St Timothy Presbyterian Church in Toronto: Sermons

We missed the second session recording. Here is the third session in the 5-part series!

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1 John 4:7-13

Let us take this opportunity to be thankful for what our parents have done for us, how much they have sacrificed, and how much they have given up just to love us.

What is the core of Christian message? You see that in verse nine, he says, “God’s Love was revealed among us in this way. God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him.” That is the core Gospel, the core message of the good news. God’s love was revealed that he sent his son into the world so that we might live through him. He was expressed in different ways from 1 John, but when you read the gospel of John, it was expressed in a different way, but probably in a more familiar way to you. It says, “for God so loved the world that he might, he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.” That is the core Gospel. And this time I realized, I mean, I heard this so many times, but this time I realized that this core message was expressed in terms of the relationship between the parent and a child.

That God’s love was revealed in this way that God sent his only son to be sacrificed. How difficult that must have been for God. I’m not quite sure how God felt or God feels because God is very different from us, but what John is trying to describe to us is this is how much God loves us. So he uses our understanding of the relationship between parents and children and if you all are to do this, how difficult it must have been. God did that even though it’s very, very difficult to do so. God did that, that much God loves us. That’s what John is trying to describe.

The most difficult thing for a parent to do is to sacrifice his or her only child because their child is the most precious thing in the world. So to sacrifice your own child, that is the most difficult thing. You want to give everything to your children as what you want to do. The other day I was talking with my son and somehow a topic of giving came out and I gave him something. By text, I said, “Josh, I’ll give you anything for you.” He texted me right back and said: “Thanks Dad, now I know what that means.” I can give anything to my own son.

It is hard for a parent to sacrifice his or her child because they’re the most precious thing in the world. But that was what God did for us. He gave his only son to die for us. That much, God loves us. That was what John said in verse nine. We’ll read it again. “God’s love was revealed among us in this way. God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him.” Parental love was so special that John described God’s love using parent’s love. Probably among all the love you see in the world, the closest to God’s love is the parent’s love. So when you read the ten commandments, the ten commandments can be sharply divided into two. The first four is about the love of God, that you are to love God. The next-next five is about you are to love your neighbour, so love your God and love your neighbour, it can be divided into two. Right in between at the end of “demand for love for God”, there is parent’s love.

Maybe parent’s love is in between love for God and love for a neighbour so it’s right there. So I think that closest to God’s love in this world is parent’s love. Parent’s love is not reciprocal love, their love is not in response to the love they receive from their children. It is not two-way love, it is one-way love. In Korean, they call this love “ ” (sending love), meaning to send love. Love never goes up, love always goes down, as the water flows down, the love always goes down. Of course, when the children do not appreciate the parent’s love, they feel hurt and well they are, human beings too. They get disappointed and they get sometimes even frustrated and you, you’re giving, giving, giving, and the children just take it and don’t even appreciate it and take it for granted. Then the parents feel hurt. It’s not because they wanted, but you know, they want their love to be appreciated. But that does not stop them from loving them. Just because they feel frustrated and hurt, that doesn’t stop them from loving them. It doesn’t matter what, the parents love is always constant.

So, there is always somehow, pain, in a parents’ heart, because children can never love their parents as parents love them. As I said, it’s downward love, it can never go up. The children can never love as much as the parents love their children. So like you can not love God as much as God loves us. It is downward love. No matter how much you try to love God, you cannot love God as much as God loves us. So God’s love and parent’s love are always painful love. Jesus showed that painful love very well while he was on earth.

I thank God that God put his love in parents so that the parents, may love their children with God’s love. Somehow God installed his love in parent’s hearts so that parents can love the children as God loves us and we are thankful for that. Without that love, we would not have learned what it means to love and what it means to be loved since we were young. Our parents are the people who taught us the first love. As soon as we were born, they showed us the first love. So through parents, as we grew up, we learn the love. We have survived the first few years because of that love.

When I was young, I was very, very weak and very picky about food and always sick, it was hard to even survive. So my mother had to pay special attention to me whenever there’s a party, she always took me to the party and it’s because I didn’t eat period. In Korea, bananas were very, very precious when I grew up, but here, bananas are very cheap. But when I grew up, bananas were not just around. But I was the only one who grew up with bananas. That’s how I grew up and then I still remember a ringing in my voice. She always had me on her back and as she always said by singing “my child doesn’t die on me, don’t die on me” because I was always sick. I was so weak and I still remember that voice ringing in my ears. I survived because my parents and my mother’s love and my mother’s love helped me survive. So, it is really to do with my mother’s love.

I also experienced the same thing with my own child, when Grace was born. My wife has very unique blood and we didn’t know when Josh was born because it was all fine. But after Joshua, an antibody formed and then it started attacking Grace when Grace was born. Since Josh was so easy, the second one, we didn’t even think about it and we weren’t worried. But at the end, the baby was dying actually in the mother’s tummy. So one day I got a phone call and the doctor said that this is an emergency case, you have to come right away. So I went to the hospital and the doctor told me, “your daughter has a ten percent chance to live, do you want to do the C section right now or not, or just let her die?” I said, “of course, we’ll hold onto the 10 percent, that’s what we are going to hold onto.” After that my wife was knocked out because she gave so much blood and then somehow we had to use mom’s blood to do the blood transfusion and then the Jaundice Level was going up and up. If it started attacking the brain then she’ll get brain damage.

We were waiting and looking for blood everywhere. But there was nobody who had the same blood. So from that moment on, I was praying like crazy every day, in the chapel and in the hospital. I was praying for the child and at that time I still remember thinking “I’m not looking for a healthy baby when I leave this hospital, I just want her to survive without big brain damage.” That’s what I prayed for. At the time I was living in downtown and I came home and there was another church member who actually who lived with us, she came from Montreal and she was there. So I was in the washroom, running the water, her heart and how much I cried a why this happening? Uh, so I’m in. And then we finally found blood from Vancouver. So now when I came out, I came out with a healthy baby and now she’s married and she’s fine and living in Boston and all that stuff. You know, parents love, that’s very special. As I experienced my mother’s love, the children also experience a parent’s love. We thank God for giving his love to our parents. We thank our parents, for their sacrificial love.

The true maturity is when you start appreciating the parent’s love. This is what John said to us again, I’ll read it, “Beloved says God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is perfected in us.” Let us love one another. Love makes everything so beautiful. Love brings colour to our gloomy, dark world. Love brings healing. Love brings hope. Love makes our life perfect. If you don’t learn anything in your life, the only thing that we need to learn actually is love. Even if we don’t learn anything in the world, if we learn how to love, then you are perfect because love makes everything perfect. Saint Paul said this, “and now faith, hope, and love abide these three, and the greatest of these is love.” That is the greatest, greatest wisdom, the greatest gift, greatest skill, greatest character.

Love. Let us love one another. Let us have a parent’s heart. In Santiago, in the evening, some people went out and they gave me the key to wait for them and they didn’t come home until 12, 12:30. I started worrying like parents, you know, waiting for children. The next day one Deacon came up to me and said: “how much do we rent, we were like teenagers worrying about parents waiting for them at home and things like that.” If we have a parent’s heart towards each other, that’s what love is. Let us build this community with the love of Jesus Christ shown in our parents.

Let us take this time and opportunity to be thankful for what our parents did for us, how much they have sacrificed, how much they have given up just to love us.

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John 14:15-21

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.

At every Korean session meeting, we have training. I had to train them with a book by Henri Nouwen. The book is called “A Spirituality of Living”. Before the session meeting, for about 30 minutes, we talk about the spirituality of being an elder and leading the congregation. Hopefully I will do that with the English-speaking congregation too. And from that book, this phrase caught my attention, and this is what Henri Nouwen said, Jesus calls us to gratitude. He calls us to recognize that gladness and sadness are never separate. That joy and sorrow really belong together, and that mourning and dancing are part of the same movement.” How true that is about our life. Our life is a combination of all this. If you demand that only good things should happen in your life, then it will be pretty difficult for you to live with gratitude.

