2003.03.23. Calling(4) / Lent 3rd Sunday - Rev. Young Jin Cho

"If Anyone Is Thirsty"

John 7:37-44

Many years ago, Pastor Tony Campolo, one of the spiritual advisers to former president Clinton and widely acknowledged as an evangelist for youth, was teaching at the University of Pennsylvania. That semester, he happened to be teaching a class called "Existentialism and Sociology." On the first day of class, he spotted a student and asked, "How long have you lived?" The student answered, "I have lived twenty-two years." Then Professor Campolo asked again, "That is the number of the years your heart has beat. How long have you really lived?" He then told them of this experience. When he was in 9th grade, he visited New York City. He said that he never would forget the experience he had when he went up the Empire State Building for a million years. Professor Campolo asked the student how long had he lived such a beautiful, unforgettable life. The student answered: "I do not whether I have lived such a life for even two or three minutes. Much of time in my life was meaningless, and only for a short while did I ever feel that I was truly alive"

This is the fourth Sunday of a series of sermons under the title "Calling." During that time, I have preached about how we should live today before the calling of God, "Where are you?" in Genesis chapter three. On the second Sunday I talked about God's forgiveness and grace that calls us to make our scarlet red sins white like wool. Last Sunday in Mathew 11, I talked about the calling for rest and peace in God's voice to those who carry a heavy burden and are weary. Today, I would like to preach about our calling to a fruitful life, a life of meaning.

I.

It was on the Feast of Tabernacles when Jesus went to Jerusalem. The Feast of Tabernacles had two important meanings for the Israelites. First, it was to remember their 40 years in the wilderness after the Israelites escaped from Egypt. According to our present calendar, it was around October 15th when the Israelites were forbidden to stay at home or in a hotel. They spent a week pitching tents in wilderness or desert within around twenty miles from the center of Jerusalem. The second important meaning was that it was the season to offer thanks for the year's harvest. Because of this, the season was also called the Harvest Festival. In the Feast of Tabernacles, there was one special custom-to draw water from the pond of Siloam and to carry it to spray at the temple. In particular, the priests would carefully carry the water of Siloam in a golden jar to the temple, and the priests and the people together would read aloud the words, "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation" from Isaiah 12:3. On the last day of this feast, the whole crowd would circle seven times around the altar like their ancestors had circled seven times around the castle of Jericho. It was called "The Day of Great Hosanna" because they chanted Hosanna many times.

However, Jesus in the center of this water festival said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me…streams of living water will flow from within him."

II.

When our body needs water, this is a natural thing. There are not many important things in our lives like thirst. It is said that a person can fast for 40 days but without water, it is difficult to last 3 days. Water is this essential to us. It is important to fulfill our physical thirst, but the truly important thing is spiritual thirst. We are to fulfill our spiritual thirst.

Dear congregation, is it enough for our lives to supply just enough water for us not be thirsty? What does this mean for our lives if we physically are not thirsty? Like the question asked earlier by Professor Tony Campolo, our life is not just to fulfill our physical needs. The lord of all creation has a yearning that goes beyond just the physical desire of animals. In short, it is a desire for something to live for, for a fruitful life. It is a yearning for a meaningful life.

When I was studying in seminary school in Korea, there was a Jewish psychologist whom I was interested in and wrote my graduate thesis on. His name was Victor Frankl, and he passed away several years ago. Mr. Frankl had suffered through the deadly concentrations camp of Germany during World War II. Based on that experience, he wrote a book titled "Man's Search for Meaning," which became a best seller. He was interested in what was the most fundamental will of man. According to Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, the fundamental will of man was his will for pleasure. He regarded the search for pleasure as man's most important will. On the contrary, Alfred Alder saw man's fundamental will as the will for power. He claimed that the greatest fundamental will of man was that he wanted to be acknowledged by other people through the collection of power, the power of knowledge, politics, and economy. But Victor Frankl saw a different side to man during his life in the concentration camps. When he saw those people who had survived a fate worse than death, they were the ones who felt their lives still had meaning. Based on this same experience, he regarded the fundamental will of man as the will to meaning. And he said that when this will to meaning was not satisfied, man felt meaningless. Today, this is called spiritual neurosis.

