The Lord God has hidden His wisdom from those who are wise according to the flesh; on the other hand, He has revealed it to infants. Here Christ calls “infants” those who lend faith to God’s Word in childlike simplicity, who become obedient students of the heavenly wisdom, and who are glad to be fools in this world, as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:18, that they may be wise to God. The Lord God has revealed the knowledge of Him to those who are unwise and infants in the eyes of the world. He has revealed it not only outwardly, in the Word, as it is presented to all men, but also inwardly, in the spirit and in the heart. “Yes, Father,” says Christ further, “for so it was pleasing in Your sight.” It is altogether just, what happens to these wise and clever; if they are unwilling to lay aside their carnal wisdom, then they will also not come to the knowledge of the heavenly wisdom. This is God’s righteous judgment and His well-pleasing counsel. “Since the world, through its wisdom, did not know God in His wisdom, it pleased God, through foolish preaching, to save those who believe in it (1 Cor. 1:21), not as if He took pleasure in it when men perish, for He sees to it that they are all called through the Word. But if they are unwilling to follow, placing their carnal wisdom and desires ahead of His Word, then it certainly happens to them that the mysteries of divine wisdom remain hidden from them.

But in order that we might know that we should seek divine wisdom only in the Word revealed to us by the Son, Christ adds: “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father,” that is, just as the heavenly Father has delivered all things to Me as the Son of Man, having placed all authority in heaven and on earth and all creation under My feet (Psa. 8:7; Mat. 28:18; Eph. 1:22), so also to Me, as the appointed, sole Mediator, He has delivered this, that through the Word and the Spirit, I can and should give the true knowledge of God to men, enlighten their hearts, and be their only Master and Teacher. In this matter, nothing is accomplished with worldly wisdom. “No one knows the Son except for the Father, and no one knows the Father except for the Son.” That is, no man may come to the true knowledge of God by his natural powers, but it must be revealed by the Son, who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:3). He alone knows the Father; therefore, He alone can also bring a person to the true, saving knowledge of God. By no means, however, is the Holy Spirit excluded thereby, for He is the One who is of one essence with the Father and the Son and who “searches the deep things of the divinity” (1 Cor. 2:10).

(Sermon for St Matthias-February 24, Postilla Volume 3 by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, page 50-51)

When these seventy disciples returned with joy and brought Him a report of their work{Luke 10}, that even the devils were subjugated in the name of the Lord Christ, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and burst forth with a joyful heart into this thanksgiving and said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and clever and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.”

Here Christ calls the Lord His Father, since, according to His divine nature, He was begotten of Him from eternity (Psa. 2:7), wherefore Christ is His only-begotten, only, and most beloved Son (John 3:16). He also calls Him Lord of heaven and earth, since He not only created them and all their host in the beginning by means of His almighty Word, but still to this hour He powerfully preserves and rules them as a mighty Ruler, whose throne is heaven and whose footstool is the earth (Isa. 66:1).

The Lord Christ now gives thanks to this same One, to His heavenly Father and the Lord of all lords, that He has hidden the mystery of the Gospel from the wise and clever but has revealed it to infants. With “wise and clever” are understood the wise of this world; that is, those who are wise according to the flesh, as St. Paul calls them in 1 Corinthians 1:20, who place their worldly wisdom and carnal cleverness ahead of the heavenly wisdom that is revealed to us in the word of the Gospel. “They seek wisdom,” says the Apostle in the passage just cited. That is, they want the heavenly wisdom, set forth to us in the revealed Word, to harmonize with their own carnal wisdom. And when they do not find that such is the case, they would rather allow the heavenly, divine wisdom to depart than to allow their worldly wisdom and reason to be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5), since the wisdom of this world is foolishness to the Lord God (1 Cor. 3:19).

(Sermon for St Matthias-February 24, Postilla Volume 3 by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, page 49-50)

   In the second part of the Gospel {From Luke 7:36-50}, a beautiful parable is presented to us in which the Lord Christ defended Himself and this penitent sinful woman against the Pharisee and also spoke the absolution to her. For when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” He means as much as to say, “The holy prophets could have seen in the Spirit even things that were invisible and hidden; but since this Jesus does not see or know the sins of this woman, then He must not be a prophet. Since He even lets Himself be touched by such a great sinner, He must not be the Most High or the Messiah (Dan. 9:24).”

But the Lord Christ answers him as an all-knowing Lord who sees the thoughts of the heart, saying to him: “There was a lender,” that is, a rich man, “who had two debtors: the one owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty. And since they had nothing with which to repay, he forgave them both. Now tell Me, which of them will love him more?” To which Simon the Pharisee answered, “I suppose, the one who was forgiven more.” Christ was pleased with this and said to him, “You have judged rightly.” At this point, He turned to the woman with a kind and friendly face and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You gave Me no water for My feet,” as was normally the custom (Gen. 18:4, 19:2; Jud. 19:21; John 13:5). “But she has wet My feet with her tears and dried them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss,” as good friends normally tended to welcome one another. “But since the moment I came in, this woman has not stopped kissing My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil,” or perfume, as was normally done with guests. “But this woman has anointed My feet with costly perfume. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins are forgiven, for she loved much.” She has definitively demonstrated by her deeds that she loves and honors Me more than you do, although you invited Me to be your guest. And this love of hers is a fruit of faith, through which she has obtained the forgiveness of her onerous debt of sin.

(Sermon for Mary Magdalene-July 22, Postilla Volume 3 by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, page 111-112)