 All
Christians should recognize who Jesus truly is. He proclaimed
freedom and liberation for all people in the name of God. He
insisted that people are the center of any religious system,
religious practice, societal system of law or governmental system.
He fought against false religious practices and the abuse of
the power of government. All religious and governmental systems
should justify their existence through affirming and serving
the dignity of individuals.
We usually
explain Jesus' life in terms of his private life in Nazareth
and his public life of ministry, or his period of preparation
and fulfillment. However, more than Jesus' thirty years of preparation
and three years of public life, the three days of Jesus' death
and resurrection are the core of the gospel. We feel renewed
when we reflect upon the experience of thirty years of preparation,
three years of ardent dedication, and three days of death and
resurrection.
For thirty
years we have been trying to be a Christian conscience in the
midst of the conflicts of the real world since our organization
was formed in 1974, when the bishop of the Diocese of Wonju,
Bishop Tji Hak-soon, was arrested. We feel deep emotions when
reflecting upon the mission we have engaged in. Noting the political
and social contradictions through the sufferings and unjust
deaths of many martyrs during the time of dictatorship, we realize
that history is not in the past but in the present, repeating
itself in today's real world. We have experienced the Biblical
slavery in Egypt and the sufferings and pains of the Babylonian
Captivity in our days. We have also met prophets like Moses,
heralds of liberation and prophets of justice in the 1970s and
1980s.
The word
of God is not a static dead word locked in the letters of the
Bible but is living good news continually declared and proclaimed
in the historical events of the past and present.
Thus the
reality in which we now live is the very place of revelation
and the present place where the words of the Bible live. In
today's world there are a number of Pharaohs, idolaters of the
golden calf, betrayers, swindlers, murderers, conspirators,
Herods, Pilates, Judas' and agitated crowds. And also in today's
reality there are many people who are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Moses, Jesus, prophets, apostles, disciples, martyrs and sincere
sons and daughters of God.
We
should look deeply into history and the present reality with
the eyes of religion, the Bible and God. That is the reason
that Christians exist. In today's world, the powers of darkness
are still rampant. We will all keep striving to become bright
torches working to bring about change in this conflictual world
through the justice of God. |
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