2007. 4. 22 김영봉 목사

Wail on the Mount of Lebanon
Jeremiah 22:20-23

1.

The day when tragedy struck at Virginia Tech University, I was on my way to an Annual Conference of the Association of Korean American United Methodist Churches being held in Chicago. When I first heard the news, I sighed, “Oh, why Virginia!” Keeping in contact with Reverend Lee Ki Chun, who is our pastor in charge of the college student ministry, I verified the safety of the college student members of our church. Thankfully, I was told that all of our church college members were safe. At the end of the conference’s first day, when I came back to my room, I began to hear in the news that the perpetrator was an Asian student. Upon hearing that news, I sighed, “Oh, why of all people, an Asian?” I comforted myself by saying “It could not have been a Korean student!” I surmised from the situation that the assailant must have been a highly trained shooter, and I thought to myself that it could not have been a Korean student!” But, next day, I was hit with the news that the person was a Korean immigrant student by the name of Cho Seung Hui. I sighed for the third time, “Oh, why of all people, a Korean?”

Although I considered cancelling all remaining schedules and returning to Virginia, I decided to stay on while relying on phone calls and emails to stay in touch with the events in Virginia, until I found it absolutely necessary to return. As time allowed, I gave interviews on the radio, and with the press, and wrote to fellow ministers of the United Methodist Church to communicate our situation, and I came back last Thursday. During the general meeting of the conference, we all prayed for the victims, and after preparing our views on the event, we expressed our position on behalf of the Korean United Methodist Church. Throughout the proceedings, the above three questions remained fixed in my mind. I guess it was because of such a sense of disbelief.
As I meditated and prayed during the Friday dawn prayer meeting, I pondered the words of Jesus to the Hebrew people, “Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!” (Matthew 23:32). In these words, Jesus refers to the sins accumulated by several generations of Jews. Figuratively speaking, if there was a jar in which to put all of the sins in this world, and if that jar should overflow with the accumulation of sins, then the jar would finally tip over and spill all those sins. When the jar becomes empty, the sins start to accumulate once more. Before the jar is filled again we think that everything is going well. . What is heartbreaking is that when the jar of sins tips over once again and pours out all at once, the innocent become the unwitting victims of evil.

The tragedy at Virginia Tech University could be regarded as a jar spilling over the many sins accumulated over past generations. This incident is not just a certain student’s problem. It is not just the Korean emigrants’ problem. Nor is it just the problem of America or of Korea. It is a problem of all humanity. The sins in the private lives, in family lives, in church life, in social life, in national life, and all over the world, have been accumulating and have spilled out through a young man named Cho Seung Hui, who grew up alienated with suppressed pain from taunting, and was withdrawn and timid. Were it not Mr. Cho Seung Hui, were it not Virginia Tech University, and were it not in Virginia, the jar in which we have been dropping our sins in the past would have spilled over eventually somewhere, through someone, and to someone. And as a result, countless innocent bystanders became the victims. As a father of two children, I cannot bear to look straight at the victims’ photos. How unfair are these deaths? How heartbreaking are these deaths?

2.

But history is full of such incidents. When mankind loses its way and accumulates so many sins, then the jar of sins spills over and so many beautiful, pure, and holy souls become sacrificed. When we encounter tragedy, we ask “Why me? Why us? Why my country?” But there is no answer. Through holy sacrifice, mankind is purified, but with the accumulation of more sins mankind becomes once more corrupt and lost.

Thinking this way, if one of the Korean pastors ministering an emigrant church had to face such a tragedy and crisis, then I should not complain that such a burden fell not on someone else but on me. I also thought that, if such an incident had to happen to any ethnic group, we can accept that it was entrusted to the Korean people. Thinking this way, I prayed, “Lord, I thank you for placing the burden on me. Please give me the courage and wisdom in order to face the problem humbly but firmly.”

