Message: A Spirituality Named Compassion / Mt 25:36-46

One of the expressions I didn't learn in school in South Korea is "what the hxxx." I have often heard it when watching TV shows or movies, and one thing I've learned for sure is that this phrase is not used in pleasant situations. You probably know what it means much better than I do.

Hell is not a word that puts people in a good mood. In the West, the image of hell has been cemented since Dante's Divine Comedy in the 14th century. The Divine Comedy describes the afterlife and is divided into three parts: Inferno (hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise). In his book, hell has nine circles, each where people are punished based on the sins they committed in life. Dante painted a great picture of the afterlife for the time he lived, and it's still considered a wonderful piece of literature.

However, this understanding of hell differs from the biblical concept of hell. In Jesus' day, it was believed that when people died, they all went to Hades, the Greek translation of Sheol in the Old Testament. Some Jews at the time, like the Sadducees, believed it was the end of life, while others, like the Pharisees, believed that people would be resurrected on the Day of the Lord, with the righteous going to the kingdom of God and the wicked going to hell. 

In the 17th century, when the Bible was first translated into English, Hades was also translated as hell because of a lack of understanding of the biblical background. However, most English translations today do not translate Hades as hell.

So, what kind of hell is Jesus referring to in his teaching? In the Gospels, the word hell appears a total of 11 times: 7 in Matthew, 3 in Mark, 1 in Luke, and never once in John. This term doesn't appear directly in today's Gospel reading, but the expression "eternal fire" is used as a milder version of it.

In ancient Israel, hell was a real place. The Greek word for it is "γέεννα" (Gehenna) meaning "The valley of Hinnom", which is located south of Jerusalem. The place got a bad reputation because it was where Ahaz and Manasseh, kings of the Kingdom of Judah, sacrificed their children to the god Molech (2 Kings 16:3; 21:6). 

Through the Law, God forbade human sacrifice: "You shall not give any of your offspring to sacrifice them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD" (Leviticus 18:21). Nevertheless, some Israelite leaders threw their own children into the fire to get political advantage. Can you imagine the big smoke rising from the valley of Hinnom and the cries of children being sacrificed there? Because of this, it was also called the Burning Place or the Valley of Slaughter.

In the Hebrew Bible, the major prophets, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel all strongly criticized these human sacrifices. God spoke through Jeremiah, "They go on building the high place of Topheth (burning), which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire-which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the LORD, when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they will bury in Topheth until there is no more room" (Jeremiah 7:31-32).

Today's Gospel reading is Jesus' teaching to his disciples on the Mount of Olives, which is a hill to the east of Jerusalem. If you look down on Jerusalem from here, you can see the valley of Hinnom, Gehenna, Hell to your left. When Jesus spoke to his disciples pointing to the right as the place of the righteous for eternal life and to the left as eternal fire for the wicked, the meaning of his teaching must have come alive for them.

Hell was a real place. Hell was a place where the powerless were abused as tools for the desires of the powerful. Hell was a place where the image of God in human beings was ignored. Hell was a place where human dignity was trampled upon. Sadly, hell still exists somewhere in the world today.

The good news is that the Gospels are not for hell but for the kingdom of God. The word kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven appears ten times more often than hell in the Gospels. Jesus' teachings and ministry were all about the kingdom of God. God doesn't want to lose a single person. Like the shepherd who leaves his 99 sheep and goes out of his way to find the one lost sheep, God wants everyone to be saved.

We believe that God never changes. But paradoxically, we can find in the Bible that God often changes His mind. The book of Judges is a good example of this. God says He will never save the fallen Israelites, but when He sees them suffering because of their corruption, His heart softens and He saves them again. This pattern repeats from beginning to end in the book.

This character of God is also seen in the Book of Jonah. God tells the prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell them that God is going to punish them. Jonah doesn't want to be there as the messenger of bad news. But after experiencing God’s power, he goes to Nineveh and proclaims God's message. When the people of Nineveh repent after hearing the prophecy, God changes His mind and doesn't punish them. When the prophecy doesn't come true, Jonah becomes a liar. He is angry with God, and God tells him how much He cares for and loves humans.

