tigers so dangerous.  But even the tiger runs from the Good Shepherd.

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In Deed: Happy Easter

Not every flower can adorn the Lord’s house on Easter Sunday, and not all Christians are able to celebrate Easter Sunday in a visible church.  While every Christian benefits from our Lord’s resurrection, many Christians around the world are suffering persecution and isolation.  Even in America some are excluded from fellowship in a visible church, and thus are not able to commune with the rest of the believers during Holy Week.

Nonetheless, even in the darkest of times, the death and resurrection of Christ is not just an idea, it is a deed.  Jesus did that deed.  It is factually true whether we are able to celebrate his resurrection, or not.  When life is dark, and our faith seems to waiver, God’s Word eternally says: this is true, it was done in deed.

Heaven is our home because he is risen.  He is risen indeed!

Happy Easter!

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Tsunami Video and Matthew 24

“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately,” and said, please tell us “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”  Jesus answered:

There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of birth pains…

Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.  For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.  If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.  At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.  For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible.  See, I have told you ahead of time…

Now learn this lesson from the fig tree:  As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.  Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door…

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away…

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come…  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

— Matthew 24 (NIV1984).

In every great disaster that befalls mankind, we almost always say: “We did not expect this.”  So watch and pray.  Please help and pray for the physical and spiritual welfare of the people of Japan and of all people everywhere.

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Blessed Ash Wednesday and Lent

“God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life …”  But man fell into sin, and God said, “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”  (Genesis 2:7, 3:19 KJV).

“In Adam we have all been one,
One huge rebellious man;
We all have fled that evening voice
That sought us as we ran.”

“God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”  But after the fall, man’s children were born, not in the image of God, but in the image of Adam.  (Genesis 1:27, 5:3 KJV).  In Adam all die.

“We fled our God, and losing Him,
We lost our brother too.
Each singly sought and claimed his own;
Each man his brother slew.”

However, one son of man was born in the image of God.  His name was Jesus.  His mother was bone of our bones and flesh of our flesh.  He was our brother, but we crucified him on a tree.  (Genesis 2:23, 3:15, Hebrews 2:14 KJV).  Like Cain, we killed our brother.

“O Savior, when we loved you not,
You loved and saved us all;
O great good Shepherd of mankind,
Oh, hear us when we call.”

On Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, many Christians receive ashes on their foreheads in the shape of a cross as a visual reminder of the consequences of sin.  From the ground we were created, and to the ground we will return: “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”  (Book of Common Prayer, burial).

“But your strong love, it sought us still
And sent your only Son
That we might hear his shepherd-voice
And, hearing him, be one.”

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”  (1 Corinthians 15:22 KJV).  Christians frequently partake of the Lord’s Supper, communing in the Lord’s very body and receiving his life giving blood:  “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?  The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?  For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.”  (1 Corinthians 10:16-17 KJV).

The Christian Church is the one Body of Christ.  Jesus is our head and the new Adam.  As he rose from the dead and conquered sin and death, in him so shall we all.

“Then shall our song united rise
To your eternal throne,
Where with the Father evermore
And Spirit you are one.”

— “In Adam We Have All Been One,” Christian Worship, 396:1-4, 6.

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“The Bondage of the Will” Quotation

We are free in matters that are below us.  For example, we can choose the color of our socks or to help our neighbor.  However, we are not free in matters that are above us because they are beyond our abilities.  For example, life and faith are above us, and can only be gifts from God.

Martin Luther considered his work “The Bondage of the Will” to be one of his best.  It was written in response to Erasmus who asserted the freedom of man’s will in spiritual matters.  Said Luther:

Before man is created and is a man, he neither does nor attempts to do anything toward becoming a creature, and after he is created he neither does nor attempts to do anything toward remaining a creature, but both of these things are done by the sole will of the omnipotent power and goodness of God, who creates and preserves us without our help; but he does not work in us without us, because it is for this he has created and preserved us, that he might work in us and we might cooperate with him, whether outside his Kingdom through his general omnipotence, or inside his Kingdom by the special virtue of his Spirit.

