Do Not Despise These Small Beginnings - Why Hans Scholl Chose Humble Actions

The train had stopped but no one got out of their seats. Hans stared out the window. 

Amidst the dirt and rocks, a few spring flowers were sparsely scattered. Not ten yards from the train a group of prisoners were working on a new set of tracks. 

It was hard, heavy work and sweat ran down their faces as they swung pickaxes into the rocky ground. He frowned.Women shouldn’t be doing such work! They were prisoners yes, but the bands on their arms told him that their only crime was that of being Jewish. 

One girl in particular attracted his attention. Her brown hair was hanging loose and she paused to brush it off of her face. She reminded him of the wildflowers that were growing near her; terribly thin and delicate yet carrying herself with beauty and pride. A sudden feeling of pity washed over him as he watched her from the train. His brow furrowed. She doesn’t need you to feel sorry for her, Hans, she needs you to do something! But what could he do? 

He recalled the chocolate bar in his pocket.

Shoving the window open, he slipped first one leg out and then the other. Before any of the train’s other occupants had noticed what he was doing, Hans had jumped out and crossed the little distance that separated the two tracks. 

He walked up to her, holding the chocolate bar at arms length. It seemed like a trivial action in the face of such woe. 

She paused her work, laid aside the pick, and took the package from his hand. She starred down at it, looking somewhat confused as she read the label. Suddenly, the bewilderment on her face was replaced with anger. Without a word she threw the candy back at him. 

It was not quite the reaction he had been expecting. A guy tries to be kind and that’s how she responds! I’ll bet she won’t be so proud when she’s gone hungry for a while! 

Hans quickly checked his thoughts. What am I saying! The Germans had made themselves her enemies and to her he was just another German. He shook his head, my pride is rather quick to discard pity. How could he make her understand that the present wasn’t meant to taunt her? 

Glancing around, he noticed again the flowers that were growing nearby. He quickly procured one and then bent down to pick up the chocolate bar that was still laying where she had thrown it. On it he laid the little, white rose. 

Again he held it out to her. “I just wanted to do something to please you.” 

She had not taken her eyes off of him the entire time. Now she looked even more astonished than she had at first. 

The train was starting to move again so Hans quickly pressed the gift into her hands and then dashed off to catch it. He caught hold of the metal rail and, with a leap, pulled himself up onto the platform. He caught one last glimpse of the girl before she was out of sight - the flower was in her hair.

Doing the Simple Things

It seemed like a trivial action and Hans could have neglected to do it. Yet he choose to take advantage of even this little opportunity when it presented itself. This was a decision that would come to characterize the life of Hans Scholl. Living in the midst of the second world war, Hans was a German who shared the cause of the Allies. He was surrounded by people who practiced lying, cruelty, and hatred so he decided that he would have to use every chance to do good. Later that same year Hans, his sister, Sophie, and three of their close friends began a resistance organization. They planned to resist the Nazi Government but they had no great strategy available to them. In fact they found that the only method they could employ was that of passive resistance. Every man, they felt, needed to battle through the avenues that were open to him. For them that avenue was the written word. They knew the truth, had words to express it in, and possessed a single typewriter and duplicating machine to help. Their idea was to create and distribute leaflets which would encourage others to also rise in passive resistance. 'They desired to cast doubt in the minds of Nazi followers, induce questions in the minds of Nazi enthusiasts, win over the hesitant, and move the uncommitted to a decision." -Inge Scholl, The White Rose 

 It was a simple plan pitted against a great enemy but the Munich students were willing to do whatever they could. Too often we refuse to take action because the results don't seem large enough to warrant the expense of our time, or our money, or our effort. Today many Christians are only motivated to act when they feel sure that it will be worth their while. 

"Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand." (Zechariah iv. 10)

It is humility that makes someone willing to do the task that seems like it will be insignificant, unprofitable, or badly received. To do the thing that the world would say is foolish. Hans' chocolate bar could do little to combat the ongoing starvation that the girl faced, yet God had given it as the provision for that situation. Many people mistakenly think that humility is seeing themselves as small. Had this been Hans Scholl's perspective he would have remained on the train overwhelmed by his inability to solve such a big problem. He would have missed the little opportunity - a chance to show God's love - if he had chosen to feel defeated because he couldn't solve the bigger problem - rescuing all the woman from the persecution they faced. Those who are truly humble acknowledge that they are insufficient but they are ready to do what they can, however little. True humility is seeing others as more important than ourselves; this was what Hans had. God does not require us to solve every problem or right every wrong, that is His job, but He does ask us to give our best. We are responsible to do all we can and to do it as well as we can. This is the lesson of the widow`s mite.

"And He (Jesus) looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.” (Luke xxi. 1-4)

We should not be trying to determine what work is a worthy expenditure of our time; that is pride. Humility is asking God what He considers important enough to invest in.

"I'm living my life for an audience of one. I live my life to please God." - Anne Graham Lotz

In trying to please any audience one must learn what moves them. The same is true of God. If we really are desiring to please Him we should be trying to discover what is stirring His heart and what He would do about it. God is humble and, as He showed us when He sent His Son to be born of a virgin and laid in a manger, He uses humble means. It may be that the thing you would have overlooked is what He is looking at, or that the plan that is "too simple" is actually how God intends to accomplish His purpose. 

The White Rose Society, as Hans entitled their resistance organization, distributed several thousand pamphlets throughout the major cities of Germany over the course of a few months. Their words stirred a few dozen people into action. That may seem a remarkable feat for students working with a singular typewriter and one duplication machine in a studio basement, usually in the middle of the night. Yet when matched against Hitler`s power, an apathetic nation, and unfathomable acts of cruelty it must have seemed like an insignificant and hopeless task. Still they persevered in it with humility.  

In February of 1943, Hans and Sophie Scholl were apprehended by the German authorities and sentenced to death for their crimes against the Reich. Their work cost them much and seemed to have accomplished little, yet they did not regret their actions for a moment. They had done what they could, what they knew was right and they didn't look to the results for justification. Later it was revealed that members of the highest levels of the Nazi party considered the efforts of these students to be one of the greatest threats against the Third Reich! Neither Hans nor Sophie ever knew that, yet their actions showed that they knew the humble things were important.

"How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine, sunny day and I have to go but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?” - Sophie Scholl

In Christ

quiana