Title: Theology of Matter (Excuse for Seunghee Cho)
Theology of Matter (Excuse for Seunghee Cho)
Mark 10:17-22
*This sermon took place on April 16, 2007 at Virginia Tech.
The case of Seunghee Cho was viewed from the Christian faith point of view.
The "Cannon Club" was created during the American Civil War. It was a kind of system, and it was a system for making cannons and making wars. But with the end of the war, the justification for the development of cannons disappeared, and club members came up with a bit of a science-fiction idea of launching a cannonball at the moon. If the cannon could only be fired at 12 km/s (the distance of the moon from the earth 380,000 km), it would work. These people went to fundraising around the world to make this plan a reality. Of course, this is not a real story, but a story from the novel <Earth to the Moon> by French author Juri Verne. What I am trying to convey is the amount of money raised by country in the novel.
The United States raised $4 million in three days of fundraising. France says the plan is absurd and uses it only as a comedy material. The Netherlands pays $230,000 and $40,000 in cash, so they ask for a 5% discount. Roman Catholicism pays $7,000 for propagating a celestial theory, and Switzerland sells it after reaching $230,000. I only paid $500,000 because it didn't work. Spain, fearing that the moon would fall to Earth if it went wrong, only raised $11.
As seen in the novel, the United States is a self-recognized country of donations. Sociologists say America's foothold today is because of its donation culture. Annual donations in the United States amount to $200 billion. It is equivalent to the total amount of the national pension fund in Korea. Americans, America's wealthy, are respected for their contribution to society. If you don't donate, you don't get respect. Rockefeller, Carnegie, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Michael Moore, James Stauer, and many other names are all rich and generous contributors to society. But more important than these people is that, among all donations in the United States, individual donations account for 80% of the donations of the rich. People who have to donate 1% of their personal income unconditionally are a country where donations form the basis of society. There is a saying in the cannon club: “How respected is proportional to the weight of the cannon devised by the man, and proportional to the square of the distance it reaches.”
It is said that singer Jang-hoon Kim has donated 3 billion won in 10 years. Sometimes the so-called 'gimbap grandmothers' who donate billions of won they have accumulated throughout their lives without eating or not wearing them move people around the world. Looking at their lives, you realize that this is the 'law of respect'. Now we need the law of respect. It can be said that the United States has clearly defined theology and life of what wealth is stored up in the kingdom of God. On the other hand, we have a 'wealth theology' that has not yet deviated from the doctrinal framework. We still believe in 'the blessing of having a lot', not 'the joy of those who share it'.
A careful reading of the Bible reveals that material things are never sinful. This world is not a long-running one. God has given material things to us people as precious gifts. In Genesis 1, God made all the materials necessary for our life before creating man. In Genesis 2, after making Adam a living creature, He made the Garden of Eden necessary to sustain that life and gave it to Adam as a gift. How can it be evil?
As mentioned briefly above, in Genesis 12, God promises Abraham a fertile land. Because he was a wanderer who was driven out of the city of Ur in the Chaldeans. As a farmer, he could not live without land. So he appealed to God to give him land to sell and live on. God, who heard Abraham's appeal, said, "Of course there must be land. Everyone should be able to own the land.” He promised him the land. It means that it is God's will that everyone should have the materials necessary for life. That is of primary importance.
When the descendants of Abraham who were slaves in Egypt appealed to them, “Give us also land,” God gave them the welfare of Canaan, flowing with milk and honey. Those who lived there distributed the land equally to all. It wasn't just that. We created a system where widows, orphans, and wanderers who did not own land could live in peace. At the time of harvest, leave some grain in the field for them. Do not pick all the olives from the olive tree. For widows, orphans and strangers.
After that, as the dynasty was born, a tragedy occurred in which the strong took away the wealth of the weak again. Seeing this happen, the prophets bitterly condemned this. If you leave, everything will be destroyed. In the end, as predicted by them, the North and South dynasties all collapsed.
At the time of Jesus, the Jews suffered under the rule of Rome. In particular, the hardships of the peasants were not alone. The peasants of Galilee had lost all their land to the established rulers in the city. They found it difficult to glue their throats.