In just the same way … before man is changed into a new creature of the Kingdom of the Spirit, he does nothing and attempts nothing to prepare himself for this renewal and this Kingdom, and when he has been recreated he does nothing and attempts nothing toward remaining in this Kingdom, but the Spirit alone does both of these things in us, recreating us without us and preserving us without our help in our recreated state, as also James says:  “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of his power, that we might be a beginning of his creature” [James 1:18]—speaking of the renewed creature.

But he does not work without us, because it is for this very thing he has recreated and preserves us, that he might work in us and we might cooperate with him.  Thus it is through us he preaches, shows mercy to the poor, comforts the afflicted.  But what is attributed to free choice in all this?  Or rather, what is there left for it but nothing?  And really nothing!

— Luther’s Works, Vol. 33, page 243.
(Emphasis added).

Faith is above us, therefore, faith “is the gift of God.”  No one can boast because faith is not by works, choices, or cooperation.  We are saved by grace alone through faith alone, and this (faith & grace) is the gift of God.  (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Through His Word of promise, God alone gives faith and God alone preserves faith.

On the other hand, the good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do are below us.  (Ephesians 2:10).  That is where we cooperate with God.  As Luther says, God “preaches, shows mercy to the poor,” and “comforts the afflicted” through us.  Because of God we do these works willingly.  (Philippians 2:13).

God works through us to do His work here in this world.  His Word from above creates in us new life and new impulses so that we willingly do His good will.  It is God alone who gives us life and faith and makes us clean and holy so that according to his will we willingly do the good works that are below us.  (Philippians 2:13).  And in heaven we will be rewarded for those good works.  (Ephesians 6:8).

But the good that comes from above is a pure gift.  (James 1:17-18).  Faith, from beginning to end, is a miracle from God: a working of His divine power to raise the dead to spiritual life.  Faith is not partly God’s work and then partly our work any more than life itself is partly God’s work and partly our work.  Yes, we live, but the life we live is the life God gives.

Likewise, we believe, but faith is God’s gift of trust and spiritual life.  The Word of promise creates faith.  “When we believe, our hearts are brought to life by the Holy Spirit through Christ’s Word.”  (Apology of the Augsburg Confession XIIA (V). Repentance, 44-46).

A living tree produces fruit.  Life comes from God, and the life in the tree gives life to the fruit.  The fruit does not give life to the tree.  Those who resist the Holy Spirit and refuse to produce fruit, may lose life.  (Luke 13:7).  But God alone makes alive and preserves life, and it is because of His life in us (faith) that we produce the fruit of life (good works and choices).  Even though we can willingly do the good works below us that God has prepared for us to do, the life and faith that comes from above is God’s work alone.  (John 6:29, 15:16).

After conversion, can a Christian perfect faith by choosing to believe?  No.  True faith by definition is founded on only Christ, and not at all on our will, choices, or decisions.  (Matthew 16:17 and 1 Corinthians 3:11).  Christ alone is “the author and perfecter of our faith,” therefore, we must “fix our eyes on Jesus” and not on our choices.  (Hebrews 2:12).  Christ makes faith secure.  “On Christ the solid rock I stand.  All other ground is sinking sand.”  (CW, 382).  Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”  (John 14:6).  Like life itself, faith, from beginning to end, is a gift that comes from above.  (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Therefore, we should diligently pray, “Increase our faith!”  (Luke 17:5).

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“O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright”

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.  I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”  (Revelation 22:16).

“O Morning Star, how fair and bright!
You shine with God’s own truth and light,
Aglow with grace and mercy!
Of Jacob’s race, King David’s son,
Our Lord and master, You have won
Our hearts to serve You only!
Lowly, holy!
Great and glorious,
All victorious,
Rich in blessing!
Rule and might o’er all possessing!

*

“Come, heavenly Bridegroom, Light divine,
and deep within our hearts now shine;
There light a flame undying!
In Your one body let us be
As living branches of a tree,
Your life our lives supplying.
Now, though daily
Earth’s deep sadness
May perplex us
And distress us,
Yet with heavenly joy You bless us.

