Take Up the Cross

And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.
— Matthew 9:30

And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.
— Matthew 15:30-31

When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
— Matthew 8:1-4

Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.
— Isaiah 43:8

He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.
— Matthew 9:24-25

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
— Matthew 5:3

The Gospel is For the Poor, by Martin Luther.

The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
— Matthew 11:5

The first word of God is the law. The second word of God, namely the Gospel, is not a law or commandment. It does not require anything from us. It comes when the first word, the law, has done its power. When the law has caused enough misery, shame, want, and sorrow, the gospel comes with its lovely and living word and promises and assures to give grace and help to us, through which we can be redeemed from our misery and sorrow. The gospel not only gives us remission of sins, but also love and a desire to walk in the law — Romans 13:10. The gospel is the promise of God about grace and the forgiveness of sins. I, repeat, do not understand this word gospel in any other way but to be a simple promise of God about grace and forgiveness of sins. Because of misunderstanding the Gospel, the letters of Paul have not been explained in the right sense to this day.

People really do not know the meaning of the words law and gospel. People think that Christ is a new lawgiver. They think the Gospel is a new set of laws. But when we think that, we cover up the gospel. Rather, the gospel is a promise of grace and forgiveness. Therefore, no work is included with the gospel. It is not a law. It must simply be believed.

The gospel is a mere promise and offering of divine grace. He who believes it receives grace and the Holy Spirit by which the heart becomes glad and joyful. Then, the heart will keep the law willingly without fearing punishment or expecting a reward. It is satisfied with the grace of God, and rejoices in the law.

The promises of the gospel are only presented and offered in Christ. From the beginning of the world, God never promised this grace to any man outside of Christ. Therefore, it is in vain for any man to expect the fulfilment of one promise of God outside of faith in Christ. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen — 2 Corinthians 1:20.

Whoever does not hear Christ, does not hear the promise of God. Just like there is no commandment outside of the law of Moses, there also are no promises outside of Christ. The poor have the gospel, says our text. That means the promise of God with regards to full grace and comfort in Christ is proclaimed to the poor. Whoever believes the gospel has forgiveness of sins, a liberation of his conscience, and he is granted eternal life. How can a poor and needy soul and a sorrowful conscience ever receive a more joyful message? Sin, death, hell, world and devil depart immediately when the poor soul receives this promise and believes the gospel.

With the poor, Christ does not mean all beggars and those in physical need. He means the spiritually poor. They are contrite and broken in spirit, and are in such great need of help and comfort by reason of their troubled conscience that they do not long for any temporal goods or honor. They can only be relieved when they would know God would be gracious unto them. The spiritually poor will need this preaching and will drink it in as rain upon the dry land. For them, the preaching of the gospel is a delivery from death and hell. Therefore, although the gospel is preached in the whole world, it is not received by all, but only by the spiritually poor. Besides that, the gospel is preached in such a way that it really only is a preaching for the poor. No rich man will ever accept or receive it. Only the poor will receive it. Christ says, I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance — Matthew 9:13. This he said. while calling everyone to repent.

Yet his calling was such that it could only be accepted by poor sinners. Those whom he called were to become sinners before God, but many would not. They were too proud for it. We first become poor, before we are saved. We do not want that. The gospel is only received by the poor in spirit.

This also means that the greatest enemies of the gospel are the Pharisees, those who work to be saved. They are completely opposed to the gospel. They must increase by working, while the gospel wills to have them poor. The Pharisees do not budge or give way. The gospel also cannot give way. They are warring against the gospel. The gospel, however, is the eternal and unchangeable word of God. It cannot move. The gospel and the Pharisee are at odds against each other.

Therefore, Christ says, and whosoever shall fall on this stone, the gospel shall be broken. But on whosoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder — Matthew 21:44. We have seen from the beginning of time and still see daily,that there is no peace, no friendship, no reconciliation between the gospel and the Pharisee. The Pharisees persecute and grind the church as millstones grind wheat. The bottom millstone is the peaceful and immovable gospel. The upper millstone which moves and grinds represents the works of the law and their teachers who are raging to grind wheat into flour.

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