2 Corinthians 2:12-17

<The Aroma of Christ>

The words I will share today with you say that Paul is the being who makes Christian life a scent and makes people smell that scent. As I share my personal experiences from last February, I would like to share how I scented as a Christian.

First, I will tell you about what happened in Daegu last February.

I was in Daegu by accident when the coronavirus hit Daegu and made the nationwide mass media noisy in Korea. I was worried about the condition of my 92-year-old mother living in Daegu, so I was informed that I would have a family meeting and went down to Daegu. However, after arriving in Daegu, a coronavirus outbreak broke out within one day. Watching TV every day, I couldn't believe how Daegu was changing. And as buildings were closed every day and stories of new confirmed patients were being heard, the city became bleak.

If by any chance this terrible epidemic was transmitted to my mother, the result was so self-evident that I was worried every day. Neighbors, who had been in and out of the house, completely disappeared, and the older sisters who were unable to drive by car were unable to leave the house for fear of taking a taxi. Once a confirmed person passed by, the church was shut down unconditionally, and all services were canceled. The whole city seemed to have stopped completely.

To make matters worse, one day I started to get sick from cold symptoms. I couldn't help but suspect the infection of the coronavirus when my cold started. Thinking that my trip to Daegu could result in driving my mother to death, I was distressed and embarrassed. All I could do was quarantine myself in a small apartment. However, no matter how much disinfectant is sprayed all over the place, wearing a mask, and having separate meals, it was really frustrating to think about how we could have complete isolation while living together in the same house.

I couldn't even go home to Seoul, because a carer who comes every day stopped coming when I had symptoms of a cold. I immediately contacted the public health center, but since there are too many patients with these symptoms in Daegu, it takes too long to be tested, so he told me to wait a few days at home. Then, when the symptoms worsen, go to the screening clinic and ask for hospitalization. It means that you can only go to the hospital if it progresses to pneumonia. Daegu has a lot of confirmed cases, so I waited at home, and it was a relief that I could get better on my own, and it was shocking that I could go to the hospital only after my condition deteriorated. In the end, I couldn't even get a test and I was nervous. There was nothing I could do. I had no choice but to eat well, rest well, and wait for my immune system to heal myself, and in the meantime, I had to do my best to isolate myself so that it wouldn't be delivered to anyone else. In fact, I can't express all the complicated feelings in words.

In the meantime, I heard the news that my older sister, who had been suffering from a cold a few days ago, is getting worse and worse. My sister's condition became out of control, and eventually she couldn't get up. Eventually, I was tested for the virus, and I was confirmed with coronavirus infection. The coronavirus, which I heard only in the news, finally invaded my home like this. But she was confirmed, but so many patients were waiting in line for hospitalization, so the days of self-isolation continued at home. I contacted the ward office several times a day to see if there were no hospitals with beds, but they only asked me to wait.

My sister's breathing was getting worse and her consciousness was getting weaker, and she was lying in her room without eating anything for more than a week. My brother-in-law, who was taking care of my sister, appealed to the officials with tears. "Even if she dies, you'll have to let her get the IV injection. You can't let her die without a single treatment, can you?" "Isn't there an oxygenator in the ambulance? she has to use it. I called 119 for an ambulance, but they couldn't find a hospital to transport, so the paramedic had to put her down again in tears and go back. That evening, my sister was in a critical condition, so my brother-in-law called 119 ambulance again. The ambulance had to drive her to the hospitals where she could be hospitalized.

My sister waited in front of the hospital, hoping that a bed would be provided, relying on the oxygen respirator in the ambulance. After spending hours like that, my brother-in-law called me and said: “My sister-in-law!.. I'm relieved to have an oxygen respirator in the ambulance... I think your sister is a little relieved now... I think we can wait for 5 days with an oxygen respirator like this.” They begged to stay there until the bed was set up, and the paramedics reassured, "Don't worry, you can stay overnight." The paramedics kept their seats together while watching this incredible situation. He became a neighbor to his poor sister with the little good he could do.

While my sister was waiting blindly, she was miraculously provided with a bed and was admitted to the hospital. However, one hour after hospitalization, the hospital contacted me. My family was frustrated again after hearing the doctor's notification to decide whether or not to take life-sustaining treatment because the condition was already serious and it seemed hopeless. It hasn't been only a few days since we were told that she was sick with a mild cold. This unbelievable situation happened in just a week.

