Movement for Realizing God's Kingdom

Movement for Realizing God's Kingdom

Lee Won Don

In this modern industrialized society, who is God to us? Who or what do we believe, worship and serve? Apparently, it is money (capital) which has become our god and our idol. Yet the Bible teaches us "no one can serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24). We, therefore, who live in this modern industrialized society, must make decisions: Whom should we serve? Before whom or what should we kneel or bow down?

The god of the modem society, however, is not simply money (capital). It is an idol, which dominates the world and reigns over the society as a worldview and a structure. We call this, which has become so structuralized, organized and comprehensive, a worldview, and monopoly capital.

The logic of the monopoly capital is this: All things of the world are individualistic and personal. Therefore, they can be accumulated and monopolized for one to be prosperous (i.e. to realize plentifulness) and to experience growth.

The Modern Industrialized Society

The following is a summary of the process of industrialization of the South Korean society in the 1970s:

* priority on economic growth

* priority on speed

* priority on effectivity

* rapid change in the social structure

* extreme social conflict

* accelerated class differentiation

* rural migration, social mobility

* destruction of the traditional community (breaking of the covenant)

* widespread inability for social adaptability

* confusion in social (societal) values

* destruction of self-identity

* political indifference

* dehumanization

* consciousness of social alienation

* isolation

* social corruption

* accumulation of contradictions

* consciousness of economic crisis

* progressive intellectuals

* emergence of students and youth

* development of social movements to

overcome (resolve) the social contradictions

One obvious characteristic of the modern industrialized society is its poverty amidst plenty. An American minister engaged in industrial mission once said: An "industrialized society is a sinful society. Indeed, speaking of justice in the industrialized society is like speaking of chastity in the prostitution district." What the American minister meant is that more and more people become

poor and even poorer in the process of the development of the industrialized society. It is a society, which produces poor people in great numbers. The people who work from early morning till late at night tend to be poor people. The great majority of the people who are hard working and engaged in productive work are poor – this is the sinful society, and this is the modern industrialized society.

The Alternative Community

The logic of the monopoly capital in the modern industrialized society is this: "All things of the world are individualistic and personal; therefore, they can be accumulated and monopolized. And through this, one becomes prosperous (realize plentifulness) and experience growth." This is logic, an idol, which only serves a small minority. The liberation tradition of the Bible, however, presents to us an alternative (faith) community built on the principle that "all things in the world commonly belong to all; therefore, prosperity is realized through faith and equal sharing."

In the Old Testament tradition, we can see the process of liberation experienced by the alternative community movement. First, it began with knowing the name of God correctly:

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob;

the God of the Hapiru, the slaves.

The God of the alliance of the twelve tribes:

God of alliance,

God of solidarity,

God of unity.

The God of the Ten Commandments:

The only God.

Second, it included the realization of the essence of the liberation tradition, the miracle of manna (prohibition on accumulation) and the spirit of the sabbatical year and jubilee year, which

highlight such values as equality and sharing/distribution, cancellation of debts and liberation of slaves.

In the New Testament tradition, the process is that of:

Kingdom of God

A movement of the {

Meal Table Community

The New Testament is replete with the gospel of the Kingdom of God. The gospel is first of all the hope of the minjung (Korean word for poor and oppressed people), their self-consciousness and the basis of their solidarity. The gospel furthermore awakens the minjung to the social reality in which they are placed and expresses solidarity with the minjung. The Jesus movement that arose in Galilee can be simply defined as a movement of the Kingdom of God by the minjung and for the minjung.

What is the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God signifies a land, society, world in which the sovereignty or rule of God is realized. It represents, ultimately, the materialization and concretization of the jubilee year. The Kingdom of God signifies the event of the healing and liberation of the poor and oppressed people. We can discover the true meaning of the event of healing and liberation in the miracle stories told in the four gospels. The gospels project the Kingdom of God in the world through the miracle events. Furthermore, they demand praxis for the revealed word. We can discover in the miracle events the praxis for the Kingdom of God, and we can discover ourselves beginning to take part in this praxis and movement. The praxis for the Kingdom of God follows three stages:

