I’m doing some work on Martin Luther and “spiritual eyes.” This is a marvellous quotation that doesn’t fit in the article, his commentary on Psalm 45:15:
15. With joy and gladness they will be led along as they enter the palace of the King.
Change the tense from the future to the present. He is sketching how the church and the people of God are led into the palace, to Christ Himself, as if to a dance and royal banquet. Therefore here, too, spiritual eyes are required, such as Saint Agatha had. When they were taken off to torture on account of their confession of Christ, she said they were being led to the dance and sumptuous feasts. So the church is exposed to all misfortunes and torments, and individual Christians are either thrown into prison or overwhelmed by sorrow, temptations, and martyrdom.
Yet they suffer all these things with a joyous conscience, because the Holy Spirit is with them, making them despise the wrath and fury of the world and the devil with all his terrors, so that they even enter into danger with joy. How is it that Christians remain steadfast in so many temptations, tortures within and without, and still do not deny Christ?
Because they know they are in the service of this King and are being led to Him in splendor. So I, too, could not make even one sermon in public if I were not encouraged by such promises that Christ lives and is our Lord. This brings forth a certain confidence, so that we can think this way: “If it is true that Christ is our Lord and King, then, whether we are killed or despoiled, you may still be joyful and unshaken in your mind.” This is the allegorical dance about which the prophet speaks here, in which there is a joy that is neither natural nor carnal, but supernatural and spiritual, overcoming the fears of death and despising the madness of hell and of Satan and his members.
The church should be instructed by faith; that is the golden garment. Then it must be adorned with love and patience, “that it may glory in tribulation” (Rom. 5:3). Then, if anyone undergoes persecution for the sake of the Word, he may say: “Quite right. I have sought this by my preaching, that I might excite the world and Satan against me. But I will not quit on this account.” So this dance will be danced correctly.
The bridesmaids who lead the queen are the ministers of the church. They comfort her and say she should be of a happy disposition. It seems to the flesh, indeed, as though this were death, but it is really life. It seems to us as though we were forsaken by God on the cross, but precisely then we are loved and cared for most. “For whom the Lord loves He chastens” (Heb. 12:6), so that thus from the cross He may produce salvation; from death, life; from infamy, glory; from long-suffering, joy; as Paul is accustomed to say (2 Cor. 4:8–10): “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” So the bridesmaids lead the church and strengthen her with the words of faith and the consolation of the Holy Spirit and encourage her: “Hold on and trust.”
But it is a great art to know that this is the Christians’ dance, when the heart throbs because of the bitter hatred of the world, the trial of the devil and sin, as Paul complains of the “thorn and messenger of Satan” (2 Cor. 12:7). It is a hard dance and impossible for the flesh. Yet it must be done, so that we must admonish ourselves and say what someone else said: “Here do your dance.” The promises are the flutes, the ministers of the Word are the dancers who lead the maidens. These two can sweeten the bitter dance. For the church has no other joy than the Word. Thus the Holy Spirit has sought to sketch the distressed church with this happy picture. Therefore, if you are somewhere at a dance, think: “Look, this girl is the allegorical representation of some troubled and tormented church. The leader of the dance is the pastor, the flutes are the promises of Christ and the angels.” But it takes spiritual eyes to see such things in tribulation.
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 12:295–297 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999).
