Sermons

April 9, 2017

Palm Sunday - all of a sudden, Jesus was a star. The cheering crowd, the Hosanna, the exultation and the expectations – Jesus was expected to be a political leader. A leader against the Romans. Vorschusslorbeeren – praise in advance, premature praise that was, because Jesus deceived them all. Or rather: they were mistaken in him. And their deception changed into anger and despair – Jesus was not up to their expectations. The “Hosanna” becomes “crucify him”. Is this only an event 2000 years ago? I think we also expect a lot from others, we put our hope in others, we praise their merits – and then comes deception. This is how we react towards others. But others also react towards us: They expect a lot from us, they praise us in advance, and then this praise becomes derision, contumely, this leads to abusive remarks if something goes wrong, if something goes a different way than expected by the others. Praise and acclamation are near to dispraise, frustration, deception and anger. These are experiences we make, just like Jesus made them during the week we call the Holy Week. The Stations of the Cross are images of our life, they reflect our experiences. The way to Golgotha is our way. But one thing is certain: after all the suffering and defeat and deception, after death itself, we are sure to celebrate the resurrection, we are sure to celebrate life. Amen.

Fr Wolfgang Felber, SJ

April 2, 2017

You may remember last week’s gospel. A blind man was healed and the disciples of Jesus ask: “Why was he blind?” Or more general: “Why is there illness, suffering and invalidity?” Jesus did not give an answer. He announced that God loved all his children. Today, this question is continued: “Why is there death? Why does God let people like Lazarus die? Why are we subject to dying and death?” Jesus was moved by the death of his friend Lazarus. The gospel says that Jesus was “distressed and deeply troubled” and “he was crying” - it is seldom that the gospels speak about such feelings when they speak of Jesus. Let us recall what we see each day on TV or on the internet. Isn’t it a bit like a “danse macabre”, a death dance when we look at Syria, Afghanistan, Eastern Ukraine…. and when we see how these parts of our world are made uninhabitable. A “danse macabre” consists of the dead or personified Death summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave. The “danses macabres” were produced to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain were the glories of earthly life. When we look at the world as it is, as a European, I cannot avoid recalling Chernobyl 31 years ago, and the threat the Belgian nuclear power station Tihange near the border between Belgium and Germany poses today. When we look at our world, we see and recall catastrophes that touch our lives and the lives of millions of people. When we look at the map of our world, we see and recall so many refugees dying in the Mediterranean and the causes of their flight. Manmade catastrophes – there are also “natural” catastrophes: we hear about the mudslide and flooding in Columbia that caused 250 casualties. For the man-made catastrophes, isn’t it often pure greed, greed for quick money that leads to a wrong parsimony or thriftiness where the safety of people and the sustainability of industries are totally neglected? Greed on the individual level – when you think of human traffickers, greed on the collective level – when you think of industries that do not care at all about sustainability. Greed that neglects the future, neglects human life and life as such. The gospel does not speak of this – what the gospel says is: Life will triumph over death”. Can we believe this when we see these abominable and horrible pictures on TV, on the internet, in the newspapers? Let us come back to the gospel: What use is there in bringing Lazarus back to life? Jesus brought him back to life for some years – for it is sure: Lazarus was again subject to death. Lazarus suffered and was now brought back to a life where he would still be suffering, where he still would be subject to death. Was it really his desire to come back to a life like this? Here the gospel tells us something very important about Jesus: Jesus says “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me shall live even if they die. Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” And Jesus also says: “I am the way and the truth and the life”. When we reread the gospel text, then we find a very consoling word. Jesus says “Lazarus, come out. Come out from the narrowness of your grave. Come out, Lazarus, there are no more ties around your hands and your feet, you no longer are subject to the conditions of a dead body. Lazarus, something new can begin for you!” As we heard in the first reading: “I am now going to open your graves; I shall raise you from your graves, my people, I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live. I, the LORD, have spoken!" Resurrection is not something in the far future, resurrection begins here and now. But resurrection presupposes trust in God, trust in the future, trust in others, trust in ourselves. Trust in spite of all we see in this world: violence and brutality and greed, and in spite of the “stench”, of the putrid smell of the world we sometimes cannot avoid. Every day we have the chance to unbind the ties of death, the chance to break the “rigor mortis” of our lives, the chance to lead a life in the spirit of Jesus. Lead a life in the spirit of Jesus means to lead a life that is marked by the power of love to God, to the others, to our enemies and to ourselves. Let us help each other that we be able to lead this life and to spread it wherever we are.cf. http://www.dignityusa.org/breath/march-27-2011-third-sunday-lent

Fr Wolfgang Felber, SJ