Title: Love has no borders
Contents
Matthew 5:43-48 Love has no borders
Dol-i and Soon-i were young children who attended the same kindergarten. The two were partners. They liked each other very much. One day, Doli wrote a letter to Soon-i and handed it to her. There it was written: "Son- Soon-ah, I like you. I mean, I love you. So let's get married."
In other words, Doli wrote a proposal letter to Soon-i. Soon-yi pondered all night after receiving the letter. Then I wrote this reply. "Dude, you know I like you too? But I'm sorry, but I can't marry you, because in our family we all got married. My mom married my dad, and my grandma is us. You got married to your grandfather, and my aunt also married to my aunt. Like this, our whole family only got married. But we like you and me, but we're not relatives, we're just men? So I'm sorry, but I can't accept your proposal. Come back, I'm so sorry. From Soon-i."
It's a funny story. At the level of a six-year-old kindergartener, it would have seemed like everyone in their own family was married. But the truth is, they were all male and female before they got married and became a family. Everyone, including you and me, was male and female, but they loved each other. That's why they live under one roof as a family.
However, the way of thinking of a six-year-old kindergartener, Soon-i, is that marriage should be done between family members. It's a funny idea, but there are a lot of people who have this idea. In other words, it puts limits on love and draws boundaries. This person can't love this way, that person can't love that way, so it's easy to become a selfish person, narrow-minded person, and exclusive person who can't love anyone but himself.
They secretly reject anyone who is not from the same hometown as me, do not help if they do not graduate from the same school as me, compete with each other if they are not from the same denomination as me, criticize if they are not from the same church as me, be unkind to me If you do not share the same thoughts, you are said to be wrong, if you do not have the same skin as me, if you do not speak the same language as me, you are racist, and as you draw boundaries, love grows cold, love narrows, and love disappears.
At the time of Jesus, the Jews had a narrow and selfish mindset. All non-Jews were called Gentiles. And despised them. And even if you are a Jew, "I'm a Pharisee, I'm a Sadducee, I'm an Essene, I'm a Zealot." And they formed a faction to envy and hate each other.
Also, among the early churches, the Corinthian church was divided into Paulites, Apollos, Cebas, and Christians and opposed each other. They were too selfish and mutually exclusive. I never knew how to be considerate of others. The kind of love they showed was far from the love God wanted. In a word, it draws a strict borderline for love. The Pauline sects could not love the Apollos, and the Ceba sects could not love the Christian sects.
“Even if I speak in human tongues and angels, but without love, I become a sounding copper and a chirping horn. No, even if I give with all that I have and give my body to be set on fire, but without love
There is no benefit to me. Therefore, faith, hope, and love, these three, will always exist, and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 13).
Ladies and gentlemen, the importance of love cannot be overemphasized. Even those who do not believe in God know how to say a word about love. However, there are many gaps and gaps between the theory and practice of love, so you will feel that love is not easy. If all the people of this world love each other, this earth will become a paradise. But people don't love each other. Because love puts borders. They do not love each other because they are of different races. They do not love each other because their hometown is different. They do not love each other because they have different ideas and different factions. They do not love each other because they have different occupations and different educational backgrounds.
There is a drama that recently ended in popularity in Korea. It's a drama called 'My Name is Sam-soon Kim'. In that drama, the female lead named Sam-soon appears. It is said that before the drama began, the female lead weighed 7 kg. And if you look at the drama, the heroine doesn't even wear stylish clothes, but wears very loosely. The hairstyle is also an ordinary style that does not require much effort. In a word, it is to decorate like Samsooni.
And Sam-soon didn't even come from a particularly good college. He is also a bread maker by profession. And the house also has a mill. However, the male protagonist is the owner of a good academic background. The characters also come out much better than Sam Soon-i. Besides, he's the kind of person with a lot of money that women like these days. My mother owns a large building and wants to hand it over to her son, the male lead. He also plays the piano well. He is also very good at sports.
