Prof. Dr. Klaus Schwarzw\u00e4ller,
\nG\u00f6ttingen
\nE-Mail: kschwar1@gwdg.de<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n
Isaiah 61, 1-3:<\/p>\n
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;
\nbecause the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
\nhe
\nhath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
\nto proclaim liberty to the
\ncaptives,
\nand the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
\nTo
\nproclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
\nand the day of vengeance of our
\nGod;
\nto comfort all that mourn;
\nTo appoint unto them that mourn in
\nZion,
\nto give unto them beauty for ashes,
\nthe oil of joy for
\nmourning,
\nthe garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
\nthat they
\nmight be called trees of righteousness,
\nthe planting of the Lord,
\nthat he might be glorified. <\/i><\/p>\n
Now the year 2000 has come. What did change \u0096
\nexcept the figure? The same world, the same people, the same politics, the same
\nbusiness, the same games…, last not least the same wars and the same hunger
\nin the world. Indeed, \u0093there is no new thing under the sun,\u0094 as the
\nEcclesiastes puts it. There are the meek \u0096 as before; there are the
\nbrokenhearted \u0096 as before; the captives \u0096 as before; the bound, those
\nwho are mourning and who suffer from the spirit of heaviness \u0096 as ever
\nbefore. The new millenium as such does not grant us a new time. The big
\nproblems, as well as our personal needs and longings, still remain unsolved and
\nunsettled.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, in fairy tales, there are good fairies
\nwho fulfill wishes or, in an instant, change the lot of the poor so that they
\nbecome wealthy and happy. Sometimes, even adults with common sense long for
\nsuch a good fairy to \u0096 well, at least to stop misery and misfortune. And
\nsometimes, I guess, we ourselves dream of finding such a good fairy on our
\nways, but, alas, this will never happen. There is nobody to lighten our burden.
\nIt is up to us to do it, to do the whole thing. And those who are unable to
\nimprove their situation \u0096 well, one really ought to support them, but
\nprimarily it is their own duty to find their way. After all, \u0093the pursuit
\nof happiness\u0094 is not only our chance and our right but our task as well.<\/p>\n
I have no right to be suspicious of those who
\ndream of the good fairy; I must confess that, as a matter of fact, I personally
\nknow this dream… Nevertheless I cannot help wondering whether the dream of
\nthe good fairy turning all into better isn\u0092t but the reverse side of our
\nfancy that we were able \u0093to go it\u0094. Of our fancy that, by virtue of
\nour possibilities and strength and power, we were enabled to afford the big
\nchange, to establish a good new world or, to put it in one word, to make
\nit<\/i>. If<\/i>, if only at least the majority cooperated in struggling for
\njustice and in fighting against hunger and in keeping the ecologic balance and
\nin… What makes me hesitate to continue at this point is the fact that I might
\ncontinue here in that I recite the program of any political party. Even if I
\ndeclared it Christian I would have problems in giving evidence that this
\nmatches our faith, let alone the Bible. There is a fundamental difference.<\/p>\n
What is the difference? What is the difference
\nbetween Almighty God in His goodness and the good fairy we dream of? What is
\nthe difference between our \u0093faith active in love\u0094 (G.W. Forell) and
\nour activity in faithfully working for a better world, a world of love instead
\nof hatred and ill will? The difference between the fairy doing it on our behalf
\nand God vouchsafing us His help?<\/p>\n
Good Christians, of course, are in the know of the
\nanswer. And since we all are good Christians… \u0096 Maybe. There is insight
\nenough. There are thousands of theologians preaching and explaining genuin
\nChristianity. There are millions of learned and helpful books telling us the
\ndifference and showing us the right way. And our brains are filled up with
\nChristian thoughts \u0096 or at least thoughts that derive from the Gospel. But
\nour hearts<\/i> \u0096 ? Do our hearts know the difference?<\/i> This is
\nthe crucial question here.<\/p>\n
Once a man read our text to the congregation,
\ngave the book again to the minister, and sat down. Then he opened his mouth and
\ntold them, \u0093This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.\u0094 This
\nwas at Nazareth, and the speaker was Jesus Christ. <\/i><\/p>\n
Here is the discord between our brains and our
\nhearts. Our brains are asking what is meant by these words and how he brought
\nthis into reality (if at all) and, last not least, whether he was authorized to
\nsay so. And our hearts? Unless they are deafened by our brains they hear \u0096
\nno fairy remaining remote from us and helping from far off, but a man who
\nhimself does the steps to go himself to the meek, to the brokenhearted, to the
\nbound… He does not simply shift the switches so that we can go on as before
\nbut now on the good, on the safe track. He comes to us. He comes to us in order
\nto bring us good tidings. He comes to us in the power and in the authority of
\nGod\u0092s Spirit. He comes to us so to help us.<\/p>\n
How do our hearts respond to somebody visiting us
\n\u0096 visiting us in this manner? I mean, if they realize the visit. Unless
\nthey feel annoyed (which does happen, to be sure), they will beat quicker, they
\nwill grow wider, thy will open up. Thus they will get filled with expectancy,
\nwith hope, with gratitude. They will feel warm with joy and faith. They will
\nsense God\u0092s good hand gently touching us and graciously comforting us.
