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No. 4201: Meditation
at Table on Christmas Day December 25, 1538
By: Rev. Jack Cascione |
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This evening he [Martin Luther] was very joyful. His conversation, his
singing, and his thoughts were about the incarnation of Christ, our Savior.
Amid his sighs he said, "Ah, what wretched people we are! To think that
we are so cold and slothful in our attitude toward this great joy which,
after all, happened for us, this great benefaction which is far, far
superior to all other works of creation! And yet how hard it is for us to
believe, though the good news was preached and sung for us by angels, who
are heavenly theologians and have rejoiced in our behalf! Their song is the
most glorious. It contains the whole Christian faith. For the gloria in
excelsis? (footnote 299 Latin: "Glory to God in the highest" Luke
2:14) is supreme worship. They wish us such worship and they bring it to us
in Christ.
"Ever since the fall of Adam the world knows neither God nor his
creation. It lives altogether outside of the glory of God. Oh, what thoughts
man might have had about the fact that God is in all creatures, and so might
have reflected on the power and the wisdom of God in even the smallest
flowers! Of a truth, who can imagine how God creates, out of the parched
soil, such a variety of flowers, such pretty colors, such sweet vernal
grass, beyond anything that a painter or apothecary?300? could make! Yet God
can bring out of the ground such colors as green, yellow, red, blue, brown.
Adam and those around him would have been elevated by all this to the praise
of God, and they would have made use of all created things with
thanksgiving. Now we enjoy all this to overflowing, yet without
understanding, like cattle or other beasts trampling the most beautiful
blossoms and lilies underfoot. "For this reason the angels here [in the
Christmas story] recall fallen men to faith and love, that is, to glory
toward God and peace on earth."?301? No. 4322: A Fable About the Origin
of Monasticism Between January 12 and 15, 1539
Luther, M. (1999, c1967). Vol. 54: Luther's works, vol. 54 : Table
Talk (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works
(Vol. 54, Page 326-327). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
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December 24, 2002 |