In short, the female protagonist is a commoner and a maid, while the male protagonist is a nobleman and a prince. These two don't get along as lovers. And even if these two try to love or get married, the opposition around them is not easy. Nevertheless, the two love each other. why do you love me Don't ask me like that. Because love has no borders.
Not only in Korea, but in movies, dramas, or novels about love anywhere in the East and West, there are quite a few stories like this. The love between the gisaengs Chunhyang and Lee Do-ryung is also that love has no borders, Romeo and Juliet’s love is also that love has no borders, and many dramas to come will also be produced with the theme of ‘love has no borders’. is.
If you look at the text, this is what Jesus is saying. Why do you only love your neighbors? Why do you only love those you love? Why do you love only those who have the same thoughts and thoughts as you? In other words, when it comes to love, do not measure too much. Just as God makes the sun shine and rains down on the good and the bad alike, so do not put borders on love. It is not to love narrowly. Such narrow-minded love is what non-believers do, and is it not the love that animals do?
In other words, if you want to love, you have to love more broadly. It's about loving people who have a different opinion than you. It means to love even your enemies. When I say an enemy, I mean someone who hurt me. It means someone who has crushed my pride and ruined my future. It means the person who scratched and hit me. It means someone who stole my most precious thing. It means the person who caused me pain. It is to love even those enemies.
Of course, such love is not easy with human strength. I don't know if any of these people answer God like this. “God, aren’t you asking too much of me right now? I still tremble when I think of that enemy. You can pray for that enemy. But it seems that I am not yet mature enough to love the enemy. So don't ask too much of me. I am not strong enough to love that enemy.”
In a way, this answer can be our honest feelings. Therefore, verse 48 of the text says: “Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In other words, love that loves even enemies is perfect love. Love for enemies is not love that belongs to humans, but love that belongs to God. It is a love that is impossible with human strength. Therefore, it is to become like God. It is to try to do that just as God loved sinners and loved his enemies.
Do not set limits and borders by saying, “I can't love an enemy like that,” and just give it a try. If you try like that, there are many rewards in heaven. Gentlemen, we want to receive many rewards from heaven. Then, you should try to imitate God's perfect love. To do that, it takes courage to break down the narrow borders that limit love. We need the broad heart of God who makes the sun shine and rain on the wicked and the good.
It is said that the drama 'Lee Soon-shin' is popular in Korea these days. However, it is said that when young children see this story, they harbor hostility toward Japan and tend to hate the Japanese. I am worried that God's words to 'love your enemies' will be tarnished due to past history. So my wish is for a drama about the beautiful love between a Korean man and a Japanese woman. So, I hope that an atmosphere of genuine love will be formed between the people of the two countries. I want it to be as if two families were reconciled to each other through the love of Romeo and Juliet.
A direct translation of the phrase ‘love has no borders’ into English can be expressed as ‘There are no borders between the country in love.’ And if you paraphrase this word a little more, it can be translated as ‘Love does not care any borders.’ In other words, in order for us to love God's perfect love, we must transcend race, transcend academic background, transcend ideology, transcend factions, transcend denominations and denominations, and transcend thoughts and ideas. Of course, it's not easy. So there are not many love stories that transcend borders. Because for love that transcends borders to be established, sacrifices must follow.
But you and I are people who have been loved across borders, and people who love beyond borders. Of course, the meaning of this word is not only because we left the border of Korea and came here to immigrate, study or visit Canada. We are all loved by Jesus Christ, who came to this earth beyond the borders of the kingdom of heaven. If He did not love us across borders, if He had only come as a Jew, loved only Jews and saved only Jews, we would not have been saved because of the narrowness of that love. In other words, the love of Jesus transcends borders. Because of receiving such love, you and I exist here.
Everyone, let's use our strength together. Let's try to love even those who are difficult to love. Let's break down the boundary between love and the condition of love that says, 'I can't love that person.' Let's try to show God's unconditional love. So, when you and I stood before God that day, God said, “Child, you struggled a lot to put my love into practice.” And congratulations on standing in a place of praise.