You wish that this will happen, but not all the time that happens. But if you demand that, that should happen all the time, then it will be pretty difficult, to live with gratitude. Knowingly and unknowingly, you’ll build some kind of resentment within you. So I see a lot of people living with some kind of resentment with them. They don’t really know that they have this resentment within them, but when the situation arises, then you realize, how come I have so much resentment? That resentment was unconsciously accumulated and built up within you. So if you demand that life should be in one way, whether you like it or not, you will most likely build and accumulate some kind of resentment. Life is a mixture of good memories and regrets, love and disappointments, joy and sadness. If we cannot accept this fact of life, we will have a hard time living meaningfully in this world.

Gratitude is to embrace all of life. That’s what gratitude is. Gratitude is to embrace all of life, the good and the bad, the joyful and the painful, the victory and the defeat. Gratitude, if you don’t embrace all of your life, gratitude is not possible. This is what Saint Paul said, in any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry and of having plenty and of being in need. In all circumstances. In other words, he learned the secret of embracing all of life. He had a secret of embracing all circumstances. That’s why he could say be joyful always. That’s why he said, give thanks in all circumstances because he learned the secret of being able to embrace all of life, and then right after that, after this passage, this is what he said, this is his secret. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. In other words, I can embrace all of life through him who strengthens me. That was Paul’s secret. So then gratitude is not a psychological phenomena. Gratitude is a spiritual thing. If you don’t have God through whom you can do all things, then gratitude is not possible. When we have God within us, fully within us, who strengthens me, then we can embrace all of life. Not just the good things that we like to cherish, but bad things that we don’t want. That is where deep gratitude comes from. In today’s passage, Jesus promised I will not leave you orphaned. I will not leave you orphaned. He will never leave us alone. That is Jesus’ promise. In your darkest moment, Jesus will not leave you alone. That is Jesus’ promise to you. No matter what circumstances you may go through in your life, Jesus will never leave you alone. Jesus lived a very short time here on earth, and after that he left us. Thirty three years. He left us, he said, I’ll never leave you alone, and then he sent the Holy Spirit to us, and this was what Jesus said, and I will ask the father and he will give you another advocate (that means the Holy Spirit) to be with you forever. This is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you and he’ll be in you. You are not alone. The spirit is within you. In your life circumstances, sometimes you’ll experience a lot of bad things that you don’t want, but even in that moment, Jesus will be with you.

Often when life’s tragedy hits us, suffering hits us, difficulties hits us, you’re scared and you’re not quite sure about the uncertainties of the future. But you know what? What is the most common emotion people experience when they were hit by tragedy? Deep loneliness, that’s what they experience. When life’s hardships hits us, we feel alone. We feel like we’re abandoned. In that deep loneliness, we feel that we are abandoned, all by ourselves. When Jesus Christ was on the cross, he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus is not crying out. Jesus is not asking why God has abandoned him, but he was expressing the deep loneliness that any human being will experience when they go through suffering and hardship.

We feel like nobody seems to care. We feel like nobody seems to understand the deep pain we go through, and we feel like nobody can walk along with me in this dark path. I’m all alone who has to go through this. We become sad, lonely, and later even angry. When things are good, you enjoy the companionship, but when deep darkness and pain hit us, we realized the limit of the companionship, limit of what the companionship can offer to us. Ultimately nobody can help, we realize. That’s reality, that’s when we feel alone. Not only do you feel alone, you’re all by yourself, but you know what you also experience? You understand that you’re not strong enough to be able to go through this all by yourself and you feel alone so you feel so helpless. You feel so alone, but you also know that you are not strong enough to be able to go through all that on your own.

That’s when your spirituality becomes really important, not religiousness. Spirituality,  deep connectedness with God. That’s when the spirituality kicks in. Until then, you don’t even know what spirituality does, but when you experience this, then spirituality kicks in and then you realize how important it is. Depending on whether you can believe that the spirit is within you or not, the results are quite different; either you can stand tall or collapse. You know one thing good about experiencing this deep loneliness is that when you experience this deep loneliness, that’s when you can meet God. You can only meet God when you’re alone. When you’re always with other people, you cannot meet God, but when you experience that deep existential loneliness, the feeling that you’re all by yourself, that’s when God comes in. That’s God’s attribute. God is strange. When we are broken and totally vulnerable, God comes, appears to us when things are all right, somehow God disappears, but when we go through that hardship and difficulty, God’s slowly comes in and then you see God. So one thing good about feeling this deep loneliness is that you can experience and meet God in a real way.

When everything goes alright, we don’t feel alone. We feel right in with the people around us. Well, when we go through pain, we experience loneliness, and we feel like an orphan, Henri Nouwen said, God is hidden in our pain. So only when you go into pain, you find God. God is hidden in our pain. It is so true. When you feel like you are orphan, that’s when you realize that you’re not an orphan. When you don’t feel like an orphan, then you don’t even know that you’re not an orphan, but when you feel like I’m an orphan, that’s when you realize that you are not an orphan. You’re not alone because you meet God. You strongly feel that I’m not an orphan. God is with me.

My friends, you have two choices. When life’s tragedy and hardships hit you, are you going to respond with resentment and become cynical, or are you going to search for God who is hidden in your pain? If you hold onto your pride, then you will build resentment, but if you let go of your pride and hold onto humility, then you’ll be able to search for God, hidden in your pain. When you’re holding onto your pride, that will destroy you and your life will be diminished, but when you hold on to God within you, then you will be saved and life will be enriched. I know some of you went through tremendous suffering. You have a choice, which one are you going to hold onto? Life’s journey is not possible without feeling deep loneliness. That’s very much part of the real journey. Ultimately in that journey, you have to walk alone.

You have no choice but to do that. That’s what spiritual journey is all about. Somehow this year, you will experience difficulties, hardships, and prejudice in your life. When you encounter them, understand the theme of this year. You are on this journey, spiritual journey. In that journey, you’ll encounter both the good and bad, joy and sadness. That’s what a journey is. During that journey, you will experience some difficulties and devastation, helplessness and hopelessness, but ultimately that journey will take you to fullness. When God is with us, what is important is trust. Do you trust God is within you or not? When you trust, then it will come alive. You’ll come out of it with stronger faith and stronger character. If you hold onto your deep-rooted bitterness, you will fall and you will not be able to get up. Life will be full of complaints, but when you hold onto the spirit within you, then gratitude will start kicking in and then you can embrace all of your life.  

As we experience the darkness of our lives, how do we respond to it? Maybe we experience failure, loneliness, sense of self-worthlessness. How do we respond? Let us pray that God may give us faith so that we may respond to our situation trusting that the Spirit is within us.

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We have begun a new series of the “Friday Night Gathering” Bible studies! We are doing an intensive study of the Gospel of Mark.

The first session explored Chapters 1 – 3:6.

Please listen and be enriched through this study!

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I say I am the Good Shepherd.

Jesus had tried to show us what the desired human quality was all about. Being a Good Shephard is how we ought to live. We ought to be a good shepherd to each other. People often think, “I am the sheep and Jesus is the shepherd.” That kind of motto is the understanding we have, “I am the sheep and Jesus is the shepherd.” That is true. It is quite convenient  to believe that model of understanding because one could think, “I don’t need to be a shepherd, I could just be a sheep, a follower.” But the identity that Jesus gave to us is not to just be a sheep, it is to be a shepherd. Whatever Jesus did and whatever Jesus was is also who I am and what I do. If Jesus was a shepherd, then I’m a shepherd. If Jesus was resurrected from the dead, then I resurrect from the dead. Paul said, “The resurrection happened to Jesus, but the same thing will happen to you.”

So we cannot separate ourselves from Jesus because Jesus showed what humanity is all about. When he came to us, he did all these things as a human being and not as God. He was showing us what human life is supposed to be. By Jesus saying, “I’m the good shepherd,” Jesus was showing us what the most desirable human quality is. In our life journey we meet many shepherds who have guided us and showed us the way. Trying to be a good shepherd is what we should all strive for. Of course we cannot make ourselves good shepherds just because we want to. Deep inside we may take a contrasting attitude because we don’t want to have ownership of our spiritual life.

