Eureka of Don Quixote

Pharisees asked a miraculous sign, but Jesus refused it. Why?

The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it." (Mark 8:11~12)

This phrases says that Pharisees asked Jesus a miraculous sign from heaven. Isn’t it odd? Jesus had shown various miracles so far. He healed all who were ill with various diseases, suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, etc. He showed miracles routinely. If so, why did they ask a miracle and Jesus refuse it?

We can analogize it from the preceding part of the book. Mark wrote a miracle that Jesus fed 4,000 men with seven loaves of bread. It was happen when the Lord asked disciples to feed people who had followed him for 3 days. It is, absolutely, a miracle. Pharisees asked a miracle, even though Jesus already showed them a lot of miracles and, to my surprise, Jesus refused the request.

If Pharisees accepted the occurrence providing 4,000 men with seven loaves as a miracle, then the next story could not be formed. To the contrary, if the next story Pharisees asked Jesus a miracle, is accepted as a sincere request then the miracle can not be a miracle at all. Or Pharisees did not consider it as a miracle. What happened?

It might not be a miracle for the Pharisees who were powerful and rich that the poors could get food free of charge. No, it was not a miracle, it was a nightmare for them. The miracle they want might be a rebellion to the Roman Empire with heavenly army and getting back power. The miracle they possess the political and economic power exclusively! The miracle that the rent of their houses or land goes up several times! But the poor had enough food! Nonsense!

It could not be a miracle for them that there were seven basketfuls of pieces even though the poors got enough bread. So Pharisees still asked a miracle. And we are sure, our Lord Jesus refused that kind of miracle. And Jesus, I am sure, is refusing stubbornly to give a miracle of economic growth that making people unstable by mass producing temporary workers with low salary, because it is not a justice God want.

The reason why Japan can not get leadership from neighbor countries.

German authorities arrested former Auschwitz guard Hans Lipschis who is 93 years old. According to BBC news, he is the first person arrested as a result of a series of new investigations launched by the German authorities into some 50 former Auschwitz guards who are still alive.

Germans are so thoroughness on the repentance and compensation about their wicked doing. It made them trustworthy to neighbor Europeans. Based on it, the economic prosperous backup German to be a world leader.Japan can not be a world leader. Never! Japan has not repented their historical plunder and slaughter. Yes, they can buy flattery from neighbor countries for money without getting rid of war crimes. But because neighbor countries won't respect, Japan can not get leadership from these countries.

We should be careful too. Though we see fever of Korean culture all around the world, it can be disappeared at one moment. The key point is not an entertainment. It is a ethos(soul or mind) which can get respect from neighbors. One of the test beds is Vietnam, I believe. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22427976

The Bible overturns my viewpoint completely

The Bible overturns what we take for granted or our common viewpoint boldly. For example:

It says that the poor are blessed not the rich.

[Luke 6:20] Looking at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

If we give a banquet, it is better to invite people who are rich or have power for dealing something we want to get. Our Lord advises us, however, we’d better to invite people who cannot repay us.

[Luke 14:13~14] But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.“

The Bible even says “Rejoice the sufferings.”

[1 Peter 4:13] But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

These are so funny. There are also more curious stories in the Bible which can not be acknowledged if we don’t read with caution. These are found in teachings of our Lord. One of them is the story of Samaritan which was given as an answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?”

[Luke 10:25~37] On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.

(31-35 abbreviated)

[36~37] "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise.“

It is a well known story. It is begun with question a law expert asked to our Lord, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Both of them, the questioner and the respondent, knew the way to get eternal life well. It is "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" There was no inconsistency between their answers.

The law expert asked again to justify himself, “Who is my neighbor?” The answer our Lord gave was the story of Samaritan. After he told it, Jesus asked him, "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" Did you find the turning over? The law expert asked “Who is my neighbor?” and the Lord answered “Who is a neighbor to the man in need?”

Well, there is a standpoint that 'I am greater than the man in need' when the law expert asked “Who is my neighbor?” In other words “OK, I will help my neighbor. So tell me whom should I help?” It seems to be the meaning of ‘wanted to justify himself’. However the answer is 'it is you being loved not the man in need.'

