마태복음 Matthew 12:3-9 씨를 뿌리는 자가 뿌리러 나가서 뿌릴새 더러는 길 가에 떨어지매 새들이 와서 먹어버렸고 더러는 흙이 얇은 돌밭에떨어지매 흙이 깊지 Journal of Korean American 아니하므로 곧 싹이Ministries 나오나 & Theology해가 돋은 후에 타져서 뿌리가 없으므로 말랐고 더러는No. 5 가시떨기 위에 떨어지매 2012 가시가 자라서 기은을 막았고 더러는 좋은 땅에 떨어지매 BIBLE 혹 백배, 혹 육십배, 혹 삽십배의 결실을 하였느니라 Columbia Theological Seminary 귀있는 자는 들으라 하시니라www.webkam.org/journal A Farmer went out to sow his seed. As we was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed1 fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop | No. 5, 2012 -– Bible a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear. Journal of Korean American Ministries & Theology Number 5 2012 BIBLE Editor and Publisher Paul Junggap Huh, Ph. D. Columbia Theological Seminary Decatur, Georgia Co-Editor For any questions, subscription, and Daniel Adams, Ph.D. articles please contact: St. Johns, Florida Tel. 404-687-4538 Assistant Editor E-mail: [email protected] Hyun Ho Park Atlanta Bethany U. M. Church Copyright©2012 Buford, Georgia All rights reserved. No part of this journal may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher, Korean American Ministries at Columbia Theological Seminary. COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Korean American Ministries 701 S. Columbia Dr. P.O. Box 520 Decatur, Georgia 30031 www.webkam.org 2 | No. 5, 2012 - Bible Beatitudes Revisited: Blessings to the Poor and Woes to the Rich Hyun Ho Park1 1. Korean 95 Theses October 31st, 2008, in Pusan, Korea, a group of people eager to reform churches in Korea presented “95 Theses for the Reformation of Korean Church.”2 It was the very same day that Martin Luther sent to Albert of Mainz his copy of “Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” later known as “The Ninety-Five Theses” 491 years ago. In the new 95 theses, they admit that the Korean Church is corrupted and lost the power to transform the society, because it refused to implement the teachings of the Bible. They lay out, therefore, new imperatives that the Korean Church should embrace at the doctrinal level as well as at the practical level. Among those 95 theses, I believe, it is necessary to point out theses related to the material possessions, because it is one of places where Korean Church is most severely criticized. The building project of mega churches often becomes an issue in Korean newspapers. The huge farewell gift for retiring pastors of those churches is also not an exception. The hereditary succession of Senior Pastors became an accepted phenomenon among their own circles despite criticisms from the majority of clergies and lay people. We see that there is a common issue that undergoes all these problems: money. To reform the use of money in Korean Church, these Korean reformers present seven theses dedicated to this issue in particular from 29 to 35: 29. We believe that the Korean Church should apply the ethic of the Beatitudes, its spirituality, concern for the poverty and justice, and the preservation of created order. 56 1 Hyun Ho Park is a graduate of Candler School of Theology, Emory University, M.Div., Th.M., and a youth pastor at Bethany Korean United Methodist Church, Suwanee, Georgia. [email protected] 2 For the full text, visit http://www.dangdangnews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=8296 | No. 5, 2012 - Bible Beatitudes Revisited 30. We hope that the Korean Church eagerly helps the poor, the alienated, and the oppressed. 31. We believe that the Korean Church should participate in the movement to implement the system of the common sharing of the land according to the law of Jubilee. 32. We asked that the Korean Church becomes a community of equality where the rich share their possessions with the poor. 33. We do not regard an unearned income that Korean mega churches made through speculative investment in real estate as God’s blessing. 34. We refuse the accumulation of wealth by the Korean Church. 35. We shall seek the spirituality of voluntary poverty and participate in world poverty. In the 29th theses, they make clear that their economic reform in Korean Church is based on the Beatitude, especially its concern for the poverty and justice. Then, the following questions should be asked: “What is the vision of economy that Jesus talks about in the Beatitudes?” “In this new economic vision, what is the mandate that Christians should follow?” This paper is an attempt to answer those questions especially through the reading of Luke’s Gospel. The primary goal of this study, however, is the enlightenment of individuals rather than the Korean Church, because the change of community takes place, only when its members begin to change. This awareness brings us to our starting point, the teaching of the Beatitudes in the Korean Church. 