[AI translation] Dear Brothers and Sisters! In the passage from the Bible we have just read, the scene is recorded when the two disciples of John the Baptist first follow Jesus, and they call out to Him, saying.Such a question sounds a little strange when it is asked of someone in the street, but Jesus was not at all surprised, for he immediately noticed that these two men were serious, that they were not going after him in the way that journalists go after someone with a hunger for sensationalism, to see what there is to write about, nor in the way that people in authority go after someone, whether everything is all right here - not as scribes, whether everything here now conforms to the holy Scriptures, but as two souls who have already been touched by the presence of Jesus, touched by what they have heard, seen, experienced of Jesus, and now want to be convinced, want to be absolutely sure, whether this is really Jesus whom they believe?
That is why I feel the search for Jesus of these two men is so close to us modern people. Modern man is no longer a rationalist. He has long since moved beyond seeing reality as only what his intellect can grasp, beyond seeing the real world as only as big as he can see it. The world of realities is much bigger and more than his mind can cope with. The modern man is a realist, and is therefore interested in reality, and that is why his faith in Jesus Christ is neither strengthened nor weakened by whether it is possible to explain the miracles of Jesus, his birth, death, resurrection and ascension, but rather by whether it is possible to experience the personal reality of the living Jesus? The modern man does not want to understand Jesus - he knows very well that there are many things in this world that cannot be understood and yet are not meaningless - but the modern man wants to meet Jesus and to be convinced that this Jesus is really the Jesus that the Bible proclaims and that the Church has been teaching for two thousand years.
Brothers and sisters, Jesus has always welcomed such a search, then and now. Master, where do you live?" those disciples asked him at that time. And the modern man asks, "Where is Jesus? Where can I find Him, where can I meet Him? And Jesus, then and now, answers the same to all those who seek Him, old and new: "Come and see!"
Well, then, just as the two disciples did then, we must follow the guidance of Jesus' words and go to see where He dwells. For example, right off the bat, the very statement that He makes in every worship service, He says, "I will be with you always, even to the end of the age. So where is Jesus? He is with us. We could say that he is here with us. It is also true to say that he is here with us now. But isn't he in heaven?", someone might ask here, based on his knowledge of the Bible. Well, Brothers and Sisters, yes, of course, Jesus is in heaven, but that does not mean that he is somewhere far away, beyond the stars and beyond death, but it means that he is here, right here. Because heaven, the afterlife, the kingdom of God, or whatever you want to call the invisible world where Jesus is - is never imagined as another world. So it's not as if we have this visible, material, finite world, and wherever it ends, in space and time, that's where the other world, the kingdom of God, the afterlife, begins. Not so, Brothers and Sisters! The world of this world and the so-called "other world" (I don't even like these terms, but they are usually called "this world" and "the other world") are not two different worlds, but the same reality, just seen from two different points of view. I would like to illustrate this with an analogy: like chemistry and biology - they are not two different worlds, they are the same one world, the same one thing, just two different perspectives. Chemistry says that a substance contains such and such a percentage of salt, water, lime, carbon and iron, and biology says that the same substance is a frog, a dog or a human being. They didn't contradict each other, they were both absolutely right, they were both looking at the same reality, just from two different perspectives. Anatomy is about the physical structure and organisation of a human being, and psychology is about the mental world of the same human being. They are not contradicting each other, they are both right, they are both looking at the same reality, just from different perspectives.
That's how the so-called world and afterlife relate to each other. For example, from a mundane point of view, we could say that the serious operation was a success because of the medical intervention, that the cells and tissues have recovered, that the patient has been cured. And from an afterlife point of view, we could say the same thing: how gracious God is, he had mercy on the unfortunate patient, he healed him. They don't contradict each other, they are both true, we are just looking at the same truth from two different perspectives. Or, for example, from a mundane point of view, we say that a child is born as a result of such and such a development of such and such a number of cells over such and such a period of time, in such and such a physical process. We can say the same phenomenon from an otherworldly point of view: God heard the long plea of two people and gave them a child. This is also true, but in a different way. So, in the same way, "the worldly world" and "the afterlife" are not two different worlds, but the same thing, seen from two different perspectives. Evil is how we see events, and the afterlife is how God sees the same things and realities.
So where is Jesus? To say he is in heaven is the same as saying he is here. He is right there in everyday events and things. He is as close as chemistry is to biology, as anatomy is to psychology. It is more real and present and with us than we can imagine - and when Jesus says "come and see" - it means to go from our worldly point of view to His otherworldly point of view and try to see life, events, and ourselves and other people from that other side, from the invisible side of this visible universe, from the side of God. And then we will see God in the growth of a blade of grass, in the smile of our child, in the healing or death of our patient and in the joy and sorrow and everything that happens to us! And then all the little and big things in our lives will be wonderful. Whether it can be explained scientifically or not, all of life becomes a series of miracles, because we are assured of God's presence everywhere. Just as he has revealed himself in Christ.
There are stories in the Bible that not only describe events that simply happened, but are also symbols of different situations in our lives. When the disciples are struggling with the waves on the stormy sea, and they think that Jesus has been left somewhere on the shore, and they are alone here struggling with a feeling of total abandonment - when one used to say that even God has abandoned you - suddenly their eyes are opened and they see that he has not abandoned them, because on top of the waves there comes Jesus, right next to them! Or when Mary Magdalene is lamenting in the cemetery, not knowing where Jesus has been put and what to do with his life, the pain of grief comes over her - and then she looks up and sees the Master right in front of her. There he is, right beside him. Or when the disciples in Emmaus complain so bitterly that they have killed Jesus and now there is no one to guide them, to advise them, God is dead - and they don't even realize that he is not dead, he is walking with them on the road, and only later their eyes are opened to see that we were walking with him while we were complaining, the Lord was there with us! Or when the disciples, exhausted from fishing, after a whole night's futile toil, land on the shore and feel that all their efforts are in vain, that it is not worthwhile (one is in a mood like that!) - then suddenly Jesus is standing on the shore waiting for them. All these stories proclaim for us the unspeakable great truth and joy that God's presence and presence is real and true even when we cannot see it, cannot sense it, cannot believe it, because of our sadness, despair, fear and brooding. But it is not our seeing and perceiving that makes it true, it is true without it. It is precisely with this in mind that Jesus said beforehand that "I will be with you always, even to the end of the world", so that we may dare to count on Him, and that He is here!
