Fifty years ago I was just another missionary in the South German mission,
loving what I was doing.
I had studied German hard
I had studied German history.
I loved Bismarck
I loved the people I was talking to
but all of that is in a way putting in place things that I believe the Lord could could make use of
and so many things had to fall into place for me to be in the right place at the right time for
this experience to happen to me
but it happens to a lot of people
in their own ways as God works with us to make us instruments in his hand
I mean why was I sent to Regensburg of all places
it was the center of the counter-reformation
lots of Catholic scholars there and a Priest's Seminary
our little branch met her right across Domplatz
right next to the old medieval cathedral of Regensburg
but right next to the cathedral was a bulletin board
where they placed notices
about lectures and classes that were being taught
I just happened of course to look at that particular posting
to see what was coming up for the summertime
and there I found a class that was going to be taught every Friday
in the Priest's Seminary which was only about two blocks down the street from where we lived
this class was on the New Testament
well it just happened that Friday was our diversion day as we called it
the time when we could do whatever we wanted with the morning
and in fact we were encouraged to
be involved in cultural activities to go to museums so I felt comfortable
going with my companion and just walking into that class
we didn't wear name tags in those days and so the professor didn't know who we were
I don't know what he thought
maybe he didn't even notice us but I noticed him
and you know it just happened that he had just read a book by Paul Gechter
a Jesuit priest, a professor at the University of Innsbruck about the literary art in the Gospel of Matthew
and he was excited to tell us
how he saw the presence of what Gechter called Hebraic forms in the Gospel of Matthew
as strong evidence of the authenticity of Matthew as having been written originally in a Hebrew form
well I was really curious about that
I was intrigued for one thing just I've never heard of the word Chiasmus before
so as we left the lecture we went directly to the Catholic bookstore
which again was just two doors down from our apartment then, and what are the chances
that they would have had that little monograph right there on their shelf
I think I bought the only one they had
I loved the book
and spent the next week really enjoying reading and learning there
about chiasm at the word level as well as macro chiasms, conceptual organizational patterns
that organized the entire Gospel of Matthew into seven sections
well that was satisfying enough to me I was excited and I was ready to kind of leave it at that
but the turning point
and it was a life-changing event in my life that occurred quite unexpectedly early in the morning
August 16, 1967
when I was awakened by arresting words
and the words were
if it is evidence of Hebrew style in the Bible it must be evidence of Hebrew style in the Book of Mormon
I was wide awake
I got out of bed
I went over to the table where we had finished our scripture study the night before
and there was my Book of Mormon I sat down and asked
if it's here where
and I felt well
just start reading where you left off last night
which was in the middle of King Benjamin's speech.
I read through chapter four
of Mosiah and turned the page on Mosiah chapter five and was almost ready to go back to bed
when i glanced down the column
and there were the two words Ubertretung, Ubertretung, one stacked right on top of the other
and progressing forward and backward from that center point
we're matching words blotted out, blotted out, remember, remember, left hand of God, left hand of God,
called, name, called, name.
there it was
that was an exciting moment
I went over and
woke up my companion and told him and we began telling everyone
people on the street
professors
theologians
I would soon write to Paul Gechter himself and would visit him
and before I flew home
I traveled with my younger brother and sister for a couple of weeks
but on that trip we stopped in Innsbruck where I was able to see Paul Gechter.
I remember that conversation that I had with Paul Gechter quite clearly
we talked sitting quite close to each other, back and forth looking at the same books and papers
and I know that I kept him a lot longer than he planned
but he turned to me and in a very fatherly way
and he was in his 80s at that point
looked at me and sincerely
thanked me for coming to talk to him and said
"you are a lucky young man"
"you have found a life's work" and encouraged me to go forward with it
and to see where it would lead
looking back from this point to 50 years ago
and how little we knew about Chiasmus and lots of other things at that time
only makes me wonder what lies ahead for all of us
fifty years hence
we now know so much more about biblical texts,
manuscripts,
language,
history, culture,
theology, doctrine
and the value of
the plain and precious things that are
in the scriptures for us to know and appreciate
what will we know
if we continue on this path and the Lord
is invited into our lives
we are promised
in the Book of Mormon that
mysteries
will be opened unto us but only according to our
heed
and diligence
Chiasmus for me
is not just a mechanical statistical kind of thing
but with Chiasmus things that were not in focus
click
into focus
things that were
chaotic
become organized
and
Chiasmus in a way is not just the structural organizing of biblical thought
when you think of the words of Jesus himself
so often
a chiastic inversion
was the lifeblood of what he wanted us to realize
but if we want to find our life
we must lose it
and those who will lose their life for my sake shall find it.
Now there's something about the reversal the turning about
it has a lot to do with conversion being turned
you have to be turned on a center point of some kind
so often it is the Lord,
Jehovah,
Jesus,
they are the center point,
not only
in a literary sense but
in a structural sense
almost saying to us
don't miss this one
did you get it
did you really get it