Title: Soldiers
naval forces people
<Luke 19:1-10>
The story of Zacchaeus is so familiar to us that just reading this text gives us some insight. And not a few people will have a sense of what kind of sermon they will hear when they see this story chosen as the main text of the sermon. However, no matter how familiar the story is, if it contains God's grace, we need to read and meditate on it repeatedly, and this process gives us an opportunity to realize things we have not yet realized.
This verse is the heart of today's text. What Jesus said is intrinsically more important than the fact that Zacchaeus acted. So are the other stories in the Gospels. The centurion, Mary, the woman of Suga, etc., there are many stories about them, but no matter how imitated their actions, the subject of the Gospels is Jesus. It is okay to forget what Zacchaeus did today, but this is not the case with these words of Jesus. Today salvation has come to this house. This man is also a descendant of Abraham. I have come to seek and save the lost. Why did Jesus say that salvation had come to Zacchaeus' house?
First of all, it seems that this decision of Zacchaeus brought about salvation. Judging from the fact that Jesus said these words immediately after Zacchaeus had promised to dispose of his property. Jesus already said in Luke 18:22 that if you sell all your possessions to a rich ruler and give it to the poor, the treasures of heaven will be great. It certainly seems worthy of salvation when people daringly give up their treasured possessions, such as their own lives. Even if you see that Zacchaeus has completely given up on his prestige as a tax collector since he climbed the mulberry tree, it seems that Zacchaeus is determined to give up on something. His actions must be commendable. So, whenever we read the story of Zacchaeus, we renew our resolve to learn this exemplary attitude that bears the fruit of conversion. This reading of the Bible is not wrong, but it is not enough. In other words, this renunciation and devotion of Zacchaeus is not the key in this text. Why?
In this respect, it cannot be said that Jesus' words today that "salvation has come to this house" are a response to Zacchaeus' actions. I'm curious as to why Zacchaeus said he did half of his property instead of disposing of all of his property, but if it can be saved by sorting out all of his property anyway, maybe the whole world will be saved. Not everyone can do that, but they do, in that they can give up property issues as they please.
On the other hand, it can be seen that this is not directly related to salvation in that we cannot dispose of our present property and give it to the poor. It's not that it's wrong to do so, but it's not what the Bible requires of us if we live in a certain kind of anxiety by being forced to do things we can't do. Let's be honest and listen to ourselves. No matter how poor we are, there are always people who are poorer than us. Instead of sending our children to college, can you give the tuition to the underprivileged children? Is that necessarily proof that we are converted? In this real life, we cannot all live like Francesco of Assisi or Mother Teresa or Beopong. It is not the only absolute life.
The reason they could not understand Jesus was that they could not see the facts and truth by absolutizing their traditions and experiences. This experience is the law of Moses. In the eyes of those who had a principle of living faithfully to the answers already given by the law, Jesus was a bizarre man. They talked and sometimes argued with Jesus.
This phenomenon is always present in the real world we live in today. The local feelings that a Gyeongsang-do person has for a Jeolla-do person or a Jeolla-do person has for a Gyeongsang-do person is a collective symptom of this kind of psychology. Even in the presidential election, we look forward to the historical future of this country, and we vote on the basis of simply dropping people we don't like, not on any political trend or philosophy. It is a dimension that regards the enemy's enemy as a comrade. As Christians, we too are united within the framework of our own religious experience. Its strengthening is regarded as faith. In general, the more you live your life of faith, the more frustrated you become, the narrower your view of the world becomes, and the more stubborn you become. They often gossip, "That person is a liberal, that person has no faith." Views of other religions are also very rigid. The denominational color is excessively strong in Protestantism as well as the Buddhist and Catholic viewpoints. They consider only their traditions to be absolute. This means living "gossip" according to simple feelings rather than accurately grasping a situation.