Even though it is difficult to be good shepherds to each other, we should always keep that noble ideal. Always think about being a good shepherd, it has to be in our mind all the time. Just because it looks too high or too difficult, let us not give up on that idea because that is what Jesus showed us. I know we are far from being good shepherds and it is really hard to be a good shepherd, but let us always keep in mind that Jesus is calling us to be a good shepherd. As I look back on my life, there were many good shepherds that have guided me in my life. My parents, especially my mom, was a good shepherd to me. Good friends that I had, when I was lost, were good shepherds that guided me and showed me the way. Even strangers were good shepherds to me. The help that we receive make us thankful to those who have been good shepherds to us. In the same way I think we need to learn to be good shepherds to those who are in need. In our journey, there are many people who need some guidance. If we can be a good shepherd to them, how wonderful that must be.

So in today’s passage Jesus says, “I’m a good shepherd” and this shows us concrete things about being a good shepherd. It shows us what is involved in being a good shepherd and Jesus teaches it to us practically and concretely in what he did. But how can you really be a good shepherd? I read the story several times and three words come to my mind:  Care, intimate knowledge, and sacrifice. These three elements are essential elements of being a good shephard and supports the ideal of being a good shepherd. These three things have to be there.

Care

Everything stems from the heart of care. Care is a beautiful word. If you look at this society, you hear about care a lot. Pastoral care, terminal care, all kinds of care programs. This society is almost like it is based upon care and  we are very familiar with the idea of caring for others. Sometimes in North America, when people are angry they say, “I don’t care.” “I don’t care” is such a cruel phrase. If one doesn’t care, some people will die. People need to take care of the elderly and sick. People get scared and lonely so they need to be cared for. People who are hurt need to receive care.

Thousands of people died in Nepal and if we hadn’t cared, the people who were affected would have perished. Fortunately, the whole world is awakened by this tragedy so they were sent aid. That’s what humanity is all about. When somebody falls, we care. When somebody’s sick, we care. This most desirable human quality is to deeply care for the people around us. A caring heart has to be cultivated. Caring only comes when you put yourself in that person’s shoes, but how hard it is to put myself in another person’s shoes. We don’t want to do that because sometimes we are lazy, or sometimes we are too obsessed with our own self, our own agenda, and our own problems. Therefore we cannot really enter into that person’s shoes and know what that person is feeling, we don’t have this empathy. This world becomes more and more like that. We become so indifferent and we cannot feel for the pain of other people.

Often people who are deeply cared for say this phrase: “I feel understood”, “This person understands my pain,” or “This person will understand the fear that I’m going through. This person understands the agony that I’m pulling through or the pain that I’m going through. This person understands me.” So from care, understanding happens.

Intimate Knowledge and Understanding

The second pillar is intimate knowledge and intimate understanding. When you care for other people, you start developing intimate knowledge or understanding about the person. But the person who doesn’t care, they have no ability to understand. When you start caring for people, you start having understanding about them so you become a bigger person and have deeper understanding.  That’s why people who are cared for say, “I feel understood.” If caring becomes a part of my life, we automatically think about how they may feel and what they may experience. As soon as they hear you, they understand what you’re going through.

Sometimes I go to other churches to preach and there are a lot of elderly people there. After my sermons, the people come to hold my hand and I feel that they understood that story because they’ve been living by being cared for. They knew exactly what I was talking about. There’s depth of understanding in caring and so listening is more important than speaking. Kay Lindahl said in her book, Practicing The Sacred Art of Listening, “Listening is not a passive activity. It is not about being quiet or even hearing the words. It is an action and it takes energy to listen.” How difficult it is to listen. You listen with your ears but you must also listen with your heart.

Chinese people were very smart when they came up with their language. When you see the Chinese character of listening, this is how the word was made up: the left part is an ear,  the right top part are eyes, and underneath at the bottom is the heart. So it’s not just about ears or eyes. There has to be the heart as the bottom foundation. Listening does not happen at the ear or the eyes, listening happens at the heart level. When we truly listen to other people, we understand them and their heart so our hearts can become connected. Jesus had a deep understanding about people because he had the heart listen to others. As soon as Jesus listened to people, he figured out everything about that person. He had incredible insight about people.  

Sacrifice

Finally, the ultimate sign of being a good shepherd – sacrifice. Your care, your deep intimate knowledge, all have to be turned into sacrifice. Without sacrifice, being a good shepherd is impossible. It is the most beautiful thing that a person can do for another person. Jesus’ cross is a symbol of sacrifice and Jesus did the most beautiful thing that any person can do for another person. If somebody asks you for the directions on the road, then what do you do? You have to sacrifice your time and effort and help that person. Sacrifice is part of being a good shepherd. Only when we are able to let go of our own needs for the sake of others is sacrifice possible. That’s what sacrifice is, you take your needs aside and you put the other person’s needs before in front of you.  

I just came back from a pilgrimage through Santiago with a group of 10 people.  We walked more than 35 km a day so we walked over 40 000 steps. Despite the long walk, everybody was so helpful and cooperative. If everyone had not been that way the trip would have been a disaster. It wasn’t easy, but everybody pitched in to take care of each other in different ways. Everybody put others’ needs before their own.

I realized that even simple prayer without sacrifice is impossible. When you do not embrace other people’s sickness, suffering, pain, and hardship, you cannot help the other person. That is the sacrifice.

Before I came on the trip I had heard that somebody was sick so I decided to pray for that person for the whole day. Unfortunately the next morning I got blisters all over my feet, both right and left. Every time I took a step on the pilgrimage, I had an electric shock of pain.  The next day, one of the group members who was an acupuncturist came to help me and he brought his special bandages. He took off my socks and he looked at my feet and put the bandages here and there. The next day, I was fine. When I think about this trip, I think about is the acupuncturist’s teeth. He always had these white teeth smiling from the first day to the last, even when everybody was so tired at the end of the trip. When we came back to Toronto, he goes around talking about all the happy times during the pilgrimage. That acupuncturist helped the other members as well. One person got sick and was crying and saying “Save me, save me” because she was hurting so much. Then this person did acupuncture and the girl got better. We also had a photographer  among us who took beautiful photos. Everybody pitched in. Everybody put others needs before their own.

What is community if not that? Without that, the trinity is not possible. Without that, humanity will collapse. Being a good shepherd to each other is what Jesus taught us in order to build a community otherwise we will destroy humanity. These are the pillars of what the most desirable human quality  is: caring, intimate and deep understanding of each other, and sacrificing. I hope that we can be good shepherds to each other. That’s what a good life is all about, it’s not about going on vacation, drinking, and and all that. Life is good. Life is good when you could be good shepherds to each other.

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Matthew 25:31-46

Today’s passage is about the end time. Time, in the origin of word, is called eschatology. So eschatology is about the end time. At the end of time comes our Lord Jesus. He will come again to this world and gather all people and he will judge. He will separate the sheep from the goats. That’s what today’s text says. Then my question is: who are the sheep and who are the goats? Who will go into eternal life and who will go into eternal punishment? Who are they? What kind of criteria is used to separate the sheep from the goats? Is it going to be whether you did some good deeds and actions that is so important? What do you think? Doing some good deeds, is it really important to go into eternal life? I would say for now, yes and no. Let’s explore it more.

On the surface, it looks to me that the sheep were the ones who did serve the people in need. And the goats were the ones who did not serve the people in need. Then the sheep were saved by their actions, not by their faith through grace. That is what we believe. According to the apostle Paul, we are justified by faith through grace, but not by actions. What do you think?

I think there’s a more fundamental and spiritual principle going on underneath. Interestingly, both the sheep and the goats ask the same question to Jesus. When was it? We can see who they are from their questions. We can see what kind of people they are from their questions to Jesus. The sheep asked, “Lord, when was it that we saw you were hungry and gave you food?” They didn’t know that. They didn’t see Jesus. The goats asked, “Lord, when was it that we saw you were hungry and did not take care of you?” They were looking for Jesus. As if if they saw Jesus, they would serve him. But they didn’t. They couldn’t so no service, no good deeds. That’s what they say. Then what does it tell us about them? Both did not see Jesus in their actions or not actions. They did not see Jesus. The sheep did not even think about Jesus, but served the needy people. Whereas the goats did think about Jesus, but did not serve because they couldn’t see Jesus, find Jesus. So from this, we understand that the real issue here is not the action itself, whether they did or they didn’t do, but something else much deeper.

