“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” St. John 1:14
I was at a Christmas service once where the lay reader choked up at the phrase “became flesh” in this Gospel. I’ll always remember that, and I’ll think ‘You know what? She was right to get overwhelmed by that.’
“The entire Old Testament contains nothing but Christ as he is preached in the gospel. Therefore we see how the apostles adduce testimony from the Bible and how in this manner they prove everything that is to be preached and to be believed concerning Christ. … Thus we see that the law and the prophets, too, cannot be preached or recognized properly, unless we see Christ wrapped up in the Scriptures.”
Martin Luther. ‘The Gospel for Christmas Eve’ from the Christmas Postil. Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 52. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974), p. 21-22.
“In the church nothing other than the gospel shall be preached. … See there what the gospel is: a joyous sermon concerning Christ, our Savior. He who preaches him properly, preaches the gospel and nothing but joy. What greater joy may a heart know than that Christ is given him as his very own? … If there were something else to preach, then the evangelical angel and angelic evangelist would have touched on it.”
Martin Luther. ‘The Gospel for Christmas Eve’ from the Christmas Postil. Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 52. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974), p. 18, 20-21.
God has commanded “that if you see that your neighbor errs, sins, is in need, and suffers in his body, possessions, or soul, then and there you should get busy, let everything else go, and help him with all you are and have. When you can do no more, then you should help him with words and with prayer.”
Martin Luther. ‘The Gospel for Christmas Eve’ from the Christmas Postil. Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 52. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974), p. 17.
“He loves, and we believe, and those are the ingredients of the cake. Again, our neighbor believes and is expecting our love. We, then, should love him, too, and not let him look and wait for us in vain. The one is the same as the other: Christ helps us, so we help our neighbor, and all are satisfied.”
Martin Luther. ‘The Gospel for Christmas Eve’ from the Christmas Postil. Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 52. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974), p. 17.
“Christ was obedient to his father in this, that he lived and served us. Because you are full and rich, you have no other commandment according to which you serve and obey Christ, except that you direct all your works so that they are good and useful to your neighbor, exactly as Christ’s works are good and useful to you … The purpose is that we, in turn, do likewise, not to him — he is not in need of it — but to our neighbor.”
Martin Luther. ‘The Gospel for Christmas Eve’ from the Christmas Postil. Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 52. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974), p. 16-17.
“See to it that you make his birth your own, and that you make an exchange with him, so that you rid yourself of your birth and receive, instead, his. This happens, if you have this faith. By this token you sit assuredly in the Virgin Mary’s lap and are her dear child. This faith you have to practice and to pray for as long as you live; you can ever strengthen it enough. That is our foundation and our inheritance; on it the good works are to be built.”
Martin Luther. ‘The Gospel for Christmas Eve’ from the Christmas Postil. Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 52. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974), p. 16.
“Christ willed to be born so that we might be born in a different manner, as he says in John 3:3-6. This happens through 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.”
Martin Luther. ‘The Gospel for Christmas Eve’ from the Christmas Postil. Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 52. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974), p. 15.
“The birth happened to her [the Virgin Mary] 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 shes 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’, 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.”
Martin Luther. ‘The Gospel for Christmas Eve’ from the Christmas Postil. Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 52. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974), p. 11-12.
“This lesson is just like the sun: in a placid pond it can be seen clearly and warms the water powerfully, but in a rushing current it cannot be seen as well nor can it warm up the water as much. So if you wish to be illumined and warmed here, to see God’s mercy and wondrous deeds, so that your heart is filled with fire and light and becomes reverent and joyous, then go to where you may be still and impress the picture deep in your heart.”
Martin Luther. ‘The Gospel for Christmas Eve’ from the Christmas Postil. Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 52. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974), p. 8-9.
Pathology: the Study of a Path 