February 26, 2017
Let us concentrate on the few lines of our first reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. The people of Israel were in exile. They had every reason to feel abandoned by their God. Their dream was to go back to their home country. This is where our passage starts: “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me”. Here comes the very beautiful idea of Isaiah – he has God answer this lamentation. God answers with a question: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb?” Of course, no mother can do this. And Isaiah lets God continue, saying: “Even should she forget, I will never forget you”. And the next verse, which is not included in today’s reading, says: “See, I have written your name on my hand, you are ever before me”. Isn’t this wonderful and consoling knowledge: even in times of despair, of feeling abandoned, of feeling harassed and mobbed, there is someone who does not forget me, who has my name written on his hand, who has my face always before him. Someone – and not something! This is one of the most tender passages of the whole Bible. The bond between God and human beings is like the bond between a mother and her child. God is compared to a mother. God reassures his people that even if a mother could forget her own child, God will never forget any of his creation. Those who believe in God's word also believe in God's love. One of the greatest hurts a person can suffer is to be forgotten and ignored by his own community. Isaiah tells the people how God remembers them, protects them, supports them and takes care of them. This assertion is especially significant in the Old Testament. In the Book of Isaiah, it is presented in the form of a “parent-child relationship” between God and Israel. The Bible is full of words and scenes like this one – words of tenderness and love and intimacy. Words and scenes that build up a person, that make people stand up. Jesus is good at doing this. Let us think of Zacchaeus, the tax collector. For Jesus, he is not only a tax collector and a collaborator of the Roman occupation forces, but for Jesus he has a name, he is a son of Abraham – and Jesus invites himself to the house of Zacchaeus. It is this point of view, this regard of Jesus that changes the life of Zacchaeus to the better. Up to now, the hands of Zacchaeus had been grabbing money, now they open to spend it and share. Jesus was good at making people stand upright – but speaking words of comfort, words that make people stand up, that build up are not a privilege or a task of God or of Jesus. We are invited to speak these words to one another. And I am sure we have had the experience that words that build up are stronger than words that destroy. And there are so many chances to say words that build up – in the family, in our work places, with our friends - or to ourselves. To speak encouraging words that inspire trust in oneself should be a reflex action, should be an attitude we always have. Destroying words that make others feel bad should be erased from our vocabulary. Encouraging words are words that inspire trust in oneself, but also words that show appreciation, that endorse others, that show our respect for the other person. Why not say more often: “Well done”, “I liked it”, “I enjoyed it”? And of course, this can end in saying: “I like what you do”, “I like you” or even “I love you”. A well-known saying, at least in German, is: "Das Wort, das du brauchst, kannst du dir nicht selber sagen." – “The word you need you cannot say to yourself”. It must be said to you by someone else – by God, if we are believers, and by any other person. Let us become messengers of these good, encouraging, life-giving words: “The word you need you cannot say to yourself, the word we need we cannot say to ourselves”.
Fr Wolfgang Felber, SJ