I also entertained the following thoughts. Let’s presume that the Asian student who committed the crime was Chinese as was the initial rumor. How would we react then? Perhaps we would be acting as onlookers of “fire from across the river” to God’s disappointment. Or perhaps we would be busy trying to point out that ”we are not Chinese.” But since that is not what happened, are we not now lamenting that we are too ashamed to live? What would God think of our thoughts? It means that the ethnic group that says “it is my fault” has more blessing in front of God than the group that says “it would have been terrible if it happened to us.” I am not saying that we were lucky that it happened to us, but let us take this event as an opportunity for noble service.

Facing this tragic event, we should not complain “Why must we suffer this shame and pain because of one person?”, and we should not blame others. As believers we should avoid that kind of thinking. Instead, we should be asking “How many sins have we accumulated that such an enormous tragedy had to break out?” Not only the Koreans, but also everyone in the United States, and people all over the world should ask this question. What could have caused such a tragic result?

In answering the question, please do not say, “It is God’s doing”. I wish that we never ask “Why did God give us such a tragedy?” We frequently ask these questions when faced with a tragedy. I ask that we don’t do the same here. Please avoid using God’s name in vain in our speaking habits. This was the principle Jews have observed. And I agree with this principle. To keep one of the Ten Commandments, “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name” (Exodus 20:7), the Jews avoided the word “God” in their conversations as much as possible. It was because they were afraid of the possibility that they might say that God did things that He never did. Such was the practice of people of good faith.

But among Korean Christians, there is a tendency to think that mentioning God frequently in our conversations is good for faith. One pastor I met was using the word God as the subject in all his sentences. When speaking in that manner, not only does he begin to misunderstand God, he also makes others misunderstand God. When one lives his own life with abandon, only to experience a health problem, why do we say “God brought the illness”? When one drives a business to the ground of his own doing, why do we then ask “God gave me the troubles as a trial”? When we raise our kids our own way, and the child goes the wrong way, why would we say “God brought us an ordeal”?

When I attended a university, there was a close friend with whom I endeavored to share the Gospel. His mother attended church regularly. Whenever I shared my spiritual faith with this friend, he had his complaints about Christianity. This was: “Why do you Christians say all things are from God? I cannot understand why one would say that if you trip over a rock while walking, even that would be from God.” He was saying he could not understand such a religious belief. I also cannot agree with such a view.

It is the same with our tragedy. Please do not say that God gave us such a tragedy. How could this be of God’s doing? God does not wish for such a tragedy. It is my belief that the one who suffers most from this tragedy is God in his Holy Trinity. God asks us who have piled up our sins and suffered a tragic loss, “How could you have left things to turn out this way?”. God shares the suffering with those parents who have lost their loved ones. And He expects us to restore calm and peace in order to allow the pain and suffering to subside.

3.

As I reflect on the event, I see our accumulated sins from three perspectives. I am not speaking of Cho Seung Hui specifically. I am speaking of sins that all of us have committed. Although there are some differences in opinion, the experts who diagnosed Cho Seung Hui agree on several points. One is that the violent behavior of Cho Seung Hui was the result of the wound, grudges and anger accumulated internally over a long period of time. Another is that the problem carried by Cho Seung Hui is also being carried inside by many others. Only, in the case of Cho Seung Hui, it ended tragically. The fearful truth is that there are many others who also carry similar evil within them. This is why I speak now not of Cho Seung Hui, but of us all.

First, through this event, I ask that we reflect on our children’s upbringing. Many concerned parents must have reflected on their own children during the past week. Some may have gone into their children’s room, and inquired if everything was OK with their lives. If there are those who say “this does not concern our children”, then I must regretfully add that such parent and child may both be at utmost risk. I hear this from the staff of the youth ministry “Pastor, there is not a single child who is not carrying a wound of some sort.”

It is impossible to raise a child without some kind of wound. Therefore, the question is: “How much can we lessen the wound they receive?” We must provide nurturing to make the wound an opportunity for our children to mature and grow. When asked why they immigrated, all would say it was for their children’s education. Let us honestly ask ourselves. Was our life objective truly centered on our children’s education? If that were true, then do we totally devote ourselves to our children’s welfare? Is the education we seek and strive for truly a “good” education? Is our idea of a good education just to send them off to a good college? Is our idea of sacrifice just the sacrifice of supporting them with money?