The real issue rests upon the questions like this: why do you want to do those actions? Why do you want to serve? Or what are you looking for? What is your goal in your life? And what are you trying to achieve from all these good deeds, serving and all that? My friends, it’s about the difference between doing and being. I love this phrase. The importance of this difference cannot be emphasized enough. Doing some action is great, but not always. What’s more important is who we are before we move on to the actions. Who we are as our existence, who we are as the condition of our hearts and so on. Those are far more important than any activities we are busy with.

As I’m getting old, you know, I’m turning 51 this year and I’ve faced a lot of life struggles and knowing about myself, my weaknesses, my strength, and all kinds of stuff. One realization, it’s about my heart condition. I cannot fake it and we must cultivate our heart. That is my realization. We can do many things. Outside things, activities, functions, programs and performances. But the condition of the heart, it doesn’t show. It doesn’t show. But unless we cultivate our hearts, we will fall into the cracks. There will be no fruit. Broken relationships, struggles and conflicts, inconsistency.

What’s more important is who we are. Who we are as our existence, who you are. But in reality, we have a tendency to choose the easy way out. We spend time and energy on the things of actions and performance by which people will evaluate us. And thus, we spend less and less of the things of inner being. We pay less attention to the things of our spirits and souls, neglect the conditions of our hearts. We become strangers to ourselves. We do not know why we say such things at that moment. And we don’t know why we feel such a way at that particular moment. We become strangers to ourselves. We become lonely because we detach ourselves from the core existence, core values, even though that’s unseen but so important. It is all because we pay too much on outer things and the actions, not the things spiritual and things of our core existence.

As I mentioned to you before, I love and admire what Abraham has shown, has to say on our condition human condition. There is a realm of time where the goal is not to have, but to be. Not to own, but to give. Not to control, but to share. Not to solitude, but to be accord. Life goes wrong when the control of space, the acquisition of things of space becomes our sole concern. The more we do everything in terms of space, not time, we do not only lose the connection with God, but also to ourselves. Just like the comparison of space and time, we need to understand the difference between actions and existence. Please refer to the chart on the screen and explore where you are right now.

The sheep asked, “Lord, when was it that we saw you were hungry and gave you food?” We can see who they are from this question. To them, they serve all kinds of people with their compassion. For them, doing and serving do not belong to the realm of activities and realm of space. For them, such actions are just a natural overflow of who they are as compassionate beings. That’s why they ask, “When? When was it you were hungry?” To them, it doesn’t matter when to serve. It doesn’t matter. To them, they did not choose the people for their service. They did not calculate what they would get out of their service to the needy people.

For example, our volunteers who go to Parkdale, they don’t take anything from that food bank. They spend the time, they serve, then just come back home. Out of their compassion, they just serve the people in need. And this is very important to Jesus because of who they are as compassionate beings, they served. Period. No ulterior purpose. Because they had their existence anchored in time, not in space, they connected to the realm of God and lived and served. Their actions were not limited to a certain occasion or to a certain group of people. The relationship of actions and existence can be clearly understood. When we turn to the story of the vine tree in the gospel of John, Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”

Apart from me, you can do nothing. Let us meditate on this for a while. Apart from Jesus, we cannot do. We can do nothing. Only when our existence anchored in Jesus, we can produce fruit and do something. Jesus said to the sheep, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Compassion penetrates any political layers and makes us see people as they are and attend their needs. And the sheep did it.

Mother Teresa saw Jesus in everybody she encountered. And she said this, “Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.” What is amazing about this is that when we see Jesus in others and treat them like Jesus, the other person discovers Jesus in us. That’s the spiritual secret. It doesn’t matter if you and I will disappear. But when I treat you like Jesus, only Jesus will appear in that relationship, in that service. That should be the case. You and I, it doesn’t really matter. Only Jesus would’ve been lifted high. Would be present. Would be felt. Would be touched. That’s what our service is all about. Isn’t it? That’s the secret. All we have to do is serve others as if they are Jesus and they would feel the presence, the healing power of Jesus in our serving. I believe this is the grace and blessing for those who serve in the name of Jesus.

Today, as I said before, we are celebrating the first anniversary of Sorauren Food Bank. I know it is hard to pronounce it so we simply say Parkdale. It is so good to have our local volunteers, Jerry, and her friend, Margaret. Thank you for coming. Jerry comes every Monday and Tuesday, rain or shine, to serve at the food bank. And I would like to thank our members like Michelle, Ashley, Daniel, and Sarah Lee. Every Tuesday, Sarah Lee takes care of that part. You will never know how precious your service is to Jesus without any kind of judgment. As Michelle, Sharon, you have served everyone who came to the food bank.

I pray that what Jesus said in today’s text is something you will hear when you stand for and alone at the end. We are vulnerable. We are fragile, easy to break. We are all like that. But because of our Lord Jesus, we can embrace our weaknesses and overcome them. Because of the compassion Jesus pours into our existence, we too can be the channel of Jesus’ compassion for the world. We are just a vessel, just a tool. We just allow ourselves onto God’s hands.

We are still vulnerable. We will be vulnerable, but because of such vulnerability, we can go out to the world and serve. Paradoxical, isn’t it? But that’s the secret. When we are weak, God is strong. When we are weak, in that very moment God is strong. Those who have embraced their vulnerability can engage in true service for God. My friends, we are the ones Henri Nouwen once said, “The wounded healer.” We have pain in our lives. Hurts, broken relationships, failures, but there is reason behind this. We need to understand that God has and God will turn the wilderness into the wellspring of life.

When we truly believe in God’s faithfulness, God’s work in our lives, we will be able to offer ourselves up to God’s hands. We’ll be weak and we’ll be vulnerable always, but you are our God always. Please use me. That is our confession. Can you see that God wants to use this church for his glory? God wants to use you and I as a channel of his healing and reconciliation. Let God’s blessings overflow from this church. Let God’s compassion overflow from this church. The sheep in today’s text did not know that they were the sheep. He just found them. I hope and pray that all of us find ourselves in the sheep side at the end of time, when we stand before the Lord.

Let us examine our hearts and reflect on the condition of our being. Only when we examine the condition of our hearts can we begin to think about our actions and make them meaningful. Let us pray for compassionate hearts that see Jesus in others, and thereby enable others to see Jesus in us.

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Luke 24: 13-34

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, What are you discussing with each other while you walk along? They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?  He asked them, What things? They replied, The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.  Then he said to them, Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?  Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over. So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?  That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!

My Eyes are Opened

It’s wonderful to think of life as a journey because we experience all kinds of things. We smell flowers, we hear singing, we taste food etc. We sometimes experience sadness, joy, celebration, and sometimes desperation and despair. It is really wonderful to think of life as a journey, but this journey is not just about experiencing all of these things. This journey is also the journey of having your eyes opened.

A Beautiful Picture

Today’s scripture passage is one of my favorite scripture passages. We can almost see an image of this story.  Emmaus was on the West side of Jerusalem so the disciples were walking towards the West in the evening. The disciples were not walking with joyful steps but they were rather walking with a kind of sadness. They walked very slowly because they had been with Jesus for 3 years and he was now no longer there. Prior to being with Jesus, the disciples had never experienced such a profound message from anyone. They also saw all the miracles that Jesus performed and how Jesus fought against the evil system of the time. Jesus was courageous and Jesus really empowered them so that they felt courageous. With all this, the disciples thought that something good was going to happen but instead Jesus just died on the cross. The scripture doesn’t say this but Emmaus was most likely the disciples’ hometown.  The disciples’ journey with Jesus was now over, and they were going home. They didn’t know what they were going to do, but everything was over. But just as the disciples were walking, Jesus was right there on the road with them however the disciples did not know that at the time.

Life is very, very interesting. Sometimes they are right there but you cannot really see who they are. Jesus was right there, but they could not see him. But then, the disciples’ eyes became open and they finally met the risen Christ.

