Title Encounter - Genesis 33:1~11
Contents
August 20, 2000 (Sun) 11:00 am Cheonan Salim Church
Title: Encounter
Text: Genesis 33:1-11
Last week, we experienced a dramatic meeting of Koreans that turned the whole world into a sea of tears. It was a meeting of tears, a mixture of remorse and joy, different from the thrill and joy of meeting the leaders of the two Koreas. Every time I watched each scene and read each story, I couldn't help but cry. I had nothing to do with the separated family issue, and so did I. So, the writer Yoongi Lee, who said 'I believe in tears' last time, is expressing the emotion this time by saying, 'I feel like I will be washed away by those tears.' Everything melted and flowed into the sea of tears. The ideology, the system, the disappointment and resentment all melted away.
Today's sermon is about the dramatic meeting between Jacob and Esau. As we well know, after Jacob deceived Esau to take his birthright, he fled to his uncle's house, got married, and returned with many possessions and servants. It is the meeting between Jacob, who had left his hometown, and his brother Esau, who was guarding his homeland.
However, Jacob, returning to his hometown, was not alone in his worries. Although I was successful in my hometown, I decided to inherit the birthright from my father, so I had to go back to my hometown and carry on my father's inheritance to be the true eldest son, so I must return to my hometown. It couldn't be.
As described in the previous section, because of these concerns, Jacob made meticulous preparations even when he came to see his brother. When Esau appeared with four hundred men, Jacob was worried that he might have his men attack him and his family. So Jacob puts the two maidservants and their children in the front row, Leah and her children in the next row, and Rachel and Joseph in the last row before their brother. In other words, Jacob puts those who are less close to him in the front row first, and puts the closest people in the back row, showing his thorough preparation for emergencies. This is Jacob's way of being cunning.
And he takes the lead and pays Esau a ceremony of utmost respect (which could have been unavoidable). He bowed down to the ground seven times. This is like the lords ceremonies when the pharaoh appears. In the old literature, it was said that even if you bow down to the ground only once, you will have respectful manners. Perhaps it was an expression of my heart to please my brother to relieve his anger and accept me. However, his mind was still unsettled by the way the people were arranged. It must have been the intention of you guys to run away.
In some ways, it can be said that Jacob's attitude was such that he showed the utmost courtesy to his brother on the outside, but on the inside he was not vigilant. It's a story that I was so afraid of.
However, in today's text, Jacob faces a very different situation than he was concerned about. Instead of getting angry, he meets his brother Esau, who welcomes him. Even if he offers to give his herd of livestock as a gift (perhaps a way to win his favor), he doesn't pay much attention to it, and first of all, he sees his brother welcoming his brother. So, how bewildered must Jacob be inside and at the same time how relieved his heart must have been. At this point, Jacob cries out. “Looking at your face is like seeing God because you have been so generous with me.”
Today I pay attention to this very scene. Perhaps the devil's face twitched, but we can fully understand how he felt that he was seeing God when he unexpectedly treated his face with love. You must have experienced once or twice when you received a call from your teacher because you did something wrong or your grades were low, and you went into the office saying, 'You are now scolded', and unexpectedly came out after hearing compliments and words of encouragement. How elated are our hearts then? And you really feel like God and like an angel. It must have been that way. Moreover, I was thinking that life and death might be intertwined, but rather, I was greeted with love, so the joy and feelings toward my brother would be cut to the extent that it is difficult to imagine.
The same thing happened in the field of this nation's history. Until now, they had been hostile to each other and regarded as demons, but when the South and the North met, each other's prejudice and fear disappeared.
It is said that Hurak Lee, who was the head of the Central Intelligence Agency at the time, at the time of the Third Republic in 1972, was in tears in front of his family and said that he might never come back. And it is said that he carried cyanide in his chest. But when I met the North Korean representative, things were different. So, we created a historic reconciliation event called the 7.4 Inter-Korean Joint Statement. I, who was only in the 5th grade of elementary school at the time, still vividly cherish the memories of having a conversation with my friends while sitting on a rice paddy road on the topic of reunification of the two Koreas. Since then, the two governments of the two Koreas have used this as a dimension of maintaining power, and the meaning has faded. And still, its significance as a stepping stone for the unification of the two Koreas remains unchanged even now.
On June 13, the leaders of the two Koreas met. He must have prepared well in advance, but there must have been fear in the heart of the president toward the North. All the people were nervous. Numerous experts in international politics and North Korea did not expect such great results. It was just about emphasizing the meaning of meeting. But when we met, it was different. I saw 'a charismatic and confident leader', 'a ruler with a sense of humor and humanity', not a 'naughty' or 'thug'. Above all, I saw a North Korean leader who had a 'steadfast passion for independent reunification'. So we did more than we expected.
As a result, on August 15th this year, scattered families from the north and the south met. Today is the meeting between Jacob and Esau of this land. Coincidentally, in this first meeting, most of the people who have left their hometowns, whether from the South or the North, return to their hometowns and meet their parents and siblings. 100 in the South and 100 in the North, everyone will have different circumstances. Some left voluntarily and some left intentionally. In any case, for the very reason and circumstances that they had to leave, the brothers of the South and the North suffered for more than 50 years. Just because I was from the north, the pain I had to go through just because I was from the south must have been tough. But on the other hand, the pain that I had to go through as a family of defectors and as a family of North Korean defectors was even greater. Those who left went their own way, but the pain of those who remained was even greater.
However, after leaving, I buried all the circumstances of having to leave and met again. The person who had to leave had no choice but to appear in front of their family with a 'sinner's heart' like the confession of someone from the south who found a wife in the north, and those who waited in their hometown must have no resentment. Nevertheless, 'Meeting' buried it all. No, it melted.
“If opinions and beliefs are different, can we not be unified?
When we meet and hug each other, the warmth is the same, the tears are the same
Isn't this unity?"
The North Korean poet Laureate Oh Young-jae exclaims:
Today, this Korean people saw God in the meeting of parents and brothers. I saw the face of God in the faces of mothers and fathers, in the faces of brothers and sisters, and in the faces of children.
It is understandable that a mother with a deep heart meets her old son and repeats the 'Nam-Amitabha Buddha', but it is not uncommon for families in the north to say 'President Kim Il-sung' and 'General Kim Jong-il'. They each express their greatest emotion. Each of them met an angel and each met God.
We must continue this blessed encounter. Again, it is replaced by Oh Young-jae's verse.
"Now that we met like this, let's not fall apart again
From Pyongyang to Seoul in less than an hour
How could it have been 50 years on the road that came so easily
Were you wandering while looking for and calling and drying your heart?"
We should be able to enjoy the blessed life that we are happy to meet and that we can meet and see God. No, everyone I meet should be able to meet God through me, see my face, and see God.
When we look at the protagonist of today's sermon, we have always considered the circumstances and feelings on Jacob's side. But now we need to change our position and take a shift on Esau's side. To Jacob, who was full of tension and anxiety, Esau unexpectedly came to him in the form of God. Instead of arguing over the past and calculating the calculus again now, the face of Esau, who embraced him with infinite generosity, was the face of God.
This time, I want all of us to look back on our lives. How much do each of us impress the people we meet?
If meeting me can give others the same joy as meeting God, then our faith is not in vain. I earnestly pray for you and me to enjoy that blessing during this time.*