October 6, 2016 – Words of Wisdom
Elie Wiesel

“When human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Whenever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe” Elie Wiesel

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.  “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” John 14:15-21
Wiesel was a Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor. (Wikipedia)

Jesus is known as the “Word” in the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. And the Word became flesh and lived among us…” (John 1:1-5, 14)

So when we speak of the “Word of G-d” we need to clarify if we are speaking about the written word (the bible), or the Incarnation of G-d, Jesus Christ.

Elie Wiesel was a Holocaust survivor, and as such lived through one of the most horrific experiences of systemic murder, fanaticism, and evil this world has ever seen. As he continued his life, having lost a good portion of his family to the death camps of the holocaust, he and his wife established The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, to fight “indifference, intolerance and injustice”. As Elie so eloquently puts it, we must always fight for “human dignity” and fight against those people and regimes that seek to deny basic human rights. Jesus, the Word Incarnate, taught that we are to love all people, we are to cherish the dignity of all lives, and we are to be Spirit-led people of G-d. We become Spirit-led people by reading the Word, and by receiving the very body and blood of Jesus in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. It is through these means that we understand where our true identity comes, that we are people of G-d, not people of the world – but as people of G-d, we are sent out to right the wrongs of this world, no matter where we encounter them.

Pastor Dave