Title: Please Mom
please mom
Matthew 6:25-32
2009.1.25
Last week, I read Shin Kyung-sook's novel, Take Care of Mom. Because there was a certain spiritual expectation in the novel. ‘Take Care of Mom’ depicts the breakdown of human relationships. It makes us realize that ‘mother’ is disappearing from our lives. He argues that it is inevitable because the world has changed, but in fact points out that it is intentional. It means that we are living in an era where we have to ‘ask’ someone or something for our mother now.
The church has called God Father. Occasionally, when we hear the name “you” in public or private prayers, we feel offended or profane because of this familiarity with the name of God. When we baptize and pray for blessings, we do it in the name of the Father-Son-Holy Spirit.
But when we say 'father', the impression of it is solemn and authoritarian. This is especially true for us Asians. If there's one thing most children hear the most, it's, "If you do that, you'll reach your father." That's why the term 'mother-in-law' was born. In doing so, the clergy, servants of God, have also exercised paternal authority. In the Catholic Church, the clergy are called “Father” and exercise absolute authority.
Because God is called 'Father', when you say 'God', a stern person who sits on the throne and judges comes to mind. It is a terrifying creature. So Christianity has become the father's religion. So, like my father, I commanded, tried to teach, and eventually fought and came all the way here. It has become a patriarchal religion.
For a long time the Israelites did not call God their Father. The Almighty Lord, the Creator/Eternal One/The Mighty One in battle, etc., was called the omnipotent and omnipotent transcendent. Jeremiah was the first prophet to call God the Father in earnest.
“I wanted to give you fertile land as my son. I wanted to give you the most beautiful heritage of all nations. He called me father and wished he would never leave me. But like a woman who betrays her lover, you, the Israelites, have betrayed me. Return, you betrayed children.” (Jeremiah 3:19-22)
Isaiah also called God “Father” when he was taken captive to Babylon.
“We are all falling under our own sins. Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are mud, you are our maker, we are all your work. Yahweh, do not be too angry. Do not remember our sins forever (Isaiah 64:7-8).
Why did they call God Father? How would those who call God Father in the Bible feel that way?
First, let's examine the heart of God who called Israel his son through Jeremiah's poem.
“I wanted to give you fertile land as my son. I wanted to give you the most beautiful heritage of all nations. He called me father and wished he would not leave me. But like a woman who betrays her lover, you, the Israelites, have betrayed me. Return, you treacherous children." (Jeremiah 3:19-22)
How did the Israelites feel when they called God “Father”? Let's look again at Isaiah's expression.
“We are all falling under our own sins. Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the mud, you are the maker of us, we are all your work. Yahweh, do not be too angry. Remember our sins forever” (Isaiah 63:8-9).
Punished for their sins, Israel came to think of God as a merciful Father. In the patriarchal tradition, forgiveness is what the father does. My mother's forgiveness didn't work. That's why he appeals to his mercy by calling him father.
What about Jesus? Jesus was the one who accepted God as a very close Father. In the Lord's Prayer, he told his disciples to call God Father. Even when he told his disciples not to worry about what to eat or drink, he realized that “Heavenly Father is a merciful one who gives you more good things.” Even when he said his last prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said ‘Father’. It's like spending time with a loving father who is even by his side.
But why didn't Jesus call her mother? It was because of the limitations of the thinking of the Jews at the time. They did not treat women as human beings. Women were not counted. In the Gospels, it is recorded that when Jesus fed 5,000, there were 5,000, excluding women and children. In this culture, God could not be compared to Mother. Such a thought would not have come to mind. In a world that regards God as a strict judge, just calling God Father was revolutionary.
In fact, Jesus did not claim an authoritarian [Father] priesthood (Mark 3:34-35). You put more weight on the role of a mother than on a father. In the early church, women leaders took the lead in spreading the gospel. However, the fathers, who did not see this as appropriate, always took issue with it. The story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:41-42 shows the conflict that arose in such a social atmosphere. In a nutshell, Paul says, ‘Women should go home and ask their husbands what they are curious about, and shut their mouths in church’. The understanding of God in the early church, which arose in this patriarchal traditional society, is the [Father of Love]. It was a compromise created by the patriarchal society of the time.
Jesus toward the weak was truly a loving person like a mother. Surprisingly, Jesus did not repay evil for evil even when he resisted the forces of evil. He resisted evil with life-loving good until the very end. Look at Jesus who died on the cross. Did you see the women weeping for him and say, “Do not weep for me, but weep for you and your descendants”? As he looked at those crucifying himself, he said, “God. Please forgive them. They don't know what they're doing.” Did you offer a prayer of intercession? To the death row prisoner who asks him to remember him before he dies, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” whispered? He did not lose the warmth of his mother until the very end. He is the hope of mankind because he was consistent with love until the end. He lived like a father about injustice and his own suffering, and lived like a mother about the pain and sorrow of others.
It's New Year's Day.
It is a day where we call [Father] and [Mother] while bowing to our parents. It's all in that calling. At the same time, we must be wary of this trend that increasingly entrusts my mother and father to something. This is because even [God the Father] or [God the Mother] can leave it to something.
Isn't that what you mean by 'Take care of your mom' this holiday season? Don't you have that kind of heart? Then, [God takes care of it too].