“Jesus began to weep.” John 11:35
Kano Yoshitaka
Kenzaburo Oe introduced the words of Simone Veil in his lecture.
“What is the most important attitude for humans? It is to ask other people or neighbors ‘What’s your trouble?'” Asking this way is human, and that’s where human-like behavior begins.
To those who have been worried and anxious in the series of events caused by the new coronavirus, and those who have been worried about hate and elimination that have spread beyond the virus, with Simone Veil’s word I greet you.
You might be suffering. Under the same events that we are facing now, each of us must have suffered. How are you suffering? What did you suffer? What is hurting you? That would be painful. I just pray that Jesus Christ, who wept in Lazarus’s grave, touched his disciples’ unclean feet, and never left the cross despite people saying “Get down from the cross, and I will believe in you,” may touch your suffering. May the Lord be with us in our sufferings. And may your suffering reach God, and God’s mercy is returned to us.
Together, we are connected to the NCC, and even in the realities of Japan such as this cave (grave), we receive a call to the life of the Lord Jesus and have time to stand up. Let’s believe it.
I pray from the heart, Immanuel and Amen.