[AI translation] All I want to say this evening about the Word I read, I could give this title: together with Jesus. The disciples are together with Jesus on the evening of a day that they have also shared with him, and now they are going together to the other side. On the last evening of this year, the main emphasis for us is now also on being with Jesus. We have come this far together and we are going on together. This evening, or even just an hour of it, is an evening that many of us are happy to spend with Jesus. That is why churches are packed on New Year's Eve. People who have not sought it all year, who have walked the roads of the year without it, come to seek it. And look, Jesus is so gracious that He accepts everyone who comes to Him, even those who are just coming. He is always ready to receive anyone. If someone comes five minutes before 12, it's still not too late! And I would also like to encourage everyone who has been without Jesus in the past year to come to Him now at least! So at least be with Jesus on the last night of this year!Here in the story, the disciples were with Jesus not only on the evening of that day, but from the morning, all day long. The day of which our Word speaks was a very important and busy day for them. On that day Jesus spoke his parables of the kingdom of God to a great multitude. It was on that day that He was sitting in a boat on the Sea of Tiberias, teaching the multitudes listening on the shore. It was a great day for the disciples too! A day on which they heard his voice, felt his gaze. A precious, rich day with Jesus!
In fact, we have lived this year with Jesus, the evening of which we have just arrived! Because even if we often did not hear his voice, did not see his hand, did not feel his gaze, he was everywhere. Did he not speak to us from the nave of the Church, in the Word and in the sacraments, clearly and distinctly? "Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Mt 28:20), He said this year too, oh so many times! And He has kept that promise. Behold, He was in all work and rest, joy and sorrow, life and death. The only question is, did we see it, did we have eyes to see it, did we notice it, were we aware enough of His presence? Yes: the year that has passed was one that we, like the disciples, experienced with Jesus.
"In that day, as evening fell", our Word continues, for after every day comes evening. Even after the day we spent with Jesus. The shadows lengthen, the sun goes down over the Galilean hills, it gets dark. Yes: it will always be night again! Time never stops. The days pass, and with the passing days, life passes. We are on a journey. In the familiar succession of days, we do not even feel it so distinctly, we do not even realise that time is passing! Just as, on the train, when you are talking to your fellow travellers, you don't even notice that you are going. But at such times, the last evening of the year, we are forced to feel that yes, we are going! The evening of the New Year is precisely what makes us very aware of the transience, the feeling that time is passing, that events, things, people - and even ourselves - are passing! Even in the most cheerful mood, one cannot escape this feeling. It doesn't take a sentimentalist to realise that when the clock strikes the classic twelve o'clock, one realises in the depths of one's heart, with a shocked silence, that it is "evening again" - here is something that has barely begun and has already passed! Once again we have reached the edge of the inner bank, and once again we must cross to the "other bank". Always again to another "other shore". This time to the other side of 1962, and then soon to the other side of 1963. Until we finally cross over to the last, final "other shore": the "other shore" of eternity!
And so, on the last night before we part from the shore of this eternity, we remember what has happened in a year! Almost the whole year, with all its joys and sorrows, its storms and sunshine, flashes before us. God's blessings, oh, so richly showered! Our omissions, our mistakes, our conscious, actual sins, have been oh, but multiplied this year too! But there are many things in our memories: words, deeds, which we know well were against God's will, but were done nevertheless - oh, how many vile things can make us blush with shame! Or perhaps our souls now gaze upon some freshly hewn grave-mound, and again we bid farewell to the dear soul that has departed with the passing year! The evening is passing, the crossing is almost upon us, and we are still not done with the New Year! We cannot close it. For who can make up for what he has done wrong? Can you undo what you've done wrong? Make right what he has broken? Who can make up for what he has failed to do? Pay the debt he owes to man, to God? - It's almost time to cross over to the other side and everything's still a mess! We can't close the accounts of the past year! - What would we be without Jesus? If ever we need Jesus, it's on New Year's Eve! On the night when the wounds begin to bleed again, when the sins begin to speak again, when the burden of our failures weighs down on us with renewed force! When conscience begins to accuse with renewed force!
Well, brethren, I say, on the testimony of all Scripture, that to none is the Lord nearer than to hearts grieved and distressed by sins, than to men of troubled conscience! Oh how good it is to spend this evening with Him, with Jesus! Behold, Jesus is now pointing to His cross, on which He bore all the pains and burdens of 1961, on which He died for all the vile sins of 1961! He has done enough! And if we spend this evening truly with Jesus, we will have finished the reckoning in a wonderful way. He closes the most wicked year with His atonement, He closes the most painfully plowed year with His consolation. He will take care of everything - for us, for our sake! Let Him, ask Him to bring the year 1961 to an end for you too! Then you can go forward to the new year in peace!
When everything is ready, come on, "Let us go to the other side", says Jesus in our Word. Yes: go on! Go on? Go where? For the disciples, this "onwards" did not bode well! The grey waters of the Sea of Tiberias surged threateningly before them in the darkness of the night. And indeed, when they set off, they had no idea what they were about to experience! What a storm! What terror! What terrible perils! And when at last they cross the stormy sea, on the other shore there are heathens, devils, more struggles, more battles, more dangers. We don't know what lies ahead for us! Today's man has lived just long enough to have no illusions. We have seen enough storms and dangers! And who can say what the year 1962 will be like? What could happen! Dark, menacing storm clouds are enough in the skies of our lives! But anyway, without any guessing, the future is always dark! Of the "other shore" towards which we are heading, we can never be sure! Life itself is life threatening at every moment for something! The crossing to the other shore is always uncertain! Who can see ahead? No one! No prediction, no premonition, no horoscope can help! Nothing! No one knows when the plank he is walking on will end or break in two! For we don't even know whether we will all come out of this temple alive. To be alive is to be moving at every moment towards the uncertain shore beyond. With words like 'let us hope for the best' or 'I wish you a happy New Year', we are only encouraging ourselves. That doesn't make the other side any more encouraging. Let us be honest and admit that we have nothing of ourselves or within ourselves to rely on. The last night of the old year really does strip us of any illusion of being somebody, of having something! We have nothing! We are nothing!
But when we reach the very limit of our own possibilities and abilities, a dear, familiar voice calls out: "Let's go to the other side"! And so, as we stare out into the mists of uncertainty on the other shore, as we are stuck here at the end of 1961, not knowing how to start 1962, the call comes: "Let us cross over!" Yes, brethren, Jesus does not say, "Cross over," but - and this is the joy of this Word - "Let us cross over! So: together with Jesus! Go on with him! And now, all at once, as if a ray of light is projected into the dark waters of tomorrow. We have some certainty after all! We have something to count on! Yes, we are heading into the looming darkness of 1962, but not alone! Yes, we must cross to the other shore, but not alone! We may run into storms, we may run into perils - but not alone!
Hear, then, weary men, faint-hearted souls, timid hearts, hear the mighty gospel of the Old Testament: 'Let us go over to the other side!' It's as if Jesus said, "I'll go with you, I'll be your helmsman, don't be afraid! Singing with courage:
I've no other relief,
My heart is calling and seeking You,
Oh, stay here, my Master,
Keep me, give me strength, love me
I'll weather the storm for you,
Faith and strength Thou art, Thou Holy One,
Thy shade with thy wings
My head, the defenseless.
(Canto 300, verse 2)
Amen
Date: 31 December 1961.
Lesson
Mk 4,35-41