My older sister has not been hospitalized for a week and has been called by the Lord. The time of my sister's death was approaching, and I was isolated from my family, so I was able to send a phone that I had urgently obtained into the hospital room to say my last greetings to her. Inside the quarantine ward, the nurse put the phone in the ear of her unconscious sister. As she listened to her family's goodbye over the phone, she quietly left into the arms of the Lord. Here was the difference between Christians. I said goodbye with tears, hoping to meet again on the day of resurrection.

In fact, when I heard that the coronavirus would attack the weak first, I thought it was just so. The story is completely different when the victim is my mother, my father, my brother and my colleague. A few days ago, when my mother was taken to the emergency room, she happened to be in the same isolation room, or negative pressure room. I was told that only one guardian could come in together with her, so I left at 9:30 p.m. and arrived at Daegu at 12:30. I stayed up all night sitting on a chair in the negative pressure room. You know, there's no place to lie down for a moment, there's no room to lie down, there's no room in the room, Suddenly, I felt sorry to see that my oldest sister was in this room. She went on the path of dying alone without receiving a proper farewell from his family.

My sister, who was so healthy, was just suffering from diabetes. That day, she just took the subway from work to her home. Since the site where the coronavirus struck Daegu was near her sister's house, it has nothing to do with her, and her sister and her family, who were ordinary citizens who just lived a good and sincere life, became victims of this tragic situation.

Coronavirus make you sick, but they make you lose your loved ones, they alienate you, and they destroy your community. I am the director of the dormitory at Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary. But since last semester, I've been surprised by the COVID-19 incident so often that I thought I got neurosis. The dormitory has not been closed for students serving as missionaries in Seoul, but if any of them have a fever or contact with a confirmed patient, there is an emergency.

There was a sudden emergency at midnight, and it was my first time experiencing it, so I didn't know what to do, and I've had a lot of hard times. Everyone is confused and doesn't know what to do. Every day I feel how difficult it is to maintain a clear understanding of this situation and at the same time not to lose common sense and virtue as Christians. People seem to be in a collective panic, wanting to shift the blame on someone, numb to the urgency of the situation as the COVID-19 situation prolongs, and then, suddenly, when things get worse, they want to blame someone again. That's how much we live by experiencing the fact that we are vulnerable, which is bound to collapse with little stimulation. So we're actually going through a very difficult time.

Today's sermon deals with “Disaster and Church.” We are truly living in a time of disaster. How can we share the Gospel of Christ in this sudden and total disaster? How can we live as a missionary in this situation? So, through this experience, I would like to find the words of the Lord for all of us who want to live a life that is part of God's mission. In today's text, Paul speaks of brothers and sisters as the aroma of Christ. I would like to examine two things today, especially what it means to be the scent of Christ at this point.

First, the first thing we must do in this time of disaster is to become the fragrance of Christ and show the faith of the resurrection.

When the Roman soldiers returned to Rome after the war, they went to Jupiter's temple to burn incense to announce the victory. People could recall the victory of the war just by smelling this scent. Paul says it is Christians who give off this fragrance. Through Christ's final victory, cross and resurrection, we spread the scent of the Lord who finally overcomes death and triumphs. This scent is also reminiscent of the scent of the Old Testament priests during their sacrifices. This scent becomes a fragrance that is pleasing to God as a burnt offering before God becomes a fragrant offering to the Lord. 

 Therefore, our lives are fragrant that spread the final victory. When you receive a large bouquet with a strong scent, put it in the room, and enter after a while, the scent fills the room. Think of it as a bunch full of flowers with a particularly rich scent like lily. How strong that scent will be.. So we become the powerful scent of Christ with our existence and our daily lives toward the world, and we witness the victory of the Lord. This victory is the victory over death. As Paul says, “Death, what is your sting?” We can also say that. We wait for the day of resurrection beyond death, and that expectation itself becomes a powerful fragrance and witnesses to the world. I am not conveying anything else. It is to convey that the victory of the Lord leads to our victory, the victory of resurrection.

In fact, her sudden death was a big shock to everyone in the family, especially to her brother-in-law, who had been with her all his life. It was so sudden, and we felt like we could have done something more, but we were devastated by the guilt and the vanity of life. He had a hard time because he didn't know he'd let his wife go so suddenly. But in that moment of despair, as a Christian, I was able to accept my sister's death as a death of sister in Christ. There is a reason why I was able to testify the death of a sister in Christ to my family members who sobbed so hard in front of my sister's death.

