Title: The Merciful (Matthew 14:13-16)
The Merciful (Matthew 14:13-16)
< Introduction >
To sum up the 'people's government' policy toward North Korea in one word, it is the Sunshine Policy.
The wind and the sun have a contest to undress a stranger. Each time the wind struggled to remove the stranger's clothes, the stranger held on to his clothes tighter. Then, the lesson from Aesop's fable that a stranger took off his clothes as the sun warmed it up is the basis of the current administration's policy toward North Korea. It is a policy that we should not have a Cold War mindset with North Korea, and if we give fertilizer, food, and money in the name of tourism to Mt. Kumgang, our minds will be relieved and unification will be hastened.
1. In the days of Jesus, people's hearts were cold.
IMF not only caused an economic downturn, but also made my heart freeze. People's minds can't afford it. They are hostile and competitive with each other. If you just open your mouth, you are cursing. Cursing politicians, cursing bosses... It's too bloody to swear while driving. Even if you start a little late, you will feel full and if you are inexperienced in driving, you will just get angry. I don't feel sorry for slashing. You don't know how weak your eyes are when you press Crakshon when students leave school. Imagine that in the future, test-tube children will be born and clones will be born. Truly the world becomes without compassion and without love.
Jesus said that love grows cold when he talks about the characteristics of the last days. A person is not a person when love grows cold. The body also dies when the blood cools down and the body cools down. Likewise, the value of a person is in love. When love cools down, that person is dead. Paul said that the characteristics of the last days are heartless and cruel. People's eyes become bloody, critical, and heartless.
It was the same in Jesus' day.
They were divided into Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, and the common people.
* The Sadducees were those who took a political stand - they united with the Romans and oppressed the people. They did not even recognize people of the same kind as people who were weak and incompetent. * The Pharisees are a religious ruling class. - They are very religious people. But their religion brought only a sense of privilege and superiority. Non-religious people were despised. * Essenpa - We lived in isolation for our own spiritual peace.
The “crowd” in verse 13 is the people who were despised and despised by them. They crawled and ate in front of the Sadducees because they had no background. Because they couldn’t live their religious life properly, they were treated as sinners in front of the Pharisees. Like the Essenes, we cut everything off and went into the mountains. that has been flocked to What they needed were warm eyes and a word of comfort, more than bread. And it was a hopeful remark for tomorrow.
The people were so weary and suffering. They were afraid of the eyes of the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
During the Nazi era, the German officers who carried out the massacre had an agenda. A Nazi officer said to the Jews.
"If you figure out which of my two eyes is the prosthetic, I'll spare you!"
After looking into the slayer's eyes for a moment, the Jew said, "Left!" and answered.
"How did you know that the left eye was a prosthetic eye?"
"The left eye looked more human."
How cruel and vicious the Nazi Hitler officers, the Keshitapo, the Jews saw life and wickedness in their eyes.
There are people in the world who have really poisonous eyes. Not a friendly and warm look, but a poisonous and ruthless look that destroys a person's personality in a single day. It's funny, but there are times when I'm afraid to live in the world when I think of the meanness and cruelty hidden in those eyes.
Such people have come this far after hearing the fame of Jesus. I can't count how many people gathered, so I would have expressed it as "a crowd"? It shows the brutality of the situation at the time and the people of the 'Am Haretz' land were not treated as human beings to the people of privilege, including the Pharisees.
2. Jesus had compassion on them.
There are people like that at any age. A place where people who miss love, cherish people, and people gather to cover all of my flaws with a warm heart. Weak people are always looking for places like this.
Heretics are well aware of this mentality. You don't know how kind and warm their world is. Because they are heretics, evangelism is not good. When one person comes in, it can't be that precious. So, because you are so warm and kind, people who have suffered in the world just melt their hearts in front of their kindness and love.
In fact, the church is just such a place.
Why? This is because Jesus lived his life by touching all the weak with his loving heart, loving eyes, and warm hands.
Jesus saw a large crowd. Jesus was not trying to build a power against them. He did not dominate himself with an attitude of boasting and trying to make himself stand out.
Jesus saw their condition itself. People were not seen as a state of knowledge, not as a skill. I only saw the situation they were in.
Looking at them, Jesus took pity on them in verse 14.
* Unemployed - incompetents, losers in the eyes of the Sadducees
* The sick - Pharisees are forbidden from entering the temple. Illness stems from sin. The patients were doubly harassed.
* Crowds - really ugly people
But Jesus had compassion on them. 'Pity' is another expression of compassion.
"Mercy" is a word used to describe God's attributes or actions.
It means unwavering love, kindness, and a warm heart.
When God looked at the world of Noah's day, He had wrathful eyes toward sin, but He had compassion toward the people who lived there.
God made an ark to be built. The ark represents God's compassion and love.
Because Noah received grace, he saw the love of God in that judgment.
Jesus also sees the poor people with the eyes of God's love. He acknowledged their circumstances without looking at their skills and competitiveness. So I have a warm heart for them. Why? Jesus is also a person who has been rejected by the world. A person who has been bullied. He was an illegitimate child, a carpenter, and an uneducated man.
That is why he knew how weak and pitiful they were, who came to these empty places. So he looked at them with warm eyes and showed action to help them. Those who were filled with the warm love of Jesus and the bread and meat were refreshed and returned to their own circumstances. They began to hope again.
The people who came to David were bitter people, debtors... They met David and became a warrior.
This is what the church does. It is possible in the name of the love of God who loves even sinners, a place where recycled products are remade and recycled.
3. Let's have the mercy of Jesus.
The world is getting colder with each passing day. It gets worse, more brutal, and more bloody. Those who have are more envious of those who have, and those who don't are despised.
Let the members of Neulbit Church have compassion towards people. A heart of pity for all people, a heart of love, a heart of forgiveness, a heart of understanding. He said that such people will receive mercy (Matthew 5:7).
Jesus' mercy did not discriminate. He had compassion not only toward the poor but also toward the high.
In addition, the Lord showed mercy through his actions. He said to his disciples in verse 16, "Give them something to eat!" Compassion is an action, not an emotion. It is a helping heart that goes not only with your thoughts and your mouth, but with your hands as well. Mercy is another kind of forgiveness.
Mercy is a declaration of love to the world. It is to have warm eyes.
< Conclusion >
An old man was looking for someone to help him on a cold road. Several people went on horseback, but the old man did not ask for help.
After a while, a man passed by, and the old man raised his hand and asked for help.
The man asked as he stood up.
“Why did you set me up over so many people?”
The old man answered.
"You have a kind gaze! I'm sure you're the one who will drive me."
The power of the church in the future is not doctrine. The enlargement of the church does not move people's hearts. It's not just sympathy, like having lunch and believing in Jesus. The world's expectation for the church is love. We want you to become evangelists of love. I want you to become people who spread love and peace. This is the true sunshine policy.
At this time, the world will gradually become a church. This is the purpose of God who established our Neulbit Church.