Review of Martin Luther's Sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent

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Theology and Religious Studies
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1THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Theology can be described as the study of the ancient discipline along with the
momentous social significance in the world today. The major themes of theology include
eschatology, salvation and world. The word theology is translated from the Greek work
theologia, which means the utterances of God. The Christian theology explicitly deals with the
study of Christianity and the related belief and practice. Such studies are related and dependent
on the New Testament and Old Testament1. This study is based on reviewing a sermon presented
by Martin Luther called the “Sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent”.
Review of Sermon- the sermon of Martin Luther begins with the question that John puts
towards Christ. Luther threw the question that how come John the Baptist recognised Jesus to be
the Christ. Considering the fact that there was no one else who was claiming to be the Messiah.
Thus, it was natural for John to ask about whether Jesus is the Christ. This section of the sermon
can be explicitly found in Luke 7: 18-23. Here, John the Baptist directs his followers to go to
Jesus whether he is the Messiah. Jesus replied by saying that go tell John that what have you
seen regarding people are cured of leprosy, the crippled can walk, the blind can see and the dead
are brought back to life2.
Now, to elaborate the whole incident on why John asked about Jesus being the Christ is
that Christ at the period of time was not very known to the people but only to John. Also, at that
time, no other person performed any miracle, no person was highly esteemed other than John
himself. While one important aspect that was mentioned in the sermon of Luther is that people at
that time used to revere John and he used to preach the word of God to the mass. John used to
1 Ox.ac.uk. "Theology And Religion | University Of Oxford". Ox.Ac.Uk, Last modified 2018.
https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses-listing/theology-and-religion?wssl=1.
2 Trinitylutheranms.org. "Third Sunday In Advent; Matthew 11,2-10". Trinitylutheranms.Org, Last modified 2018.
http://www.trinitylutheranms.org/MartinLuther/MLSermons/mlsemt11.html.

2THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES
say the mass that he must decrease himself so that Christ can rise up. However, people were
reluctant to accept Jesus as their new found leader. People used to fear that their beloved leader
(John the Baptist) would grow less in esteem. John was even willing to let his disciples point
away from himself to Jesus. Thus, the important part is that why would John be willing to send
his disciples to Jesus. The reason was clear, John wanted to convey the message that being
dependent on Christ is far better than being dependent on John. It was clear to John that being
now matter hoe pious man can be, without Christ there is no remedy. John the Baptist, actually
was kind to his disciples because he could see the weak faith of the disciples and he wanted their
faith to grow strong. Although it is clear John does want to condemn the faith of his disciples
even though they were weak. Thus, it can be said that the men should deal with their consciences
that are entangled within the regulations and examples of the pious men until they are freed3.
When the disciples of John came to Jesus, they asked him about the identity of Christ.
Jesus asked the disciples about the miracles that they have seen. Jesus also told the disciples to
deliver the same message to John about what they have witnessed. Jesus replied with both the
words and deeds. This an important considering the situation that Jesus answered in a twofold
way. First by the works and then by his words. Jesus did the same thing when he replied to the
queries of the Jews in the temple. Jesus wanted to imply that the even though we have not seen
me but if we want to believe him then we must believe his works and this is explicitly mentioned
in John 10,24. It is also logically more accurate to consider the works of Christ because the
works of Jesus were no less than a miracle and it was not being accomplished anybody before.
3 jw.org, "John Wants To Hear From Jesus", Jw.Org, Last modified 2018,
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/jesus/ministry-in-galilee/john-the-baptist-asks-about-jesus/.