Faith, my brothers and sisters, is the privilege of being allowed to look at events not only from our human side, but also from God's side, and of being allowed to reckon not only with our human possibilities, but also with God's possibilities and power. So on the very first page of the book of our life we can write with courage that God is present. Never forget that God is also present when you are struggling with a problem. I have witnessed it more than once, just now again in the last week: we were struggling with a family conflict in someone's life, and the problems were so tangled up that, humanly speaking, there was really no possibility of any solution. And then we tried to look at the same utterly hopeless situation from God's perspective, from God's side, and suddenly a ray of light flashed. It is precisely a question of daring to live in the presence of God! To struggle, to fight against our sins, or to suffer, to be sick, or to die - to love, to forgive, to do anything, in such a way that God is present in everything. It is very close, so close that Jesus says: the kingdom of God - that certain afterlife that we think is somewhere beyond death - is not here or there, it is in you, Jesus says. It is as near as your heart. This is very true, but it needs serious amplification, because without it we could fall into the mistake that mystics make: turn inwards and seek God in the depths of your own heart! They have developed elaborate spiritual exercises to show how one can detach oneself from all visible things, how one can become still, how one can turn completely inward and fall into the joy of communion with God. Let me say at once: there is nothing so contrary to the mind of Christ as such mystical conduct. Perhaps the reason why most people never find the living Jesus is precisely because they seek him in such inward contemplation, in such contemplation. Much more practical advice for finding Him was given by Jesus Himself when He said, "Try once to feed the hungry in my name, or to visit a sick person, or to stand by a man with all your heart and perhaps with all your material strength in his affliction. If you have done it to one of my least brethren, you have done it to Me. This is our greatest lesson, to take these words of Jesus more seriously and to live them more than ever. The crisis of the church throughout the earth is caused by our neglect of this practical aspect of our faith.
The evolution of human life has moved forward along two paths over the last two thousand years. On one path have gone those who work for the kingdom of God on earth, but do not believe in God. So they try to do their best to uplift and help human life, but without faith in God. The other way is for those who believe in God but do not work for the realisation of his kingdom on earth, so that, in addition to their faith, they do not do their best to help human life to move forward, upwards, higher - and this was the other way of the Church. The Church, whose greatest task is to see and live that Jesus does not call for a piety that turns away from the world, into the silence of the church and its own spiritual contemplation. It is that piety which experiences the encounter with God through another human being, because we live among human beings, and our human conduct, our behaviour, our feelings towards human beings are much more than man's attitude towards man, from that particular afterlife point of view, they are nothing other than man's attitude towards Jesus.
"Master, where dwellest thou? ", those disciples then asked. "Where is Jesus, where can I find him?" asks the man of today, and to both of them Jesus replies, "Come and see! And this is what we would say in today's language: 'Come out of yourself, out of self-care and turn to the other person! Out of your own selfishness, out of the egoism in which everything revolves around you, come out of it and turn towards the other person. And look for Jesus in the other person. Today, open your heart to those who need love, who need help, who need comfort. Do not look for God in yourself and in ecstatic spiritual experiences, but come close to the person and look for Christ in him! Let us understand well: God is not a concept, but a living person. So God cannot be known conceptually, like a mathematical formula or a physical law, but always in the experience of a personal encounter. I knew a woman who had become a great orphan, who, in her infinite sorrow, did not know what to do with her life, and who was in great need of God's presence to give her strength and comfort. But where would she find the way to come into a relationship with Him that would enable her to benefit from His power? And then this woman set out and began to go to other abandoned people, orphans, the unfortunate, and took care of them, and the Jesus who really gives strength and comfort became more and more a living reality for her, and who had been for her only a distant, faith-lesson memory.
I could give you many examples from my own experience: last week I sat at the bedside of a dying man and told him about Jesus, about forgiveness of sins, and had a wonderful experience of God. In the wonderful assurance of Christ's presence, I myself was almost cleansed and renewed, and the patient died reconciled and at peace.
My brother, I believe that we all have sick acquaintances, people who have some sorrow, who need help, who could use the warmth, the guidance, the encouragement of a brother's word. Well then, understand: in their person, it is as if Jesus were calling: come and see where I live... And that if you go and open your heart to such a person, you will find Jesus there. I'm sure of it. Try to have a truly brotherly heart towards people, towards all people, enemies, good friends, and you will be convinced of the reality of God.
Finally, let me just say that what we know and see of Jesus in this fragmentary way will one day shine before us in all its glory and splendour when our faith becomes a vision. In the last earthly experience of man, in death, the call of Jesus is heard: Come and see where I dwell! And if here it was true that the Lord is with us, there it will be true that we are with Him. Here He is with us, and there we shall be with Him. Here He is near to us, and there we shall be near to Him. Here it is true that I will be with you always, even to the end of the world, and there it is true that "I will take you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also". What we see here through a mirror, dimly, we shall see there, colour for colour, in His glory. And so the whole of life on earth becomes, with death, a great opportunity to be convinced, to see and to live where Jesus is, where God is... To find Jesus, to find life. Eternal life.
Amen!
Date: 16 February 1964.