Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Jesus Creed

Home
Evangelical
Martin Luther and Christmas

Martin Luther and Christmas

Last updated on: December 16, 2019 at 12:06 am by Scot McKnight

Martin Luther and Christmas 2019-12-12T11:54:55-06:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

By Ruth Tucker

Martin Luther and Christmas

While walking under the starry sky in a snowy woods just outside Wittenberg on a bright moon-lit night, Martin Luther was so overtaken by the glorious scene that he determined to recreate it inside his home, the Black Cloister. He chopped down a fresh blue spruce, brought it inside and attached lighted candles, their flames reminding him of the lovely stars in the sky. And thus began a long tradition of houses burning down during the Christmas season.

The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay outlawed Christmas celebrations. They had house fires but not due to lighted candles on indoor trees. They fought wars with the Indians. So did other colonists. But they were the first Americans to wage war on Christmas.

The Luther legend is delightful, and I’m loath to abandon it. So also the text to the Christmas lullaby, “Away in A Manger,” long known as “Luther’s cradle song.” Problem is, it first appeared in America in 1882, wrongly attributed to Luther. “No German text for the carol has been found from earlier than 1934,” writes Kerstin Weidmann, which was “more than fifty years after the first English publication. That German text reads awkwardly, and appears to be the result of a translation from the English original.”

But all of this is surely not to suggest that Luther did not make the Christmas story a significant aspect of his biblical theology whether in songs, sermons, essays or letters. His best-known Christmas carol is “From Heaven Above” written in 1535. The setting is sweet. His young children were planning a little pageant to perform and asked their father to write a song for it. “Luther was a good sport,” writes Weidmann, “and quickly came up with a whopping 15 verses, which tell the Christmas story told from the perspective of the angels in the field.” Here are the first three verses:

From heaven above to earth I come

To bear good new to everyone;

Glad tidings of great joy I bring

Whereof I now will say and sing:

To you this night is born a child

Of Mary, chosen mother mild;

This little child, of lowly birth,

Shall be the joy of all the earth.

Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Child,

Make thee a bed, soft undefiled,

Within my Heart, that it may be

A quiet chamber kept for thee.

“By example and precept alike,” writes George Prentiss, Luther “taught [his congregation] to fall down and worship the divine Babe in the manger. How he delighted in the gospel of the holy Nativity!” This emphasis was part of his mindset to the very end. In fact, eleven days before he died, he wrote a letter to Katie, scolding her for being so worried about him. True, he had been ill while away tied up in meetings, but how could anything go wrong? “I have a better guardian than thou and all the angels. He lies in the manger and hangs on the breast of a virgin; but sits none the less at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Therefore be at peace, Amen”

Devotion to the Virgin Mary was part of Luther’s upbringing as well as during his years in an Augustinian monastery. Mary with the infant Jesus were not reserved for the Christmas season. But he turned this emphasis on its head by focusing almost entirely on the baby in a manger. Here we have an excerpt from a sermon on the Nativity that he preached in 1530:

If Christ had arrived with trumpets and lain in a cradle of gold, his birth would have been a splendid affair. But it would not be a comfort to me. He was rather to lie in the lap of a poor maiden and be thought of little significance in the eyes of the world. Now I can come to him. Now he reveals himself to the miserable in order not to give any impression that he arrives with great power, splendor, wisdom, and aristocratic manners.

My favorite Christmas sermon of Luther’s is one that is quoted in part by Roland Bainton. And here I move into an excursus on Bainton. He is best known for Here I Stand, a book on Luther that sold more than a million copies (first published in 1950), but for my money, the film “Where Luther Walked” is the best—now sold in DVD (Amazon Prime for 99 cents). This delightful Yale Divinity School professor died just before his 90th birthday in 1984. The filming was done two years earlier. He looks and sounds all of his 88 years, with superb on-location backdrops. One reviewer commented: “Wonderful cinematography. Roland Bainton is perfect for the part.” Bainton quotes Luther’s sermons in a most engaging way, with his own paraphrased translation from Here I stand:

The pictures always show Mary riding on a donkey, but there’s no donkey in the Gospels. She who might have gone in a golden chariot, with angels to attend her, went on foot, and trudged her weight across the snow of the Galilean and the Judean hills. And as they approached Bethlehem, Joseph was saying, “Oh, it will be all right. Soon we’ll be among relatives and we can borrow everything.” A fine idea that was!

Her time came as they were drawing near, and Joseph sought room for them in the inn. But there was no room in the inn. Of course there was! There was all the room in the inn, but nobody would give up a room! Shame on you, wretched Bethlehem; you should’ve been burned with brimstone!

And don’t let you people in this congregation think you’d have done any better if you were there. I can just hear you say, “Oh, we would have loved to take care of the Baby Jesus. We would have washed his diapers.” No you wouldn’t! If you’d been there you wouldn’t have done a bit better, and if you think you would, why don’t you do it for your neighbor in your midst, who is Christ among you? . . .

Mary and Joseph were obliged to take refuge in a stable, to share with the cattle, lodging, table, bedchamber and bed, while many a wicked man sat in the hotels and was honored as lord. . . .O what a dark night this was for Bethlehem, that was not conscious of that glorious light! . . .

“And she brought forth her firstborn child, and laid him in a manger.” Think of it, women! She didn’t even have a cradle to lay the baby in. She didn’t have anything. No warm water, no cold water, no pan, no towels, no table — nothing that our German women have at such a time. It’s a wonder the little fellow didn’t freeze to death. . . .

I wouldn’t have believed. If I’d been God and wanted to save the world, I wouldn’t have done it that way. I would have just called in the devil and twisted his nose and said, “Let my people go!”

But God is amazing. He sends a little baby, as weak as an earthworm, lying in the feedbox of a donkey, and that little baby crunches the devil’s back and overcomes all the power of Hell, and sin, and death.

I’ve seen renditions of Luther in films, but no one has captured him so credibly, at least in my mind, as has Bainton. His book, Here I Stand is not just for historians. That work should be in all our libraries. And “Where Luther Walked” is a most memorable film on Luther. We get to know Luther much better, and at the same time, we greatly admire that dear old man Roland Bainton. [#ad]

Uncategorized

Previous Post

December 15, 2019

Advent, Third Candle

Next Post

December 17, 2019 The Three "R's" of Justification

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What New Covenant promise is found in Jeremiah?

Select your answer to see how you score.

God will flood the earth God will destroy Egypt God will raise a new king in Israel God will write His law on their hearts