Title: The Mission of Reconciliation
Contents
Let's read the text of today's Word as a joint translation Bible once again.
Anyone who believes in Christ becomes a new person. The old disappeared and the new appeared. All of this comes from God. God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ and has given us the task of reconciling people to Himself. In other words, God was reconciled to man through Christ without burying the sin of man. And he entrusted the principle of reconciliation to us.
In light of this text, we have become new people through faith in Jesus Christ. For us sinners, God made reconciliation to us through Jesus Christ and entrusted us with the task of reconciling sinners to Himself.
God was reconciled to us sinners by sending his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be crucified by the hands of Gentiles. Jesus Christ became the peace offering for us. How deeply anguish must a man who does not know sin suffer while looking at his wretched life where he has no choice but to die on the cross at the young age of 33? Just before Jesus' crucifixion, even the disciples were sleeping, sweating like blood and praying, "If possible, please let this cup be removed from me." In this way, God has entrusted us with the principle of reconciliation to us, freed from the bondage of sinners. We, created in God's image, are commanded to build a world where we can reconcile with one another and realize God's peace on this earth. Let's take a look at the photos and see what our present state of being reconciled to God through Jesus' death on the cross is.
·Picture 1. Palestinian boy ·Picture 2. Afghan children 1 and 2
·Picture 3. North Korean children ·Picture 4. Grandmother Mae Hyang-ri ·Picture 5. Paju Jeon Dong-rok
I think of Jesus, who willingly died on the cross as a propitiation for the forgiveness of our sins in the face of the present situation that is being presented as our reality today.
I meditated deeply on whether Jesus might be thinking the following while looking at us today.
then you weren't there
When I tremble with the fear of death against my will
When you cry out for help hiding behind your father
When I'm so scared and I'm crying endlessly
And when a bullet crawls through my side
So when my dreamy 12-year-old life falls like a straw
you didn't stay with me
Suddenly, our family, which had been amicable, collapsed due to the baptism of missiles by the US military.
When my father, who was a strong pillar, couldn't wake up no matter how much he shook
I was afraid because of the silence in the house that suddenly became quiet.
When you are exhausted from crying loudly all day
you didn't look back on me
without knowing where my mother and father are
With all my roots uprooted
In a refugee camp like a battlefield
only to fill a hungry stomach
When you wander aimlessly here and there looking for something to eat
you didn't give me food
I was born into this world with hope
They say they tame our country to their own taste
The United States, the best human rights nation, has been in an economic lockdown for over 50 years.
Leaving me with only two eyes and bare ribs
Even when the pain of hunger deepens and even the tears dry up
you didn't reach out to me
For over 50 years, I hugged the pain of this era and cried out loud.
Stuck in the goddamn boots and clubs, and being beaten
When you live without dying for many years, live like a fly, and weep
Even though his limbs were amputated by a high-voltage cable left unattended by the US military.
He came to me like a boss and threw away only 600,000 won as consolation money.
Reminds me of the US military with yellow hair and blue eyes.
Even when I am trembling with anger and shuddering at the sorrow and despair of life
you didn't find me
So, I never knew you.
From the image of a 12-year-old Palestinian child terrified, from Afghan children crying after losing their parents and wandering aimlessly through a refugee camp in search of food, from the bare bones of a North Korean child, from the image of a wrinkled grandmother in Maehyang-ri In the figure of Jeon Dong-rok Jeon of Paju, whose limbs were amputated, we see the image of Jesus, who was crucified and died in our place.
In the six photos we saw earlier, we can find two things in common. One is that the United States is all involved, and the other is that the image of God has been destroyed.
The United States has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to establish a monitoring mechanism to end bloodshed between Israel and Palestine. So the bloodshed between Israel and Palestine continues.
It also started the war in Afghanistan to exercise its monopoly over gas and oil fields in the Caspian Sea in the Middle East, and is now publicly declaring that the war will extend to Iraq and even the Korean Peninsula.
It is raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula by interfering with the long-awaited reconciliation phase and consistent with a hard-line policy toward North Korea.
And by conducting bombing drills in Maehyang-ri continuously for 52 years, the livelihoods of the residents of Maehyang-ri were taken away completely. He also ignored several requests for demolition and left a high-voltage line in Rason to ruin a family.
America is destroying the image of God by waging war and violence, not reconciliation and peace.
If President Bush of the United States, a Christian nation, had known that we were given the task of living as reconciling beings through the blood of Jesus on the cross, this year would have been declared as a 'year of peace' rather than a 'year of war'.
"If one member suffers, won't all the other members suffer as well?" And the Bible asks us. And "Christ is our peace. He sacrificed himself to break down the walls that divided Jews and Gentiles into one another, reconciling them into one." The Bible testifies.
Saegil Church members who want to follow Jesus, who was the mediator of reconciliation. At the beginning of 2002, I wondered if the true face of the true follower of Jesus would be to live a practical life as an apostle of reconciliation and peace in a world tainted with war and violence.
Just as Jesus willingly endured the sufferings of the cross outside the gates to reconcile us to God with His blood, so long as we fulfill the task of reconciliation practically and well as followers of Jesus who build the kingdom of God's righteousness in the world. I sincerely hope that you have a good year.
Let's pray together.
We must be born again.
To be born again means to stand over death.
To be born again means to shave off my flesh and shed my blood.
It is to fight the lies inside and outside of me.
It's about fighting the wrong things.
This is what it means to be immediately open eyes.
I will be a pen that stands on the side of justice and truth.
Who interrupted our drumming?
What is hiding our soaring voices?
We live and save many
At this dawn of history, when many people must gather and create a world where people can live
How much more do we hesitate
How much longer do I have to hesitate and roll?
How much more should I be ashamed?
How much longer must I lie blindfolded?
We must be born again.
We're all old and old peeling off
We must shed blood and be born anew within us.
(Do Jong-hwan's poem "We must be born again")
We pray in the name of Jesus, who is the reality of reconciliation and peace. Amen.