Wednesday, December 13, 2006

More from Bonhoeffer

"Jesus is hardly ever involved in solving worldly problems; whenever he is requested to do so, he is strangely evasive (Matt. 22:15; Luke 12:13), just as generally he almost never answers people’s questions directly, but from a completely different plain. His word is not an answer to human questions and problems, but the divine answer to the divine question addressed to human beings. His word is essentially determined not from below, but from above; it is not a solution but redemption. His word does not spring from the human problematic of the disunity of good and evil, but from the complete unity of the Son with the will of the Father. He stands beyond the human problematic. This is the first thing that must be understood. Since Jesus brings the redemption of human beings, rather than the solution to problems, he indeed brings the solution to all human problems—”all these things will be given”—though from a completely different vantage point.” —Bonhoeffer, Ethics, page 354 (emphasis his)

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