Sunday Evening: Let Them Hear

Then his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him…Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” —Mark 3:31–4:9

During Lent, we are called to remember our mortality and return to Christ through fasting and contemplation. Last Sunday, we explored the importance of making room in our lives—dying to our ego so that we may bear good fruit. Today we look at returning to Christ in all moments. We all experience moments of joy, peace, and rest. But how do we “hear the word” of Christ in moments of hardship, turmoil, and indecision? What does being faithful look like in moments when we face a double bind?

One of my favorite philosophical dilemmas is the “trolley problem.” It describes a classic double-bind situation, whatever you choose, the outcome has potential negative consequences. Imagine you are standing next to a trolley track, with a lever beside you that can change its direction at a crossroads. On the main track, five people are tied up and lying across the rails. At the crossroads, there is a bypass; however, that track leads to one person who is also bound across its path. The trolley is coming, and you have to decide what to do next. Do you pull the lever to spare the five individuals for the one? Can you live with your choices impacting the fate of the one person? What if the one on the bypass is someone you know, does that change your decision? This ethical dilemma is meant to show the complexities of ethics and that not every decision we make is black and white. Even if we make no decision, that has consequences. There are second and third order effects to what we do or don't do. How do we face down moments in our lives where the right path isn’t clear? What is the right decision?

The German Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer faced similar ethical and moral dilemmas. Imagine living in Nazi occupied Germany in the 1930s and 40s as a Christian pastor. Seeing and living through the injustices and sufferings caused by the Nazi regime. Bonhoeffer is often quoted in saying:

”We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Now imagine your church aligning with and endorsing these injustices. What do you do as a Christ follower committed to non-violence while also called to stand up for the oppressed? How do you stay faithful when all around you seems hopeless and the tide is against you? Do you engage in violence to protect those being “beneath the wheels of injustice?" Discerning where the moral compass is pointing is difficult with so many forces acting upon it. Bonhoeffer offers us some key insights to living in trying times and being ready for those double-bind moments.

“Therefore, at the beginning of the day let all distraction and empty talk be silenced and let the first thought and the first word belong to him to whom our whole life belongs.” —Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Daily we offer ourselves to meet Christ in the present. Doing so prepares us to greet the day with hope, mercy, justice, and peace. Principles and rules can fail us and fall short. Many ethical principles failed to prevent the rise of Hitler and concentration camps. It takes wisdom to navigate life’s unexpected challenges. Wisdom comes when we look at every situation as a unique opportunity to be obedient and surrender our will. These daily rhythms of devotion, community engagement, and contemplation that we adopt open us up to Christ’s wavelength. Each day brings new joys, challenges, and dilemmas. Yesterday’s answers are not always sufficient for today’s questions.

Recognizing that we have access to Christ's presence and flow is crucial for Bonhoeffer. Facing trying times, we must realize we are not following a God that is out there somewhere transcendent from our worldly concerns.

“Jesus is Lord of the ages and is always with his own, even when things are difficult, and will abide with us; that is our comfort. If tribulation and anxiety come upon us, Jesus is with us and leads us over into God’s eternal kingdom.”—Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Collected Sermons

Recognizing Christ dwelling with us invites in wisdom, discernment, and perspective that is beyond ourselves. We do not often get to rest under the tree from the decisions that sowed it. There is a freedom that comes from seeing Christ in our present circumstances. It can free us from indecision and worry. Knowing that in our contemplative practices we have prepared for what is to come.

Through Lent, we focus on these rhythms and practices that open us up to the possibilities of Christ's real presence with us here and now. Moments come that challenge our faith, bring us to the edge of despair, and make us decide to pull the lever or not. Decisions must be made, mercy must be shown, and justice must be served. The right decision isn’t always clear. It takes wisdom and discernment to be faithful in the fog. What role we play is not up to our narrow perspective. In yielding to Christ, we can act in obedience and unfold the will of Christ laid before us. When we step into the immediate presence of Christ, we receive what wisdom is present for us today.

“I discovered later, and I’m still discovering right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. By this-worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In doing so we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world—watching with Christ in Gethsemane. That, I think, is faith.” —Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

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