We parents should remain vigilant. We must be vigilant that the keen competitive environment that was transplanted from Korea does not jeopardize our children’s well being. We must first have a clear value system as to what a good education is and must protect our children from mistaken values. We must provide healing to our children in our homes against the wounds and pains they receive in the schools and in society. We must be on guard with loving care that an angel, not a devil, grows in our children.

Our children are fragile vessels! How many can get injured when that vessel shatters! This is a great opportunity in which we lower our expectations of our children’s grades. This is an opportunity to resolve to have more family gatherings in our lives. From now we should not focus on what gifts we can buy for them, but more on spending more time with them as the best gift that parents can give. Instead of constantly driving and pushing our children, we should become parents providing a restful shade under which they can breathe freely and rest. It is not someone else’s story. It is our own story.

4.

Secondly, we are awakened to the reality that as our children grow, they are affected by the cruel and dangerous aspects of our society’s culture. Student Cho Seung Hui was a computer gaming buff. Although no final analysis has been advanced at this time, looking at his bizarre conduct and writing, it seems that he was well immersed in a world of violent movies and games. Without weighing whether such violent acts are right or wrong, it seems that he found an attraction in such violent acts and wanted to act violently. Having led a silent life without words, being isolated and a weakling, he seems to have expressed a desire to experience a position of power for once in his life. That expression resembled so much the violence seen in movies, and in video games.

How many experts have warned us against the dangers of violent culture? The songs that our young people listen to and grow up with are full of content and language that are destructive and paralyzing to their character. Internets are full of images that satisfy depravity. The movie theaters attract moviegoers with such violent scenes that you cannot stand to watch with both eyes open. Art is meant to purify and uplift, but lately, the art that caters to youth plays a completely opposite role. When immersed in such an evil earthly culture without a sense of right and wrong, then the result is obvious. Children become paralyzed, the conscience shatters, the spirit breaks, and the rational mind goes astray.

Of course, I am not boycotting all earthly culture. Without withdrawing to a monastery, that would be impossible. My point is that it is extremely difficult for our children to develop discerning powers in this earthly culture. What is needed is the ability to discern which culture is beneficial or harmful, but they become overwhelmed even before they can develop judgment, because they were exposed from such an early age.

Thirdly, the incident awakens us to the stark defects in our society. One problem in our society is our fear of being sued above all other concerns. Whether in school or in church, trying to avoid getting sued at all costs seems to create a truly hopeless situation. Also, there is something wrong in a society where anyone with a proper ID can obtain a firearm. We all agree that it is wrong to perpetuate these ills of society, but due to our self- interest we manage to justify their continuation.

5.

Let us reflect on this. There is a youth who grew up with indications of psychological symptoms. He is trapped in this world in which no one looked after him. He sought ways to entertain himself while he was alone in his world. Our culture develops computer gaming technology to satisfy such a need . That youth becomes absorbed in the game. Even though he hopes to come across as someone to share a true interactive human experience, that opportunity doesn’t come. He internalizes this as being singled out. He interprets this as indifference. He lives as if people are spitting at his face to insult him, and he lives with the feeling that scorn is being heaped upon him. He immerses himself in the games and the violent media, and hopes that one day he himself will be the larger-than- life destroyer who will get even with all those who insulted him. The American politicians make the dream of such a person come true by legalizing the purchase of firearms, so that he can freely practice in a firing range of his choice.