*

“Lord, when You look on us in love,
At once there falls from God above
A ray of purest pleasure.
Your Word and Spirit, flesh and blood
Refresh our souls with heavenly food.
You are our dearest treasure!
Let Your mercy
Warm and cheer us!
O draw near us!
For You teach us
God’s own love through You has reached us.

*

“Almighty Father, in Your Son
You loved us when not yet begun
Was this old earth’s foundation!
Your Son has ransomed us in love
To live in Him here and above;
This is Your great salvation.
Alleluia!
Christ the living,
To us giving
Life forever,
Keeps us Yours and fails us never!

*

“O let the harps break forth in sound!
Our joy be all with music crowned,
Our voices gladly blending!
For Christ goes with us all the way—
Today, tomorrow, every day!
His love is never ending!
Sing out!  Ring out!
Jubilation!
Exultation!
Tell the story!
Great is He, the King of Glory!

*

“What joy to know, when life is past,
The Lord we love is first and last,
The end and the beginning!
He will one day, oh, glorious grace,
Transport us to that happy place
Beyond all tears and sinning!
Amen!  Amen!
Come, Lord Jesus!
Crown of gladness!
We are yearning
For the day of Your returning!”

— Lutheran Service Book,
“O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright,” 395:1-6.

All I can say to these stanzas is “Wow.”  The text for this Epiphany hymn was written by Philipp Nicolai during one of the heydays of the Conservative (Lutheran) Reformation.

An epiphany is when an amazing truth dawns on us.  Epiphany is the season when the Church celebrates the dawning of Christ upon His Church.  The Word of Truth dawns on us.  (John 1).  “And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”  (1 Peter 1:19).

Happy Epiphany.

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Luther’s Sermon Guide for Christmas Eve 1521

“In the first place, notice how ordinarily and simply things take place on earth, and yet they are held in such high respect in heaven!  This is what takes place on earth: there is a poor, young woman, Mary, in Nazareth.  Nobody pays any attention to her, and she is considered to be one of the least significant inhabitants of the town.  Nobody realizes the great wonder she is carrying…

Then when they came to Bethlehem, they were the most insignificant, the most despised people, as the evangelist indicates.  They were obliged to make room for everybody, until they were shown into a stable and had to be satisfied to share with the animals a common hostel, a common table, a common room and bed!  At the same time many a rogue occupied the seat of honor in the inn and was treated as a gentleman.  Nobody notices or understands what God performs in the stable.  He permits the big houses and the expensive rooms to remain empty; he permits them to eat, to drink, and to be of good cheer, but this solace and this treasure is hidden from them.  Oh, what a dark night must have been over Bethlehem at that time that they did not see such a light!  Thus God indicates that he pays no attention at all to what the world is or has or can do, and on the other hand the world proves that it knows nothing at all of, and pays no attention to, what God is or has or does.  Behold, this is the first symbol wherewith Christ puts to shame the world and indicates that all of its doing, knowledge, and being are contemptible to us, that its greatest wisdom is in reality foolishness, that its best performance is wrongdoing, and that its greatest good is evil.  What did Bethlehem really have, when it had not Christ?  What do those have now, who at that time were well off?  And what do Mary and Joseph lack now, even though at that time they had no place to sleep comfortably during the night? …

But the birth itself was even more pitiful: nobody took pity on this young woman who was about to give birth for the first time; nobody took to heart the heaviness of her body; and nobody cared that she was in strange surroundings and did not have any of the things which a woman in childbirth needs.  Rather, she was there without anything ready, without light, without fire, in the middle of the night, alone in the darkness.  Nobody offered her any of the services which one naturally renders to pregnant women.  Everyone was drunk and roistering in the inn, a throng of guests from everywhere, and nobody bothered about this woman.  I suspect she did not expect to give birth so soon; otherwise she might have remained in Nazareth.…