That's right. Man does not exist solely to satisfy this desire. There is nothing more tenacious and persistent than the desire for the pleasure. But also there is hardly anyone happy who clings to pleasure. [When he led a righteous life, Frankl saw that pleasure was the result of a good life, not the goal of life. If life seeks out pleasure, it cannot be freed from thirst forever. Because, the satisfaction from pleasure is temporary, once you taste it, you will be seeking a new and more stimulating pleasure. Congregation, why do you think that Kings Dominion on the way to Richmond installs new rides every year? When you see the newly installed rides that make you more dizzy, are breathtaking and crazy, why do they do so? It's because once you ride them, the pleasure fades. Life is the same way.

Many people live with a desire for success. But dear congregation, what is success? If you earn a lot of money, are successful, and become famous, they say that this is success. Dear congregation, is success indeed such a thing? Success when you are at the top may make you feel excited and happy. But no one can stay on top forever. Not knowing when the time will come, without exception everyone will come down from the top. The desire for success cannot also give us true happiness and satisfaction in our lives. Because of this, Bob Bufford wrote a book titled "Half Time" which advises us to pursue a meaningful life rather than success.

That's right. There is fundamental thirst in human life. It is the desire for life. It is the desire for a meaningful life, a worthwhile life. A life that goes beyond the dimension in which simply the heart beats and the body is alive. The key word in the Gospel of John is "life." Life, the desire for a fruitful and meaningful life, is deep in our hearts. It is a desire that is much deeper and more fundamental than the desire for pleasure or outward success. In today's scripture, a thirsty person is one who feels this desire. He is a person who feels in his heart a desire for a life that is rich, a life that is full of worth and meaning, a fruitful life.

Every one has this fundamental desire, but it seems that there are not many who experience such a true life. In our lives, there does not seem to be many times when we experience life's true meaning and inspiration. There was an 80-year-old Swiss who upon reflecting back on his own life calculated a timetable. During his 80 years, he slept for 26 years and worked for 21 years. He used 6 years for taking meals. He wasted 5 years breaking appointment's with other people. He spent another 5 years just being anxious, and 228 days shaving and washing. He spent 20 days for playing with children, 18 days putting on a tie, and 12 days lighting cigarettes. During his 80-year life, he spent only 46 hours feeling truly happy, joyful and worthwhile.

Dear congregation, to live does not automatically mean to live happily. To live is not what is important. What is important is that we live a worthwhile and meaningful life. In man's inner self, there is the desire for this life, for a worthwhile life. When we turn away from this desire, we will grow empty. We will lose the inspiration and appreciation for life. We will live a thirsty life.

III.

Then, where is the answer to the fundamental thirst of man? Where can we find meaning life's meaning and worth? Where can we find he life, this abundant life? Where is the answer to my thirsty life?

When our Lord was walking around Palestine, he said, n, he is saying this to us today, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

(1) This morning, Jesus is calling. He is saying to come to Him those who are thirsty, who feel the thirst for life, and seek life. Come to him and drink. Dear congregation, are you wandering without finding real meaning in your life? Our LORD is calling you to come this morning. Are you a person who is thirsty but feels caught? Our LORD is calling to you to come this morning. Is it OK for you to live the rest of your life like this? Are you a person who secretly worries? Our LORD is calling. He is calling us to come to Him. Do you feel empty when you are trying in vain with all your strength to catch your dream for success? The LORD is calling us. He is calling earnestly to come to Him. It is a great invitation. It is a great calling.

(2) Jesus has promised. As the Scriptures says, "Whoever believes in Him, streams of living water will flow from within him." We believe that the head is for reason, and the heart for emotion. But the Jews see it differently. They believe that reason was in the heart, and emotion, will and life was in the stomach. Therefore, the stomach was the deepest place in a person. Jesus said if anyone would believe him, the spring water would flow like a river from his being, from the deepest place of his spirit. Apostle John added that this spring water is the Holy Spirit that Jesus pours into those who believe Him.

That's right. Believing in Jesus Christ is more than just acquiring knowledge about Jesus. Believing Jesus Christ is accepting Him directly into your life. It is not only accepting his thoughts and teaching, but also accepting Jesus Christ himself, who because he was resurrected after the tomb door was opened and therefore still lives today. When we accept Christ, when we believe Him, His spirit, the Holy Spirit will come and reside in our spirit. The Holy Spirit will begin to reign over and lead our lives. The most significant work of the Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of Christ is to guide us to the truth. It leads us to a life built on the truth. Therefore, our lives cannot but change. We then live a fruitful life, a life full of meaning, a life worth living.

I would like to share with you a note written by Deaconess Kim, Kwang-Hye, which appeared in a newsletter published by the Arcolar United Methodist Church of New Jersey.

