Title: Humanized Law (Genesis 31:17-32)
Contents Sillim-dong, where we live, has one thing to be proud of. This is where 117-year-old Agi Lee, the oldest in Korea, lives. This grandmother has a son who is unspeakably filial. His only son, Kim Pan-sul, 62 years old, is the culprit. Despite the extreme poverty, this grandfather has been in the junk business for over 20 years and is taking care of his mother. Nevertheless, this grandfather, Pan-sul Kim, is said to live with a lament that he is a filthy child who could not properly prepare for his mother's birthday. He is truly a filial piety with great qualities.
Confucius said the following about filial piety. The five punishments of sin are three thousand, but there is no greater sin than disloyalty. Conversely, to put it in reverse, filial piety is the fundamental principle of man.
It is a fact that everyone knows that filial piety is the fundamental principle of human beings. Nevertheless, I think the reason why there are more people who are not filial than those who are filial in the world today is because they do not understand the concept of filial piety. It's not that I can't do filial piety because I don't have money or a house. It's not that we can't do filial piety because we don't have the will to do it, but because we don't understand the concept of what filial piety is, we can't do filial piety to our parents. To these people, today's text teaches them the will to filial piety and the right perception of filial piety.
Jacob was originally a person who had nothing to do with filial piety. He was a very cunning person who took the birthright from his brother with a bowl of red bean soup, and was full of lies who changed his brother's clothes and deceived his blind father and took Esau's blessings from his brother. As we think about Jacob's filial piety, we come to know that filial piety is not the exclusive property of any specific person, but is a true human duty that anyone can do if they want to.
First, people who are interested in their parents will do filial piety.
After living in Paddan Aram for 20 years, Jacob wanted to return to his hometown of Canaan. One day, while his uncle Laban was out to shear his sheep, Jacob took his whole family and secretly went to the land of Canaan. After three days, Laban realized this, and followed the seven-day journey to get to the mountain of Gilead where Jacob camped. I fell asleep thinking that I would catch Jacob tomorrow, but God appeared to me in a dream and said,
Laban, be careful not to say anything to Jacob about the good and evil. The next day, when he saw Laban, he became contemplative. Why did Laban not tell me, but he took my daughters like a slayer with a sword, and how did you do this? Saying that the lieutenant is very foolish, he says the following things. Now it is permissible that I long for your father's house and want to return (Genesis 31:30). It's called 'Kasaf'. It is derived from the meaning of pale face, and later expressed as 'to long for, to yearn for'. Some theologians say in these words that one can imagine a face emaciated because he misses him so much in his heart.
From the above words, we can see how much Jacob loved his father and his house. His longing for his father's house was so intense that his maternal uncle Laban recognized it. It is not that we have longed for it for a day or two, but we have longed for it like a day for twenty years. We should interpret the words that we longed for Malseum's father's house with deep concern for and longing for parents and a deep heart for them.
That's right. Indifference and ignorance breed filial piety. At one time, Jacob broke his father's heart by deceiving his blind father and taking away his brother's blessing. It was out of indifference to his father. However, after leaving his father and living in Paddan Aram for 20 years, his father and his father's house became an unforgettable place for him to long for. His passionate interest in and longing for his parents made Jacob return to Canaan from Paddan Aram, where he lived comfortably while escorting him with a large fortune. This kind of filial piety can be said because there is a longing for the parents.
Everyone! Do you know that filial piety requires money? Do you know that filial piety requires living close to your parents? It is not. The question is whether or not they care about their parents. If you don't see it, you need to have a heart that longs for your parents like crazy, and a heart that respects your parents, so that you can find your parents and be filial.
Do you really have a longing for your parents? Just as Jacob longed for his parents in the land of Canaan in Paddan Aram for 20 years, do you have a heart that will go crazy if you don't see your father Monmi?
Let's think about the filial piety of the prodigal son. In Luke 15, the prodigal son left his father's house and went to live in a faraway country. The prodigal son went to someone else's house to live in the house, and he ate pig's nut fruit in a pig's pen. One day he confesses like this. How many laborers my father has enough bread, and here I am dying of hunger.
What is filial piety? Making your parents happy is filial piety. The father was overjoyed when the prodigal son returned to his father's house.
Is this my son who died and came back to life? Is this my son who was lost and found again? I kissed him and rejoiced. When Jacob returned to his father's house, he was filial among filial piety.
What is important is to have a longing heart for your parents. Granny Lee Agi from Sillim-dong says that she is still in good health. Did Kim Pan-sul do filial piety to his mother because he had money? He is not rich. Living filial piety to your mother even though you live in a 10-pyeong basement rented room, which is humid in the summer, shows us that we can be filial without money. What Grandpa Kim Pan-sul was able to show filial piety was his passionate heart that loved his mother and thought that he would die without a mother.
After all, the affection of a mother to her parents is what matters. People who do not know how to long for their parents and have no interest in their parents can never do it even if they bring money to filial piety and give them an opportunity to do filial piety. Filial piety is not something you do with money. Don't think that you should respect your parents, and you should make sure that your longing for your parents doesn't cool down. You need your parents to exist.
Second, you can do filial piety only with an active attitude.
Jacob went to Mamre in Kiriath-arba and came to his father Isaac, which was Hebron, where Abham and Isaac lived (Genesis 35:27). You can see the attitude of actively approaching the father.
Then, why was Isaac living in Hebron? He went to Mamre in Kiriath-Arba, where he bought a field with money from a man named Mamre. In that field there was a cave. There was the body of Abraham, Isaac's father, and Isaac was living in Hebron because he was too old to know when he would die, so he wanted to be buried next to his father when he died.
What is filial piety? Filial piety is something that can only be done by finding it.
Jacob went to Mamre in Kiriath-arba and came to Isaac (Genesis 35:27). I mean, from the parent's point of view. It means that they know their parents' point of view and understand their thoughts. That's right. Filial piety cannot be done on my own level.
I can't do it with my own thoughts. What I do, what I live, and all my interests and circumstances are something that can only be done according to the position of my parents and the level of my parents. You need to know well what your parents like to eat, what they want, and their lifestyle.
Isaac was one hundred and eighty years old (Genesis 35:28). In Genesis 27, when Isaac was about one hundred and sixty years old, his eyes were dark and he could not see. So, how frustrating must it have been for a long time until the age of one hundred and eighty? Should Jacob visit his father like this or should his father visit Jacob?
Today our parents have less energy than our younger generation.
The eyes are darkened, the body is weakened, and the body is very weak. Who should visit these people? Just as Jacob visited, filial piety for young children to visit their parents.
When Jacob saw the chariot that Joseph had sent, his spirit was restored (Gen. 45:27). Jacob spent more than 20 years in tears. Why? One day, the sons came back, and they showed Joseph's bloody and torn clothes. He knew that he had been eaten by a lion and spent the years in tears. One day, 20 years later, a golden cart came to pick up Jacob. The messengers sent by Joseph, who became the prime minister in Egypt, came to see his father. The Bible says that Jacob saw the chariot sent by Joseph and was revived. In other words, the father is revived because of his son, and because of his daughter, the mother is revived because of his children. Today's young generation doesn't look for parents too much. Please find your parents.
What is filial piety The first is to long for one's parents, and the second is to actively seek them out. I pray in the name of the Lord that all of you will become people of filial piety and serve your parents comfortably.