BREAK THE CHAINS OF OPPRESION AND THE YOKE OF ...

PREAChing I draw attention again to Isaiah 58, the motto of the 1997 General Council in
Debrecen. In historical terms, we know that the economic injustice which the
prophet is attacking, was brought about by an external factor: the tax reform
pushed through by the Persian King Darius I (after 521) permitted taxes to be
paid only in coins. This forced the small farming businesses that were not geared
up for surplus production (i.e., had nothing to sell) to go bust. They ended up in
the debt trap and were ultimately swallowed up by large landowners. It is this inner-Israeli
“furtherance” of an externally-imposed injustice that the prophet
makes the focal point of his sermon, precisely because his concern is the healing
of his people.
2. This is especially relevant for the part of the sermon concerned with exposing
sin: what is said here must be accurate. This appears to be self-evident, but it is
not. Again and again, in sermons on ethics, it can be shown that statements are
only half or three quarters true, that the research has been sloppy or that what is
said is too general.
This is particularly bad in our context, because factual errors make it all too easy
for the congregation to also fend off criticism that is in fact justified. Particular
consideration must be given to one trap (in taking up AC 11): only in exceptional
and borderline cases can human co-existence be assessed by the tools of binary
logic. Anti-semitism, for example, or apartheid are cases where our “either-or”
is required. More often, however, it is a matter of bringing the conflicting values
into balance, instead of deciding in favour of the one and against the other; and
hence in the economy, for example, it is a matter of finding the balance between
the poles of public welfare and self-interest and not a matter of contradictory
principles.
One other example �relates � to the �use of “we” in �statements � on the issue of justice.
According to the particular context, I am perpetrator, victim, co-participant, cosufferer,
co-originator, co-injured party, etc. But I am not always everything at
any one time, and that is why, from case to case, it is important to question precisely,
to talk precisely. An indiscriminating “we” seduces me and those listening
to me to seek refuge on the agreeable side. Talking precisely also requires courage
to confess along with Peter at the given moment: I am a sinful man (Luke 5:8),
or to say with Nathan: You are the man (2 Sam 12:7).
3. Finally: in the part of the sermon exposing sin, the task again and again will be
to draw attention to the misery of the particularly disadvantaged and to raise
awareness for their suffering. This cannot be done through statistics alone, no
matter how terrible they are. They are invaluable as information for the congregation,
but statistics on many thousands of victims cannot be felt. I am more
likely to be moved by what has happened to an individual. In such an example
the unimaginable is made vivid and the demands on me cannot be rebuffed.
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– PREACHING ON JUSTICE – 19