It is a radical reverse of viewpoint. It is not me who gives love but the man in need. It is critical because this story begins with ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ flows to the way we get eternal life is ‘Love our God and love our neighbor’ The story goes on the neighbor is me because I can practice ‘Love our neighbor’ by the man in need. I can have eternal life through helping the man in need. I am loved in fact.

It is the paradox of God. So Paul said as follows.

[Romans 12:15] Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.

Can't you grip it yet? Then please read the passages in Matthew 25:31-46.

[Matthew 25:31-46] (31~33 abbreviated)

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

(42~44 abbreviated)

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

The Bible or the Christianity says 'It is not true' about what we think it is a matter of course. So if you expected that you would be blessed with materials or be rich then you got wrong address. You are a good Christian if you feel uncomfortable whenever you see the people in need around you instead.

(Every passages cited from NIV Bible)

Mark(Pastor of Willoughby Christian Reformed Church) introduced passages cited from a book, The 100: The Most influential persons in history(Michael H. Hart), several weeks ago.

Hart, the author of the book, ranked Jesus as third following Mohammed and Isaac Newton. And the reason he arranged so is follows,

‘I am neither a Muslim nor a Christian, but on my observation Mohammed has far more influence in the lives of Muslims than Jesus does in the lives of Christians. And if believers simply took more notice of the teachings of Jesus I would have absolutely no hesitation in placing him the most influential person in the history of the world.’

And he added,

‘This idea of Jesus that we are to love our enemies is surely among the most remarkable and original ethical ideas ever presented. If they were widely followed I would have no hesitation in placing Jesus the most influential person in history. But the truth is that these sayings of Jesus and this one in particular is not widely followed – in fact it is not even generally accepted. Most Christians consider the injunction to love your enemy as at most an ideal which will be realized in some perfect world in the the future, but not as a reasonable guide to conduct in the actual world in which we live.’

This story reminded me the passages in [Luke 19:40]

"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

But why does expanding the economic domain receive the highest priority in countries that are already rich? The message conveyed through many political speeches is that society needs economic expansion in order to battle the remnants of misery and poverty that still exist in wealthy countries. But that is hardly the primary motivation.

(HOPE IN TROUBLED TIMES, Bob Goudzwaard etc.(2007) 92p.)

It is true that almost all politicians have shouted economic growth for the poor, but the relative poverty of each OECD countries has been increased even though their economic growth rate was positive. Even worse thing is they increased investment to put fuel on economy instead of on social welfare for the same reason in many countries.

So, the quotation above is a good motivation for developing "Economics of Enough".

Globalization of economy has several meanings. It is usually said that the globalizaton of markets: the most powerful company occupies some commodities’ market all over the world. It is also said that it improves benefit of consumers for this system is more efficient than the restricted small market system of one country.

But we(Christian) should look at the production side globalization instead of market side globalization. Because it sometimes makes us unintended sinners.

Globalization of economy is operated as follows 1) some cheap parts are produced in some countries whose production cost is low. 2) these parts are sent to assembly(or final product) plants neighboring markets. 3) it is sold just as it is labeled “Made in XXXXX” of the country it is finally assembled. It is the system that foreign electronic companies have been operating assembly plants in North America.

[Of corse, some products whose added value is low are produced wholly in low costed countries like China or India. Even in this case, we should consider the aspect of preoccupancy of potential markets at the same time. Production cost is not the only consideration of enterprises.]

What I want to say in this column is the stage of supplying the parts from all over the world. The system opens possibilities slave labor penetrate into. If the final production or production of major parts is done in sweat shops, NGOs can catch it and make an effort to boycott the products.(As we can find some cases in Slave Today, Bales and Cornell, Groundwoodbooks ,2008)
 

The shocking movie, “Blood Diamond” and Fair Trade Movement for coffee, sugar etc are related with it. The SRI movement pressing pensions and funds to invest to the socially responsible companies is also an well known example.

But if only the some portion of parts are made from the slave labor, we can not find it out easily. So we are exposed to the possibilities getting benefit of slave labor when we are buying some commodities such as cars, electronics, or clothes.

Globalization of economy make us sinners to get benefit of slave labor even though we don’t intend it.