Title: Some Samaritan
Text: Luke 10:25-37
(Sunday sermon on September 10, 2006 at Saegil Church)
I received the grace of God who saved me from a life-threatening situation 30 years ago. I resigned from my job because of the simple idea that I had to work for God who had freed me from disease as my calling. I went to Dongnuk Village with the belief that it is pleasing to God to do theology and to build a church where there is no church. It was a very cheap price, but I found out later that it was a haunted house (?) where several people died for one reason or another. The haunted house became a place of worship. It was planned to be only three years, but he lived for 16 years. He seemed to have great faith, but that belief was shattered by a very small incident.
There is a place called Makgol about 3km away from the place of worship. As the name suggests, this is the last town. There was an old woman named Gil Sang-won, who had fled from Pyeongan-do and lived alone. Grandma came to church, and a person who did not know how to read came to worship with a thick Bible and sang a hymn, shaking it left and right, raising the excitement. One day, Grandma came to visit that long way.
“Pastor, I am trying to attach a goat today, so please come and pray!”
"Yes?"
It was calling the pastor to mate the goats. I go with my grandmother, who has come a long way, and hold a goat and pray. My grandmother told me to pray, ‘If you want to pray, please give me many babies.’
“Grandma, how many?”
“Oh, four.”
"Yes?"
Our lives like this are the reality of living without knowing the great love of God and the grace of Jesus Christ. Depending on the result, you may become the best. They live rudely and ignorantly, ignoring the abundant grace. So, churches that have grown into gigantic sizes and those with anorexia like dinosaurs shout out loud and seek out the best churches. I'm sorry, but this isn't even as good as a bunch of bullies. People who have this kind of heart are Ahn Ha Muin. It's not that I want to be treated. I've been experiencing these things over and over again over the past decade.
There are no young people in the increasingly aging and deteriorating rural areas. In this situation, we requested the help of the city church with the things produced in the countryside. He also worked to restore the relationship between urban and rural churches and church members and provide healthy food. Most of the people living in the city are inevitably starting to help out at some point, even though it is a topic that originated from the villagers. And bake it arrogantly like jolbu. The degrading feeling I feel while selling low-pesticide peppers and supplying organic black rice is indescribable. In front of their faith, which is thoroughly confronted with economic logic, love for God and love for neighbor are nothing but candy. Still, I wish I could give you a price on time. I waited over ten years, but the Lord told me to wait a little longer, so I have no choice but to do so. Perhaps it is the Lord's plan to receive it as a multiplication in the presence of the Lord.
But the Samaritan saved his life. The explanation of the parable of the Samaritans calls for the teacher to abandon the narrow view of only the Israelites as neighbors and become a man of love to all who need help. This love is the power to overcome and unite all obstacles, including all circumstances. It is the way to establish a personal relationship with the God who has commanded love and to gain eternal life. A certain Samaritan was the one who discovered this path. What a Samaritan! This parable blatantly challenges the belief that God's reign rests in the guise of religious superiority or piety. The kingdom of God is achieved beyond all human pride and superiority and institutions. The kingdom will never come without breaking the authority of institutions, status, culture, or common human thinking. Which Samaritan is not Jesus Christ?