And His Name Shall Be Called Prince of Peace

This, the first window, serves as a prologue to the Life of Christ. Thematically, the window incorporates the prophecies of Isaiah of Judah who is seated, pen and scroll in hand, to the right of Jesse and amid two other prophets, most probably Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

The young Messiah, crowned and orbed, stands directly above Jesse in fulfillment of Isaiah’ s prophecy (Is. l:l) that ”there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse I’ Directly above Him is the triangle which has always been associated among Christians with the Triune God. On either side, the crowns of Solomon and David grace the lower branches, since Jesse was the father of David, and David the father of Solomon.

The “root of Jesse” extends into the lower portion of the window, artistically incorporating Martin Luther into kinship with those above him. Seen here is Luther in Rome, climbing the “holy stairs on his knees, i.e. in pilgrim fashion, in the hope of his calling. The concept of hope is symbolized by the anchor seen within the cross above him.

The story passed down to us is that, at this moment, the truth hit home to Luther that man is justified in God’s sight by faith alone and not by good works; thus the basis for the inscription, “Therefore being justified by faith (Romans 5:1), in the lower left portion of the window.

Forward to Window #2