What I Want

I don't know how much I am grateful to be able to greet you online after a long time. In the consideration of the school and the church, I finished my sabbatical semester in the United States well and returned home safely in August. I also received grace through the online worship service at the university service, but I have a special feeling when I stand here. Above all, I expected it, but I am not sure how sad it is that I cannot see the members of the congregation. Once again, I bless the power and grace of God who made every home a place of worship even in the midst of these difficulties.

It is true that everyone has a fearful and heavy heart on the road that they have never been to before. However, if you look closely at this situation, I think there is a reason to be thankful. One of them is that I spend less time with people, so I spend more time alone. I am grateful because I have more opportunities to think more and reflect on myself.

As I meditated on the words given today longer than usual, my childhood suddenly came to my mind. When I was young, I couldn't tell the left and the right, so I always wore mismatched shoes. However, there was an incident where I could clearly tell where the left was. At that time, there was no boiler in the rural church house where my father was pastoring, and there was a briquette furnace. To wash my hair in winter, I had to boil water in a large pot in the furnace, and I mixed the warm and cold water to wash my hair. One day, I went into the kitchen with my father's slippers on my little feet, and then I stumbled over something, and my left hand fell into the pot.

In fact, the memories of that day are not clear, so I do not remember how sick I was or how I had been treated after that. But there is one aspect that I remember clearly that day. When I screamed my mother rushed to me and broke my underwear. I also remember that the sleeves of my underwear fell off due to the flesh on the left wrist. The memory that remained clearer to me than that was "the image of my mother crying" while pouring cold water on her left hand. I must have been the one who was really sick and surprised, but the memory of my mother crying more than me is still clear. It is because I have never seen my mother cry so sad. At that time, there was no way I could understand my mother's tears. However, over time, as I became a parent, I came to understand the meaning of those tears.

As a pastor's son, I realized a surprising fact by personally experiencing the God who loves me, not the God I had to believe. I was able to realize the love of God who loves me more than me through the love of my mother who was more painful than me. It's a sinful life, an insignificant life, but I have had many experiences of realizing the love of God that holds me and expects to the end through the love of my parents.

Today, while meditating on the text of Matthew's Gospel, I was able to realize again the will and love of God who cares for people like me to the end. Why didn't this text feel awkward and strange to me? “It's not fair” is the most commonly used expression by teenagers in the United States. However, in Korean society, it seems that those words are not necessarily exclusive to teenagers. Political issues that have continued since last year always have common questions that the people have. That is, was it “fair?”

From our point of view, the wages of the last worker, who worked less hours, of course, should be different from the one who worked from the morning. But deliberately, the owner of the vineyard paid the wages from the last one, raising expectations for the early workers. If the workers who came earlier had to be paid first and returned, there would have been no problems. However, the owner of the vineyard deliberately paid the latest workers the same wages as they were willing to show their “his will.” And to those who are dissatisfied with it, I proudly declare this to be "his will." Those who come to the vineyard early and those of us who hear the parable have no choice but to ask questions. What on earth does the owner of the vineyard mean?

I think we should look carefully at the text again. The owner often returns to the marketplace for some reason. Early in the morning in Israel, it is before 6 am. And the owner visits the marketplace at 3, 6, 9, and finally 11 o'clock. Speaking for now, I came to the marketplace at 9 am, 12 noon, 3 pm, and 5 pm and brought the laborers into the vineyard. I don't know, but it is likely that the people who had been walking around the marketplace from then, to the present or until the end were old, sick, or handicapped, and thus were not attractive to their owners as bearers.

In particular, the translation of verse 6 causes a misunderstanding of those who remained in the marketplace until the end. Because the owner is translating to them, "Why are you lingering around without doing this all day?" A more accurate translation would be “Why are you standing here without doing this all day?” He tried to find a job, but he couldn't get the opportunity, so he couldn't leave the place and was walking around. It's hard to say that I was sitting around because I didn't want to work even though I had a place to go.

I don't think the owner of this vineyard sent the idle people to his vineyard just out of pity. The owner of this vineyard understood the hearts of the marketers all day long. The vineyard owner understood the hard lives of the workers who lived from day to day and the hunger of the meal brushes they had to support. Only called at 5 p.m. would the breeders longed to be seen by the vineyard owner so that they would be hoarse from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. The vineyard owner was able to see through their desperation. There were not only the vendors who had to hang around all day, but also the owners of vineyards and markets who rushed to and from vineyards and markets.

God's love, who values everyone's needs beyond our standards and fairness, is revealed through the back of the vineyard owner who was busy in the market. Do you still think, "but this can’t be, this is not fair" as you are listening to this sermon? says the owner of the vineyard. “Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

I majored in New Testament Studies and have been asked many questions about this text since I was in seminary. Maybe it is meaningful to introduce such an academic discussion at this time. But for today, I would like to share the emotion and gratitude that I had when I first encountered this scripture. When I first read this text I didn't feel any problems. The owner's injustice or the complaints of the laborers came to know through the discussion of the commentary with scholars at the seminary.