When Jesus saw this, he strongly denied it, saying, “This is not God’s will!” Everyone should live without having to worry about their daily bread. That is the will of a loving father, God! That is why we should pray and work hard so that a world where no one has to worry about their daily bread.” The first condition of the kingdom of God was the matter of this daily bread. For us in the flesh, this is God's will of primary importance.
For this divine will to be accomplished, no one has a monopoly over property. should be shared with each other. The problem is that it doesn't work right. Because everyone thinks that owning a lot is the way to happiness. We, immersed in this culture, think that way without realizing it. That's why I'm madly trying to own more by any means. In the end, the tragedy of the weak and strong food is unavoidable.
But does having a lot really make you happy? Do you feel satisfied with your life? This is not what we see in the rich young man in Mark 10. He is rich. I grew up in a religiously respected family. But there was something missing in his heart. So, he came to Jesus and asked what he should do if he wanted to live a life of eternal worth. The scribe who was trying to test Jesus also came to Jesus and asked, “How can I get eternal life?” Nicodemus, a member of the council, also came to Jesus at night and asked the same question.
What was Jesus' answer to the rich young man's question? “Give to the poor all that you have,” he said. It is said that you will receive the true blessing of life when you share what you are holding on to. This is not easy. Even more so for the rich. So, didn't the rich young man bow his head and go back in disappointment?
Jesus said to the young man again: “Follow me.” You must follow Jesus to experience firsthand that giving is a blessing. Because the life of Jesus is the life of sharing. You can only share if you experience sharing while following Jesus.
We see this clearly in the story of Jesus finding the house of the dwarf Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was born a dwarf. Therefore, from an early age, he was ostracized as a cursed by God. Zacchaeus was embarrassed. He cursed the world that rejected him. As a result, he decided to take revenge on that world. So he became a publican. I got my revenge by scraping taxes. In doing so, he became rich, but his heart was terribly lonely. This reflexively squeezed more taxes. But the more he did, the more his inner world became more desolate.
Jesus came to Zacchaeus' house. He gave himself to Zacchaeus without pretending to hear the critics around him. Then Zacchaeus was born as a new person. He had never had such an experience in his life. Has anyone ever treated you as a precious human being?
He stood up and said. “I will give half of what I have to the poor. If I extorted anything, I will pay you back fourfold.” Zacchaeus had tasted the feast of the kingdom of God. I have experienced the blessing of sharing. Now I want to share. We want to share the joy of life.
Flowers of joy bloomed on the face of Jesus who said, “Salvation has come to your house today.”
If we just talk about Jesus, we can think of it as a work of the world that is out of our reach. Let's talk about what happened around us.
Oprah Winfrey is a famous broadcast host. More than 100 million people around the world watch his broadcasts. You are all familiar with how she set up a school for AIDS-affected girls in her hometown of Africa, when she gave out $1,000 to each audience member and told them to 'feel the joy of sharing with your neighbours'.
Yesterday, <Oh My God This Happened> appeared on T.V. There was a scene in which an 84-year-old grandmother living in Ulleungdo gave seaweed, which she had picked from the bottom of the sea, to the locals for four to four hours a day. As I watched that scene, my nose became cold, and I thought of doing something other than 'that's piling up treasures in the sky'. We do not have a firm belief in matter now. And we live without a clear answer to why we need it. We need this belief now. Theology of materialism, the joy of sharing.
A great tragedy has occurred in the United States, where a young man murders dozens of people. We don't know the full story of how the young man had to live, but if we try to summarize the stories that inform him, it seems that the young man lacks a balanced personality of 'material' and 'sharing'. You can read that his eyes were filled with only 'wrath against those who have a lot'. No other interpretation is possible other than accepting it as a lesson of the times that reminds us that material things exist to share, and that people should live with the joy that comes from sharing. Because it is too painful and painful to remember again.
Let's reflect on our lives. Trace experiences in our lives that have really made us happy and rewarding. What sparked joy in your heart? It will be when someone is what you are and when you have shared with love, or when you have given yourself to anyone. So let's live a life of sharing. Let's work to create a world where no one has to worry about their daily bread. Not only should our personal lives be like that, but so should our church life. Jesus has called us for this.