Consider this/ Einfach zum Nachdenken

Volcanic ash- what a strange substance: it causes airplane engines to stall (so experts believe), and it brings out the best, and sometimes the worst, in people. Like so many others I was stranded last week: nothing tragic, since I was staying with friends in Belgium, frites and nice beer were in rich supply, and I did not have kids who needed to get back to school. Even so, after five days of forced exile I was ready to head home, and eventually managed to do so by ferry. Together with about thirty other foot passengers I tried to cross the channel from Ostende: this required finding people who were ready to take us into their cars, since the Ramsgate ferry does not take foot passengers. We all managed to get on, but not before one lady offered to help, provided we paid £200! The outrage that somebody could have the audacity to make money off other people’s misery was universal, and she was shunned for the rest of the journey.

This also triggered a conversation amongst us which confirmed that the prevalent experience during this disaster was selflessness and kindness: we all had stories to tell of people who somehow remembered their common bond with humanity and agreed to perform generous acts, simply because it was the decent thing to do. Giving lifts, putting people up, offering a helping hand- all that became visible to a more than normal degree all across the world, and my fellow passengers vouched for that. But there were also the cases of people thinking of nobody but themselves: I encountered more than one person demanding unreasonable treatment and favours from airline employees who were doing their best to accommodate thousands of distressed individuals. In other words, this disaster was a test, and some passed it with flying colours, while others failed.

As we were sitting on the boat bound for Merry Old England, a spirit of celebration erupted, especially amongst those who had genuinely suffered anguish and discomfort up to this point. The thought of getting home that night brought relief too their battered souls. I had to think of a quote from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice:

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

These people had experienced mercy, kindness, care- and it refreshed them. But they had also shown mercy to others, and that in turn had a soothing effect upon their spirits.

I was struck by the different ways that people dealt with what were objectively sometimes trying circumstances. Some kept insisting on how unfair this all was, and that surely somebody had to do something about it, especially considering how important they were. Others took a much more philosophical view: one lady even said to me “it’s probably a good thing this happened; it reminds me of how fragile life is, and that’s not a bad thing”. Indeed those most at peace were the ones who seemed to observe Benjamin Zender’s Rule Number 6 “Don’t take yourself too seriously”. Keeping things in perspective is a quality that Westerners can easily miss: sleeping in a hotel for extra nights is not bad compared to what the average African goes through on an normal day, let alone when disaster or civil war strikes. But this can easily be forgotten…until we realize that nobody missed us at the office and that the world (and our job) continued even in our absence. So thank God for volcanic ash: may it drop from heaven whenever we need another dose of mercy and humility.

Der französische Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre postuliert in einem seiner Stücke: „L´enfer, c´est les autres“ (die Hölle, das sind die anderen). Sowohl theologisch als auch soziologisch ist diese Aussage nicht haltbar. Wenn wir besonders die westliche Welt ansehen, dann ist fast kein Leiden so weitverbreitet wie die Einsamkeit und ihre Konsequenzen wie Verwahrlosung, Sucht und Selbstmord. Es scheint eher als ob die Abwesenheit anderer, das mangelnde Du, die eigentliche Hölle darstellt.

Im christlichen Glaubensbekenntnis gibt es eine Zeile, die von Jesus als dem spricht, der „hinabgestiegen ist in das Reich des Todes“ (oder in der Übersetzung aus meiner Kindheit) „Hinabgestiegen in die Hölle“. Eine erste Interpretation dieser Worte bezieht sich auf den Tod Jesu. Wie in vielen Ikonen dargestellt starb Jesus und wandelte deshalb dorthin, wo alle Toten waren, nämlich ins Reich der Finsternis. Allein er war der einzige, dem der Tod nichts anhaben konnte, ähnlich einem Feuermann im Asbestanzug während eines Feuers, oder besser noch, ein Immuner inmitten einer Ebolaepidemie. Deshalb wird er in Bildern als einer dargestellt, der aufrecht in die Hölle geht, im Wissen, dass diese über ihn keine Macht hat. Der Todesvirus kann ihn nicht infizieren, im Gegenteil: wen er berührt, der wird ebenfalls immun. Und so zeigen die Ikonen ihn, wie er Adam und Eva aus dem Schlaf des Todes weckt und sie aus der Hölle herausführt, und mit ihnen alle Entschlafenen. Das bedeutet das Geheimnis, welches Christen am Karsamstag feiern, dass Christus in die Hölle hinabgestiegen ist.

