Title: Poor people
poor people
Matthew 5:1-12, Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, February 6, 2011
Chapters 5-7 of Matthew are called the Gospel of the Gospel, and it is called the Sermon on the Mount, meaning the words that Jesus gave to his disciples on the mountain. It is famous because it is a universally valuable word not only for Christians, but for all mankind. For example, Matthew 7:12 is called the golden rule. “Whatever you would like others to do to you, do also to them.” Matthew 5:1-12, the main text of today's sermon, is the preamble of the Sermon on the Mount. It's called the beatitudes. From verses 3 to 10, there are eight items about the blessed person. These are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness.
Is this really true? Is this the ‘opium of the people’, as Marx criticized, which disrupts the struggle for human liberation by deconstructing the political and economic problem of poverty into a religious one? Can we actually accept these words as the Lord's promises? If it is true that the poor are blessed, what is the basis for that? Are we actually realizing and experiencing it? Are you taking these words seriously? Or maybe it's just that we're just being disrespectful across the river because it has nothing to do with our real life.
Think straight through this matter. If the poor are blessed, we should all try to be poor from now on. If all the churches in Korea proclaim this message, the church will be empty. All modern people make it their goal in life to become wealthy. As the ministers' hearings show, they try to make money illegally when given the opportunity. They buy farmland as an expedient even though they are not qualified to farm. The reason we go to church today seems to be to receive material blessings. There are times when we pray that church members who tithe 10 million won every month will come out during the worship service. It is no exaggeration to say that all religious practices, including prayers, offerings, and worship services, have completely fallen into ups and downs.
Some argue that voluntary poverty is right. Although this argument may be correct in principle, it is less realistic. Even if it is a small village-centered community that the book <Old Future> introduces, such a life is impossible in today's social structure. It's the same with cars. Individuals may not purchase a car in the sense of practicing an ecological mind, but it cannot be forced on everyone at once. We cannot go back to a society where we are all self-sufficient now. In a society where nothing can be done without money, we cannot tell you to live as a dervish like Francesco, or to practice what the courts call no possession. Poverty is a cause of unhappiness for those who are not prepared to some extent mentally. Not only now, but in Jesus' day, poverty destroyed the lives of many. That is our reality. So, what does the Lord mean when he says that the poor are blessed?
kingdom of god
First of all, we must not misunderstand this statement. Jesus did not say that we must be poor or that we must be rich. Overall, it's a warning against wealth. According to Matthew 19:24, it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Because it is the obsession with wealth that destroys people's souls. But fundamentally, the gospel is not about wealth and poverty itself. It wasn't always the poor in early Christianity. The core of these words is heaven, that is, the kingdom of God. Jesus' concern was the imminent kingdom of God. The poor are blessed because the kingdom of God belongs to them. All other items are also associated with it. If there is no connection with the kingdom of God, poverty is a curse. It is an evil that destroys humans. What is important is how to understand the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God has not yet come to us. We still have to experience the limits of life and accept death. The kingdom of God is the kingdom of the future. It makes sense in this future dimension to say that the poor are blessed. Are these words empty? Something has to change right now, and it doesn't feel good to be given it later. If you only see the world in a way that ignores this future dimension, you have not yet come into the center of the Christian faith. The Christian faith is primarily concerned with the future. It is an eschatological belief. It is the spirituality of waiting. Just as a bride waits for her groom, she waits for the kingdom of God where life is completed. If this waiting catches our souls like fire, it is true that we are blessed because we are poor. Here are two. One is hungry, the other is hungry. The two were invited to dinner at a fancy French restaurant. There is no need for a long explanation as to who the lucky one is.
If it is the blessing of occupying the kingdom of God in the future, do you think that it means that we have to endure even if we are poor now? Are you dissatisfied that you have to wait until the feast day because you can't stand hunger? It's not like that. The kingdom of God is not only the ultimate event of the future, but also a dynamic event of the present. Jesus said that the kingdom of God is at hand. To come near means that it has already begun. Early Christians thought that the destiny of Jesus was the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is already intervening here in a concealed way. The power of the end is the power of the present. Consider again the story of a French restaurant, exemplified just above. For anyone who knows what French cuisine is like, it's not unfortunate that you're hungry right now. It's nothing like what you're already in a French restaurant right now. That's right. Those who are totally dependent on the kingdom of God are free from everything in this world. Those who have secured this freedom are already blessed.
Do you feel that waiting for the kingdom of God is unhappy? Do you feel bored? Do you think it's a pathetic life to live without any other fun? If you think that way, you are seriously mistaken for life. You probably don't feel like you're waiting for the kingdom of God. Simply put, it's like waiting for death. No one can avoid it. You can fall in love with the world while ignoring it. That doesn't mean death escapes us. Preparing to die is the best life. Only when we are conscious of death can we be faithful in life. Waiting for the ultimate kingdom of life that transcends death is the essence of life in which we must give everything. It really enriches our lives. Anyone who knows why would know.