Fellowship and Sharing

The movement of the Kingdom of God undertaken by Jesus began with sitting down at a table with a sinner and tax collector to share a meal together (Mark 2:13-17). The last moment of this movement was also sharing of bread identified as the body of Jesus. The nickname of Jesus was "the friend of tax collectors and sinners" who loved eating and drinking wine (Luke 7:33-35). The action of Jesus of engaging in friendship (fellowship) with tax collectors and prostitutes and sharing meals with them was for the Judaic society, which was a status society (based on heredity and property, authority, good behavior and righteousness), an unimaginable scandal. Such actions of Jesus awakened a new consciousness of solidarity and community for the minjung who were alienated by the laws that instituted a hierarchical and stratified society. At the same time, such actions of Jesus were a direct confrontation and challenge against the classed society of Judea. The crowd of minjung who went following Jesus began to build a new community based on the new consciousness of solidarity. It was this solidarity which brought about the miracle of feeding the 5,000 with five loaves and two pieces offish (Mark 6:30-44). The story

is: they learned to share so that there were plenty of leftovers.

It signified the birth of a new community in direct challenge to the economic system of the classed and hierarchical society based on the temple system. This community was organized among the minjung who had been alienated from the society of heredity and property, authority, good behavior and righteousness based on the Judaic laws. It signified a new economic praxis of sharing and distribution. This is the praxis of love at the economic level. The gospels describe a course of development from this praxis of fellowship and sharing to the realization of the Kingdom of God. The following illustrates the movement towards the realization of the Kingdom of God.

Forgiveness of Sins

Those who could keep them made the Judaic laws. The same laws, therefore, made sinners out of those who could not keep them. Some manifestations of the consciousness of sinfulness were these:

"It cannot be helped..." "One cannot change the world..."

"Where is hope?" "Accept the reality."

loss of subject hood / self-master hood – fatalism

hopelessness and frustration

physical disabilities and diseases: produce sinners,

bedeviled and sick persons

In the wake of all these, the gospel is that: "I have come to call on the sinners" (Mark 2:17). Jesus' commands were: "Open

your eyes…Arise…” and the bad spirit which caused dumbness and deafness, “Come out!” The responses included the affirmation that the blind could see, the dumb could speak, the deaf, could hear. The lame could walk.

"Rice is to be shared”. Korean Calendar'92

In all these, we see the minjung actively participating with strong faith. A woman had the conviction that she could be cured of her illness even if she were just to touch the tip of Jesus' clothes (Luke 8:40:48). Another person approached Jesus despite all the obstacles by cutting through the roof (Luke 5:17-26). A prostitute appeared before Jesus while he was having a meal with a Pharisee and poured perfume on Jesus' feet (Luke 7:36-50). In all these scenes, we witness people approaching Jesus with a firm belief.

They had overcome their consciousness of sinfulness and fatalism and began to move actively in their own will. Thus, the scholars of the law began to be anxious. Whereas before the minjung had been obedient, never attempting to come to the boundary of the laws, now they had begun to peer even into the prohibited areas! The forgiveness of sins had given the minjung the eyes, which could expose the deceit of the dominating ideology and the conviction to undertake actions on their own. This is forgiveness at the ideological level.

Consolation and Hope

Jesus proclaimed, "The Kingdom of God is prepared for you" (The Sermon on the Mount; Luke 6:20-26), In Mark 1:35, Jesus says, "Let us go to another village near here. We must spread the word there also. I have come to do this work." In Mark 3:13-19, he sends the 12 disciples to spread the word and bestows on them the right to drive out evil. The people who work following the praxis of Jesus have begun to cross all boundaries and borders. Jesus and the crowd of minjung following him have pronounced the call for the abolition of the laws, which served nothing but the ideology of domination.

Such claims as "the Sabbath day exists for people; not people for the Sabbath day...therefore, the Son of Man is the master of the Sabbath day," (Mark 2:23-28) are spoken without hesitation. This march to a new society signifies the Kingdom of God, the hope at the political level. The masters of the new kingdom are the poor, hungry, suffering and the persecuted people. Jesus and the crowd of minjung following him were irrevocably moving toward the new society (Kingdom of God) where all people could live together, having abolished the boundaries, prohibitions and special privileges set up by the ideology of domination. In a sense the social praxis of the early church was, though for a short time, akin to the ancient communist society (Acts 2:44-45 and Acts 4:32-35).

Tasks of the Alternative Community

What is the means of taking part in the new faith community or engaging in solidarity with the minjung? The Jesus movement of the early church shows in detail the various stages of praxis.

1. The Jesus movement of the early church was a movement of the poor people. The poor people and a movement undertook it for the poor people.

