미래와 희망

Future and Hope

2021. 12. 12. Yonsei University Church (Third Sunday of Advent)

Future and a Hope

Jeremiah 29:11-14; Luke 3:7-8; Philippians 4:6-7

The Meaning of Advent

We are now in the season of Advent, waiting for the coming of Jesus. Advent, the beginning of the church year, is the four weeks before Christmas, which commemorates the birth of Jesus. Advent comes from the Latin word Adventus, which originally referred to the official celebration of the arrival of the Roman emperors in the city. However, Christians used this word to refer to the coming of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, not the Roman emperor. So, Advent commemorates the coming of Jesus to this earth and is also a season to wait for His return in our lives.

What are you most looking forward to these days? Perhaps you are waiting for the words of ‘end of coronavirus, recovery of daily life’. Also, I think there is news that I personally have been waiting for.

Advent is a time to look back and examine ourselves to see if we are truly waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ in the midst of our daily waiting. In a world where Advent is left only as a symbol and there is no longer a longing for the return of Jesus Christ, we need to think about the meaning of ‘advent’, waiting for the coming of Jesus. The Korean word ‘Daerim’ is derived from the Chinese character (待臨; waiting for). It literally means waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ.

It is really difficult to fully wait for the ‘Coming of Jesus Christ’ in the face of an unprecedented virus attack like coronavirus like this year. But in fact, there are many things around us that take away our concentration yesterday, today, and always. In the midst of a situation where it is difficult to even gather the word “church”, rather, during the season of Advent, we need to focus on the forgotten ‘Jesus, Jesus Christ’ once again. This season of Advent has two meanings. The first is to remember the “Jesus who already came” 2,000 years ago, and the second is to wait for His return in our lives. So, during Advent, we need to reflect and think about the meaning of Jesus' coming to this earth more than 2,000 years ago, and the life and teachings of Jesus Christ with the spirit of waiting for Jesus completely. Furthermore, we want to take some time to think about how we will wait for the return of Jesus today.

2. Jesus Christ Has Already Come

First, consider Jesus who came to this earth 2,000 years ago. No one can deny that Jesus' coming to this earth changed the history of mankind. When Jesus came into the world, He did many ministries and gave instructions. Let's think about how much talk of love, peace, justice, rest, sin, and forgiveness in Korean history before Christianity was introduced to Korea. We valued loyalty and filial piety, benevolence and courtesy, but words such as love for neighbor, men and women, free men and slaves in God were common (Galatians 3:28). It is not an exaggeration to say that we did not open our eyes to these words until we met Christianity and knew Jesus. I am not trying to present the teachings of Jesus in comparison to what other religions are saying today. Let's take a moment to talk about the uniqueness of Jesus' teaching, and think about what kind of life-changing Jesus' coming to this earth has brought to mankind.

The heart of Jesus' teaching is found in the Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer teaches about the kingdom of God, daily bread, forgiveness of sins and forgiveness. However, in the period of Advent before Christmas, I want our lives to stop from the hustle and bustle of daily life and focus on the coming of Jesus Christ and the rest and peace that Christmas gives. I believe that Christianity has had many influences on mankind, but the biggest change before and after our people met Jesus is the awareness of ‘rest’.

In fact, before Christianity was introduced to Korea, it was an unimaginable concept to legally take a day off for a person who was a slave to another person until the Joseon Dynasty. It was common for most people to just work until the day they die, and they could not even dream of living another life. Christianity, which originated from Judaism, created, in addition to the concept of the Sabbath, the concept of a Sunday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus. This concept of Sabbath and Sunday influenced mankind, and now the concept of resting at least one day a week anywhere in the world has emerged. It means that at least one day is set aside to break free from work. In reality, the concept of holidays and vacations entering the realm of human cognition is a great gift given by Judaism and Christianity through God's creative work and through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

However, many of the works of Jesus' public life took place on the Sabbath. Jesus' disciples were walking among wheat fields on the Sabbath, cleaving and eating (Matthew 12). He also performed miracles of healing many diseases on the Sabbath. He healed a man whose hand was withered (Mark 3:2), healed a woman who had been possessed by a demon for 18 years and was unable to straighten herself (Luke 13:14), and raised a sick man who had been lying in bed for 38 years (John 5:16) , to open the eyes of the blind by putting clay on them (John 9:14). This healing act that Jesus performed on the Sabbath was outraged by many Jewish leaders, including the Pharisees at the time. Jesus reminded us that since the Sabbath was made for man (Mark 2:27), the Sabbath was a day that gave freedom to one day from work to those who, in principle, had to work but could earn a living. Also, since the Sabbath is a day for man, saving lives and doing good on the Sabbath is not work, so he commanded us not to stop (Mark 3:4).

The coming of Jesus made it possible to think about the meaning of true rest for mankind. Jesus did not bring the Sabbath for the Sabbath, but truly brought the rest for mankind. The coming of Jesus changed people's thinking and changed their lives. Then, while living in the time of Jesus' already coming and coming again, Christians come to realize that we can enjoy true rest only when we take a break from the labor for our daily bread. At the same time, when we enjoy the rest that the Lord has given us, those around us who are not like that will come into our eyes. If we look around us for a while during this Advent period, we will see that there are people who cannot enjoy the true rest of peace that the Lord has given us. Moreover, we see many people who cannot enjoy physical and mental rest due to the coronavirus.

3. Hope and a Future

We Christians, who live the time between the resurrection and the second coming of Jesus, literally spend every day in the time of Advent. After all, we as Christians can know that every moment of our life is the time of ‘advent’, waiting for the coming of Jesus. We face the real problem of how to spend this waiting time.

