2002.3.3. Lent 3rd Sunday - Rev. Sang Keun Kim

Leaving Jericho

Luke 19:1-10

There is a Korean proverb that says "even the most rugged mountain changes in 10 years". This past month of February, I spent lots of time thinking about many things. That's because February marked my 10th year in the U.S. In those ten years, I pondered about what path I had walked and about what path I need to go in the future. I am sure you remember the times when you departed your country from Kimpo Airport amid the farewell crowd of family and friends. I can still remember the awkward feeling upon my arrival at New Jersey Newark Airport. On that winter day it was pouring down. All those people who came with the same plane met their parties at the gate and left the airport one by one, but I, who had nobody in the U.S., was left alone looking out at the runway of the airport. I wasn't sure whether raindrops entered my eyes, but my eyes started to water and I couldn't distinguish whether it was raindrops or tears. Regardless, starting that day I have since lived diligently in this country. Amid difficult times I have tried not to lose my smile, and even though I have nothing to show for, I can say that I have lived diligently. However, looking at the past ten years of my life, I have to confess that all of those things happened under the grace of our Lord.

It's been 8 months since I came down to Washington for full time ministries upon graduation. I live in an apartment complex next to Hanahreum. My neighborhood is a typical "immigrant village". At the nearby elementary school there are students from 40 countries attending school. It is a neighborhood comprised of people around the world who came here to live diligently to fulfill their American dreams. If you want to observe the diligent lifestyles of the immigrants, you can do so by going to the Hanahreum supermarket. If you go there you feel like being home. Amid expensive prices, it's a marketplace where people stand in long lines to purchase all kinds of Korean foods. If you leave that place and go down Gallows Road, you reach Annandale. It's Korea town. It's a place where you can find Korean Bookstores, restaurants, etc. Diligent fellow countrymen are devoting themselves even today in this area. When I see some of those hardworking countrymen, I feel like being home and often experience a warming of my heart.

Every time I pass Annandale, this area where Koreans and other minorities intermingle, I often think that it is similar to Jericho, which Jesus passed by 2000 years ago. At the time of Jesus, Jericho, which was 16 miles away from Jerusalem, was a lively city. According to records, King Herod built a city to the South of the Old Testament Jericho and named it Jericho, and it was utilized as Herod's winter capital. Due to its location and its connection to Jerusalem and the Jordan River, many people who were seeking new opportunities came to the city. Similar to Washington, D.C., Jericho at the time of Jesus was a vibrant migrating city with many immigrants. Today's story in the scripture with Zacchaeus on the fig tree also occurred in this city.

In the entire New Testament, there are only three places where Jericho is mentioned. If we read these places carefully, we can certainly discover the similarities between Washington and Jericho at Jesus' lifetime.

The first story can be found in Mark 10:46. As Jesus and the disciples passed Jericho a large crowd followed them. It is natural to see the blind beggar shouting amid the crowd of people and heavy traffic. As he heard that Jesus was passing Jericho, the blind man shouted out " Son of David, have mercy on me" Those people who were able to see Jesus, did not truly recognize who he was but the blind man first recognized Jesus' being. With a loud voice the blind Bartimaeus shouted " Son of David have mercy on me". But what was the reaction of the surrounding people in Jericho? What attitude did these people show to him? Verse 48 says " many rebuked him and told him to be quiet". The large crowd rebuked him "be quiet, be calm, don't make loud noise".

We are living as immigrants in this country. The situations have improved much more, however, there are still discriminations that are being experienced to this day. Still, D.C. is a place with many foreign diplomats and as the capital of the U.S. it is a fairly tolerant place regarding immigrants, however, if you go to the countryside or the deep south, there are unbelievable things happening. I recently had the following experience. On my way to a cell group meeting, I had to make an urgent phone call to the church, and therefore stopped at a Gas station to place the call. But somewhere I heard somebody fighting and a girl crying aloud. As I looked around, I saw a woman in her 40s and a girl who appeared to be her daughter fighting each other in the car. It wasn't actually a fight but rather a one-sided tirade, and the girl was screaming and crying. Therefore, I approached the car and gently asked the woman not to beat the girl through the open window. Suddenly, the woman jumped out of her car and lashed her tirade against me and said, "You are a foreigner, go back to your country!"

Even though I had attempted to live diligently in the U.S. and only asked the woman not to fight, not to beat her daughter, the only thing important to her was my outward appearance indicating my Asian heritage. I am sure that you remember the story of the Chinese American Dr. Wen-Ho Lee was falsely accused of espionage but than was proven innocent. Belonging to the Los Alamos Federal Research Center, he was accused of transferring top-secret information to the Chinese and spent some unfair jail time. I recently read his book called "My country versus Me". While imprisoned, he received the following ridiculous letter. The letter from Buffalo, New York was as follows: "Once a Chinese, always a Chinese, and that goes for your children, too. They are Chinese just like you. There is no place in America for them to hide the fact that their parents are Chinese spies who have betrayed the USA. Your whole family is hated. You need to go back to China. We don't want your people." (My Country versus Me, p. 259).

Even though we wanted to make this place our home, those who came here and lived here before us rebuke us and say "calm down, be quiet, don't make any noise". Looking at the Blind Bartimaeus sitting and shouting in front of the castle of Jericho, and looking at the attitudes of those people surrounding him reminds us of ourselves and our lives as immigrants.

