by Rev. Michael Schuermann
On March 9, 1522, Martin Luther climbed into the pulpit in Wittenberg and preached the first of a week’s worth of sermons. Luther had been in hiding at the Wartburg, but returned to Wittenberg because the people had begun to be led astray by the erroneous teachings of Andreas Karlstadt and others who were following him.
In the sermons that Luther preached – a famous set of sermons known as the Invocavit Sermons, named after the first Sunday of Lent on which he began to preach – we see a pastoral approach that is expressly concerned with the consciences of the people of Wittenberg. Luther wanted to make sure that the people turned aside from a developing fanatical desire to serve God by keeping commandments of men, and instead serve God by believing the Gospel and loving their neighbors.
Luther begins in an ear-opening manner: “The summons of death comes to us all, and no one can die for another. Every one must fight his own battle with death by himself, alone.”[1] This brings to mind the truth of salvation – one man cannot have saving faith for another, but can only receive Christ’s righteousness for himself. As the Lord speaks in Ezekiel 18, “The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” (v. 20, ESV)
The foremost task of the Christian preacher is to preach the Law of God’s Word so that the hearers would know their sin and guilt, and of the punishment due to them because of it; yet also to preach the Gospel of God’s Word, so that the hearers would know that their guilt is covered over by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, gifted to them by the grace of God.
In his sermon on Invocavit Sunday, Luther quickly communicates this truth to his hearers. “In the first place, we must know that we are the children of wrath, and all our works, intentions, and thoughts are nothing at all…Note this well; and though there are many such in the Bible, I do not wish to overwhelm you with many texts. ‘We are all the children of wrath.'”[2]
Immediately Luther follows with the Gospel – He lifts the burden of sin and wrath off of the hearer’s shoulders. “God has sent us his only-begotten Son that we may believe in him and that whoever trusts in him shall be free from sin and a child of God, as John declares in his first chapter, ‘To all who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.'”[3]
However, the circumstances in Wittenberg that had caused Luther to return and teach the people himself were not that they were doubting the Law’s declaration of their sinfulness, nor of the promise of the Gospel’s declaration of forgiveness of their sin. Rather, the people of Wittenberg, under Karlstadt’s teaching, had become enamored with holy living to the detriment of their neighbors instead of to their help.
“Thirdly, we must also have love and through love we must do to one another as God has done to us through faith. For without love faith is nothing, as St. Paul says (I Cor. 2 [13:1]): If I had the tongues of angels and could speak of the highest things in faith, and have not love, I am nothing. And here, dear friends, have you not grievously failed? I see no signs of love among you, and I observe very well that you have not been grateful to God for his rich gifts and treasures.”[4]
What was lacking amongst the Wittenbergers was a love for their neighbor. They were being taught to make significant changes in the practice of their piety — and were in fact making those changes — and were scandalizing the weaker brothers and sisters in Christ among them in the process. Luther spent the vast majority of the rest of the sermons in the next week (eight in all!) preaching the Law to his hearers, instructing them in how to guard the consciences of their neighbors and in not creating stumbling blocks for them.
What is especially fascinating about Luther’s teaching is that, while he is greatly concerned with the saving faith of all the people, he insists that coercion is in no way helpful in bringing them to that saving faith. Luther instead takes his cue from God’s way of working: through the Word. Our love for our neighbor should reflect the careful patience and teaching of God’s Word, both in terms of our action and in our relying on nothing but the Word. Luther cites the example of St. Paul in Athens: “Rather [Paul] stood up in the middle of the market place and said [the various statues and shrines] were nothing but idolatrous things and begged the people to forsake them; yet he did not destroy one of them by force. When the Word took hold of their hearts, they forsook them of their own accord, and in consequence the thing fell of itself.”[5]
This is a good example for all Christians, including us today. In the midst of a world which continues in sin, we are called to proclaim the Word and love our neighbors. Yet Luther’s words of instruction are just as applicable to us today as to his hearers in Wittenberg 500 years ago. “In short, I will preach it, teach it, write it, but I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion.”[6]
“I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.”[7]
The Word of God never changes, and as we hear from Isaiah 55, it always accomplishes that for which He purposes it. May we have the same bold trust in the Word of God as the blessed Dr. Martin Luther as we live our lives in faith toward God and love toward our neighbor!
The Rev. Michael Schuermann is pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Sherman, IL.
[1] Luther’s Works, American Edition, Vol. 51, p. 71
[2] ibid, p. 71
[3] ibid., p. 71
[4] ibid., p. 71
[5] ibid., p. 77
[6] ibid., p. 77
[7] ibid., p. 77