( Isaiah 29:17-24 ) - [ Deutsch ]
Reading of the text as a reading
Dear jubilee confirmands, when I asked you about your memories of your confirmation time, you said: we had to learn a lot by heart, over 300 verses and many hymns. For some of you it was tedious, for others it is still a treasure that has been stored in your memory and heart.
And while for some of you it was a conscious step of faith to ask yourselves: what do I actually believe? for others the meaning was not quite clear. In any case, I heard that it was a special day for all of you and that it remained in your memories.
For me, too, it was a conscious step of faith, I must say. We had a very charismatic pastor who emphasised the importance of making a decision for God. That's what I did, if you can put it that way.
The meaning is still only revealed to me in the course of life. It's like the hymn we just sang, "We have found God's footprints on our human roads.”
You were on the road in a group during your confirmation time, or just the two of you with a pastor. You have followed the footsteps of others who have gone before you and who have left testimonies of their lives, of what they have written down or told you.
Footsteps are fascinating - they are signs of absence and presence at the same time. They can be discovered, interpreted and followed. They point to something in the past and indicate the direction in which we should move in the future. Jesus left many traces. He made the deaf hear and the speechless speak. Brought love and warmth to the cold world and much
hope. It is good to remember.... Also of hymn verses, of the questions and answers in Luther's Small Catechism, of stories in the Bible. They carry you through life and, as you have already experienced, especially when a loved one you are accompanying dies, these words can comfort you.
Where do you want to go, dear jubilee confirmands, but of course also dear congregation?
Into the future, with God's rich blessing. Where exactly?
We have heard the Old Testament reading in Isaiah 29. This is how the future shall be: at that time the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of darkness and gloom; and the wretched shall have joy again in the Lord, and the poorest of men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. There will be an end to tyrants and liars.
The words of the prophet Isaiah remind me of what Jesus later calls out to the people, the so-called Beatitudes, or today we rather say: Happy Beatitudes, because that comes closest to the translation. Happy are those who mourn, happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. All those who are on the margins, who suffer, who seek peace, Jesus speaks these words to them. And anyone who has been marginalised, ridiculed, perhaps because of their appearance or the way they live and think, knows exactly how that feels and the hurt it leaves behind. In the worst case, you start to exclude yourself and withdraw out of fear of what others think about you.
Into this world, Isaiah speaks his word first to Israel and then to all of us. He speaks to us when we seem to know exactly what is right and what is wrong, ridicule others, exclude them. He speaks to us when we are the ones who
do not belong and are on the outside. Isaiah says: It will take a little while, but when you understand that each one of you is a work of my hands, that you are all my children, then no one will be excluded any more (cf. Is 29:23). You will look each other openly in the face and see behind it the dignity that I have placed in the soul of all of you. And when that happens, "on that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of darkness and gloom; and the wretched shall have joy again in the LORD, and the poorest of men shall rejoice again in the Holy One of Israel [...]. Jacob shall no longer stand ashamed, and his countenance shall no longer turn pale" (Is 29:18-19, 22b). When you understand one another and honour God with it, then a rich future opens up.
This is where we are heading, dear congregation. Into this future. However, the little while of which Isaiah speaks has now lasted two and a half thousand years. That is how long it has been since he gave this message to Israel, which he calls by the name of the progenitor Jacob. Compassion, solidarity, mercy and kindness is a path that is sometimes difficult to walk, it is sometimes long and arduous.
But this little while, the future into which it is to go, is fortunately already shining into our time, selectively. The future is not only in a country after our time, but here and now. Every time we try to understand others before we judge, we have made a little progress. Another when we bring people into our midst. Our community of journey then becomes all the greater and the future wider.
Where should we go with God's blessing was the initial question today on the day of the Jubilee Confirmation.
Isaiah's promise should encourage you.
And to follow Jesus' footsteps again and again is a good goal.
God's Word became man in Jesus Christ, so that those who have been closed to the story of God can also be taken along.
As a living word, Jesus went through the land and told of God's love with his whole life. He invited himself to those whom no one else visited, and ate and drank and taught them what it is like to dive deeply into God's story with people.
He opened new paths and hearts, freed people from shame and guilt. Many who were travelling alone, declared outsiders and misfits by society, suddenly found themselves in the middle of the action. They were touched by Jesus and shared the Good News. And he commanded them that they should tell no one. But the more he forbade them, the more they spread it. Let us go this way into the future, so that the little while may soon come to an end:
On that day the wretched shall have joy again in the LORD, and the poorest of men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Amen