Aber es gibt noch eine zweite, verwandte Auslegung. Die Hölle beginnt nämlich nicht erst nicht im Jenseits, es gibt den Tod schon diesseits des Todes, und viele leben in der Hölle der Einsamkeit, Verlassenheit, Krankheit, Armut und Verfolgung hier und jetzt. Aber auch in diese Hölle ist Jesus hinabgestiegen, auch an diesen Orten des Todes ist er zu finden. Ob es das KZ von Ausschwitz ist oder das Waisenheim von Zimpeto, die Leprainsel Molokai oder die „Walled City“ von Hongkong, an all diese Orte sendet er Feuerwehrleute, Menschen, die das Leiden und den Tod sehen, aber in sich ein Leben tragen, welches stärker als der Tod ist. Maximilian Kolbe und Heidi Baker, Damian De Veuster und Jackie Pullinger sind alles Christen, die in sich die Liebe Gottes tragen und dadurch in der Lage sind, Menschen aus der Hölle zu holen. Aus Einsamkeit und Armut, Sucht und Verzweiflung werden Gemeinschaft und Teilen, Freiheit und Hoffnung- dank der Hilfe anderer. Das ist das Ostergeheimnis, welches Christen dieser Tage feiern.

Und Sartres Aussage sollte revidert werden zu „Le ciel, c´est les autres“ (der Himmel, das sind die anderen). Aber vielleicht hat der das in der Zwischenzeit schon herausgefunden.

Khalil Sheikh Mohammed has recently been apprehended by US authorities- a big catch, considering that he is believed to be the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks. He has threatened all that is precious and holy to the American people, and it is likely that he will suffer for it, possibly even the death penalty.

But a recent development is still baffling both papers and the courts. Malia Ann, the elder of the US president’s daughters, has volunteered to take Khalid’s place. “If a penalty needs to be paid, and there probably has to be”, she said to the New York Times a few days ago, “then I’d rather pay it myself. That would mean that justice is done, while our relationship with the Middle East nations might become normalized”. The reporter then turned to president Obama to ask whether Malia was serious and- if so- what he made of that. The president was teary-eyed when he responded: “She seems serious, and I fully support her wish”

Fact or fiction? Madness? Monstrosity? There is nothing to believe that the Obama family is going to lose one their daughters soon, and the whole story is fabricated…yet it has a point. It seems absurd that a ruler, when he finally has his enemy pinned to the wall and can at long last mete out justice, would suddenly find himself confronted with the wish of his child to take the place of the guilty. But this is exactly what Christians claim that happened at Easter. A rebellion was underway and a few kingly emissaries had already been killed. The ruler had all reason to send an expeditionary force to beat sense into his disloyal subjects. Instead he sends his own son- well-knowing how previous messengers had been treated. Even so the son volunteers to go, and gets murdered.

What looks like defeat reveals itself as a stroke of genius. The rebels had been guilty of treason, hence deserved capital punishment. The son dies and so the debt gets paid, but the rebels survive. Some of them consider such a step folly, others are overwhelmed by such clemency and become more loyal than they would have ever been before. Peace is established, while justice is done. Analogies always break down somewhere, but the above story shows how unreasonable, not to say monstrous, such a move would be on the part of Obama and his family. He would be sacrificing an innocent person for the sake of somebody who is clearly guilty. Yet that is exactly what God did, thus turning our understanding of justice on its head. After pronouncing us guilty the judge steps into the dock and takes the place of the condemned, thus freeing the guilty one.

We do not advocate such moves as a tool for international relations, and we wish Malia long life and good health- but Easter can only be understood in light of such divine folly.