Title: Heaven, a world of qualitative change
Heaven, a world of qualitative change
Matthew 13:44-52, 6th Sunday after Pentecost, July 24, 2011
There are words in the New Testament that have the same meaning but have different expressions. One of them is Heaven and the Kingdom of God. Heaven is in Chinese characters, and the Kingdom of God is purely Korean. That's why they sound different. I don't know why those who translated the Bible translated it that way. In Greek, heaven is 'Basilia ton Uranon', and the Kingdom of God is 'Basilia to Deu'. Both use the same word basileia, meaning 'country'. Uranon is the second case change of Uranus, meaning heaven, and the second case change of Deus, meaning God to warm. To make the two words consistent with Chinese characters, we need to translate the kingdom of God as the new kingdom, and to translate it into Korean, we need to make the kingdom of heaven the kingdom of heaven. Anyway, heaven and the kingdom of God mean the same thing. The ancients used the two words alike because they thought God was in heaven. What is heaven, or the kingdom of heaven? The parable of the kingdom of heaven in the Gospel of Matthew, the Bible text of today's sermon, is the parable of the kingdom of God. It can be seen as a parable about God. Three things come out.
treasure, merchant, net
First, he said that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field (verse 44). Treasures modify the kingdom of heaven. It means that heaven is as precious as treasure. Think again that this is a metaphor. It is difficult to think of heaven as real treasure or money. Because we are thoroughly accustomed to capitalism, we try to convert even heaven into money. Treasure here simply means that it is incomparable to anything in the world.
It is said that the treasure was hidden in the field. I don't know if it means it's buried in the soil of the field or if it's covered in one corner with another. The fact that it was hidden is key. The attribute of heaven is concealment. You must have had experiences of going out on a picnic when you were young and hunting for treasure. A piece of paper with the name of the treasure is hidden among the branches, under fallen leaves, and under stones. You just don't notice it when you pass by. The fact that heaven is hidden is not a very strange thing. It is a simple statement, but at the same time it is difficult to explain. Because it is experienced only by those who find the treasure. Pianist Baek Geon-woo's experience of “the piano keyboard is deep” is similar to that. Because it is a statement that can only be experienced by entering a certain level of piano music. Even at the time of Jesus, the Messiahship of Jesus was concealed.
To say that heaven is hidden also means that life is hidden. Our lives are not all revealed. We don't know yet. I thought I would be happy if I had a lot of money, but in reality, that's not the case at all. How fast life is, a lifetime is like a flash of lightning. Heaven, the land of life, is not given in the way the world demands or compels us. This is because the kingdom of heaven is God's way of being and his way of governing. It is hidden in the field of life. You can imagine the joy of the person who found it.
Second, he said that the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls (verse 45). If the first parable says that the kingdom of heaven is treasure, the second parable says that it is a pearl, but it is like a merchant. The first parable refers to the attributes of the kingdom of heaven, while the second parable refers to the attitude of a person who has experienced heaven. Heaven is an all-encompassing concept. We can only imagine what a merchant looking for a fine pearl would feel. He was only interested in it. It is like a seeker wandering around the world to meet the true Master. Paradoxically, it may be a coincidence that you have come across the best pearls in the world. Coincidence means grace. The important thing here is that he recognized a good pearl. It's like the disciples recognized Jesus and followed him.
This man sold all he had and got the pearls. In the first parable, it is said that the man who found the treasure sold all he had and bought the field. In today's language, I've been 'all in'. Anything else was meaningless to him. It is enough without it, it is with it. But a good pearl is an absolute thing. This is the spiritual attitude of those who seek the truth and those who are waiting for heaven. It's betting your destiny in heaven. Don't take this as a clich . It is difficult to hear people say that they should work hard at church. This is not to say that you have to live for others. Those are issues that are dealt with on a human level. Even if you do not have faith, you can be zealous for church service and world service. Just as Paul said that even if he sacrificed his body for fire, it would have no meaning if there was no love. Love, the property of heaven and heaven, is the power of life only available from God. Whoever finds it throws his fate there. You can't help but lose interest in yourself.
