Fellow redeemed in Christ,

Our Lord tells us: "If a man desire the office of a bishop [a spiritual overseer], he desireth a good work." In his lecture on this passage, Martin Luther said: "Paul does not say 'a noble thing,‘ but a 'noble task, undertaking.’ The office of bishop in the church, then, is a noble work, a very good function, which has many good works in it. . . . For bishop means 'watchman,‘ 'visitor,’ that is, one who goes to visit, who visits to see people. He looks around to see what is being taught and how people live. He watches with open eyes that no false doctrine breaks in or that there be no person who does not listen, who holds his teaching in contempt, etc."

Such a bishop, Luther adds, is "not one who merely wears the badge of office and sits in his palace but one who goes out and visits the sick, the grieving, the lonely, the sinners to help them. He is exposed to the weaknesses of all men, because he himself is weak and in need of comfort. That is, a person who has a desire, who has an interest, to see which people might believe, etc., that is, the man who has aspirations to serve the weak, surely desires a good work." (Luther's Works, American Ed, 28:281-283)

In Luther's day as well as in ours, there were parents who desired nothing more for their children than that they make a good living and cut a figure in society. To such parents Luther said: "If you have a child capable of learning, you are not free to bring it up as you please, or to deal with it according to your caprice, but you must consider that you are under obligation to God to promote both spiritual and secular government, and to serve Him thereby. God needs pastors, preachers, school teachers in His spiritual kingdom, and you can provide them; if you do not, behold, you rob, not a poor man of his coat, but the kingdom of God of many souls." (F. V. N. Painter, Luther on Education," 132)

Luther set a high value on the public ministry, not only because it was instituted by the Lord, but also because it is so necessary for the advancement of the Kingdom of God here on earth. Listen to these words from his "Sermon on the Duty of Sending Children to School": "Where shall we find persons for this work, except among those who have children? If you refuse to bring up your child for it, and others do the same, so that no fathers and mothers give their children to our God, how can the ministerial office be filled? The present incumbents can not live forever, but are dying daily; and if there are none to take their places, what will God say? Do you suppose it will be pleasing to Him that an office, divinely instituted for His honor and glory, and our salvation, is shamefully despised and with base in- gratitude allowed to perish?" (Painter, 221f.)

Later in this sermon Luther brings these words of encouragement to Christian parents: ”You may heartily rejoice and be glad if you find yourself chosen of God, to educate with your means and labor a son, who will become a pious Christian pastor, preacher, or school-master, and thus to bring up for God a special servant--yea, a messenger of God, a pious bishop, a savior of many people, a king and prince in the kingdom of Christ, a teacher among God's people, a light of the world. And who will or can relate all the honor and excellence that a good and faithful pastor has before God? There is no more precious treasure, no nobler thing on earth, than a pious, faithful pastor or preacher. " (Painter, 224)

During the history of Christianity, the office of a Christian teacher has sometimes been regarded with con- tempt. Over against this, Luther highly regarded the calling to teach children, recognizing not only its importance, but also its difficulties. He said: "An industrious, pious school—master or teacher, who faithfully trains and educates boys, can never be sufficiently recompensed, and no money will pay him, as even the heathen Aristotle says. Yet the calling is shamefully despised among us, as if it were noth- ing, and at the same time we pretend to be Christians! If I had to give up preaching and my other duties, there is no office I would rather have than that of school-teacher....Let it be considered one of the highest virtues on earth faithfully to train the children of others, which duty but very few parents attend to themselves. . . . We can do without mayors, princes, and noblemen, but not without schools; for these must rule the world. . _ . Schools are indispensable. And if I were not a preacher, there is no other calling on earth I would rather have. But we must consider, not how the world esteems and rewards it, but how God looks upon it." (Painter, 142f.)

Christian pastors and teachers are among the greatest of all God's gifts to His Church and to this dying world. Surely Luther was praying also for the blessing of ministers of the Word when he said:

May God bestow on us His grace, 

With blessings rich provide us, 

And may the brightness of His face 

To life eternal guide us 

That we His saving health may know, 

His gracious will and pleasure, 

And also to the heathen show 

Christ's riches without measure 

And unto God convert them. Amen.