My father was the first Christian in my family. My grandfather was a Confucian and my grandmother a Buddhist. I loved them all. When my father became a Christian, all the family was not happy. I was in trouble whenever family gathering happened. I didn’t know how to behave, especially in religious activity such as ancestral memorial ceremony: following a Confucian way or a Christian way. I was confused and didn’t know which way to go. They all said that “the one right way is always my way, or my religion’s way. It’s my way or the highway.” But what about God’s way? What about the way Christ showed us?
In all religions the way is an important symbol of human life. We are all wanderers. We are always on the way and keep going. But the way is often long and winding, ups and downs, and rough and plain. We stand by ourselves. We religious people tend to raise ourselves up and put the other down like Pharisees: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” We all have some “them” in our lives. Why?
We fear the stranger. We fear that which is different and unknown. We fear not being enough. We fear intimacy and being vulnerable, being hurt. In a word, we fear facing ourselves and the truth of our lives. Therefore, we tend to stand by ourselves looking at the other through the lens of our way, trusting that my way is the highway. Is there
another way?
Yes, there is. The way of Jesus. Jesus did not use his status as God’s son as an escape or something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself and chose obedience to the point of death. In so doing he fully embodied God’s life and, consequently, human life. Self-emptying allows full embodiment and presence. Jesus as the Way invites us to see and experience the other’s life and world as we see and experiences it.
What does it mean to follow Jesus as the way in my family context? Not condemning but emptying and embodying. Jesus empties himself to more fully embody and reveal God. He detaches from the temple structure. He cleanses and purifies the old ways. Emptying and embodying are the way of Jesus, the only way to God. Now emptying and embodying are our way into God’s heart.
Reflection:
“You need a spiritual pilgrimage. Begin by closing your mouth.”
( The Egyptian Fathers)
What is it like that we stand in
their
shoes, to see with
their
eyes, to face
their
fears, to struggle with
their
needs and desires, to feel with
their
heart, not ours as a Lenten spiritual practice?
Pastor Seok-Hwan
