Today at dinner with the students an old Lady stepped into our dining room. She had lost the key to her room, where she had locked up all her baggage. She was a guest here and had wanted to return home. For some reason something within me clicked and I felt I should go over to them and try to help. So I did, had a good chat with her, but wasn´t able to open the door. I prayed on the way: God, where is the key? The impression I got was: The key is in her son´s car. The son was still working and later on I bumped into him, while he was searching the ways for the key. Let´s go to your car, I said. He had already searched the car but did it anyway. And there, in a hidden and unsuspected place was the key.
Isn´t it strange, I thought later on, how all of this happened? I could have ignored the Lady and her problem...How could I help anyway? But for some reason I didn´t. May be because I´ve made the experience of finding something with God´s help before. I guess that was it. I trusted His gift in me. Then accidently I happened to run into the son and we found the key in his car. I was a blessing to someone today. Happy and amazed at the same time I say: Thank you Lord!

Bible-Bashing

Travelling through and searching the Net can be a real eye-opener...Recently I happened to come across several sites that make Jesus prayer for the unity of the believers in John 17 seem like the biggest Utopia the Bible has to offer. More improbable than God creating the World in 6 literal days. "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another..." I find the Bible is being abused; one group attacking and degrading the other with their particular understanding of certain passages... and everybody so convinced that they are fighting a "Holy War" for truth, slandering brothers and sisters in the name of the Letter.
This is so sick!!!
Look at the Cross! Here is love, vast as the ocean! Here is Jesus giving his all for his ENEMIES! If a person confesses Christ as the crucified, risen and only saving Lord, no matter how different our opinions might be, this person is my BROTHER and SISTER and not my enemy. Sigh...Fight for truth we still must, but in which spirit???

Versuchungsgeschichte

Ein weiterer Auszug aus den Proseminararbeiten- diesmal zu Lukas 4,1-13

Jesus wird vom Teufel versucht, aber er wird auch mitten in diesem Geschehen vom Geist geführt. So bleibt Gottletzten Endes in Kontrolle. Jesus isst in dieser Zeit nichts. Fasten dient im NT (oft in Kombination mit Gebet) als Weg zur Erfahrung besonderer Gottesnähe und als Waffe im Kampf gegen dämonische Mächte. In 4,3 tritt der Teufel in Aktion. Er nimmt den Hunger Jesu zum Anlass und schlägt ihm eine Lösungsmöglichkeit vor. Der Teufel spricht in Form eines realen Konditionalsatzes, der den Titel „Sohn Gottes“ enthält. Das impliziert, dass der Teufel Einblick in die vorhergehenden Ereignisse besitzt und sich auf jene bezieht. Er geht davon aus, dass Jesus tatsächlich aus einem Stein Brot machen kann. Was wäre falsch daran, wenn Jesus dieses täte? Es scheint dem Teufel daran gelegen, dass Jesus etwas in Unabhängigkeit von Gott tut, dass er seine Kraft einsetzt, um sich selbst zu helfen. Problematisch ist nicht die Art des Lösungsvorschlags, sondern wer diesen anbietet. Jesus antwortet in 4,4 mit einem Zitat aus Dt 8,3. Er bringt seine Situation in direkten Zusammenhang mit der Situation Israels in der Wüste (siehe Dt 8,2!) und nimmt das Wort, das an Israel erging, für sich persönlich geltend in Anspruch. Er schließt sich ein in das, was für alle Menschen gilt; der Mensch lebt nicht vom Brot allein. Bedenkt man, dass das Dt und speziell die Kapitel 6-8 die Mitte der Torah darstellen, dann lautet seine Antwort aus dem jüdischen Kontext heraus verstanden: Der Mensch lebt von der Torah.