God changes because of His unchanging love. This is the faithfulness of God in the Bible. What matters to God is not so much that a prophecy of punishment is fulfilled, but that people hear it and return to God. Therefore, a prophecy of judgment is the last chance God gives people, and when it is not fulfilled, it becomes a successful prophecy. The same is true of the warning of eternal punishment in today's text. With this teaching, Jesus is inviting everyone to come to the kingdom of God. 

So, what is the kingdom of heaven like in contrast to the valley of Hinnom? Did such a place even exist? The New Testament shows that heaven looks like the earliest church. In that community of followers filled with the Holy Spirit, the image of God in the least was not ignored or turned away. The hungry, the thirsty, the strangers, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned were treated like Jesus Christ. There was no discrimination. There was no longer slave or free, male or female, Jew or Gentile because all of them were one in Christ Jesus. They wept with those who wept and rejoiced with those who rejoiced. They worshiped together, prayed together, and broke bread together. It was a holy sanctuary on earth, a foretaste of the invisible, eternal kingdom of God.

The title of today's sermon “A Spirituality Named Compassion” comes from the name of a book written by theologian Matthew Fox. In the book, he emphasizes the importance of compassion as a hallmark of spirituality. The Holy Spirit restores our wounded souls, which enables us to discover the image of God in all people. The image of God is a reminder of God’s unchanging love and faithfulness, so spirituality leads us to be compassionate as God is compassionate. In this regard, compassion is not pity, narcissism, or a moral commandment. It is a flow and overflow of the fullest human and divine energies. As the body of Christ, the church is a place where spirituality is nurtured and compassion is practiced.

God calls us to be the church. God calls us to be the visible Reign of Christ where God’s love and hope shines on those suffering in a hell-like reality. God calls us to be a welcoming community to all people, regardless of age, ability, race, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and even religion. Whenever you think of our congregation at the end of an exhausting and difficult day, may it be a place where you feel a warm rush of happiness in your heart. 

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Reign of Christ Sunday, November 26, 2023
South Stormont Pastoral Charge
Rev. Min Hwang

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Message: Like Mom's Food / Luke 6:17-26

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.  Then he looked up at his disciples and said:      “Blessed are you who are poor,      for yours is the kingdom of God.      “Blessed are you who are hungry now,      for you will be filled.      “Blessed are you who weep now,      for you will laugh.  “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the...
Read more

Message: Fragrance of Love / John 12:1-8

Have you ever smelled something and, all of a sudden, it reminded you of a special memory? Maybe it was the smell of cookies baking, and it made you think of your grandmother’s kitchen. Or maybe the smell of grass after it was cut reminded you of summertime when you played outside as a child. Or perhaps the smell of fresh coffee made you feel calm, like a slow and peaceful morning. Smell is powerful. It does not just enter our nose; it reaches into our heart. This happens because, unlike our other senses, smells go directly to the part of the brain that stores emotions and important memories. In this way, a scent can take us back to moments we have experienced before. This is known as the Proust Phenomenon. The term comes from the French writer Marcel Proust and his novel In Search of Lost Time. In one scene, the main character, Marcel, dips a small madeleine cookie into warm tea and takes a bite. At that moment, a vivid memory of his childhood at his grandmother’s house suddenly retur...
Read more

Message: Dance of the Wind / Acts 2:1-21

Today is Pentecost Sunday. This is the day we remember when the earliest followers of Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit and the Church came into being. It is the day when a new community of faith was born through the breath of God. It is a day full of mystery, courage, and hope. According to the book of Acts, on the 40th day after the resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven. Before he left, he told his followers not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of God. He said, “This is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:4–5). So they stayed. About 120 people remained in Jerusalem. They waited and prayed. They did not know what would happen, but they trusted what Jesus had told them. Several days later, it was the day of Pentecost. This was a Jewish festival when people from many different places came together in Jerusalem to worship and celebrate. The city was filled wit...
Read more