The second time Jericho is mentioned in the New Testament is in Luke 10:30, the story of a man being robbed on his journey. It was a parable used by Jesus to describe who was a true neighbor to the person under suffering. A man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho fell into the hands of robbers. I already mentioned that Jericho was only 16 miles apart from Jerusalem. As you all know, the priest and the Levite leave the half-dying man on the road and pass him. However, a Samaritan, at the time treated as outcast, acts righteously. He acts righteously by healing the wounded man and taking him to an inn. To me this Jericho event is not a far-fetched story without any relevance. Of course, the main character of this parable is the good Samaritan but we can also discover us in the man who fell into the hands of robbers and was almost murdered.

The 1992 L.A. Riots particularly served as an occasion where we, as immigrant Koreans, were able to re-examine about who we are and where we are living. Starting with the brutal beating of Rodney King by Caucasian policemen, this event snowballed into a major problem between the Korean immigrants having their businesses in Downtown L.A. and the African American community. Observing the disappearance of the fruits of their hard labor of our fellow countrymen and their resulting hardships, we were able to reevaluate our status in this country. Looking at the robbed man on his way to Jericho reminded me of our fellow Korean immigrants.

Today's scripture in Luke 19 is the last place in the New Testament where Jericho is being mentioned. It starts with "Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through". Jesus is leaving Jericho and traveling towards the 16 mile away Jerusalem. There, the cross was awaiting him. Right before his arrival at Jerusalem, the last city Jesus visited was the city of Jericho. Today's scripture, the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector on the sycamore fig tree occurred in this city.

Through Zacchaeus' being and actions, I discover our beings and actions being similar to him. Looking at him living in Jericho, we can discover us Koreans living in the U.S. First, Zacchaeus was a short man. Compared to the average height of Americans, we are relatively short. I am about six feet tall, so that I am above average according to Korean standards. However, my friends and professors at school were taller than me. Having constantly had this painful past of always looking up to the taller Americans, I have given a command to my 4-year old son. "The goal is six feet four- two cups of milk per day for you!"

Zacchaeus the tax collector was a short man. Because he was short, he couldn't see the passing Jesus. The taller people blocked his vision. Therefore, Zacchaeus used his smarts. He climbed up the fig tree next to him. It was a clever idea. There is a saying that several qualities are required for a person to succeed. First, a person needs a dream to succeed. Second, one needs skills. Third, courage is required. Finally, smarts is essential. Zacchaeus who climbed up the fig tree to see Jesus used his smarts effectively.

Looking at Zacchaeus, we can discover ourselves. As the tall people blocked the vision of Zacchaeus, we too had to deal with difficulties in our initial starts as immigrants. Therefore, we use all of our smarts to overcome all kinds of obstacles that are put on our way. Right now, which fig tree are you searching for to climb up?

Amongst my acquaintances there is a Korean professor teaching sociology at a public university. He mostly researched the lives of immigrants. There was an occasion when we were able to discuss about the problems immigrants were facing. His opinion was as follows: in the U.S., racial discrimination will never disappear. Not only in the U.S., but everywhere, there is discrimination against immigrants. If you don't want to be discriminated, you need to succeed at work and earn lots of money. Don't get mistreated in cheaper restaurants. Rather, earn lots of money and go to expensive restaurants and order expensive meals to avoid these unpleasant experiences. This was a rough outline of his "theory".

Dear congregation, what was the fig tree of the professor? Sounds pretty good, right? Perhaps it's true, by driving nice cars, by living in a large house, by going to expensive restaurants, we could avoid those experiences. If we succeed in life, others will respect you and therefore, one needs to work diligently to attain this goal. Perhaps, are you climbing up the same fig tree? What tree are you climbing up right now?

Jesus looked at Zacchaeus on the tree and said "Come down immediately". To us on our fig trees of success, promotion, and wealth, Jesus is saying the same: Hurry and come down. Jesus is calling you right now to hurry and come down.

Jesus, who asked Zacchaeus to come down immediately from the fig tree, took care of things. He did not ask him to come down from the fig tree took care of things. He did not ask him to come down from the tree without any solution or plan. Jesus himself met Zacchaeus personally. And he says, "the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost". Jesus who met the descended Zacchaeus passed Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. If you look at the latter part of today's scripture, in verse 28 it says, "after Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem".

Before the betrayal of this disciples and the sufferings on the cross in Jerusalem Jesus passed by Jericho, and right in this last city, he called on Zacchaeus who was sitting on the tree. Hurry and come down- he commanded him. Jesus backed up his words. The Jesus, who himself met the descended Zacchaeus, the Jesus who said, "the son of man came to seek and to save what was lost" backed up his word. The Jesus who commanded Zacchaeus to come down from the tree, went up the tree for Zacchaeus. Through hanging on the tree, Jesus who called Zacchaeus to descend from the tree fulfilled his promise of "coming to seek and to save what was lost".

On what fig tree are you all sitting at the moment? Hurry and come down from that tree immediately. Let's immediately descend from our trees and look at Jesus who hung on the true for us. Don't look around to see where a fig tree is but instead look at the cross. Let's look at Jesus who hung for us on the tree. Before looking for the fig trees of promotion, success, and wealth, let's first look at the cross on the Mount Calvary.

In this time of Lent when we meditate on the sufferings and pains of Jesus, I sincerely invite all of you to Calvary. Now, let's leave Jericho and head towards Jerusalem, the place of suffering and of the cross, to the Mount Calvary.

Let's look at Jesus who hung on the tree for us. For those who want to join me in leaving Jericho to go to Calvary, those who truly want to meet our Jesus intimately, those who accept Jesus as Savior who died on the cross for our sins, I invite all those at this moment to from me in joyfully singing hymn #135.