Rest

 Rest

Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30, after the fifth Pentecost Sunday , 2020 years 7 Mon. 5 days

 

 

Jesus and John the Baptist

Matthew 10 focused on the relationship between Jesus and his disciples , and chapter 11 was written against the background of the relationship with John the Baptist . John the Baptist is a person who proclaimed the kingdom of God before Jesus . According to the Gospel of Luke, John the Baptist was born six months earlier as a relative with Jesus . He is wearing a camel fur coat in the Jordan desert tinged with a leather band spent eating locusts and seokcheong ( Matthew 3 pages ). It is a kind of wilderness homelessness . His message was judgment . Since the ax is placed at the root of the tree, a tree that doesn't produce good fruit is said to have been cut down and burned by God . At that time, people, including the people of the world, rushed to John the Baptist and were baptized . John the Baptist was put into prison after publicly accusing King Herod of receiving Herodias as a wife, who divorced his brother Philip . In prison, John sent his disciples to Jesus and said,Answer if you are the Messiah the Jews are waiting for .” I made you ask . Jesus' answer to John's disciples is detailed in Matthew 11:4 and below . Jesus appreciated John the Baptist . “ This is Elijah, who came, ” ( Matthew 11:14).

John the Baptist and Jesus have similarities and differences . What they have in common is that their message was the kingdom of God and that they were young and killed . John the Baptist was young throat well by Herod , Jesus ran on the cross by Pilate . The difference was in the way they lived . John the Baptist lived an ascetic life like a monk . On the other hand, Jesus did not hesitate to eat and drink . Many people disliked this way of life of Jesus . In particular, those who kept the Law, such as the Pharisees and scribes, treated Jesus like a person of appetite . Matthew 11:18, 19. According to section time people saw a madman John the Baptist , Jesus was accused enjoying the eating and drinking here as a friend of publicans and sinners .

Jesus explains this situation in today's sermon text of Matthew 11:16 and below, using a metaphor for the play of children at that time . The children who sat in the marketplace shared their side and played with each other . It blows the flute in one dancing in there , crying children away from the weeping one will hit the chest . The interpretation of this parable is divided into two according to the scholars . 1) John the Baptist eoteuna weeping cry So no one did not hit in the chest , Jesus eoteuna fire, no one flute dance . It is an interpretation of criticism of people whose souls are insensitive . 2) People play the flute, but John the Baptist hits the chest without dancing, and the people are sad , but Jesus accused him of dancing without hitting the chest . It is impossible to say which is the more accurate interpretation, but it is clear that the people at that time did not like the life of John the Baptist and the life of Jesus . As such thoughts accumulate, they are compelled to remove John the Baptist and Jesus .Directly responsible for their deaths, but to Herod and Pilate , iteotgie the support of the people at the time would have caused such a tragedy .

 

Legal positivism

Those who criticized Jesus were not impersonal or disrespectful, but rather socially worthy of praise . Represented by the Pharisees and scribes, they were recognized by everyone because they lived up to the laws that were the absolute norms of society at the time . Even these days, such exemplary people are recognized . There are such people, and the world rolls like this . In their eyes, Jesus was the one who endangered existing orders, norms and categories . Was Jesus' life really bad enough to be blamed by them ? Let's split their accusations into two .

One is the accusation that Jesus covets to eat and enjoys wine . In fact, Jesus says something to eat , it was often not a minute to lose the spirit drunk on wine . Those who accused Jesus of being greedy for eating would not have been unaware . This accusation means that Jesus does not meet the standards of the law in matters of eating . The law treated the matter of eating very strictly . They distinguished between edible and non- edible animals , edible and non- edible fish . And do not drink blood , wash your hands frequently, and , also to be fasting season . Jews they found in these staples of the fact that apart from the other peoples of the Near East and , because yeogyeotgi could keep the nation's health in this way at the same time . It's akin to keeping your distance and washing your hands from the COVID- 19 outbreak these days .In light of these standards of the law, Jesus seemed to be greedy for eating and drinking .

The other is that Jesus is a friend of publicans and sinners . In terms of the day this expression sounds as a compliment , it is that this attitude is contrary to the law at the time . According to the law, tax collectors and sinners should not be subject to intercourse . Their arguments make sense . You must live at a certain distance from people who have contagious diseases . The tax collectors who live under the Roman system are a kind of slavery and must be expelled from the community . When storing apples, it makes sense to pick out rotten apples so that whole apples do not spoil . They did not know the fact that the tax collectors and sinners sorry , I thought that I can not help it faded separate them from the community tears am the best way to keep a healthy society . Such thoughts were recorded in the law as they became tradition . In their eyes, who kept the law literally and thoroughly, Jesus was a man who ignored the law .

I have no intention of selling unconditionally the fact that at the time, Jewish leaders, mainly Pharisees and scribes, criticized Jesus . They also had the sincerity to live according to the Word of God . The problem is that they have absoluteized the laws they know . They thought that the law could save the world . Being a kind of legal positivist they were compelled to condemn Jesus . It's like people who stay at the level of amateur baduk in Go criticize the number of professional Go 9 dan . If you don't know, you can learn . They simply criticized Jesus on their own level, not thinking about learning the deeper dimensions of his life . These things are still in the world , and we in fact take place in everyday places, you'll notice . It also happens in the church . Since you are looking at God with one eye, it seems strange that a person who is looking with both eyes is strange .