2. The Teaching of the Beatitudes in the Korean Church There is a reductionist tendency in teaching the Beatitudes in Korean churches. They teach only one version of the Beatitudes, and barely the other: Matthean beatitudes are preferred while Lucan beatitudes are neglected. Most church members remember that the Beatitudes start with “Blessed are the poor in spirit” as in Matthew rather than “Blessed are you who are poor” as in Luke. Because of this strong Matthean voice, people sometimes even forget that there are beatitudes in Luke’s Gospel. There could be various reasons for this. First, Matthew has a longer version of the 57 Beatitudes, 9 beatitudes, while Luke has a shorter version, only 4 beatitudes. Second, Matthew’s Beatitudes are followed by a long teaching of Jesus called the Sermon on the Journal of Korean American Ministries & Theology | Hyun Ho Park Mount (Matthew 5-7. 111 verses), while Luke’s beatitudes are followed by a shorter teaching called the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20-49. 30 verses). Third, Matthew’s Beatitudes invoke so-called religious sensitivity, because it focuses the condition of the heart – “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3); “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). However, the issue is not simply why one version of the Beatitudes is preferred over the other. Rather, it is what is missing from the other, what Luke’s version of the beatitudes says, and its mandate, what Luke’s Beatitudes require of us. Therefore, it is necessary to find out the difference between Matthean Beatitudes and Lucan Beatitudes, and what Jesus requires of his disciples in Luke’s Gospel. In doing so, I will argue that according to Luke’s Gospel, the blessedness is the given condition for the poor, while woes for the rich, and in order for the rich to enter the kingdom of God they have to share their possessions with the poor. 3. The Blessings to the Poor In Lucan beatitudes, Jesus presents a new economic vision that the poor become rich and the rich become poor in their blessedness. A redaction study of Luke 6:20-23 shows that in Luke the blessedness is the given condition for the poor disciples. In other words, in Luke Jesus identifies the poverty of his disciples with blessedness. In Luke, first, the audience of Jesus’ teaching is his disciples, “Then he looked up at his disciples and said” (Luke 6:20), while in Matthew it is crowds and his disciples, “When Jesus saw the crowds…his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak” (Matthew 5:1-2). Second, the poor are among his disciples, as Luke uses second person pronoun, “Blessed are you who are poor” (Luke 6:20). They are hungry now (Luke 6:21). They do not hunger and thirst for righteousness as in Matthew (Matthew 5:6). They are blessed not because righteousness will be fulfilled for them, but because their empty bellies will be filled (Luke 6:21. Cf. Matthew 5:6). In this sense, it is appropriate to read the third beatitude in the same manner. They are weeping now, because they are poor and hungry, 58 but they will laugh, because theirs is the kingdom of God, and they will be filled (Luke 6:21. Cf. Luke 6:20-21). This is good news which Jesus mentioned in his inaugural | No. 5, 2012 - Bible Beatitudes Revisited address at Nazareth: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18). They are blessed despite their poverty.3 This ironical conclusion brings the third feature of the Lucan beatitudes: in Luke blessedness is not the future condition that will be given but the present reality which has been already given to the poor among Jesus’ disciples. They are blessed, not because the kingdom of heaven will be theirs, but because it is theirs (Luke 6:20). They are the blessed, not only because they will be filled and laugh, but also because they are hungry and weeping now (Luke 6:21). Though Luke connects their blessedness to their future condition which will be inverted, his focus is the present. This becomes more obvious, when we compare Luke with Matthew. Matthew does not use “now” (Matthew 5:6) but constantly use future indicative “they will…” (Matthew 5:4, 5, 7, 8, 9).