First, let's think about waiting. We live our lives waiting for many days in our lives. Waiting for birth, waiting for school, waiting for graduation, waiting for job, waiting for meeting, waiting for death. I think the biggest waiting in our personal life is waiting for the day of death. Waiting for Jesus in the finite life of waiting for death is finding hope in the journey of life. However, when I think of the issue of waiting at the community or national level, not as an individual, the first thing that comes to mind is that there are national events such as the Olympics, but I think the most desperate waiting is the death of the nation, the people of exiled countries waiting for independence. When I was living in Israel, I went to a Palestinian student room on the same floor as a university dormitory to play. After talking with the student, I learned about the plight of a Palestinian student attending a Jewish university. From the perspective of a Palestinian student, attending a Jewish university is equivalent to or worse than attending a Japanese school during the Japanese colonial period. The Palestinian student said that he had no choice but to make this choice, even if he heard the voice of a traitor, because he had to graduate from a Jewish university in a situation where he could not think of any future. During my conversation with this student, I thought of how fortunate I was not to be faced with such a choice. I have come to realize that having a homeland is not how wonderful the homeland is, but that I am lucky just to have a home country.

In the Old Testament, there were people like this Palestinian student who had lost their country and had just been taken to Babylonian captivity. They were still waiting for the day they would return to Jerusalem. The Jews brought into captivity refer to their situation as a “disaster.” But Jeremiah sent a letter to the captives who had just been taken to Babylon, and that letter is the Old Testament scripture we read today. In this letter Jeremiah said, “ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11). He tells those who are brought into captivity and are in despair, what God gives you is not a disaster, but “a future and a hope.”

The prophet Jeremiah was the closest witness of the last 20 years of the destruction of Judah. Since we too are a nation that has experienced the collapse of our country in Japan, it seems that we are more empathetic and moved by Jeremiah, who described the last moment of exile. The scripture we read today is the content of Jeremiah's letter to those who were taken as the first captives to Babylon. Those taken into the primary captivity were “the officials, the skilled workers and the artisans of Judah.” (Jeremiah 24:1). In short, these were the Jewish leaders at the time. They were taken to Babylon as the first captivity, but since Jerusalem and the temple had not been completely captured by that time, they could not lose hope of their return. However, Jeremiah's letter completely crushed their hopes.

“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.”(Jeremiah 29:5-6).

Jeremiah sent a letter to the captives who had been taken to Babylon for the first time and were waiting for the day they would return to their homeland without giving up hope, saying that if they wait 70 years while building a house, earning a living, and looking after their grandchildren, God will return them to their home country. When the captives received this letter, they strongly protested, but instead sent a letter to the priests in Jerusalem, demanding that Jeremiah be put in prison. They protest that Jeremiah had sent a message of despair to break their hopes and wait 70 years. However, Jeremiah wanted to convey the message to the Jewish leaders who were taken into the first captivity that the time of captivity can be a time of future and hope, not a time of despair.

4. One who Waits

Jeremiah teaches that those who wait are those who look forward to tomorrow, those who prepare for tomorrow, and those who think about tomorrow with the words “hope and a future.” After all, those who wait are those who have fears and worries about tomorrow, but have hope for tomorrow. So, the prophet Jeremiah teaches them what to do so that the time of despair becomes a time of future and hope. “12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” (Jeremiah 29:12-14). Here we can see through five verbs what Jeremiah required of the Babylonian captivity. “Call,” “Come,” “Pray,” “Ask,” “Seek.” Waiting time is not a time to be helpless and do nothing and just stare at the sky. Waiting time is not time spent passively, hoping that something will be given to you. What we should do in the waiting time is to cry out to the Lord, to come to Him, to pray to Him, to seek Him, and to ask Him. But what should we cry out for and pray for in this desperate waiting time?

In the verse of Luke 3 we read today, there is a sermon of John baptizing in the Jordan River, exclaiming, “‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” (Luke 3:4). he exclaims: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.”(Luke 3:7-8). John the Baptist was waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist preaches that those who wait should bear fruit worthy of repentance, not the lineage of Abraham's descendants. While sternly criticizing the state in which Jews at that time viewed their racial and ancestral identity as the guarantee of their salvation, God said that even stones can be made into Abraham's descendants. This is to say that there is no such thing as ancestry or race, and it is only a matter of whether or not to bear fruit worthy of repentance. Those who wait for the coming of Jesus Christ must spend time to reflect on themselves, repent, and bear Christian fruit in the time they cry, supplicate, and struggle to meet the Lord. Then the future and hope will come to us.

I think that the rapid change of times that Corona has brought us over the past two years is a time to invade like a thief (2 Peter 3:10). We are witnessing that schools and churches are getting used to online non-face-to-face due to social distancing, and entering an era of endless competition in which they are eliminated or succeeded in a rapidly changing economic environment. We are pondering what to do in order not to become a drifting human being in the torrent of this era. Moreover, the platform of the world is changing. In a rapidly changing era such as metaverse, AI, and the 4th industrial revolution, we fall into contemplation about the meaning of the Christian life, who is still waiting for Jesus, who came 2,000 years ago. We are living the season of Advent, waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ in an age where we cannot see one inch ahead. The apostle Paul said to the Philippians who were experiencing various problems both inside and outside the church, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7). He told us not to worry, but to pray and ask the Lord. And he told us to give thanks God.

What we have to do on this Advent season, where we await the coming of Jesus Christ, is to live our daily lives to the fullest, and when faced with problems big and small, learn to be grateful for what has already been given to us. Also, I believe that the more cloudy the clock, the more I need to go through my life by praying and supplicating the Lord. I hope that this period of Advent will be a time of rest and peace that the Lord gives you. During this time of Advent, I hope that it will also be a time to reflect on our lives, repent, and give thanks. I pray in the name of the Lord that there may be a future and hope for all of you who come to the Lord.