{"id":11499,"date":"2021-02-07T19:48:56","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T19:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theologie.whp.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=11499"},"modified":"2023-02-09T12:20:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T11:20:34","slug":"psalm-142-reflecting-on-bonhoeffers-august-21-1994-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/psalm-142-reflecting-on-bonhoeffers-august-21-1994-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"Psalm 142 \u2013 reflecting on Bonhoeffer\u2019s \u201cAugust 21, 1994 letter\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

2006 Lenten Sermon Series<\/strong>
\nCelebrating the 100th Anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s <\/strong>
\nTHIRD MIDWEEK OR LENT III (March 15 or March 19, 2006)<\/strong>
\nA Sermon on Psalm 142, by Mark Lovett<\/strong>
\n(after reflecting on Bonhoeffer\u2019s \u201cAugust 21, 1994 letter\u201d in Letters and Papers from Prison)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n

With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord. I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him. When my spirit faints within me,\u00a0you know my way! In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul .I cry to you, O Lord; I say, \u201cYou are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.\u201d Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low! Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me! Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name! The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me. (Psalm 142, ESV)<\/em><\/p>\n

STANDING YOUR GROUND IN FAITH<\/p>\n

It is somewhat ironic that we are celebrating the 100 th birthday of the great German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, when it is his death and the circumstances surrounding it that we know so well, and his life leading to that death that we commend so highly. Pick up any biography about the man and you will read something like, \u201cDietrich Bonhoeffer was born on the fourth of February in the year 1906.\u201d But the biography will mention his birth nary again, and will instead concentrate on his life in so far as it leads to his death. In fact, it would be difficult to say anything about this German pastor without somehow acknowledging that he went to the gallows (or perhaps even a more painful end) for what he believed. It is not his birth that has brought him to international fame. It is not his preaching\u2014though he may have obtained ecumenical fame for that. It was his faith in the face of evil, which led him to his death at the hands of men, and that faith has made the name \u201cDietrich Bonhoeffer\u201d common in the Church’s discourses and the world\u2019s historians.<\/p>\n

In a letter to his dear friend, Eberhard Bethge, dated August 21, 1944, eight months before his execution, Bonhoeffer wrote with gentle compassion about the struggles of life. The specific occasion for the letter was Bethge\u2019s upcoming birthday, and the loneliness this birthday would bring, but Bonhoeffer uses this occasion to demonstrate openly the Christian\u2019s total dependency upon God in Christ Jesus. He begins his letter by reminding his friend that all that matters is that all things are \u201cin him,\u201d that is, \u201cin Christ.\u201d I quote: \u201cThe key to everything is the \u2018in him\u2019\u2026 If we are to learn what God promises, and what he fulfills, we must persevere in quiet meditation on the life, sayings, deeds, sufferings, and death of Jesus\u201d (Bonhoeffer, Letters and Paper from Prison,<\/em> 391).<\/p>\n

That well-written hypothetical imperative leads one to a self-examination. \u201cIf we are to learn what God promises, and what he fulfills, we must persevere in quiet meditation on the life, sayings, deeds, sufferings, and death of Jesus.\u201d What is it that you expect from God? Do we, as the chosen people of God expect a life other than the one he sets before us? What do we take as the promises of God? If we expect a life and world that conforms to our own desires and wants, we would do well to heed the words of David, \u201cWhen my spirit faints within me, you [O Lord] know my way!\u201d (Psalm 142:3). For what is the human spirit that it may stand up to the slings and arrows of the devil? Not much, I fear; otherwise Adam may have been able to tell a different tale than the one unfolded in the Garden. David does not expect to know his own way, but leaves it to God saying, \u201cYou know my way!\u201d As it is written, \u201cThe Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish\u201d (Psalm 1:6).<\/p>\n

The world tells us that if our God is a God of love and justice, then you and I should expect that he will deliver us from our physical and mental pain and suffering. Tell that to the thousands of martyrs whose blood cries out in their confession that there is life only in the name of Jesus. Tell that to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The world and all its philosophers think themselves wise by posing the question of the problem of evil, the problem of suffering. Well, the Church has great news for them: there is no problem; our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has conquered death and the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. Not for an abstract notion of power, but so as to redeem you, a lost and condemned sinner, that you may be his own and live under him in his kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.<\/p>\n