The next day after they had seen Jesus, they kept walking towards the East. At that time, it was probably morning. Originally, they were walking very slowly, but now they were running towards the East to Jerusalem as the sun rose. The entire picture is beautiful. Our life should also be like that. Maybe we all walk with sad and heavy steps, but somehow we meet Christ then turn around and live our lives with an energetic empowerment. Often, we get defeated in life and experience a lot of things that make us devastated. All kinds of different situations that we experience in life can really drive us into despair, but on the road of our journey, if we meet the risen Christ, our life can be changed. We can then turn around and walk victoriously.  

Layers of Reality

What you see is not everything. Everybody sees different things. Even though they think that they see the same thing, everybody sees different things. So there are different levels, different layers of reality that we see. With our physical eyes we may see one thing,  but with different eyes we may see another thing. We don’t just see one thing all the time. So don’t think that what everybody else sees is what you see. Depending on what you’re going through, depending on what you’re experiencing right now, what you see is very different compared to what you will see in the future. Many years later you may look at it and say, “My goodness, what did I see at that time?”  We realize that there are different layers of reality and that our journey is about our eyes being open and seeing the risen Christ.

This morning one lady came to see me. She came to me with tears in her eyes and  said, “I came alive. I was dead this weekend but now I got life back.” In other words,  her eyes were opened to another level of reality. After I talked to her, I went to the new members class. We have a new members class on Sunday after service. So we sat down and there was this man who just became a member of our church. He said, “You know, I used to go to church because my wife told me to go to church to play golf with my friends but this weekend I was really thinking about whether I actually believe or not. I don’t want to be in the middle. I’m gonna try my best to believe.” This man was awakened to another layer of reality. I think this revelation is wonderful. There’s no such thing as; I believe. Belief is always present. Even whether you believe right now or not, or whether you've seen the Risen Christ or not, there’s no such thing as  “I used to believe.” In this life, ask yourself, do you believe? Do you believe that Jesus has risen from the dead? Have you met the risen Christ?

When I die, I wonder what will happen. A dominant picture that comes to me is that when I die I will finally be able to see my life. I don’t see that clearly right now, but once I die I will say, “Ah, now I understand why all of these things were happening,” and then I think I will have a clear understanding of life, of God, of myself and everybody. Just like Saint Paul said, “Now I see divinity but someday I’ll see clearly like I see in the mirror.” He then talks about that in the context of love in 1 Corinthians chapter 13: So I think that love has the power to open our eyes to be able to see. When we are self centered, we are blinded.  But when we are able to love, our eyes can finally open and see. When you look at the scripture, there are a lot of references about our eyes being blinded and then opened up. Sometimes we live in blindness and we think that we know but we actually don’t know. Only after we have our eyes open can we then see. Saint Paul thought that he knew pretty well about the law of God, about himself, and about everything. He thought he knew them pretty well, but once he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he realized that he didn’t see anything and that he didn’t know anything. Then something like scales fell off from his eyes and he was finally able to see grace. He was able to see God.

When look at something, ask yourself, which layer are you looking at? Which layer are you seeing? Are you seeing this layer of reality or that layer of reality? Resurrection is at the top. If we try to see resurrection at this level of reality, you’ll never be able to see it and you can only have an emotional experience. Even when you praise, you will only see emotional things rather than spiritual things. Life is not just about emotional things, life is also about spiritual things and seeing a different layer of reality.

Peter and The Blind Man

When you read the Gospel Mark, there’s a very interesting story side by side. One is Peter’s confession and the other is of a blind man being healed. Jesus usually heals a person right away  but this time Jesus touched a blind man and did not completely heal him. Then Jesus said, “So, what do you see?” The blind man said, “I see something like trees walking around,” so that meant that he could not see very clearly. And then Jesus touched him again and the blind man was finally able to see. Alongside this story, there are  confessions of Peter. Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples said, “Some people say you’re a prophet.” Jesus then asked them, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter said, “You are the son of the Living God in Christ.” But immediately after that Jesus said, “I’ll have to be persecuted and crucified and die and rise again.” And then Peter said, “No, that shouldn’t happen.” Peter only saw part of Jesus’ plan, but he didn’t see the whole thing. And then Jesus finally came to Peter and he asked, “Do you love me?” When Peter experienced love, his eyes were open so he was able to see. But at the end,  Peter said to the people, “This is tradition, not the scripture. I cannot die like my lord so hang me upside down.” So he died on the cross, upside down. Finally he was able to see in his journey. I hope that our eyes may be opened and we really see what we’re supposed to see.

Living in the Present

The priest Anthony Demello said something very interesting about life. He said, “Life is like this. You go to a symphony and when the symphony is about to begin, you realize that you locked your keys inside the car. Now, all of a sudden you think, ‘Oh my goodness. What am I going to do?’ The symphony goes on and it reaches the climax but you hear nothing. All you can think of is, ‘Oh my goodness, how stupid am I leaving my keys there. What am I gonna do now? Oh, the towing car will have to come and how much will that cost?’ All throughout the symphony, that is what you think about. You worry and regret about your mistakes and you worry about the future. Sometimes we live like that.  

We worry and regret about our past and we worry about the future in the present moment. We don’t hear and we don’t even see this present moment. This very precious moment is fleeting away. We never live a full life. The present has to come alive. The past is not reality and the future is not yet reality, the past is already gone and the future did not come yet. We live in the present. When you believe in the present moment, it will come alive and you’ll be able to live your life more fully every moment, and that’s the journey.

Opened Eyes

The people that I mentioned about from the Newcomer service had an awakened realization and it happens all the time. Tonight I’m going to Santiago, it is a place where many Christians have passed by. Some people say that Jesus’ mother, Mary, had walked that pilgrimage. I’m very excited to walk that pilgrimage and I’m wondering what God will reveal to me as God had revealed to the two members of that Newcomer service. If God doesn’t speak at all, it’s fine. I don’t necessarily demand that He speak. But God will speak, I know that God will speak on the road. God will speak to me and awaken me and make me think about, What am I doing? What is my life? How am I going to live my life?

If you don’t meet the risen Christ in your journey, if you don’t hear what God is speaking to you at this moment, then you’re just wasting your life. I hope that in your journey, your eyes can be made open and you will see.

In Hasidic Judaism, the people believe this: Everyday, a hundred angels visit you and give you a hundred messages everyday. I think that’s very wise and very true. I receive at least a hundred messages just when I sit around, when I talk with somebody, or when I experience something. But how many messages do you really hear? You may think, “There were no messages for me today.” Do you miss out on all the messages that you receive every day? I hope that our eyes may be open and our ears may be open so that we may be able to hear and see what God wants to show us.

Life is Beautiful

Life is precious. Listen and experience the resurrection at every moment – that’s our journey. You may have worries and anxieties and regrets, but experience today. Tomorrow is unknown and it was designed that way.

When we call, God will come, and He will save us. He will save us from our bondage, our boredom, our meaninglessness, our sickness and our problems. Let us call to God that He may save us.

We confess that we need You. Save us from our meaninglessness, our afflictions, our troubles and hardships. We pray that You will come deeply in our hearts, transform and change us, and lift up our souls so that we may live our lives with freshness and the energy You give us. Guide us. Instead of living with despair, help us to live with soul, the breath of God. Day by day, Lord.

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John 18:1-18

{Transcript}

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary! She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabbouni! (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord ; and she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:1-18)

Jesus today is the rising from the dead. The concept of resurrection is kind of familiar to us. Resurrection is Jesus rising from the dead to the early Christians. For example, Mary today, resurrection, even the concept itself was not a familiar concept. It is unimaginable, beyond our imagination. It was a very, very difficult concept to accept. She might have some idea of the possibility of resurrection because her brother Lazarus was raised from the dead by Jesus. But the thing is, Jesus who raised Lazarus is dead now. Who’s going to raise the raising? She cannot even think about the possibility of resurrection. When she saw the empty tomb, she was devastated. She did not even look at the empty tomb. She did not even think about the possibility that Jesus might’ve been raising. She automatically assumed that somebody took the body away. Somebody took the body away. That’s how she thought. The entity was supposed to be good news because Jesus is raising. Jesus is not there anymore. But to Mary it was somebody must have taken the body from the tomb.