Would we still ask God, “God, how could you have let this happen?” Who allowed this youth to be confined to his own world? Who facilitated his isolation from the outside world, by making it comfortable for him to withdraw into his own world? Who made him get sick so that all uncaring acts are interpreted as a personal insult? When such symptoms are evident, who created a system which fears lawsuits, leaving problems where it is, in the interest of not being sued? Who permitted an easy purchase of a firearm for $500 with a credit card and a driver’s license? Is it God, or who is it?
Please do not misunderstand. I am not saying Cho Seung Hui the student is faultless. But there is no one who would think that he committed these acts with a sound mind. Some say, he was possessed by the devil, some say he completely lost his mind. That’s what they say. He was not himself at that point. As I watched the events unfold, I came to a strange realization. I did not feel malice towards Cho Seung Hui. Even as the unbelievable and bizarre images were shown, I did not feel hate. I pondered as to why that might be. I thought maybe it was because the person, Cho Seung Hui, I saw was not the real human Cho Seung Hui. When a man commits a malicious wrong, then he is evil. But when one is completely possessed like a demon, then the person is not an object of repulsion, but becomes an object of sympathy.

Accordingly, instead of fixating on the person Cho Seung Hui, we should turn to the personification of evil caused by our society. We should look at our family, our school, our church, our society, and our nation. If the cause does not rest so much with student Cho Seung Hui’s mental problem, but if the diverse ills of our society is the cause, then we need to truly awaken our minds. There are plenty of possibilities of a 2nd and 3rd Cho Seung Hui out there. We need to be cognizant of the possibility that the next Cho may not be someone else, but our very own children. This may be the opportunity to look honestly at ourselves.

6.

We must repent. We must repent for our wrongs as to how society transgressed to cause such an egregious evil. Starting with ourselves, we must repent.

In today’s reading of Jeremiah, it teaches us that in times like this, there is only one thing that we must do: Repent for our sins. Looking at the degeneration of the Hebrew nation, Jeremiah exclaimed “Go up to Lebanon and cry out, let your voice be heard in Bashan” (Jeremiah 20). At the time, the powerful and the elites of Jerusalem did not see the crumbling of the nation, but indulged in the luxuries of the cedar from Lebanon to construct their pleasure abodes. The land was Jerusalem, but their lifestyles were no different than the gentiles of Lebanon. So, God warned through Jeremiah’s prophecy “You, who live in 'Lebanon,' who are nestled in cedar buildings, how you will groan when pangs come upon you, pain like that of a woman in labor!” (Verse 23).

We must today tremble before this warning. And we must repent. We must repent for our transgression when we ignored the inner ills of our neighbors, when we cause wounds in our children, for our indifference to society’s ills, our indifference to the faults of our society needing repair, and our failure to set straight the wrongs of our culture. As God warned against those who immersed in the luxuries of the cedar from Lebanon that they will lament, we too must lament our past wrongs. As Peter lamented until he was made anew, we too must climb the Mount of Lebanon and lament.

So I decided to designate the next week as the week of repentance. Let us honestly reflect before God and find time to repent. Let us look at our home life to find reasons for repentance. Let us reflect deeply as to whether the church has a cause for repentance, whether the program of our charge has a cause for repentance. In remembrance of the 33 precious victims, let us repent our thoughts. As the king of Nineveh heard Jonah’s sermon and made the whole kingdom repent, I would hope the leaders of this country to do the same. Whichever the faith may be, personally, as a family, socially, and as a nation, with time for repentance set aside, I would hope for a movement of repentance to seek to right what is wrong.
So for now, I would like us to start first. In the coming week, let us fast one meal a day and pray. Let us participate in our reflection and prayer. With the costs saved from the meals fasted, I hope to collect offerings dedicated to the memory of the victims. With the funds collected, I will see to it that they get used either for the victims directly or for a fund designated for the Virginia Tech victims.

To fast means to pray. It is through this special means one prays. I pray that God shines his Light upon each one of us who are in prayer. Without this, we cannot know what is wrong. Without this, then even if we know what is wrong, it cannot be corrected. True repentance is only possible before God. Only true repentance stands us upright and prevents the possibility of a much bigger calamity. I pray that the convicting grace of God is bestowed abundantly in all of us.

Oh Lord
Give us the convicting Grace of God
Our souls having fallen ill
Having nurtured Evil inside the soul,
Our wrongs let us carry
From there let us despair
From there let us lament
Like Peter,
An awakening from lamentation
Raise us anew
Amen