\nTranslated by Bruce E. Shields, Emmanuel School of Religion,
\nJohnson City, Tennessee, USA
The Sermon Text:<\/p>\n
32 That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or
\npossessed with demons.33 And the whole city was gathered around the door.34 And
\nhe cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons;
\nand he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. 35
\n<\/i>In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a
\ndeserted place, and there he prayed.36 <\/i>And Simon and his companions
\nhunted for him.37 <\/i>When they found him, they said to him, \u0093Everyone
\nis searching for you.\u009438 <\/i>He answered, \u0093Let us go on to the
\nneighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is
\nwhat I came out to do.\u009439 <\/i>And he went throughout Galilee,
\nproclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons. (NRSV)<\/p>\n
Dear Congregation,<\/p>\n
I.<\/p>\n
\u0093Everyone is searching for you.\u0094 \u0096 yes, then! But today the
\nmasses speak another language and the so-called Realists, who are fixated on
\nnumbers, say: Increasingly fewer people are searching for him. They advise
\nchurches to retreat from public view and into a niche in society. They advise
\nus to work inside the congregation, to aim the proclamation of the gospel at
\nthe core members of the congregation, and to organize congregational life
\nexclusively for those who are already members and who want to continue to
\nbelong. The church for insiders\u0097an \u0093exclusive society\u0094!<\/p>\n
Shall we permit ourselves to be influenced by numbers and by those who call
\nthemselves Realists? Shall we lock up the dreams and hopes from earlier in our
\nmemories? \u0093Everyone is searching for you.\u0094 \u0096is that really only
\nan illusion today?<\/p>\n
II.<\/p>\n
At the beginning of the ministry of Jesus the evangelist describes the
\nincomprehensible expectations of many sick people. Outstanding among those ill
\npeople who seek him are those who are possessed by evil spirits. They are
\nhoping for healing from their possession, healing from the powers that control
\nthem with destructive authority, that drive them one way and another,
\ndisoriented, incompetent, incapable of life itself\u0097or even also out of
\ntheir minds, having lost all sanity.<\/p>\n
Here is something the Realists can\u0092t convince us of: the conviction
\nthat demon possession is in the last analysis a phenomenon of the past, and
\nthat such things need not concern an enlightened society any longer. Possession
\nby a spirit who can destroy life and relationships; possession by a power that
\ninfluences all thought and action, that makes one person euphoric and robs
\nothers of power and will\u0097such things do happen today. The insane and
\npowerless\u0097their number is certainly not decreasing. Those numbers are
\ngrowing at an alarming rate.<\/p>\n
G\u00fcnter Kunert has such persons in mind in his poem: those who are
\ncontrolled by the illusion that everything is possible and those who are sold
\nout to these powers and their illusions.<\/p>\n
\u0093We can\u0092t hold them: this day, this life.
\nCloth unravels and disappears.
\nWhatever happens, you seek meaning.
\nAt least you give it a try.
\nRecognize this: We can not control ourselves
\nAnd we can find nobody like us gods.
\nAnd none who offers us any help.
\nWe are left on our own bereft of grace.\u0094<\/p>\n
\u0093G\u00f6tterd\u00e4mmerung\u0094 [Twilight of the Gods] is the title of
\nG\u00fcnter Kunert\u0092s poem. We have made gods of ourselves, he thinks, and
\nwe can find nobody like us gods.<\/p>\n
III.<\/p>\n
To be like God\u0097an ancient human dream. And how much we humans have
\nalready accomplished, in order to reach the realization of this dream. The
\ndominion over nature and its laws has become reality. To create life, to guide
\nit, and to manipulate it\u0097these are in the realm of the possible. Yes, we
\ncan find nobody like us gods.<\/p>\n
So grows faith in universal possibility, including faith in the possibility
\nthat we can get our lives together and can develop humane relationships on our
\nown. That is an addiction that does not let us loose and drives us without
\nmercy.<\/p>\n
But how does it happen that at the same time, the suffering of the
\ndisenfranchised of our world takes the upper hand, that the misuse of power and
\nthe illusion of possibilities demand so frighteningly many sacrifices? The
\nillusory feeling of \u0093being like gods\u0094\u0097how quickly that changes
\nto a feeling of disorientation, of powerlessness, of resignation in those who
\nhave fallen under the control of the powers and who on their own can no longer
\npull themselves free. We cannot understand it. Kunert attempts to push the
\nquestion further and confesses, \u0093We can not control ourselves and we can
\nfind nobody like us gods.\u0094 At that point we stand angry over the outcome
\nof the illusion of possibility, which has already become possession. Woe to
\nthose who deny or who stumble, who have mad a mistake! Woe to those who proceed