Tomb is where death is – the tomb cannot hold Jesus anymore because Jesus was not dead anymore. Jesus is not in the tomb where the dead gathers. When Mary finally met the risen Christ, she met Christ whom she could not find in the tomb. There when she met the risen Christ. She found the ultimate purpose of her life. She realized that all the teaching and all the actions of Jesus were consummated in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That’s what I believe. Resurrection is the conclusion of everything. Resurrection, it’s the finale day of our life. The resurrection is a final goal and object of what we human beings pursue and look for it.

We do a lot of things in life. We tried to find meaning in what we do and sometimes we find good meaning in life and we do meaningful things. For without resurrection, everything becomes temporary and we cannot find the ultimate meaning. That’s why St. Paul said “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.” Your faith is futile. We have hope even in our suffering because at the end of our suffering, we know that there is restoration. Even you hit the rock bottom of your life, you can hit it, kick it and then rise again because you have the power of resurrection that brings you up from the dead. I believe the resurrection is the greatest gift God gave to all human beings, but it is there. It is hidden. We cannot understand it. We cannot know it. It is in different reality because it is in a different reality with our reality. We cannot understand the reality of the resurrection by touching, by feeling, by seeing, by tasting. You cannot understand resurrection because it is a different reality. So with the methodology of our reality, we can never understand the real reality of resurrection.

When Jesus died on the cross and afterwards when he was raised, he appeared to the disciples and Thomas wasn’t there and Thomas said, Unless I touched his head and then feel the nail mark and then I touch his side, and then put my hand in there, I will not accept the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thomas said, in other words, what he’s saying is, with this reality, I will understand, I will accept that reality or not. That’s what he’s saying, basically. With the evidence of this reality, I will understand the power of that reality, a different reality. When Jesus Christ, after one week, appeared to Thomas and then told him feel my head, put your hand on my side. Then the scripture doesn’t say that Thomas actually felt the hand or put his hand on the side. The scripture doesn’t say that. As soon as Thomas met the risen Christ, he knelt down and then confessed my Lord and my God. Resurrection is not something that I can explain. The resurrection is not something that you can prove, but there is a resurrection and there is a power of resurrection working in us and operating in us, and our ultimate goal in our lives is to meet the power, encounter the power of resurrection and live our lives with that power. Once we believe in the resurrection, that power will control us, will change us… that power will change our present moment. Not only will that power gives us eternal life, that power will change our present life. It will give us the confidence, no matter what we go through we will not be crushed because that power of resurrection is with us.

Everything we do becomes so enjoyable. Even the suffering cannot dampen the spirit of life that is working within us. Jesus believed in resurrection and ultimately he resurrected. When you believe in the resurrection, ultimately you will also rise from the dead. You will experience the resurrection. I love even the concept of resurrection and I may not be able to prove it to you, but even the idea of the resurrection is so wonderful. For any of you who are here who don’t believe in resurrection but still think about the concept and the idea of resurrection, that is so powerful. And they will transform our existence in the most meaningful way, and today we celebrate that resurrection.  

Take a few moments of silence and reflection of how great God is. The resurrection is the greatest gift that God has given to all of us. May the power of the resurrection work in your lives – so no matter what suffering, hardship, difficulties or uncertainties of the future you may go through, let the power of resurrection work in your lives so that you may be able to overcome all these obstacles and challenges and live your life with confidence and victory.

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Mark 11:1-11

{Transcript}

When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, Why are you doing this?' just say this, The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.' They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, What are you doing, untying the colt? They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven! Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

This is the word of the Lord.

Today is Palm Sunday. I’ve always been uncomfortable with Palm Sunday. The lectionary has two choices for today – you can go with Palm Sunday or you can go with Passion Sunday, passionate meaning suffering. I always took Passion Sunday because it is a reflection on suffering. We are going through the lenten season. During lent, what we are meditating on is the suffering of Jesus Christ. And today is the peak. With the beginning of Palm Sunday, the passion comes, so it is a continuation of the theme of suffering. Then, all of a sudden, on Palm Sunday you see this celebration. People shouting Hosanna. They were laughing and playing with each other, the children were running, and people were waving palm branches and they put their clothes on the road, and that they were really, really celebrating for the coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus was entering into Jerusalem. Of course, we understand why they did that because they probably had different expectations from what really actually happened in Jerusalem.

What they expected was that Jesus, being such a powerful king, would enter into Jerusalem and conquer all the leaders and powerful people, and then he will bring the Kingdom of God and then he will win the victory. That’s what they expected. That’s why they were celebrating. They were shouting. They were already in a victorious mood. I understand very much of why they do that. But as a person, all of you, you already know what would happen in Jerusalem to Jesus. And that’s why it is difficult for me and for all of us to reconcile these two scenes. You know, Jesus in Jerusalem, he went through so much suffering there. He was opposed and rejected by people, betrayed by a friend, and his best friend denied him. I mean, in a matter of a week, he went through the worst human experience.

Think about your best friend rejecting you, betraying you, selling you and denying you saying that he doesn’t know you. All these things happened from Monday to Thursday. And then people were spitting at him. They were angry with Jesus. They finger pointed at him, ridiculed him and they finally put him on the trial. At the trial they said, ‘Okay, you’re guilty, your punishment is capital punishment, crucifixion on the Cross’. So finally they condemned Jesus at the trial. People who followed Jesus were hoping for the best, but they came up with the worst. And then finally on Friday, Jesus was crucified. And that’s what happened in Jerusalem. Jesus was entering into Jerusalem to receive all of that. People were shouting, “Hosanna”, and they were happy, laughing. I mean, this is what they said, Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!

I found that very hard to see these very contrasting and contradicting images. You don’t celebrate for the suffering of a person. That’s not nice. We don’t do that. If somebody goes through suffering, we sympathize with them, we cry with them. But you don’t celebrate by shouting ‘Hosanna’. You don’t laugh and wave palm branches. You don’t do that for a suffering person. That’s not nice, but we do it officially on Palm Sunday. That’s why I have a difficult time to preach on Palm Sunday. But this time while preparing the sermon, I understood more deeply the reason why we can or we should celebrate for the suffering of Jesus Christ, we can celebrate the suffering of Jesus Christ because Jesus changed the meaning of suffering. That’s why we can now celebrate for the suffering of Jesus Christ. To many of us, suffering is not a good thing. It is a bad thing that happens to us. We want to avoid suffering at all costs. When suffering happens to us we don’t want to say ‘wow that’s great!’, most of us say ‘this should not have happened’. So we don’t like suffering.

Whenever I preach, something happens to me that is relevant to the sermon. And on the way home after a visitation, this car just came into my lane and hit my car, the front parts. I was going down University and Front – this guy was on the left side and from there he tried to go to York and he didn’t see me. He just came in and hit me. I’m so busy, so things are happening right now in my life and I never had an accident. He just jumped in and banged my car, and then immediately I was upset and angry. He was lying and all kinds of stuff, he was with two or three young guys, and then immediately the sermon that I was preparing came to mind.

Be calm, be quiet, and all of a sudden I had a kind of compassion for these guys because they were swearing, and it is a bad thing for them to do. Suffering, we don’t like it. We like to avoid it as much as possible, but somehow, when I look at Jesus and then listen to his message, all along, he was choosing the suffering.

