Sárospataki Füzetek 16. (2012)
2012 / 3-4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Martien E. Brinkman: Az igazvoltról és a gonoszról alkotott fogalmaink isteni transzcendenciája
Abraham van de Beek Responsibility has to do with the law—and the law makes us guilty, for one does never attain the goals that the law requires. Nobody is able to secure the integrity of creation. The very existence of any human being contributes to the overpopulation of the globe and to exhausting its resources. Modern theology of creation lacks the relaxed atmosphere of Cyril’s lessons. Is this due to his naivety? I do not think so. It rather has to do with his basic paradigm: being baptized into Christ. It is the freedom about which Luther writes in his On the Freedom of a Christian. Luther states: ‘A Christian man is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian man is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.’32 That is not only in relation to human beings but also with regard to all living and non living beings. Stewardship is a burden, freedom is enjoyment. That makes all the difference. It is the difference someone can experience when taking care of flowers. I could be asked to take care of the plants of neighbors who are on holiday—or it can even be my job to do so as a gardener. I am responsible for the plants doing well. Actually, I cannot enjoy them because I am always in fear that they might decay—due to lack of water or too much water, or to too much sun or shadow. I am relieved when the owners return from their journey—or happy when the owner praises me for the garden doing well. There is also a different perspective of caring for flowers. My partner may have given them as expression of love and unity. She will never blame me if the plants will decay, for it was not about the plants but about the gift. She gave love, and love cannot decay. The flowers were merely an expression of it. In giving herself she has already given me everything. The flowers are just additional—a donum superadditum. Nothing depends on them. In talking care for the flowers I enjoy the love of the giver—which does not change when the flowers inevitably decay. And precisely therefore, I try to keep them as long as possible, for I love them because I love the one who brought them. That is the way Cyril enjoys nature and teaches his catechumens to enjoy it. They live in the Kingdom of God, and much is added to it by Him who created the world and saved the world. He created us in a garden and we dwell in a garden that reflects his glory. Cyrill s considerations are not naive. If we dwell in creation in the paradigm of Christ we are not shocked by death and broken flowers. We live in the world that the Crucified One created. It is his own and displays Christ’s love: through death, through the thorns of his crown. We see beauty, not only in the crimson of the rose, but also when its petals fall away, for that is the beginning of the fruit—and when the pruner cuts the branches, or the frost kills the shrub, we know that new life will grow from death. That is life—that is life in the paradigm of Christ. It is a view on creation wherein even the behavior of a shrike does not surprise us, for it belongs to the creation of the One who was nailed on the wood. We do not understand the meaning of all beings but we enjoy them as creations of our good Lord.33 Conclusion Why is the article on creation added to the basic confession of Jesus as Lord? It is not in order to have another avenue to God and to play off Christology over against 32 Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian 1. 33 Cyril, Catechetical Lecture 9,14. SÄE 35PATAK! FÜZETEK 2012/3-4