\nslowly when speed is called for! And then powerless rage, anxiety that makes
\none sick, resignation that leaves all hope in ruins, can become
\npossession\u0097by the spirit of the times, which drives them one way and
\nanother, disorients them, making them incompetent, incapable of life itself.<\/p>\n
Both are sick in their possession and need healing\u0097both the movers and
\nthe powerless who suffer under the doers.<\/p>\n
\u0093Recognize these,\u0094 writes G\u00fcnter Kunert, \u0093We can not
\ncontrol ourselves And we can find nobody like us gods and none who offers us
\nany help. We are left on our own bereft of grace\u0094\u0097without grace
\nthrown back onto ourselves! If that is our future, then God help us!<\/p>\n
We say it this way, we use this speech pattern in order to communicate our
\nanxieties and fears. And in this statement, \u0093then God help us\u0094 hope
\nlights up\u0097the hope in a God who meets us graciously.<\/p>\n
IV.<\/p>\n
\u0093Everyone is searching for you\u0094\u0097not only then! Faith in
\npossibility working life becomes very quickly brittle, and then comes the
\nyearning\u0097yearning for healing from the unhealthful spirits that can
\ndestroy a life and tear apart the relationships in society. Then the yearning
\ngrows for believable criteria of what it means to be human and for a life that
\nworks\u0097especially when facing the storm of problems or the pressure of a
\nmultiplicity of demands and of insecurity.<\/p>\n
\u0093Everyone is searching for you\u0094 \u0096and Jesus takes upon himself
\nthe yearning of men and women for healing. The evangelist describes a picture
\nin which specific aspects of the work of Jesus are specially emphasized: the
\nopenness with which he approaches people, without setting conditions for
\nhealing and salvation; the readiness to go wherever someone is doing wrong and
\nanother is torturing himself. He turns aside to everybody, the demon possessed,
\nthe lost. His presence caused evil spirits to become quiet. This picture
\nreflects lordship that grows out of the consciousness that he has a divine
\nmandate. In addition, it hints at a deep inner security out of which Jesus
\nlives, out of which he speaks and works.<\/p>\n
When the evangelist writes that Jesus even before the dawn of a new day that
\ncomes to him with new demands seeks to be alone and to pray, then that includes
\nfor him the experience of the nearness of God, concentration on what really
\nsupports life, a fundamental trust that God leaves nobody bereft of help,
\nwithout grace with only oneself to depend upon.<\/p>\n
\u0093And we can find nobody like us gods and none who offers us any
\nhelp\u0094 writes Kunert.<\/p>\n
\u0093We are left on our own bereft of grace.\u0094 The evangelist offers a
\ndifferent picture\u0097the picture of the one who, following the divine
\nmandate, brings the gracious God to all, who wants to offer help to all\u0097to
\nthose who let themselves be forced incessantly forward by the powers and by the
\nillusory idea of the human possibilities of life and to those who are possessed
\nby anxiety that they cannot cope with the ungracious demands of life.<\/p>\n
For Jesus those persons are and remain equally children of God. That\u0092s
\nwhere their human worth lies, and on that foundation is built the worth of
\ntheir lives\u0097independent of their successes or their failures, their power
\nor their weakness.<\/p>\n
God never gives up on God\u0092s children. God seeks them, God accompanies
\nthem with divine grace even to the boundaries of life where we have nothing
\nleft to hang on to, when everything sinks and disappears.<\/p>\n
\u0093Whatever happens, you seek meaning,\u0094 writes Kunert. You will find
\nit, says Jesus, when you trust yourself like a child to this Father and his
\ngrace. Out of such inner security and out of the experience of grace grows
\nresponsibility\u0097a responsibility that recognizes the Creator as the Giver
\nof life and a concerned responsibility for one\u0092s human fellows, for the
\nworld.<\/p>\n
The faith in the human possibility of the effective life has a flip side. It
\nrecognizes no ultimate responsibility. For this reason the yearning for
\ntrustworthy humanity grows, the yearning for healing from inhuman possession,
\nfor salvation. In this situation the picture appears that the evangelist draws
\nof Jesus, his ever-present power to attract. \u0093They brought to him all who
\nwere sick or possessed with demons!\u0094 That is not only the memory of the
\nevangelist. They can come even today\u0097all who seek healing from their
\npossession, from the forced belief that they can do everything on their own,
\nbut also those who are left behind and are governed by the sickness of anxiety.
\nHe is there for all. We are absolutely not left to ourselves without grace, but
\nrather we can trust ourselves to the grace of another\u0097thanks be to God!<\/p>\n
Amen<\/p>\n
Walter Meyer-Roscher, Superintendent in Hildesheim
\nTranslated by Bruce E. Shields, Emmanuel School of Religion,
\nJohnson City, Tennessee, USA