It’s not as if He tried to avoid the suffering and then somehow encountered suffering and then he overcame it. No, he was choosing the suffering from the beginning. That was really odd to me. But you know, it was refreshing and even inspirational. He was choosing the suffering from the beginning because to Jesus suffering was the road to victory. Not to many of us, but to Jesus suffering was the road to victory. That’s why he choose from the beginning to suffer. What kind of victory was that? Jesus’ victory was not to conquer the enemies. If that was Jesus’ fight, he would not have come into Jerusalem on a donkey, but on a horse with swords. But he didn’t come in with swords on a horse. He came on donkey with palm branches. 300 years before Jesus came, 332 BC, King Alexander the Great came into Jerusalem on his famous warhorse, a black stallion and he conquered Jerusalem. But Jesus did not come on a horse, he came on a donkey. The donkey was a symbol of peace and the horse was an animal of war. Jesus’ fight was not to conquer, but to bring peace and love. That was the fight of Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ fight was not to dominate the weaker people. Jesus’ fight was to bring peace and justice and love. And if your fight is not to conquer, but to bring peace, justice and love, then I realized that suffering is the only road. There is no other road. Suffering is the road to take. Martin Luther King Jr, Ghandi, Mandela, all of these people took the road of suffering because that was the road to victory. And that victory was not to conquer, but that victory was to bring peace and justice and love. Jesus fulfilled what Isaiah foresaw. This was what Isaiah saw. When I went to south of Jerusalem, I mean, as soon as I landed, I felt suffocated. Why? Because there are walls all around. So you have to go round and round to just to get from point A to B. You can’t just walk there, but you have to go around so much and there were soldiers guarding everywhere.

But this is what Isaiah the Prophet said many years ago before Jesus came, “He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah 2:4) What a beautiful imagery and how much we need this message today in this world. There’s so much tension, fighting, terrorism, struggles, killing, violence. There is just too much violence for me to take in the world. Jesus Christ came into Jerusalem as a humble servant of God to bring peace. He came to bring peace. He lowered himself to the lowest of all human beings. He took all the humiliation, ridicule, rejection and horrible death upon himself, but did not say much. He did not say much, and this was what got me yesterday. As soon as I saw that, at first I got angry and then I had compassion. So I asked, maybe I should have given them a ride' because they had no car. Their car had to be towed.

Suffering to Jesus was the road to victory. When he took suffering, he was silent. This is, again another vision of Isaiah. He was oppressed and he was afflicted and he did not open his mouth like a lamb that is left to slaughter and like a sheep that before is sheared is silent, so he did not open his mouth. He entered Jerusalem and made a peaceful demonstration against evil, his courageous embrace of suffering brought healing to all of us. Jesus’ suffering was the road to victory. Jesus’ suffering brought healing to all of us. When you fight with others, you don’t bring healing. You may win. You may justify yourself. You may say that ‘I am right and you are wrong’, but there’s no healing. Only when there is suffering, there is healing and this is what Isaiah foresaw. Jesus was despised and rejected by others. A man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity and as one from whom others hide their faces. He was despised and we held him of no account, but he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. Jesus' suffering healed all of us. Suffering, I realized and I discovered, was Jesus’ weapon, not a sword. Suffering was Jesus’ weapon. If your fight is a fight for peace then suffering is your weapon. That’s why Jesus chose suffering. He took it upon himself. I’m thankful to Jesus to show that humanity, I’m thankful to Jesus because he showed what a good life is. Truly, his suffering was a suffering of love and we have a special word of suffering love. That is Compassion. Compassion meaning come together. Passion meaning suffering. You suffer with somebody; that is compassion and that is the kind of love Jesus showed during his life. He wasn’t scared of suffering.

I’m embracing the suffering. He transcended the fear of suffering. If you’re running away from suffering you will always be scared of suffering. When we embrace suffering, we will transcend the fear of suffering. So many young people get scared of suffering. What if I lose my job? What if I don’t get a boyfriend or girlfriend? What if my life is not that great? They’re scared of suffering and they try to avoid it as much as possible. They try to deal with it but Jesus suffering was the road to victory and his best weapon. He quietly and confidently walked into Jerusalem to go through all this suffering and finally completed that suffering on the cross. That’s why he just said on the cross, “It is finished. It is completed.

We are living in a violent world. I just can’t believe how we human beings have become this low. Just because you suffer, you go through so much, you take 150 people and plunge into the mountain? If you’re hurting, not just the death of 150 people, but the hurt of the families of 150 people and the fear caused for anyone who rides the plane. So many conflicts and fights. Why do we have to do that? Why do we have to fight so much? We human beings, sometimes I wonder whether we have lost the ability to live together in peace and harmony. Our fight is not to win. Our success is not to go higher. Happiness is not to have more. Our fight is to love and to bring peace. Jesus walked through the violent Jerusalem and suffering was waiting for him, but he did not submit to the temptation of this world to conquer, to go higher and to have more. He chose suffering to love and to bring peace.

My friends, you are the disciples of Jesus Christ. The Prince of Peace. May God fill you with this peace. And in your life, whenever this hostility or enemies or volatile situation comes to not lose, be kind. Be hospitable, be gentle, and be peaceful. That is the only road to victory. We’re going to be different. We are not going to use weapons, violence, to deal with problems. All the movies that you see, the only solution is violence. I don’t believe so. I don’t believe that message. I believe in the message of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.

{Reflection Song: My Peace I Give Unto You}

We are the children of peace. We are the disciples of peace. How many times have we neglected that? Have we tried to avoid the road to suffering? Even though we take the road of suffering, we are the disciples of peace. Let us pray that God may grant that powerful peace in us.

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John 12:20-33

Think about why you live. It’s one of the most fundamental, essential questions, but one we often forget to ask. Let’s ask ourselves, “what do I live for?” “why do I live?” Is there something that we would be willing to die for? Then that is the reason for our existence.

{Transcript}

Scripture is taken from John Chapter Twelve verses 20 to 33. Now, among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Phillip who was from Galilee and said to him, “sir, we wish to see Jesus”. Phillip then told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus., she’s a sense of the answer. Jesus replied, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour'? Father, glorify your name! Then a voice came from heaven, I have glorified it, and will glorify it again. The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

John. 12, 24 is one of my favorite scripture passages. Very truly, I tell you, unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies, it bears much fruit, meditate on it. It is a core of what we believe. It is one of the very, very famous passages of Jesus. I think one of the most insightful passages we need to remember, and then keep it in our heart. So if you can memorize, the scripture passage, I think that will be very much helpful, you don’t have to memorize them word by word, but if a seed we made this as a single seed, then it doesn’t bear fruit, but if it falls on the ground and dies, it bears fruit. So natural. It is truth about the nature.

At the same time, Jesus saying that, that natural truth, it’s also the truth of life. That’s what life is all about. If your life just remain as your own individual seed, then it would just remain as a seed, but when you live your life, giving away your life and not only your blessed, but that seed will not remain as a seed, but it will bear fruit that benefits not only you, but also others. Well, what a wonderful truth that Jesus taught us. That is what life is supposed to be; full, fruitful life. Life that's not fruitful, It’s a meaningless existence. If that fruit tree does not bear fruit, what good is a fruit tree? Fruit trees bear fruit, and you’re supposed to bear the fruit. So we do believe that that is true. We do believe  that is how we should live our lives.

We should bear fruits, you know, and then we believe that it is very important for our existence. I like to reflect with you together; What is fruitful life? How can we, how do we, how can we define a fruitful life? When can you say that you are living a fruitful life? That is something that I’m going to explore with him together, but I don’t want to give you common sense. I don’t want to give my individual opinion. I think the most important guidance for our life is in the scripture and the teachings of Jesus Christ. What does Jesus tell us about fruitful life that’s from today’s passage? That’s what I’m going to reflect with you today. Then first thing that I want to kind of clarify is that being fruitful and successful are two different things.

Fruitful life and successful life are two different things. The reason I’m saying that is because a lot of people, as soon as they hear about fruitful life, they’re thinking about a successful life, and a lot of people are confused with these two concepts, but I do believe that fruitful life and successful life are two different things. Being successful is what looks on the surface. It can be measured in number, it is quantifiable, if you have $10,000,000 in your bank account you are successful very much, and if you have several degrees of phds in different in fields, then you are successful. If you win a Nobel prize then you’re successful, and if your child plays in NHL, then you can say that you are successful. I mean, these are great things, but being fruitful is different. Being fruitful is different for everybody.

