Title: Love, That's Power.
Contents
In the main text, there is a saying about the <East Sea Revenge Act>. The East Sea Revenge Act refers to how to take revenge as much as I have been harmed by others. As the text says in verse 20, “A wound for a wound, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth shall be repaid.” The East Sea Revenge Act has several important implications. In the Old Testament, there was a system called goel. The word Goel means savior, redeemer. The word goel is expressed in terms of bankruptcy, and when a brother's family is destroyed, the closest family member or acquaintance will reclaim the land or house in the brother's name. As this concept was expanded, when a brother suffered injustice, a family member or close relative who was able to repay it was relieved of the brother's injustice. So, the concept of salvation was to relieve my brother's injustice by giving back as much as he was beaten when he was beaten without fault. Therefore, the original purpose of this law is not to take revenge, but to relieve the brother's injustice. Herein lies the concept of brotherly love.
However, this law began to degenerate due to the stubbornness of people. Originally, the law started as a concept of brotherly love to relieve brother's injustice, but people began to misunderstand it as a law of revenge. In revenge, he did not only take revenge for what he suffered, but he also took revenge more than that.
Therefore, when referring to this law, Jesus spoke of the original meaning of brotherly love. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’, but I say to you, do not resist the evil one.” Simply put, it means to lose. To lose is to win.
No matter who you meet at home or at work, in your social life or even in church, there will come a time when you can be rightfully angry. I don't blame you for being angry at that moment. Why? Is your anger fair? However, in light of Jesus' words, it is to cover with love rather than to be angry at that moment. Rather, it is a way to win.
For Jesus, love was more important than law. Of course, Jesus did not come to break the law. Rather, he came to complete it. For Jesus, the fulfillment of the law seems to be seen as love. Every society has laws. What is law? Laws are created because society cannot be supported by love. If we embrace each other with love and understand each other, there is no need for law. But because love couldn't do it, it was decided by law and the minimum rules were set.
Therefore, the fact that the law has developed means that “love has grown cold”. They talk about the law because they can't tolerate it, and because they don't want to understand it, they insist on doing it according to the law. Brotherhood is hard to find in the law. But in love you can find brotherhood.
Love not law, grace not law... We believe that the community we need to create, the community that the Lord wants to create through us, is the community of love and the community of grace. I sincerely hope that the struggle to become like the Lord continues every day in me and in your hearts, so that we can show love through our bodies first and the abundance that can share grace with us overflows in us.