( Luke 17, 20-24 ) - [ Deutsch ] - [ Akündigungen542.99 KB ]
A summer day in the mountains. On the take-off meadow we see a paraglider. We watch him. And he starts to float through the air as if free and light. The wide view over the mountains, complete silence in this space between heaven and earth. Infinite happiness. That's how I imagine it.
Or are there rather palpitations and the feeling to overcome? This step into the air - would I dare it?
My faith in God is like a paragliding flight. Do I want to dare to believe? Or do I prefer to keep both feet firmly on the ground?
Faith and trust, these take courage.
And when I think of this Sunday's theme, namely that those people are blessed who make peace, then it is similar to faith and trust.
It is once again Dietrich Bonhoeffer who thought about this. Namely, that peace also needs courage.
Again and again we have to dare it. Because peace is the opposite of having security. To demand security means to have mistrust, and this mistrust gives rise to war. Seeking security means wanting to protect oneself. Peace means to surrender oneself completely to God's command, not to want security, but to place the history of the nations in the hands of Almighty God in faith and obedience and not to want to dispose of them selfishly.
This relieves me for the time being, since I do not trust myself to make peace in the world. But at the same time, I cannot sit back and think that this is the task of others.
What happens in the big world, we also find in the small, private world. And everyone is responsible for considering what he or she is doing. Specifically.
Imagine that all people live together in peace. The longing for worldwide peace for all people is an age-old hope. It is so strong precisely because people of all generations experience this: Our world is not a peaceful place. Time and again, people wage war and inflict suffering on others. Or, seemingly without reason, we are struck by a disaster that pulls the rug out from under our feet.
There are endless examples of this: One person desperately wants a child and can't get pregnant. Another accompanies a terminally ill relative and has to endure that it can be a long and difficult road until someone can finally die. But it is not only questions of life and death, also a disappointed love or an injustice that we just can't make right, triggers the question of God in us: Where is God now? How can I believe in him if I don't feel him in my life?
Where God is, there must be peace!
Our biblical text for this Sunday is about this question, only it is asked a little differently.
I read in Luke in the 17th chapter what Jesus says to the question of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God will come:
20 "The kingdom of God does not come in such a way that it can be recognized by external signs.21 Nor will people say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is! 'No, the kingdom of God is already here - in the midst of you."
This brief scene was written down some time after Jesus' death. The temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed. There were no longer any eyewitnesses who had personally encountered Jesus of Nazareth. Instead, Christians were persecuted for their faith under the Roman emperor Domitian. It must have been a time of uncertainty when this question was asked: When will God finally come down from heaven to earth to bring peace and justice? And this is a question that I also give space to in my thoughts at times. And Jews have also asked this question so many times in the course of history, usually full of despair and hope.
And Jesus' answer to this is "The kingdom of God is in your midst!"
The kingdom of God has already dawned with Jesus and its traces are visible. Where life knows something of God's kingdom, new possibilities open up, life suddenly breathes breadth, generosity, trust and closeness come into play. Not at the end of days, but already now, already today. "The kingdom of God is in your midst". - and yet, at the same time, it is still to come. We work on this "yes, but" again and again. There are no easy solutions to it. In the second part of our sermon text from Luke's Gospel, Jesus warns his disciples not to believe those who promise easy solutions:
22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, "The time will come when you will long to live under the rule of the Son of Man-just for a single day-but you will not experience it.
23 People will say to you, 'Look there!' or, 'Look here!' Then don't go, don't run after them.
24 For when the Son of Man comes in his day, it will be like lightning: He will shine conspicuously from one end of heaven to the other.
In Jesus Christ we encounter God's peace, which he wants for us.
He has no easy answers and no quick solutions for us and for our world. Not yet. One day he will come again as the Son of Man, bright as lightning, visible to all. Then our world will become a different one. But we don't need to wait for that day, for God to intervene. Because God's kingdom is already there, in the midst of us. It is there, where we look out for God. And God opens the horizon for me and takes me into his reality.
And what I contribute to peace in the world, even if I feel small and limited, does not stand alone. I do not stand alone. Fortunately.
If in some moments I am also desperate, angry or helpless, then I am carried by faith in God, who wants peace for all people and creatures of this earth and will create it: through Jesus Christ, through you and me.
It is like a paragliding flight: I place my life in God's hands and leave behind everything that lies heavy on my shoulders. The worries - I brush them off and fly between heaven and earth. Rejoicing in this world and in my life, feeling lifted up, knowing that I am carried. This is how I want to feel God and trust Him. I wish it for you too, Tristan, and I wish it for all of you. You are given a compass. In the flights that you hopefully dare to take in your life, it is good to be reminded that God always finds a way for you.
Amen