 

Truth experience

How can we see God , life , not with one eye, but with both eyes ? This means that soon How can you face the truth , is also a question . Otherwise, we live like Pharisees and scribes who constantly accused Jesus . Living with one eye is an attitude of life in which people judge others while looking at the world from one side . There are risks for everyone, but this happens very often, especially in those who think they are smart while living in a profession . People who think they are not smart can rather see the reality of life more accurately . Listen to Matthew 11:25 .

 

Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding this from the wise and discreet and revealing it to little children .

 

You can say this in today's situation . It means that young people who enter Seoul National University do not know the essence of life, and young people who enter local colleges do . Or the Supreme Court judges don't know the truth and the staff at the computer parts company knows, or the seminary president doesn't know God and the nameless pastor of a small church knows . The world doesn't work this way . The wise and wise in the world work in a way that rules the world . The knowledge, wealth and power of the world are given to them . In this reality, Jesus' words are empty . Many Christians also listen to these words with one ear and let them go , but they do not take it seriously .

The reason Jesus' words don't feel real is that we treat them only with the experiences we have gained in the world . The world claims that they can create life . We kindly present the standard of a happy life . People strive to meet those standards . Those standards are fascinating . We know very well what those standards are specifically . The conversations people meet and have are all these things . Real estate stories, for example, are an important topic of such conversations . That's what they say at alumni meetings and even at church missions . All our desires take root there . I understand . What if you can easily earn more than your annual salary by investing in real estate within a year ? Few people won't be shaken at all when that happens around you . But Jesus gave another word .People's happiness doesn't depend on the standards the world provides , and the more we cling to it , the farther from happiness is . You can change Matthew 11:25 like this . Real estate investment ( or speculation ) who has the power to dictate to the world the ability to earn a lot of money to happiness is knowing , people who do not have that ability to know the horses happy . Do you agree to this ?

 

Life of rest

Happiness has the same meaning as salvation . Jesus Matthew 5 chapter , " Blessed is the man who " spoke with respect to . The blessed people mentioned there are those who have been saved by God . Jesus spoke of the standard of true blessings differently than people thought at the time . It means that the poor , the mourning , the meek , the hungry and thirsty of righteousness are happy . This is the same meaning as today's text that the truth of God appeared to children, not to those who are wise and discreet . To understand these words, we must first be able to see what happiness is with both eyes, not with one eye . It's a story you all know , but I'll just supplement my thoughts there a little .

When are you really happy ? At what moment do you feel that you have been given life ? According to today's real body ' Pause ' is the answer when there is . No matter how much power and wealth you have, it is unfortunate for a person who cannot rest . How could I say that a happy person who cares not break even at one point in order to maintain the power and prestige . Today we are what put life in your mind that only the development of a working economy and the spirit of his name , what is happiness , and does not even think about whether what the pause . Living with heavy burdens big and small all my life , I think that's what life will be .

How can we find true rest ? Everyone wants true rest, but no one knows that it's not easy . The world also offers a way to get a sense of psychological stability in the name of healing . Buddhism is much more practical in this area . It's a religion that takes great care of studying the mind to get true rest . I will not judge other religions . I will only tell you the Christian faith I know . Jesus told the hardworking and heavy burdened people to come to Himself . He has promised that those who come to you will find “ rest ” . I believe in this promise . So I live as Jesus' disciples just like you do . It is because we believe that we are not simply psychological healing, but the rest of the soul , that is, the salvation of the soul that belongs to the deepest dimension of our personality . Have you ever had true rest through Jesus ?How about now ? Can you describe the experience to others ?

 

Cross incident

If you say in terms of the primitive Christian doctrine , to face the cross of Jesus it is the basis of this experience . Jesus' death on the cross is the most unfair and painful event in life . All they want to avoid the crucifixion at the time , I thought it a foolish death . But the disciples and early Christians thought it was the power of God and the wisdom of God ( 1 Corinthians 1:24). It is because we receive salvation ( life ) through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ . If you change it to today's theme, it means that you will find true rest through the death of Jesus Christ . Does this really make sense ?

Consider the site where Jesus was crucified . For Jesus, the event is despair . It was a place where I couldn't get help from anyone . No regrets for past events or future life planning can be involved . It is a moment of isolated servants that everyone is afraid of . According to the disciples who wrote the Gospels, Jesus said seven words on the cross . In short , " God , why are you forsaking me ?" It is . It does not mean that you died while resentful of God . Those who do not love God cannot say this . Those who absolutely did not hope that the Kingdom of God and His righteousness would come true in this world do not understand this . The other side of God's experience is abandonment from God . Jesus' remarks, hung on the cross, are proof that he has completely committed his destiny to God .

Think more practically about the existence of death on the cross . It doesn't matter who lives in a more luxurious house in front of the crucifixion . It is pointless to be recognized by others . Our big and small bragging doesn't mean anything . This is why the great theologians looked down on their writings at the last minute . There is no room for argument between capitalism, socialism or communism . Whether that person is heterosexual or homosexual is not a matter of controversy . The crucifixion is the place to stand completely naked before God . If the crucifixion takes place in our daily lives , this is the existence of our Christians, and we will move on to a life on a completely different level from today's life, which is distracted by our desire for recognition . Only then will we be given true rest . So the disciples and early Christians were able to confess that they were freed from sin and death through the cross of Jesus .

Saints love you , if you enter deep into the heart of the Christian faith, even as Christians, not departing from the plausible cheosesul of the world . In that way, you may manage to end your life, but like a slave, you cannot avoid the “ hardwork and heavy burden ” . Thinking of such a life as life . Draw close to Jesus Christ . Then you are a true soul " pause " will be met . That is salvation . Amen .