We cannot compare one person’s fruitfulness with another person’s fruitfulness. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. Being fruitful it’s different for each person, it’s not something that everybody admires. You’re fruitful in your own way. I’m going to explain to you, you don’t need to have $10,000,000 in your bank account to be fruitful. You don’t need to have several degrees to be fruitful. You don’t need to win the Nobel prize to live a fruitful life and you. You don’t need to have a child, who plays in the NHL to say that you’re living a fruitful life, so I hope that I have a fruitful life too. Fruitfulness cannot be measured in number. Being fruitful is to do with your existence. Being fruitful to me, it’s to have a sense of existence. Fuller sense of existence. What does that mean? Fuller sense of existence? How does one live a fuller sense of existence? Having a fuller sense of existence has a character. I think from the scripture that Jesus told us, having a fuller sense of existence is to have a clear purpose in mind. To have a fuller sense of existence means to have a clear sense of purpose of their life. Ask yourself, why are you doing what you’re doing? Why are you doing what you’re doing? Do you have clear sense of purpose for what you’re doing? What do you want to do with your life? What do you want to do.

In KSM Service, in the morning a young man actually came to our service. A young man came for his first time, he came from St. John’s Newfoundland, he finished law school there and he came to our service and then he came actually to do a bar exam, so a few days later, he told me after the service that he came to me, you really gave me, you know, thought to really think about why am I doing, what I am doing? I am really thinking about why did I come all the way to Toronto to go to do the bar exam? And then what do I want to do? Why are you doing what you’re doing? Do you have a clear answer to that? If you do, you have fuller sense of the existence. If you don’t know why you’re doing what you’re doing, then we need to think about, what are we doing with our life? It has to do with how comfortable your life is right now, to know how comfortable you are with being comfortable with God.  

Being comfortable. Being It’s not comfortable. Can Not be a purpose. The purpose of my life. Thinking about the ultimate purpose of my life is what being a human being is all about. We human beings think about those things. What is the ultimate purpose of my life? I had a dog. Her name was Kimmy. I miss her a lot. Every night I come home and play with her- it was just great. Unfortunately, the insanity last year I had to put her to sleep, when I look at her, cute and everything, but I don’t think she thinks much about “What’s my life?”. You know when she’s hungry, she barks, when she eats food she sleeps after that, she doesn’t think about what is the purpose of my life? Oh, that’s a dog and we’re not a dog. Even if we have a comfortable abundant food, what do you think about? What is the purpose of my life? We cannot just be satisfied with all the comfort that I have secured for myself because I am a human being. You may have a difficult time financially and personally. You can have a sense of purpose for your life. When you have clear sense of purpose of your life that sets the direction of your life. If you don’t have a clear sense of purpose, then your life goes back and forth. Having a clear sense of purpose of life sets the direction of your life,

you look into the scripture passage, the second part of scripture passage shows Jesus’ agony. In the first part Jesus talks about life that bears fruit, but in the second part Jesus talks about agony. Let’s look at this. The first part is very true I tell you, there’s a grain of wheat falls into the Earth we made, it’s just a single grain, but if it dies, it bears fruit. It’s about fruitful life. It is important to have fruitful life. In the second part Jesus says “now my soul is troubled and what should I say? Father save me from this hour. Now, it is for this reason that I’ve come this hour.

I was thinking about how difficult it must have been for Jesus to say prayer like that. Save me from this hour, just because he doesn’t have job. Just because he doesn’t have money, or he’s hungry. I don’t think he would say things like that, but it must have. He must have gone through tremendous pain and agony to even pray that; save me from the sorrow, the son of God. It must have been very, very difficult for him, I don’t think that I realized is that Jesus is exactly same as us. Jesus felt exactly the same thing as we felt. When he is in certain situation, he felt exactly the same as any other human being would have felt. He felt the pain. He felt the fear. Jesus Christ, son of God as is not immune to everything that we felt, every single thing that we felt. His life at that moment was far from being comfortable. That’s why verse 27, he said, “my soul is troubled and save me father from this hour.” No, it is for this reason, and I had to come to this. This passage is this true? More important than diamond. hear it, memorize because it describes the inner world of Jesus Christ. Not just what Jesus did on the surface, but what Jesus went through, in his heart, in his soul.

What do you find? You find that his soul was trouble? Why was he troubled? Because of his understanding of the coming of his own death. In verse 23, he said, “The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified.”. To be glorified does not mean that now I’m going to have a good life. What does that mean? Time to be glorified as in time to die. Jesus saying theoretically it is time to die. My time has come to a time to die. That’s why his soul was troubled and in that trouble. So he said, save me from this hour, which is a natural reaction for any human being. What would you pray that prayer? No. Tonight we have a funeral, a few days ago I visited an elder Kevin’s father, grandfather. And he knew that his time had come, when I recited the scripture was nodding and he was in tears. He knew his final hour was coming very close, and I didn’t know that this would come this fast. And after a few days, I got a call at 12:30 or 33 in the morning. So I visited the hospital, by that time he passed away. Last hour of a person, Jesus went through that, father save me from this hour.

Something amazing about that passage is that, this is what he said, right after saying, “Save me from this hour.” As soon as he said that, he said, “No! It’s for this reason, I came.” He said no, he felt the same pain as we did, but immediately after that he said, “No! For this reason I came.” What does that tell us? He had a clear reason to die. He had clear reason for which he came. Jesus had clear reason to live. He did not live just because he still had breaths left for him. He lived because she had a reason to live, and a reason to die. If you have reason to die for, you have reason to live. If you have reason to die for, you have a reason to live, do you have anything to die for? then you have a clear reason to live. Oh, there’s nothing for me to die for, then there’s no clear reason to live.

Last week, my cousin came from China, he has a missionary in China. About three years ago he had a heart attack in Asia. He is younger, three years younger than me and he had a heart attack in Asia, Southeast Asia. There was no hospital but somehow, they found a clinic and he was hospitalized and he survived. So he got a bypass surgery a few days later, so he had a heart problem. And so I asked him, “So how are you doing? How’s your heart, how’s your health?” He said “Hyung, I don’t know.” I said, “You don’t want to go to a hospital?” He said, “You know, you know, when I go to the hospital they told me not to go where I have to go because the place I go to, there’s no clinic, there’s nothing in it.  They are prohibited from going there. So I have to choose, do I go there or do I listen to a doctor? So I chose to go there to so I don’t listen to the doctor.” He had a clear reason to die for, and I believe he has a clear reason to the reason to live. If you have reason to live, then your existence is fruitful existence. It is fruitful existence, that was what Jesus meant when he said, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a simple grain, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”. After that Jesus said this, “those who love their life, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” In the word hate is not emotional discussed feeling. You know there’s a Jewish expression, I love this more than that. And you say, I love this and I hate that. That’s what it means, it means simply letting go. Let me rephrase it in this way, for you to understand better. Those who love comfort of life, will lose the true essence of life, and those who give up their comfort of the reason to live, they will find eternal life.  

I realized that the greatest temptations of North American people are facing is to be secure. Safety and security, In the meanwhile, we lost the reason to live. We’re so busy securing our own future and safety, in the meantime we lost the reason to live. I think that is a greatest temptation We North Americans are going through. Fruitful life is not merely existing, fruitful life is to live with a clear reason to live. God gave everyone a different reason. So we cannot compare. We can tell other people how, how they should live, but everybody’s different, but everybody needs to have clear reason to live. We cannot compare it. We have our own cross to carry. Olivia, you are conducting this choir, that’s your reason to live. I have reason to preach the gospel, that’s my reason to live. We have different purposes, but we give our whole life for it. In that sense, we are the same. Everybody has different reasons to live, that reason doesn’t have to be so gigantic, so admirable that everyone admires it, we don’t need to be that. You don’t need to have that. It is simply to do with why? The reason to live is simply to do with who I am, so if we don’t find a reason to live, that means we lose the integrity of who we are.  

Then we’ll live the way others want us to live. I don’t want to live the way others want me to live. I’m looking to find my own reason to live. No matter how insignificant that may be, no matter how small that may be, that is life, that is authentic existence. I don’t want to follow other people’s footsteps. I want my own path. That’s my journey and that’s your journey, why do you live? Why do you live? To make money? To be famous? To raise your children? To have comfort of life? Why do you live? We have to find it, once we find it, then life will be gushing forth from the bottom of my heart, and that life will bless us, and that life overflows and blesses others, that is what fruitful life is all about.

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