The reason I didn't feel any problem in this parable is because I saw myself in the image of a worker called at 5 o'clock. This is because I remember the grace that the Lord first found and called me, which no one cares about and no one has focused on. This is because I was the “5 o'clock laborer” and the voice of the owner, “It is my will to give this last person the same wage” was heard as the voice of the Lord listening for me.

As I meditated on this text once more, my emotions and gratitude were revived. God has looked back, sustained, and protected people like me. As the son of a pastor, he called me to the vineyard, who lived without a strong presence and could not distinguish left and right. Through this time, I pray in the name of the Lord that the voice of the Lord, who called each of you among all who listens to this sermon, will be restored and remembered again.

I hope you don't keep looking at this analogy from a third person perspective. Please do not forget that I and you are the laborers called at 5 o'clock, the main characters of this parable. God wants you to call me and you to prove the paradox that the latter come first. That's why the Lord called me and you here again this time. I believe that God is the one who calls even the least and most neglected person on earth. Jesus taught, "God makes the sun rise to the wicked and to the good alike, and to the righteous and to the unrighteous, He brings rain alike." The text of Exodus today also testifies to the love of God that allows the same manna day by day for both the evil and the good, the righteous and the unrighteous.

Looking at it, the Bible is full of the love story of God, who loves the last person from Genesis to Revelation to the end. The pain of this era lies in that the “love of God” is confirmed only through the Bible, but cannot be enjoyed in daily life. The “voice of God” that calls us remains in writing, but we cannot hear it with the ringing sound here.

Loving and respectful families of the University Church! Now, we must remember the Lord who pityed and called us for our lives that were wandering around the marketplace until 5 o'clock. It is nothing other than realizing the “will of God” to care for the last person. As I prepared the sermon, I was able to confirm that the original text translated "it is my will" through the ancient Greek text is actually "what I want." So, the English title of today’s sermon is “What I want.” Everyone, what God wants, God's will, is the love of God who takes care of and cares for even the smallest.

The love of God who cares for all creation equally! People who realize that love have something in common. It is a pity for others who have not been invited to the vineyard after 5 o'clock. It is a pity to say,'If you enter only the vineyard, you can experience the love of God who takes care of us...but only if you come into the vineyard'. Looking at it, I was able to realize God's invitation because of the laborers who came to me with regret. Just as God called me and you, God is calling the regretful souls who still roam the market. Now is the time for me and you to go to the marketplace. The time has come to announce the invitation of the owner of the vineyard to the laborers who wander around the market without knowing what to do.

However, that invitation is no longer an age that can only be spoken in words. The time has come for a more specific practice of providing them the same manna and paying them the same wages. It can begin with empathizing with them. God's love begins with being rained on together before passing them an umbrella.

Living in the COVID-19 era, we see people who need to get rained on together every day. A few days ago, one part of the article remained in my mind for a long time. “The young husband was so hard to live that he and his wife came back after selling their wedding rings, turned to the other side, wrapped the shoulders of his crying all night long and cried together.”

Is this the only pain of our neighbors in this era? I can't imagine how many neighbors in the COVID-19 era would cry with their shoulders up and down. I'm sure what the religious people of this era need is "spiritual sensitivity." Some worry that COVID-19 has closed the church door, but we must open the door of our spirit and look at the world through it.

We must remember that our place of worship is not just Ruth Chapel, but the very place where we stand. We must remember that our worship not only exalts God with all our heart, will, and devotion, but also leads to worship that loves our neighbors as ourselves.

Looking at it, we could worship on this land because there were loyal laborers who came to this place, not just staying in their own vineyards. The reason why Yonsei University and Yonsei University Church could be established here, could be possible because there were the Lord's laborers who took pity on the “5 o'clock-laborers” hanging out on the earth.
“I see community-minded Christian teachers teaching in schools in all towns and villages in the future, secondary schools, medical schools and nursing schools, self-sufficient hospitals in all cities, efficient mainland women publishers, I see Bible teachers, female deacons who care for the afflicted and give light and comfort to the dying, and all over the country the institutions of mercy that really show the love of Christ.”

Missionary Underwood left this expectation as he celebrated the 20th anniversary of missions in Korea. Are we still seeing those institutions of mercy that Missionary Underwood saw in 20 years? Where are all the deacons who care for the suffering and give light and comfort to the dying? Are the institutions of mercy no longer needed that really show the love of Christ that should stand in every corner of the country?

Until we were here, so many loyal laborers took over the voice of the Lord. Now we must replace that voice. We must proclaim what the Lord wants and the will of the Lord. We must do it. We must become more sensitive to the will of the Lord to take care of all the sick and marginalized on the earth. It is because that is the same will of God who allowed manna evenly to all people in the wilderness, and that God called the laborers at 5 pm and gave them the same wages.

COVID-19 may have closed the door to the church building, but it won't close the place of worship in life. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be proud friends of Yonsei University Church, who keep God's will to their places in good health until we worship together again here.