Predikan 7:e söndagen under året i engelska mässan
P. Sebastian Maly SJ
When Jesus speaks in the Gospel, he usually tells a story. It is quite different here. The so-called field sermon consists mainly of moral appeals that have a great density and weight, given the way they are formulated. Especially when we look at the world these days, Jesus’ appeals seem all the more theoretical, idealistic and unrelated to reality. Love of the enemy, to give without any expectation and reconciliation with the enemy – there are no followers for this on Twitter ‘X’. You can’t make deals with them either. This is rather dangerous for those who are mighty and have a lot of power. Because in real politics, it’s all about winning or losing. And nobody wants to lose or even look like a loser.
But perhaps Jesus is not giving us idealised morals or exaggerated concrete instructions for action, but rather wants to teach us a certain attitude. To look at the text in this way, the story from 1 Samuel helps us. David spares Saul, from whom he flees, because Saul wants to kill him. It would have been safer for David’s life and for his ambitions to kill Saul. But he doesn’t, out of respect for the fact that Saul is anointed king of Israel. It’s a bit like the striker standing alone in front of the goal with the score at 0-0 in the 90th minute – and deliberately missing so that the game goes into extra time. David was by no means a pacifist; many people have died directly or indirectly at his hands. But at this point he behaves like a prophet who wants to bring peace and justice. He is behaving like a fool.
The fool or jester is not only a well-known figure in the carnival season that is soon beginning. We also recognise the fool in Christ in our Christian tradition. I will tell you a story about a virgin in a monastery who gave the appearance of being mad and possessed. The story takes place in the time of the desert fathers, so in the 1st centuries of Christianity, in the Egyptian desert. This virgin wandered around the kitchen, did all the work, was the wiping cloth of the monastery and thus fulfilled what is written: ‘If anyone among you thinks himself wise, let him become a fool, so that he may become wise.’ She covered her head with a rag, while the others were shorn and wore hoods. None of the 400 sisters ever saw her eat. She offended no one, did not grumble, said neither much nor little, although she was insulted, beaten and treated with contempt by the others. At that time, St Piterum, who was known for his virtue, lived nearby. An angel came to him and said: ‘How proud you are of your piety and your worldly life. If you want to see a woman who is more pious than you, go to the women’s monastery in Tabenna. There you will find one who wears a rag on her head. Although she experiences a lot of adversity in her community, she has never turned her thoughts away from God. You, on the other hand, are sitting here, but your thoughts are wandering around the cities. He then set off and asked to visit the monastery. They let him in because of his reputation. He wanted to see all the women. But the woman with the rag was not there. He wished to see all of them, but one was still missing. The women told him: ‘There’s one more in the kitchen, but she’s a fool. Piterum wanted to see her. So the women fetched her, but she didn’t want to come with them because she suspected that her secret would be revealed. They took her by force to the holy monk. When he saw her, he fell at her feet and said: ‘Bless me. Then she also fell at his feet and asked: ‘Bless me, Lord! Then everyone was furious and said: ‘Father, don’t let them keep you for the best. This is foolish.’ Then Piterum said to them all: ’You are the fools here. For this is my and your spiritual mother and I only wish to be found worthy of her on the day of judgement.’ When the sisters heard this, they fell at the woman’s feet and each confessed a different offence to her. Then Piterum prayed for all of them and left. But because the woman did not want to enjoy fame and honour with the sisters and found the many confessions annoying, she left the convent after a few days. No one ever found out where she went.
The fool holds up a mirror to her fellow sisters all the time without them realising it. By attracting aggression and resentment, she shows them how much they are influenced by everything other than the gospel. The fool herself does not proclaim a message. Her body, her miserable life and what her fellow sisters make of her is her message. That is why she cannot stay and become abbess of the convent. Because that would mean she could no longer be a mirror. But that was precisely her vocation: by reflecting her image back to her fellow sisters, she shows them another possibility of themselves. Her fellow sisters eventually recognised this and perhaps some of them were also changed by this experience.
What does this have to do with the message of the field speech? I believe that a person who lived strictly according to the field speech would make a fool of himself. We would laugh at him at some point. And he would probably laugh at us too, in order to inflame our mockery even more and emphasise our mutual alienation. Jesus’ message is crazy at this point. It holds out to us the possibility that we could also think and act quite differently than we actually do, simply as a possibility. Our freedom harbours the possibility of this craziness. The message of Jesus shows us an upside-down world, a world upside down, completely different from what we experience.
Let us understand the field speech less as moral appeals that are far removed from all the decisions we have to make in everyday life. Instead, let us understand it as a contrasting foil or as a foolish scenario of a better world. Then a new attitude can emerge. Just imagine that it could be like this: We love our enemies; we give to whom without thinking; we no longer judge anyone. What then follows from this? What small steps can I personally take to make a change? How does this crazy freedom to do what is humanly possible translate into my very concrete life? No law books are required here, but me, my reflection, my meditation on God’s word, my life experience, my discussions with others, in the church – and my courage to take these small steps. In the end, this is exactly what can lead to the folly of the cross. Because the world is often wrong, not the way it should be. Not only dreams are shattered by this, but also human lives. But we can hold on to this cross, it is the plank in the ocean that promises us in the end: life will prevail! We will see that what is possible will become real. Let us believe in it – that is foolish enough. Amen.