I Didn't Speak Up
Luke 16:1-15, Jeremiah 8:4--9:26
Illustration
by Martin Niemoeller

With the Second World War behind him, the German Lutheran pastor, Martin Niemoeller, who was also a victim of the Nazi concentration camps, wrote his famous confession called "I Didn't Speak Up," and it is apropos: In Germany, the Nazis first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak for me.

by Martin Niemoeller