Then there are some who express opinions concerning how this birth took place, claiming Mary was delivered of her child while she was praying, in great joy, before she became aware of it, without any pains.  I do not condemn these devotional considerations—perhaps they were devised for the benefit of simple-minded folk—but we must stay with the Gospel text which says she gave birth to him, and with the article of the creed which says “born of the Virgin Mary.”  There is no deception here, but, as the words indicate, it was a real birth.  Now we know, do we not, what the meaning of “to bear” is and how it happens.  The birth happened to her exactly as to other women, consciously with her mind functioning normally and with the parts of her body helping along, as is proper at the time of birth, in order that she should be his normal natural mother and he her natural normal son.  For this reason her body did not abandon its natural functions which belong to childbirth, except that she gave birth without sin, without shame, without pain, and without injury, just as she had conceived without sin.  The curse of Eve, which reads: “In pain you shall bear your children” {[Gen. 3:16], “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing”}, did not apply to her.  In other respects things happened to her exactly as they happen to any woman giving birth.  For grace does not destroy or impede nature and nature’s works; indeed, grace improves and promotes them…

I am talking about this so that we may have a foundation for our faith and that we let Christ be a natural human being, in every respect exactly as we are.  Nor must we put him in a separate category as far as nature is concerned except where sin and grace are involved…

Therefore whatever is not contrary to grace should in no way be subtracted from his and his mother’s nature.  The text clearly states and declares that she bore him, and that “he is born” is also proclaimed by the angels.

How could God have demonstrated his goodness more powerfully than by stepping down so deep into flesh and blood, that he does not despise that which is kept secret by nature, but honors nature to the highest degree exactly where it was brought into shame to the highest degree in Adam and Eve?

****

But what is taking place in heaven because of this birth?  Even as it is disregarded on earth, it is highly honored in heaven, and indeed a thousand times more.  Suppose an angel from heaven praised you and your works, would you not consider it greater than the praise and honor of all the world?  You would feel you could not bear enough humbleness and contempt for it.  Now, what sort of honor is it that all the angels in heaven cannot contain themselves for joy, that they burst forth giving poor shepherds in the field a chance to hear them, that they preach, praise, sing, and pour out their joy beyond measure?  Can the joy and honor of all the people of Bethlehem, indeed that of all kings and lords on the earth, be compared to this joy and honor?…  Behold, how richly God honors those who are despised and apt to be despised of men!

Here you see where his eyes are turned: into the depths and low places, as it is written: “He sits above the Cherubim and looks into the depth or the abyss.”  Then, too, the angels could not find any princes or potentates, but only unlearned lay people and the lowliest of all the folk on earth.  Could they not have addressed the high priests and the learned men of Jerusalem?  After all, they talk a lot about God and the angels.  No, poor shepherds, who were nothing on earth, had to be worthy to receive such great grace and honor in heaven.  How completely does God spurn that which is high!  And we only strive madly and frantically after vain heights … again and again we step out of God’s horizon, so that he might not see us in the depths, the only place where he looks…

As we see, it is the nature of the divine words to teach us to understand God and his works; their aim is to show us that this life is nothing.  Since he does not live in accordance with this life and does not own goods, honor, and power of this temporal life, he has no regard for them and he does not speak of them, but teaches only the reverse, and acts “foolishly”: he looks at that from which the world turns away, teaches those things from which the world flees, picks up what the world casts aside.  And although we do not like going along with such actions of God and do not wish to give up goods, honor, and life in this manner, yet that is how it must be.  For it cannot be changed; God teaches and acts in no other manner.  We must take our direction from him; he will not take his direction from us.

Also, whoever disregards his word, his deed—the nativity—and his consolation, certainly has no good sign of salvation in him.  How could God have demonstrated more pleasantly that he is gracious to all those who are lowly and despised on earth than by this lowly birth, from which the angels derive joy and which he reveals to none but the poor shepherds?

Now let us see what sort of mysteries, hidden things, are presented to us in this story.  Generally speaking, there are two matters which are expressed in all mysteries—the gospel and the faith, i.e., what one is to preach, and what one is to believe, and who are to be the preachers and who are to be the hearers.  Let us have a look at these two matters.

