Mat 6:28 | Luther | STEP | V.28-30. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Here you have another illustration and comparison, in which the little flowers of the field, that are trampled upon and eaten by the cattle, must also become our teachers and masters, so that our disgrace may become still greater. For see how they grow up, so beautifully ornamented with colors, and yet not one of them cares and thinks how it is to grow, or what kind of color it is to have, but it lets God care for this; and, without any care or effort on its part, God clothes it with such beautiful, lovely colors, that Christ says that Solomon in all his glory was not as beautiful as one of these; yes, no empress, with her whole retinue, with all her gold, pearls and jewels. For he cannot name any king who was richer, more glorious, and more splendidly adorned than Solomon: yet the king, with all his grand display and splendor, is nothing in comparison with a rose or pink or violet in the field. Thus our Lord God can adorn whom he will adorn, so that it deserves to be called adorned, and no man can make or paint such a color, and wish for or get another still more beautiful adornment; and if we should beautify them with gold and satin, they still would say: I would rather that my Master up there in heaven should adorn me, who adorns the little birds, than all the tailors and embroiderers on earth. Since now he clothes and adorns so many flowers with such various colors, and each has its own dress, and outranks with it all worldly splendor, why cannot we confide in him that he will also clothe us? For what are the flowers and grass upon the field in comparison with us? Or, for what were they created except to stand there for a day or two, and exhibit themselves, and then to wither and become hay; or, as Christ says, to be cast into the oven, so that one may burn them and heat the oven? Yet our Lord God holds these perishable and insignificant things in such estimation, and bestows so much expense upon them, that he adorns them more splendidly than any king upon earth, though they do not need this ornamentation, and it is even lost upon them, as they soon perish along with the flower. But we, his highest creatures, on whose account he has made all else, and to whom he gives everything, and who are of such account to him that this life is not to be the end of us, but after this life he means to give to us eternal life; should not we have so much confidence in him, that he will clothe us as he clothes the flowers of the field and the birds of the air with manifold beautiful colors and feathers? That is putting the case as so dishonorable for us, and depicting our unbelief as so disgraceful, that he could not make it more contemptible. But it is the [fault of the] miserable devil and the terrible fall that we made, that we must see the whole world full of these illustrations of the birds against us, who with their example and appearance rebuke our unbelief, and become our highest Doctores, sing and preach to us, and smile at us so lovingly, that we should only believe; yet we live on, let ourselves be preached and sung to, and keep on avariciously raking together; but [it is] to our eternal shame and disgrace that every little flower testifies against us and condemns our unbelief before God and all creatures until the judgment day. Therefore he now concludes this sermon before his Christians.

Matthew 6:28

_V.28-30. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Here you have another illustration and comparison, in which the little flowers of the field, that are trampled upon and eaten by the cattle, must also become our teachers and masters, so that our disgrace may become still greater. For see how they grow up, so beautifully ornamented with colors, and yet not one of them cares and thinks how it is to grow, or what kind of color it is to have, but it lets God care for this; and, without any care or effort on its part, God clothes it with such beautiful, lovely colors, that Christ says that Solomon in all his glory was not as beautiful as one of these; yes, no empress, with her whole retinue, with all her gold, pearls and jewels. For he cannot name any king who was richer, more glorious, and more splendidly adorned than Solomon: yet the king, with all his grand display and splendor, is nothing in comparison with a rose or pink or violet in the field. Thus our Lord God can adorn whom he will adorn, so that it deserves to be called adorned, and no man can make or paint such a color, and wish for or get another still more beautiful adornment; and if we should beautify them with gold and satin, they still would say: I would rather that my Master up there in heaven should adorn me, who adorns the little birds, than all the tailors and embroiderers on earth.

Since now he clothes and adorns so many flowers with such various colors, and each has its own dress, and outranks with it all worldly splendor, why cannot we confide in him that he will also clothe us? For what are the flowers and grass upon the field in comparison with us? Or, for what were they created except to stand there for a day or two, and exhibit themselves, and then to wither and become hay; or, as Christ says, to be cast into the oven, so that one may burn them and heat the oven? Yet our Lord God holds these perishable and insignificant things in such estimation, and bestows so much expense upon them, that he adorns them more splendidly than any king upon earth, though they do not need this ornamentation, and it is even lost upon them, as they soon perish along with the flower. But we, his highest creatures, on whose account he has made all else, and to whom he gives everything, and who are of such account to him that this life is not to be the end of us, but after this life he means to give to us eternal life; should not we have so much confidence in him, that he will clothe us as he clothes the flowers of the field and the birds of the air with manifold beautiful colors and feathers? That is putting the case as so dishonorable for us, and depicting our unbelief as so disgraceful, that he could not make it more contemptible.

But it is the [fault of the] miserable devil and the terrible fall that we made, that we must see the whole world full of these illustrations of the birds against us, who with their example and appearance rebuke our unbelief, and become our highest Doctores, sing and preach to us, and smile at us so lovingly, that we should only believe; yet we live on, let ourselves be preached and sung to, and keep on avariciously raking together; but [it is] to our eternal shame and disgrace that every little flower testifies against us and condemns our unbelief before God and all creatures until the judgment day. Therefore he now concludes this sermon before his Christians.