路德如何親身面對和解釋死亡
我們自然的愛的力量是如此的大，以致於我們在面對離別時，心裡不得不悲傷，甚至好像自己也經歷死亡一般。…… 所以，請你為我們感謝上帝，因為上帝用這種方式榮耀我們的肉體，他的恩典實在作了極大的工。
路德雖然很確信死後的盼望，但面對生離死別，他仍然流露出強烈的悲傷。他第二個女兒伊莉莎白只有十個月，便夭折，他雖然知道這女兒已經與基督同在，但他承認「這孩子在我裡面留下了一種非常難過的心」。
多年後，他再得一個女兒。抹大拉1529年12月17日出生在Wittenberg。她是路德夫婦第三個孩子。她使得路德得不少的安慰。他很疼愛這個女兒，甚至沒有生過她的氣。抹大拉在家中的小名是Lenchen（琳蘅）。正如畫家老盧卡斯（Lucas Cranach）所畫的那樣。抹大拉有一對大眼睛，深邃且明亮。但是她13歲那年卻因長期的疾病而逝。
在抹大拉臨死前，路德極其憂傷，但懷著堅忍的信心預備孩子經過死蔭的幽谷。何禮魁（Holmquist）記載了這段感人的經過：
他站在女兒床邊禱告道：「我很愛她，但是，親愛的上帝啊，你的旨意既然要她去，我就喜歡她與你同在。」隨後他對女兒說：「小抹大拉，我的女兒，你願意留在這邊與父親同在，還是喜歡與天父同在？」
她說：「是的，親愛的父親，照上帝的旨意。」
路德的太太凱蒂悲不自勝。路德跪下、禱告、哭泣，雙臂抱著孩子。女兒在他懷裡去世。後來見到她在棺木中，他說：「最親愛的小抹大拉，你必定復活，而且會發光，像星星和太陽一樣。」路德雖然對人說：他的心靈是快樂的，但他肉體受到憂傷的打擊，一直都沒有復原。
（摘錄自《馬丁路德神學研究》，第180頁，楊慶球著，基道出版社2002年出版，內容有添加）
路德寫信給喬納斯（另一位德國的路德宗神學家）說：
「我相信你已經收到消息了。我最愛的女兒抹大拉已經在基督永恆的國度裡重生了。我和妻子應該喜樂地感恩，因為抹大拉擁有這樣一個令人愉悅的離別和蒙福的結束，她逃脫了肉體、世界、和土耳其人與魔鬼的權勢。但是，我們自然的愛的力量是如此的大，以致於我們在面對離別時，不能不哭泣，心裡不得不悲傷，甚至好像自己也經歷死亡一般。抹大拉生前和死前的身影、話語、動作仍深刻在我們的心裡。基督的死應該將這一切拿走，卻也是不能。所以，請你為我們感謝上帝，因為上帝用這種方式榮耀我們的肉體，他的恩典實在作了極大的工。你知道，抹大拉有溫柔、愛心的性情，並蒙所有人喜愛。…… 願上帝賜給我和所有我愛之人有這樣的死亡——或生命。」
（來自維基百科，福音社翻譯）
Magdalena was born in Wittenberg as Luther couple’s third child and second but first surviving daughter, as her older sister, Elizabeth, had died the year before Magdalena was born, at the age of seven months. Luther reported to Nicholas von Amsdorf that Katharina had gone into labour and after three hours, had delivered, without any difficulties, a perfectly healthy baby daughter. She was a much loved child and she was nicknamed Lenchen inside her family.
Magdalena died in Wittenberg in her father’s arms after a prolonged illness. Luther’s letters and Table Talk testify that the death of Magdalena was an extremely trying time for both her parents and her older brother Hans, who was summoned home to be with his sister at the very end. It was later written:
The beloved child, Magdalena, is sick. Her portrait, painted by Cranach, is seen still in the room where she was lying, a lovely child, with large eyes, clear and deep. Near the bed is now Luther, he prays: “I love her a lot, but good God, if your will is to take her, I will give her to you with great pleasure. Then, addressing her: My little Magdalena, my little girl, soon you will not be with me, will you be happy without your father? The tired child tenderly and softly answered: Yes, dear father, as God wants.
Soon, we put her in the coffin. Luther looked.
「Ah! Sweet Lenchen”, he says, 「you will rise again and you will shine like a star, yes, like the sun! I am happy in the spirit, but my earthly form is very sad.」
He wrote to Justus Jonas: I believe the report has reached you that my dearest daughter Magdalena has been reborn into Christ’s eternal kingdom. I and my wife should joyfully give thanks for such a felicitous departure and blessed end by which Magdalena escaped the power of the flesh, the world, the Turk and the devil; yet the force of our natural love is so great that we are unable to do this without crying and grieving in our hearts, or even without experiencing death ourselves. The features, the words and the movements of the living and dying daughter remain deeply engraved in our hearts. Even the death of Christ… is unable to take this all away as it should. You, therefore, give thanks to God in our stead. For indeed God did a great work of grace when he glorified our flesh in this way. Magdalena had (as you know) a mild and lovely disposition and was loved by all… God grant me and all my loved ones and all my friends such a death – or rather such a life.(Text is from wikipedia.com under Magdalena Luther.)
