07/29/2024
Pastor Kim here again with yet another thought on the whole Olympic opening ceremony/Feast of Dionysus/Last Supper debacle:
Some of ya'll been quoting Galatians 6:7 in your posts, which reads Μὴ πλανᾶσθε, θεὸς οὐ μυκτηρίζεται
And is roughly translated into american english as "Not be deceived, God not be mocked." The verb "mocked" is present passive indicative. The whole section that verse is in focuses on the fact that you will reap what you sow and we as followers of Jesus should do good to all people 👀 so that we reap a harvest of fellow believers if we don't grow weary and give up.
If you, Christian person, are looking for a scripture to help interpret and direct your actions during this cultural moment of confusion, I submit for your consideration Paul in Athens:
Acts 17:22-28
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
Let's learn from Paul. Instead of being offended at what the world was doing and what the world was worshipping, he noticed something that cried out from their souls and had yet to be answered. Then he invited them to consider that God, the One True God of Heaven and Earth, loved them. HE EVEN USED THEIR OWN ARTISTIC WRITING TO CONNECT WITH THEIR HEARTS by quoting their poets. He didn't quote scripture at them. He connected to their culture through their cultural expression.
What if we as followers of Jesus took the opportunity to point out what the world is longing for instead of getting all up in arms about how they misunderstand us? THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO MISUNDERSTAND US. THEY DON'T HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT YET.
Maybe we could give them a taste of what they're actually longing for? What if instead of spending hours on the book of faces complaining about how sinful the world is, we invited someone who doesn't know Jesus yet over for dinner? Have them sit at your table and experience and actual feast of healthy food, hopeful stories and healing. Ask them about their lives and their spiritual journey. Help them with something that is troubling and hurting them right now. Give them a dose of hope from the deep well of your relationship with the God of All Hope.
Do the Gospel, Church.