\nThus we ourselves<\/i> will get stopped on our ways. We will interrupt our
\ncurrent business. We will grant ouselves a break in order to assess what is
\nhappening to us and to let it linger on in ourselves. We will \u0096 not<\/i>
\ngive descriptions (as I am doing here!) but just dive into it and enjoy being
\ncarried by the Lord Himself and enwrapped by His love. We will breathe freely.<\/p>\n
It is not the nasty guy from around the corner, it
\nis a grim voice in myself asking me warily when and where this ever happened?
\nwhether I myself did experience this? and, after all, what change this has
\nbrought into reality? \u0093Answer me,\u0094 the voice urges, \u0093but answer
\nhonestly!\u0094 What am I to say? This it is what I reply: I do not intend, not
\nthe least, to argue at this point and thus to get trapped in the network of
\nargument and counterargument, of evidence and counterevidence, of demonstration
\nand defeat. But once you are asking me, and because you are urging me to be
\nhonest, exactly therefore I am decided to refuse to answer your suggestive
\nquestion. Instead, I tell you:<\/p>\n
Throughout the world and the centuries, people
\nhave been asking questions of this sort thus keeping their hearts off this
\nvital event and allowing themselves to make it a matter of argumentation.
\nThroughout the world and the centuries, we all have experienced our lack either
\nof willingness or of confidence to open our hearts, i.e. ourselves, our souls,
\nour lives, to God\u0092s good tidings and particularly to whom who brings it as
\nthe Anointed of God. And throughout the world and the centuries, it did happen
\nnevertheless that people were touched in their hearts<\/i> by God\u0092s
\nAnointed and His good tidings and thus were enabled, were given the power, were
\ngranted the energy, to receive the light of His good tidings and to carry it on
\ninto our world. So, throughout the world and the centuries, He did move hearts
\nand opened them and filled them with joy and restored them and thus did give
\nevidence of His power as well as of the truth of what is said of Him: that the
\nSpirit of God is upon Him and that He does bring good tidings. Tidings, to be
\nsure, which are not \u0093mere words,\u0094 but indeed \u0093matter from the
\nheart\u0094 or rather words that change our world<\/i>.<\/p>\n
They change the world in the same way as does He
\nwho spoke them, i.e. not as the fairy in the tale nor as we ourselves when we
\nachieve something new, a housing project e.g. or the \u0093pacification\u0094
\nof a troubled country. They change the world, instead, in that they affect the
\nhearts and inspire them and fill them with joy and hope. This is the way the
\n\u0093brokenhearted\u0094 are \u0093bound up\u0094 and those who
\n\u0093mourn\u0094 are \u0093comforted\u0094. The \u0093acceptable year of the
\nLord\u0094 is not the year of big events or political upheaval. It is the year
\nof His presence in our world so that he keeps our hearts. Likewise, \u0093the
\nday of vengeance of our God\u0094 is not the day of severe discipline or of
\nbloodshed. It is the day of His way to te Cross there to bear God\u0092s wrath
\nand to carry God\u0092s punishment on behalf of the wicked and the unjust.
\nThus, the time of the Lord turns out to be a time of intimacy in a noisy world,
\na time of graciousness in a sphere of business and brutality. This is hidden
\nfrom those who call the shots in our time and is ignored by those who command
\narmed forces or the streams of money. Indeed, it is the meek, the poor, the
\ntroubled whose hearts are sighing for joy and for redemption, whose eyes are
\nopen for this.<\/p>\n
They do understand. They grasp that the gifts that
\nbrings He upon whom the Spirit of the Lord is, that these gifts stem from a
\nreality different from ours \u0096 the reality of the holy God. They realize
\nthat these gifts thus neither improve nor turn our circumstances immediately.
