There are certainly many other movements, and much fervent zeal for the liberation of the masses. It certainly sounds more realistic for people in darkness to dream of God's day of vengeance, finding satisfaction in the hope that at the Last Judgment all the godless enemies who oppress us here will be cast into hellfire. But what kind of blessedness is it that luxuriates in revenge and needs the groans of the damned as background to its own joy? To us a child is born, not an embittered old man. God in a child, not as hangman. That is why he prayed on his cross: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." It sounded more heroic when, forty years ago, in 1934, Hitler's columns marched through Tubingen, singing with fanatical zeal: "One day, the day of revenge. One day, and we shall be free." It was a zeal that led to Auschwitz and Stalingrad...
-Jurgen Moltmann, The Power of the Powerless (taken from Watch for the Light)
No comments:
Post a Comment