So, then, should we, like the world, expect peace, love, and contentment on the world\u2019s terms? In the face of his enemies and the unrest of his spirit, David penned the words, \u201cWith my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord. I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him\u201d (142:1-2). And what was David\u2019s complaint and trouble? \u201cLook to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul\u201d (142:4). O Lord, we too cry out. We too are lonely; no one is here upon whom to lay our cares. No one is here to look out for us. Do we expect our lots in life to be different from this? Do we expect that since we live in an age of so-called reason and technology, that our lives should not be so destitute and lonely as the lives of David and the saints of old? No, for as our Lord said, a student is not above his teacher, neither is a slave above his master. For one who does not take up his cross and follow the Master is not worthy of him.
\nFor what is this psalm of David but a prophetic prayer of the Christ? It is not difficult to imagine that this psalm was on the lips and mind of our beloved Lord on the eve of his death. \u201cTake this cup,\u201d he cried out to his Father\u2014\u201cI cry to you, O Lord, for you are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living\u201d (142:5). No, it is not wrong to want relief from our distress, from our infirmities and imprisonments. But there is sin in making our lives our own and not giving them over to our Lord and our God. For we, like David, say to God, \u201cYou are my refuge; you are my portion in the land of the living.\u201d<\/p>\n

What then might we ask of God? Deliverance? Rest? Vengeance? Bonhoeffer wrote in his letter to Bethge, \u201cIt is certain that we may always live close to God and in the light of his presence, and that such living is an entirely new life for us; that nothing is then impossible for us, because all things are possible with God\u201d (Bonhoeffer, 391). So it is. We continue to pray the prayer with David, \u201cAttend to my cry, for I am brought very low! Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me! Bring me out of prison\u201d (142:6-7a). David prayed for deliverance; he prayed for rest from his weary battles.<\/p>\n

But we, in our post-modern comfort might say, \u201cThis is too much. My enemies are not people seeking my life, as Bonhoeffer\u2019s or David\u2019s were, nor is it the devil knocking at my door. My enemies are debt, no love in my marriage, wayward children, hateful parents, ungrateful congregations. No one is really seeking my life; no one wants to destroy me.\u201d But, dear Christian, the greatest trick the devil has played on us is convincing us that he is not a roaring lion seeking to kill, steal, and destroy. Do not be lulled into complacency, duped into mediocrity of faith, or pacified by lies of civility. As it is written, \u201cOur battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.\u201d<\/p>\n

But do we not pray, \u201cLead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil\u201d? Do we not pray that our Father would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice? Do we not pray that although we are attacked by these things, that we may finally overcome them and win the victory? By all means we do! For in the Lord\u2019s Prayer we pray that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation.<\/p>\n

And so we walk not by sight but by faith. We do not walk according to what we see\u2014that we are struggling with the things of this world\u2014 but we walk according to what we do not see\u2014that God is guarding us and keeping us from every evil, though the blood of Christ. For we cannot expect to find the answers to pain and suffering in ourselves, for we are by nature objects of God\u2019s wrath. We cannot expect to find such answers in others\u2014no matter how great and mighty they seem. As it is written, \u201cAll men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flower fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass\u201d (Isaiah 40:6a-7). We must look to find our comfort, rest, and peace in him, in Christ.<\/p>\n

We may expect hardships, pain, suffering, evil, and all the things we in our humanity wish to avoid. Indeed, we do well to expect them and prepare for them because this world is a fallen world, suffering the wages of sin. We may expect life to be full of disappointment and ugliness, for the world has been maligned by sin. Though the philosophers of the age always put the question to the Christian, \u201cWhat of evil and suffering if your God is good?\u201d the Christian does not bother with arriving at an answer, but by faith believes the answer already given by God in the person of Christ Jesus.<\/p>\n

For as the psalmist writes, \u201cBring me out of prison that I may give thanks to your name! The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me\u201d (142:7). The Christian expects to find the answer in Christ, who has brought us out of the prison of sin and death by baptizing us into his death and resurrection. It is true what Bonhoeffer wrote, all that we may rightly expect from God, and ask him for, is to be found in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

This is what Bonhoeffer wrote to his friend, and what I to you: \u201cNo earthly power can touch us without his will, and that danger and distress can only drive us closer to him. It is certain that we can claim nothing for ourselves, and may yet pray for everything; it is certain that our joy is hidden in suffering, and our life in death; it is certain that in all this we are in a fellowship that sustains us. In Jesus, God has said Yes and Amen to it all, and that Yes and Amen is the firm ground on which we stand\u201d (Bonhoeffer, 391). Amen!<\/p>\n

\n

Mark Lovett <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2006 Lenten Sermon Series Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s THIRD MIDWEEK OR LENT III (March 15 or March 19, 2006) A Sermon on Psalm 142, by Mark Lovett (after reflecting on Bonhoeffer\u2019s \u201cAugust 21, 1994 letter\u201d in Letters and Papers from Prison) With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,2,727,120,853,1235,108,1155,110,1159,109,940,1126],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-11499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psalmen","category-at","category-archiv","category-bes_gelegenheiten","category-bibel","category-celebrating-the-100th-anniversary-of-dietrich-bonhoeffers-good-friday","category-current","category-dietrich-bonhoeffer","category-engl","category-kapitel-142-chapter-142","category-predigten","category-sermon-on-a-special-occasion","category-theologische-persoenlichkeiten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16887,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11499\/revisions\/16887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11499"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=11499"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=11499"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=11499"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=11499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}