主來就近你
如果主沒有先就近你，你不會認識他，就近他，更不能開始成聖的生命。讓他的話語在你的生命中聖化你，就是聖潔生命。
是的，不是你去到他那裡，也不是你奉差遣找尋他。
他所在的地方對你來說太高，太遠。你所有的財富和聰明，你的辛勞和工作，都不能使你接近他，更不用說你以自己的美德自誇，憑自己的價值使他來就近你。
親愛的朋友啊，你所有美德和價值都不堪一擊。
在你這邊，你只有「不配」和「不值」，任何事物都幫不了你。
在他那邊，唯有恩典和憐憫，就是：他那不可思議的富有和我們的貧窮聯合在一起。
所以，我們從這福音書中學習到的是：當上帝建造我們之初，發生了什麼事？什麼是使我們成聖的起頭？這起頭，這之初就是你的王來就近你，在你的裡面，開始他的工作。除此之外，再沒有其他的開始了。
你沒有尋求他，他尋找你。
你沒有找到他，他找到了你。
你所信的是他，而不是信你自己。
在他沒有就近你的地方，你就只能待在外面。
在沒有福音的地方，就沒有上帝，只有罪和滅亡。
所以，不要問說：「我要怎麼開始過虔誠的生命？」開始不在於你！
這位君王已經來了，主已經用他的話語開始了你的生命了。——馬丁路德（《1522年將臨期第一主日講道》）(WA 10.1.2:78ff)
Yes, you do not go him, neither do you send for him. He is to high for you and too far away. All your wealth and wit, your toil and labor, will not bring you near him, lest you pride yourself that your merit and worthiness have brought him to thee. Dear friend, all your merit and worthiness are struck down, and there is nothing on your side but sheer undeserving and unworthiness, and on his side pure grace and mercy. Here we in our poverty come together with the Lord in his unsearchable riches.
Therefore learn here from the gospel what happens when God begins to build us into his likeness and what is the beginning of saintliness. There is no other beginning than that your king comes to you and begins his work in you. You do not seek him; he seeks you. You do not find him; he finds you. Your faith comes of him, not of yourself. Where he does not come, you must stay outside. And where there is no gospel, there is no God, but sheer sin and destruction. Therefore ask not where to begin a godly life; there is no beginning but there this king comes and is preached.
(Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent, 1522) (WA 10.1.2:78ff)
Photo is from lh6.googleusercontent.com.
English text is taken from Day by Day We Magnify You, Revised Edition, Augsburg Books, 2008, p.12, ISBN #9780806680149