The First Matter

The first matter is the faith which is truly to be perceived in all the words of God.  This faith does not merely consist in believing that this story is true, as it is written.  For that does not avail anything, because everyone, even the damned, believe that.  Concerning faith, Scripture and God’s word do not teach that it is a natural work, without grace.  Rather the faith that is the right one, rich in grace, demanded by God’s word and deed, is that you firmly believe Christ is born for you and that his birth is yours, and come to pass for your benefit.  For the Gospel teaches that Christ was born for our sake and that he did everything and suffered all things for our sake, just as the angel says here:  “I announce to you a great joy which will come to all people; for to you is born this day a Savior who is Christ the Lord” [Luke 2:10–11].  From these words you see clearly that he was born for us.

He does not simply say: “Christ is born,” but: “for you is he born.”  Again, he does not say: “I announce a joy,” but: “to you do I announce a great joy.”  Again, this joy will not remain in Christ, but is for all people.  A damned or a wicked man does not have this faith, nor can he have it.  For the right foundation of all salvation which unites Christ and the believing heart in this manner is that everything they have individually becomes something they hold in common.  What is it that they have?

Christ has a pure, innocent, holy birth.  Man has an impure, sinful, damned birth, as David says in Psalm 51[:5]: “Behold, in sin am I fashioned in the womb, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”  There is no remedy for this except through the pure birth of Christ.  Now the birth of Christ cannot be distributed physically, even as that would not be of any help either.  For this reason it is distributed spiritually, by means of the word, to everyone, as the angel says, so that all who firmly believe that it is given to them in this manner shall not be harmed by their impure birth; this is the manner and means to become cleansed from the stain of the birth we have from miserable Adam.  Christ willed to be born so that we might be born in different manner, as he says in John 3[:3–6].  This happens through that faith, as James 1[:18] says: “He has born us of his own will through his word of truth, so that we begin to be his new creation.”

In this manner Christ takes to himself our birth and absorbs it in his birth; he presents us with his birth so that we become pure and new in it, as if it were our own, so that every Christian might rejoice in this birth of Christ and glory in it no less than if he, too, like Christ, had been born bodily of Mary.  Whoever does not believe this or has doubts about it, is not a Christian.

This is the great joy, of which the angel speaks, this is the consolation and the superabundant goodness of God, that man (if he has this faith) may boast of such treasure as that Mary is his real mother, Christ his brother, and God his father.  For these things are, all of them, true …  ****

[The Second Matter]

The second mystery or hidden teaching is that in the church nothing other than the gospel shall be preached.  Now the gospel teaches only the two previous things, Christ and his example, two kinds of good works: one kind belonging to Christ, by means of which we in faith, attain salvation, the other kind belonging to us, by means of which our neighbor is helped.  Whoever teaches differently from the gospel, he misleads, and whoever does not teach the gospel in accordance with these two parts, he misleads even more and is worse than he who teaches without the gospel, because he desecrates and corrupts the word of God, as St. Paul complains about some [II Cor. 2:17; 4:2].  Now nature by itself could not have discovered such teaching, nor can the intelligence, reason, and wisdom of all men devise it…

This is brought out in the first place in this, that it was not one human being who announced to another this birth of Christ, but it was an angel who came from heaven and announced to the shepherds this birth of Christ.  No human being knew a thing about it.  In the second place, midnight, at which time Christ was born, has a meaning, namely, that all the world is in darkness at his advent and that reason is unable to recognize Christ.  There must be a revelation from heaven.  In the third place, the light which shone around the shepherds is meant to teach that there is needed here a light entirely different from any natural reason.  St. Luke speaks here of gloria dei, the glory of God shone about them.  He calls this light a gloria or honor of God.  Why does he do this?  In order to touch on the mystery and to indicate the nature of the gospel.

Since the gospel is a heavenly light, teaching nothing but Christ in whom God’s grace is given us and our doing is summarily rejected, it raises up only the honor of God so that henceforth nobody can boast of a single capability, but is obliged to give honor to God and to leave the glory to him, so that it is purely through his love and goodness that we are saved through Christ.”

*

Glory to God in the highest, for “these things are, all of them, true.”

— Luther, Martin: Luther’s Works, Vol. 52: Sermons II, Church Postil. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999, c1974, S. 52: iii-19.

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