Third, Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a net (verse 47). The third parable is different from the previous ones. Whether you're a fisherman with a net or a good fish caught in a net, it seems consistent. These differences are not so important. The biblical writer refers to nets, but in reality the fisherman who handled the nets would have been more important. The net was full of fish. Then it is said that the fisherman put the good fish in a bowl and threw away the bad ones (verse 48). The explanation of this parable continues. At the end of the world, angels will separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire. This parable is similar to last week’s text, ‘The Parable of the Weeds’ (Matthew 13:24-30). The key to the third parable is the fact that the world we live in will be reconstructed in the last days. That is the nature of heaven. That heaven has not yet been fully realized. Like a net of various kinds of fish, pseudo life is intermingled in this world, but in the end, the world of true life will come.
qualitative change
We saw three parables of heaven above. The first was the hidden treasure, the second was the pearl trade, and the third was the net. What do these parables, which are told in slightly different ways, have in common? What do you mean by heaven? The common factor is change. It is also a qualitative change, not just a change in shape. Look at the first parable. The situation in which the treasure is hidden in the field is completely different from the situation in which it is found. Everything changes. Whoever found it sold all that he had. In the second parable, the man who found the pearl of great price sold all he had. It means that after the discovery of the treasure and pearls, all of these people's lives, values, and worldviews have changed. In the third parable, the good fish and the bad things that were mixed in one net were separated. Totally and qualitatively new changes have taken place. A life change has occurred. Such a change is heaven.
Moses fulfilled the law on Mount Sinai. Bible writers say that Moses received the word from God. Moses said, “Show me Your glory” (Exodus 33:18). It means that you want to see God in person. Jehovah said: “You will not see my face, for no one will see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20) You can replace the glory of the Lord with the word life. Moses wanted to experience the original life, but he could not. It is not allowed for living people. It is said that even Moses, who had great spiritual charisma to the extent that the people of Israel were afraid because of a divine halo on his face, did not reach the beginning of life. How can we say that now?
Some of you may feel this explanation is too far-fetched. It means experiencing life vividly here and now. Watching an audition program like <I Am a Singer> or watching the competition to bid for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics gives me the experience of being alive. We build schools, we build churches, and we expand our business. People who are accustomed to this experience of life expect to live that way even after they die and go to heaven. Some argue for the so-called heavenly superiority theory. They always experience life only in competitive logic. See how thoroughly you are accustomed to advertising and corporate logic in the media. Church life is like that. The content of faith has almost become a commodity. We live our life of faith as we consume. Life is thoroughly distorted in personal faith and in the structure of the church.
A few months ago, 69-year-old Stephen Hawking claimed in an interview with the British Guardian that ‘there is no heaven’. Its content took the media around the world. What he said was not wrong at all. There is no heaven. To be more precise, there is no heaven that he thought of, and that many Christians have misunderstood. They think of a place in outer space where they can eat well and live well. I envision a good home, good family and friends, a nice park and dining table, and complete welfare facilities. Such a kingdom is not a kingdom of heaven, but a kingdom of earth. This is nothing more than a self-projecting religion criticized by Feuerbach and Nietzsche. It is just an expression of the desire to live like a princess and a prince. A spiritual being can never be happy that way. There is no such level of heaven.
To say that heaven is a world of qualitative change means that the kingdom of heaven is only in the hands of God. I don't know how fortunate that is. Humans who do not know what life is cannot design the kingdom of God, a world of perfect and absolute life. It is blasphemy. Only the God of creation can change the world anew. That world is the world of resurrection life. The world of the resurrection life that God did through Jesus is the kingdom of heaven. You can't even imagine what the world would be like. The more you imagine, the more likely it is to be distorted. Instead, wait for the kingdom of heaven where God's full reign will take place. A person who knows such waiting will live with joy like a person who found treasure and pearls and sold all that he had to get those treasures and pearls. Amen.