I sent my husband to the Lord's arms three years ago. My husband, as a pastor of a pioneer church, suddenly left for heaven at the age of 53. He left me after about 3 months of diagnosis, as the doctor said that he had 3 months left. That's when I learned how close death is to life, and how the death of a brother in Christ can be different. I can't tell you everything because I don't have enough time, but it seems that I have become a completely different person around February 2017. As I approached my husband’s death, I was comforted by the Lord as I watched how the death of a brother in Christ can be so calm and peaceful. But watching another death here, I was able to prove my life beyond death as a person who had experienced the sadness of parting.

And I proved how death of brothers and sisters in Christ could be different, and I calmly accepted it. This kind of behavior is never forced. Calm before death is never possible without hope for a new life after death. At the end of my sister's life, the moment when I encouraged her to accept death calmly and peacefully was the moment to prove the Lord's resurrection, and to wish for our resurrection day. Through this, the brother-in-law made a new decision on faith. This was the life of a witness I could afford at that moment. Now is the time to show our hope of resurrection in action. This is rather a golden opportunity for evangelism. Maybe it's time to reveal whether our faith is real or fake.

As the last moment of his death approached, he began to prepare for his funeral. There were requests, but he prepared the order of funeral service himself and left a final will. He left an earnest request to his immediate family. Lastly, he left a message to me, "Pastor, Park Bo-kyung, please do my part." This will gave me a new starting point. And these experiences have shown my family how we can overcome despair and live with our families, who are now in despair and sadness.

This is actually not possible without the hope of resurrection. Today, when death is rampant, it is what we as Christians should do as we speak to not only physical death, but also spiritual death, countless people who have lost their course of life, and those who live like the dead.

Secondly, the time of disaster like this is the time to show the life of Christ as our daily life. Francis of Assisi once said of the evidence of the Gospel. “Always preach the gospel. And if you ever need it, use words.” This maxim shows how important the life of an evangelist is in evangelism. As Francisco said, evangelism is about showing life first before verbalizing it. However, evangelism as such a life shines even more in times of disaster. Therefore, we Christians must remember that these times of disaster and suffering are the moments when we must reveal Christ through life and actions.

The Lord came to this earth and preached the kingdom of God, showed it in person, and gave us a new hope. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God in language and healed the sick and cared for the suffering in order to experience the kingdom of God. In the end, Jesus' mission was by the death of the cross that sacrificed himself, and through suffering, he accomplished his mission. Therefore, as disciples of Christ, we must testify of the Gospel of the kingdom of God through words and actions at this moment. Also, our mission, like the mission of Jesus, must incorporate language, action, and life together.

 Also, we are the beings who continue the mission of Jesus Christ through suffering. Especially in times of disaster, our mission should show more of the Lord's mission. Because the content of our faith is usually hard to see, but in times of crisis, we can see it well. Now, we Christians should not only think about our own pain, but show the love of Christ by taking care of the pain of others, surrendering our right to protect ourselves, reaching out to comfort the afflicted. In addition, even in situations where there is nothing to be grateful for, we can show the world the love of Christ by finding a subject to be grateful and trying to give thanks. You must find out what you can do now, fiercely convey the values of God's kingdom, challenge the world, and make a difference. And it's not any other time, right now... Now that our lives haven’t gone out yet... we have to do it right now.

What I learned this time was that we only have the present. Through a series of experiences, I have learned how wrong it is to waste time on time to regret and grieve over why we did it in the past. And it's important to focus on doing what I can now. As a person who has already experienced such sadness, I was able to console my family in sorrow. My experience of sadness has been a source of comfort for my family now in another despairing sadness. When my brother-in-law, who is over 80 years old, was so sad that he couldn't help it, I was able to show kindness based on my experience as a person with experience in sadness. This time, it was time for me to confirm how proud I was to be a pastor.

I was able to tell them how to accept the death of brothers and sisters in Christ, how the rest of the family should survive the shock and move forward.. And I was able to show them the kindness I could do by telling them how to cherish the hope of the resurrection and live their lives today. If I had never experienced sorrow beforehand, I wonder if I could have provided such great comfort. The moment of suffering reveals the Lord through words, actions, and existence, like the Lord's mission.

If we think about what the Lord would have done if the Lord was here and serve with the little love that we can do, that place becomes the field where the Lord is, and through the practice of our daily life, we exude the fragrance of the Lord.

Let me conclude. In the time of disaster, all we need to do now is to remember the Lord's resurrection and testify to the Lord who won the final victory. It starts with the people we meet in our daily lives.

Do not be afraid or lament that this is a new crisis that you have never experienced, or stay in the difficult experiences and mourn. And I hope that now is the best opportunity to reveal God's love, and go to another field of pain and chaos, raising the name of God, and living as a “missionary being” through word and practice.