In South Orange, New Jersey, there lives a surgeon named Kenneth Swan. In 1966, he saved an American soldier in the Vietnam War. One day out of the blue, the doctor remembered the past and though about the young man. In the Vietnam War, a young man was rushed to the hospital. Covered with blood and dirt from a bomb explosion, he was in an unrecognizable state. When he entered the emergency room, all the other doctors warned that he could not be saved and that it would be better to let him die. However, since not only was it a doctor's responsibility for treating the sick and wounded, but also that the taking and giving away of life was only up to God, the doctor Ken decided to operate and spent seven hours in surgery. He had to amputate the young man's two legs, and finger. And not even the eye specialist could save his sight.

Looking at him without his eyes and legs, the next day the doctors accused the doctor that he should have left the patient die. Doctor Ken was so pained that he wrote a letter to his wife in his home country about how the other doctors wanted to let the young man die but he nevertheless was determined to save him. The soldier was 19 years old, a handsome boy with blond hair, and had the same name Ken. He heard that four days after the surgery, the patient was sent back to Japan and a month later returned to his hometown in America. Twenty-one years had passed since that incident.

In 1989 doctor Ken talked about the young man while being interviewed by Peter MacPherson, a journalist for the "American Medical News." After the interview was released, doctor Ken received many inquiries such as: "How is the soldier doing?" "Do you still believe your decision to save his life was the right one?" The journalist Peter who interviewed doctor Ken suggested that he seek out the soldier. They researched for 6 months but they were disappointed to find no trace of him, and as time went by, they forgot him. But once the journalist Peter happen to see the computer files of Casualty Care Research Center for another article he was writing, where he found the file of the soldier Ken. Despite having the heart to find him, the procedure was complicated and although he made several formal request, he received no reply. Also the doctor Ken was busy abroad lecturing in various countries in the Middle East, such as Kuwait and Iraq, and two years passed again. However, in the summer of 1991 a reply finally arrived. They found out that the soldier Ken was living in south George in America, and his last name was McGarity.

He was married with two daughters, was playing the piano, the trumpet, and scuba dived. With a serious expression, the doctor did not believe the news and said it must be another person, but Peter was sure he was the soldier Ken that they were looking for.

Twenty-three years after that terrible surgery in Vietnam, on September 23, 1991, doctor Ken and journalist Peter accompanied by a photographer went to Columbus Georgia to meet soldier Ken. The doctor Ken kept imagining for a long time a young man of 19 years, tall, handsome and blond hair. But the soldier Ken seated in a wheelchair next to his wife was over 40, bald and stocky. With a missing finger, Ken's handshake was strong and he was humorous and generous. After graduating from graduated high school he finished college in one year. Although he could not see, he learned to play the piano by listening, changed two daughters' diapers, fixed car tires, climbed trees to cut down branches, did carpentry, and repaired roofs.

He answered the journalist's question on how he could have the courage to live such a strong life with such great hardship. First, when he was admitted to a hospital in Chicago, he happened to hear a doctor asking another doctor, "Why did they save him?" At that point, he decided to prove that doctor wrong. Second, he would be crazy to think because he could not do anything, he would have no life. He said, "I can still feel the wind blowing on my face, the sun warming my skin. I can hear sound, voices and music!"

Ken's splendid wife Theresa was born and raised in a Christian family, and was 19 years old and just graduated high school when she met Ken. Since 1970 when she first met him at an annual picnic, she neither felt nor saw his disability, and came to love the person who pleasantly joked in such hardship; within 4 months of meeting, they married. Theresa told the doctor, "I had always hoped to meet and thank the person who saved my husband. I thank you for giving me 20 or more years of a happy life with Ken, for the two daughters, and for my life as I grow and live with him, a life full of responsibilities. How long did you take to make your decision to save him? Maybe 15 seconds? That decision was one that was responsible for the person who would walk with me for the rest of my life."

Then the doctor answered, "I truly made the right decision. I need to care after the patients and only God decides who live and dies! Ken McGarity is a patriot, a hero, a husband, a father, a friend and a living witness for all."

Everyone thought that it would be better to let the young man die, but even without two legs and a finger and without sight, he could still live enjoying his life. He could live feeling the worth and meaning of life.

If Christ comes, we can live. We can live drinking the spring water with no thirst. We can live feeling the thanks and purpose that springs within the Holy Spirit. Because of this, our LORD is calling us today: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."