Title: God becomes man and man becomes God...
The life of Jesus was an amazing and revolutionary life in the political and economic context of that time. He taught new ethics and morals that were very different from those taught and known before Jesus. For example, he taught us to pay for an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Jesus' teaching about the Sabbath was also radical. As a result, he was envied and persecuted by the legalists.
Even from the standpoint of Rome at that time, the teachings and life of Jesus were sometimes mistaken for an anti-semitism movement and sometimes as a terrorist for national independence. In fact, it is said that some of Jesus' disciples belonged to extremists who carried swords and killed Romans and anti-national compatriots.
However, perhaps the most strikingly different teaching from the traditional Judaism of that time among Jesus' teachings is Jesus' awareness of God. It seems that the priesthood of Jesus was too different from that of Judaism. This conviction is a revolutionary change in the light of the Jewish tradition at the time. We need to reflect deeply on why the faith of the early church, which believed in God through love, was so revolutionary.
First, let's check who the God of the Old Testament is. In the book of Exodus, in answer to Moses' question, God said that you are who you are (Exodus 3:14). It means self-existent person (獨存者) or self-existent person (self-existent person). In English, it can be expressed as "I am what I am." This word has several meanings, but one can guess that it means that God is not a relationship being. It means that God is not a being formed out of relationships with other beings, but a person who existed from the beginning and created something out of nothing. As a Creator who exists by himself and fills the content of his being, he is a holy, holy One with miraculous power.
If you compare it to this, people are formed in their relationships with others. I am not what I am, but what others think of me as who I am. What Mom and Dad think I am is who I am. More precisely, I become who I am by thinking of myself as others think I am. My mother always thought and respected that I wanted to be a doctor, and tried to become a doctor on her own, finally living as a doctor. In English, it can be expressed like this: "I am what I think others think I am." This expression is very different from "I am what I am." It means to come into existence out of relationships with others. But God is alone. This is also the priesthood of the Old Testament.
Another characteristic of the priests of the Old Testament is that God is the omnipotent judge. The God who gave the law is a terrible person who judges and punishes those who do not keep the law. God is the judge and the strict Father. Also, it was so holy that it was difficult for ordinary people to access it at all. A God who whispers close and intimately is truly an exceptional God.
However, the God of Jesus was very different from this traditional Old Testament God. 1 John 4 describes Jesus' God very well. At least two points should be noted here.
First, God is an expression of love. Those who love can experience God. You can also know God. God is in it. Through love, man can serve God and also become like God. Such a God is not confined to any external form. God exists by moving in the action and practice of love. Just as love is a moving poem, God refuses to remain as a name poem and comes to life as a verb.
Second, God first loved man. Humans did not love God first. Rather, humans have betrayed God. Through hatred, jealousy, and fighting, he distanced himself from God and even killed God on a cross. He grieved God with greed and arrogance. Then God, who is love, cannot but be a relationship being.
Love is an act that cannot be endured without giving what is one's own to others,
Love is an act that cannot be endured without the service of others.
Love empties its own to fill others with good things.
It is an act that cannot be tolerated.
In this way, love builds relationships and comes out of relationships.
A human being is a person who has the God of love as the center of his thoughts, reflects on himself and constantly changes his life. Not "I am what I am." It's "I am what I think God thinks I am."
What is prayer? Isn't that a conversation with God? Dialogue with God means an inner dialogue where you look back on your actions and life from God's point of view. A beautiful human being is a person who, moved by God's love, confesses his mistake with tears and returns to God.
We can see this beautiful relationship between God and man in the words of Jesus. He deserves to be the object of God's judgment and punishment, and he deserves to die of starvation in a foreign land. Because God is a terrible swordsman. He is an omnipotent, omnipotent demon swordsman who can see through human errors even without investigation and interrogation.
But the God of Jesus does not block the freedom of the prodigal son. He is the God of the Father who is anxiously waiting for his son who is living a debauched life by making the wrong choice. You are God the Mother with the heart of a mother who sent her through conscription during the Japanese occupation and waited eagerly for her to come back alive.
The God of Jesus is not only a God of love who waits for his children at the gate every day, but also a God of parents who runs to him when his children appear in the distance. He is a God the Father who treats children who repent and return more warmly than the elder sons who believe they do not need to repent.
Human beings who realize they have done something wrong and suffer are beautiful.
People who say they have done nothing wrong and need no repentance are banal.
It is dangerous for humans that they do not need to repent even if they make a mistake.
Because God is love, he always warmly welcomes those who freely repent but freely repent. He is not a fearful man who likes to judge and punish.
Of course, the God of the Old Testament knows the suffering of his people, hears and sees their pain, and sets them free from their suffering. However, the God of Jesus gives love to anyone who believes in God, regardless of race, gender, ideology, or region. He is the God who unites us through love. God is a moving poem that makes one. One makes you whole and one makes you healthy. He loved us sinners by giving himself up on the cross to empty himself, share blood and flesh, and even serve. He loved us sinners not because they were good, but because they were sinners.
When we practice this love of God among us, we not only have God in us, but we can become like God. He is holy and holy, so that we can become God, not a distant God. However, it is only when we empty ourselves, share, and serve. We too should not live by name poetry, but live by movement poetry. But this is extremely difficult. That is why we need the helping power of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit! Help us.