Title: Empty Hearts
The history of Israel seems to have been the same as ours. The Hebrew slaves, who were suffering from forced labor, miraculously, through a dramatic miracle, parted the sea of reeds and annihilated the enemy's chariot troops in the sea, exhilaratingly fleeing Egypt. However, they could not immediately enter the promised land of Canaan with the thrill of liberation. They had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. It is said that the distance from the Sea of Reeds to Canaan cannot exceed 40 days, no matter how long it takes. They had to wander in the empty fields for 40 years with the land they dreamed of, the promised land they had been longing for for generations in front of their eyes.
Hebrew slaves had the thrilling experience of the Exodus, but they were still slaves. Even after crossing the sea of reeds, they were still slaves because they could not give up their slavery. Complaining is what slaves do. The stories of Israel's complaints that are repeated over and over in the wilderness tradition show their slavery. Not only did they long for the Egyptian meat kiln, but whenever difficulties arose, they complained and clamored to return to Egypt. Then, Yahweh will listen to their complaints, but if it happens, he will burst into anger and command that he will abandon them and kill them all. Just as Jacob wrestled with God in the empty fields in the old days, the beans were the battlefield between Israel and God. In the Exodus, God fights his people in the wilderness. Because there was an excellent mediator called Moses, it is a shame that Israel's complaints are endless, and Yahweh's wrath seems to reach the heavens. In Vienna, God and Israel had a really bitter fight. So, it is said that not a single person from the first generation, including Moses, could enter Canaan, who had the thrilling experience of the Sea of Reeds through the long desert history.
In the Wilderness Chronicle, Israel and their God, Yahweh, are exposed as they are. Not only does Israel's foolishness and stubbornness openly reveal, but the God who confronts them is also rough and impatient, not the cultured God of civilized society. Just as the historical reality is harsh, so too is the journey of the Beans. However, they could not go to the Promised Land without going through the bins. Vienna was the place where God would fight his people Israel, eradicate their slavery and make them new and pure human beings. Therefore, the beans were also the place where the history of salvation began. God makes a covenant with Israel in the journey of these empty people and begins the work of salvation.
Perhaps among his contemporaries, the man whom the young Jesus considered most comrades was John the Baptist. Jesus, who lived in the colonial era, must have heard many voices shouting out loud. The turbulence produces heroes. Even in the time of Jesus, any willing Jew thought about how to get out of the national crisis. There were many claims that this was the only way to live. The young Jesus must have developed his thoughts and intentions as he listened to these and other claims. Of course, at the bottom of such raucous claims were the people of the land, Am Haretz, who could not make any claims or even groan. These were the people who were branded as sinners by the righteous who advocated the law, the nation, and the nation, and ridiculed by the defenders of the system as mud worms. There were noisy arguments, but there was a deep darkness and a deep silence for them.
Jesus does not appear to have directly joined or sympathized with any group that has been vocally calling for a time of crisis. Jesus did not participate in the nationalist movement, the pietist enlightenment movement of the Pharisees, or the small sect movement of the Essenesian hermits. It was John the Baptist who, while keeping his distance from all these claims, put himself in Jesus' position and clearly expressed his sympathy. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, and after John the Baptist was imprisoned, he began his public ministry. Being baptized by John can be interpreted as a sign of consent and participation in his activities, and the fact that John the Baptist began his activities after being imprisoned gives the impression that he succeeded his activities. Moreover, the proclamations of Jesus and John the Baptist are both appeals to repentance and preparation for the coming kingdom of God, as the end times have come, and there is no difference in content. In addition, the accusations against the ruling powers of the existing society are almost similar. The accusations against the Pharisees and Sadducees as "children of vipers, whitewashed tombs" are literally the same.
Who is John the Baptist? He was a man and a wild man who lived in the fields, dressed in camel's hair, and ate locusts and wild honey, and he was a cry in the wilderness. John was afraid to stand in front of him because he stood tall in the empty fields and scolded and commanded the powerful and the leaders. Also, he was morally and religiously extraordinary, and he was so strict and strong that he could not stand as a maid. These characters are often self-conscious and uncompromising. And yet, he was someone who could say to Jesus, "He must prosper and I must perish." "I'm not even worthy to tie his shoelaces," he said, and was able to lower himself like the dirt of a bean.
Jesus said of him: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see. A reed swaying in the wind? Or, what did you go out to see. A man in splendid clothes. A man in splendid clothes is in the palace. Or what did you go out to see. Prophet Did you go out to see him? Yes, he is a greater man than the Prophet." He was a man of the field, "a voice crying in the wilderness." He was the one who called people into the wilderness and into the empty places of their hearts.
The great prophets of the Bible came out of the vast wilderness and entered the village. The Hebrews who had left Egypt entered Canaan after 40 years in the wilderness, and Jesus also entered the villages of Galilee through 40 days of fasting and training in the wilderness. Also within Judaism there was a tradition of going out into the wilderness to form a community and to purify the mind and body while waiting for God's eschatological intervention in the end times. Early Christians also inherited this tradition, and from the 2nd century onwards, groups of hermits who went out to the desert to lead religious life were formed, and medieval monasteries inherited this tradition.
Lao-tzu said that he is immortal. The god of the valley never dies. The valley goes deep. It is empty because it is in. are backing away. It is because of its emptiness that the valley can constantly create all things. That is why Lao-tzu called the god of the valley a virtuous female. The god of the valley lives and creates from the emptiness with infinite vitality. The bellows is empty, but when the bellows is made, the wind blows out endlessly. The flute is also empty, but makes a beautiful sound when blown. Because it is empty, the wind comes out, and because it is empty, the sound comes out. A cart wheel also rolls well when the center of the wheel is empty. If you empty yourself like an empty flute, like a wheel, and follow the natural flow of all things, you can carry me on the greater wave of life that lives on forever. You can laugh as you float in the vast sea of life on the rippling waves of life.
The valley that Lao-tzu refers to is the empty field the Bible speaks of. Where are the beans? Beans are voids. A place where there is nothing to be obsessed with or greedy for. Because there is nothing in the wilderness, there is nothing to be greedy for, nothing to take, nothing to take away. There is no place like the wilderness where the endless greed and vanity of man can be felt as in the wilderness. For this reason, the wilderness is a place where rulers can abandon their lust for domination and greed and return to their original form. The wilderness is a place where you can straighten out a twisted history and purify a corrupt society. It is the wilderness where new possibilities are opened and the power of transformation arises.
Beans also mean an empty heart. An empty mind is a mind free from attachment and greed, free from worries and worries. It is a heart that is free from the hustle and bustle of the heart that pursues me and has God at the center. It is a repentant heart. The Messiah is born with an empty heart, and the kingdom of God begins with an empty heart. So Jesus declared that the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and be empty. Jesus comes to our empty hearts, and the new kingdom of Christ opens in our empty hearts.