\nFor they do not match them at all, rather they catch our hearts so to open them
\nto the Lord and to turn them to Him. History shows that this silent or even
\nsecret revolution has proved to be the revolution absolute in our world. It not
\nonly led a movement from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth which could not be
\novercome. Moreover, it has moved hearts all over the world in all times. We all
\nknow that nothing is as able to bring new things on the way and to afford
\nchange and improvement as persons whose hearts are glowing with their sake
\n\u0096 whatever it is. So once hearts are filled by the good tidings from the
\nAnointed of the Lord, filled by gifts from God\u0092s own world (different from
\nours), it is unavoidable or rather normal and natural that these tidings spread
\nall over the world and seize other hearts and thus create a new world under the
\ncover of the current circumstances.<\/p>\n
Yet this world is being noticed. There are
\nChristians. There are churches. There are persons who in the name of Jesus
\nChrist dare do things unheard of before or even forbidden by the authorities or
\nby sacrosanct traditions. There are persons, even parties, who under the
\ninfluence of people spreading the Gospel try to cater for the poor and the
\ncaptives and the suppressed. And every once in a while it happens that
\nChristians provoke the hatred of the leading class in the state or in the
\nsociety for the only reason that they \u0093obey God rather than men.\u0094
\nFrom all this there have arisen the institutions and organizations that are
\nusually named \u0093Christian\u0094 such as: \u0093Christian\u0094 traditions,
\n\u0093Christian\u0094 ethics, \u0093Christian\u0094 culture,
\n\u0093Christian\u0094 parties, \u0093Christian\u0094 behaviour \u0096 and what
\nnot. We may feel awkward with this, but we should realize that these are \u0096
\nvery remote, indeed \u0096 ramifications of the \u0093good tidings\u0094 of the
\nAnointed of God being creative in the hearts of people. Although this may have
\nbecome mere convention or even mingled with error and hypocrasy, – what a
\nremarkable effect of simple words having seized and filled human hearts!<\/p>\n
Do we catch it?<\/p>\n
Our<\/i> way \u0096 as well as the way of the
\ngood fairy in the tale \u0096 is the way of action, of projects and plans. Of
\ncourse I do not blame this. But this way, our way of acting and doing, remains
\non the surface – on the surface of the world, the surface of human life, of
\nourselves. So it is proper that we measure the effects, that we evaluate the
\noutput, that we test the efficiency \u0096 and so on. But it has effects only
\non the surface. And if it goes into the region beneath the surface \u0096
\nhistory and experience tell us at least to be cautious; for what came out quite
\noften hurt our humanity.<\/p>\n
God<\/i>, however, does not stay on the surface.
\nHe no less cares for the invisible world beneath too. So he takes the gentle,
\nthe hidden way to our hearts. It is the way of the \u0093good tidings\u0094
\nannounced by God\u0092s Anointed. He, in the Spirit of the Lord, brings the
\ngood words to the meek and the mourning and the brokenhearted and all those who
\nsuffer. It\u0092s only words. They hardly scratch the surface, let alone
\ncausing ado. But these words not only prove to be mighty to seize and to affect
\nhearts. They turn out to be effective \u0096 mostly hidden, yet noticeably and,
\nin due time, obviously. And we should not forget that it is just not the mighty
\nand the wealthy and the powerful etc. people through whom God thus works upon
\nour world. It is those who have no means and no power, who suffer and are
\ndisregarded and overlooked, those who would say they are too poor or too faint
\nor too minor, through whom God makes His gifts bear fruit and cause effects.
\nThus they become and, consequently, are<\/i> those amongst us whom God calls
\n\u0093trees of righteousness\u0094 and \u0093the planting of the Lord\u0094 so
\nthat, indeed, \u0093he might be glorified.\u0094<\/p>\n
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;
\nbecause the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
\nhe
\nhath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
\nto proclaim liberty to the
\ncaptives,
\nand the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
\nTo
\nproclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
\nand the day of vengeance of our
\nGod;
\nto comfort all that mourn;
\nTo appoint unto them that mourn in
\nZion,
\nto give unto them beauty for ashes,
\nthe oil of joy for
\nmourning,
\nthe garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
\nthat they
\nmight be called trees of righteousness,
\nthe planting of the Lord,
\nthat he might be glorified. <\/i><\/p>\n
What do we hear? Words saying special things,
\ngiving information? Or words that warm our hearts and widen them and touch our
\nsouls and inspire our lives?<\/p>\n
May the Lord open the ears of our hearts.<\/p>\n
Amen.<\/p>\n
Prof. Dr. Klaus Schwarzw\u00e4ller,
\nG\u00f6ttingen
\nE-Mail: kschwar1@gwdg.de<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n