2. The gospel originally belonged to the minjung; it awakened a self-consciousness that the minjung were the caretakers of the Kingdom of God that was to arrive soon.

3. The gospel presented ways in which the rich and the middle classes could participate. These were through abandoning the bourgeois conservatism that stemmed from family inheritance and ownership of property or land; distributing all the property and wealth among the minjung; choosing faith rather than wealth and, thus, engaging in solidarity with the poor people.

4. The faith community belonged to the poor.

Some Biblical Affirmations

A. No One Serves Two Masters (Matthew 6:24)

There was a period in the history of the people of Israel when they received training from God for a period of 40 years before they entered the promised land of Canaan. They also received an economic training through the "manna economy." They were able to live in the desert relying for survival only on the manna given by God. The characteristic of the manna economy was that it prohibited accumulation. If they gathered more than the need

for one day, the rest soon became rotten. We also remember the event of feeding the 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. What do these stories of the manna and the feeding of the 5,000 teach us?

Things belong to all people for they belong to God, Therefore, only when things are distributed fairly and equally can there be plenty and prosperity for all. In this world, two views of economy are in conflict with each other. One view is that, "Things are personal properties and, therefore, there is plenty when they are accumulated and monopolized." The other view claims that, "Things belong to all people and, therefore, there is plenty and prosperity when they are shared fairly and equally." As Christians who believe in the will of God, we hope for the realization of the community of sharing.

B. The Rich Young Man and Zaccheus (Mark 10:21-22, Luke 19:5-10)

The society we live in is, in short, a modem industrialized society. On the surface, it seems to be a society of plenty with its many industries, tall luxurious buildings, streets overflowing with cars and department stores abundant with goods. It seems a society of plenty and abundance, yet, we know of the saying, "There is poverty in the midst of abundance."

The industrialized society is one, which produces poor people in large number. No matter how hard one may till the land, when foreign cattle, foreign agricultural products and foreign cigarettes come, the year's farming is nothing but a loss. So many people abandon the land and flood into the urban centers. It is not that they have any special idea or plan. Most of them end up in the factories of the industrialized society. As can be seen by the demands of workers for wage increase, their life in the city is still one of poverty.

The industrialized society, for various reasons, also produces large numbers of unemployed people. These people turn to selling on the streets, working as day laborers and so make up the massive urban poor population who rely on a day's work for a day's meal. The absolute majority of people, workers, peasants and the urban poor who make up the industrialized society are poor. The industrialized society is one which mass produces poor people. These people are not poor because they are lazy. In fact, ironically, the people who work from dawn to late at night tend to be poorer. A society where the great majority of the most diligent people are poor is the modern industrialized society.

The Bible describes Zaccheus who, upon being engaged in solidarity with the poor, was able to win salvation, while the rich young man failed. The fate of the church is similar. The Korean church can survive when it works in solidarity with the poor and fulfills its historical mission. The reason is simple. It is because majority of the diligent, productive people are none other but the poor of the land. Unless the diligent and productive poor people stand up as the masters of society, society cannot be a healthy one. This is the historical mission of the church and the Christians: to be in solidarity with the poor.

Our present day church, however, only thinks of giving offering during Sunday worship. But helping those who have the least in life is also an act of offering. If one suffers from impoverishment because of insufficient earning, training them to win at least an income sufficient for basic living is also a form of offering that gives glory to God.

Courtesy: Sally & Richard Greenhill Chinese family

C. The Meal table Community (John 6:41-51)

Another reality in our modern industrialized society is that the prices of commodities and services are rising. Newspapers claim that the stock market index is rising. The whole fever about stock market is forcing people in the rural areas to sell their lands, cows and other things to join in the fun fare of the stock market. What's more, the Americans are demanding greater opening of our market for their surplus farm products. They also want to dominate our cigarette market, insurance market and the stock market.

Apart from stories of rising prices, newspapers are also full of stories of robbery, kidnapping and killing. The difference between these stories today from those of the past is that they are occurring in frightening numbers and greater frequency. Furthermore, there are stories of police assaulting citizens on the streets. We are living in a society of thieves and mammoth gambling. How did our society come to be like this?

Jesus said, "I am the bread of life..." When he said this, the people did not understand and asked, "How can a person take one's own flesh and give to us to eat?" The crowd who was following Jesus was doubtful of the "meal table community" where people share their flesh and blood. In our language, we have a very good terminology. Family in Korean is "shikku." It literally means mouths that eat. The people who share rice from one pot are a "shikku," one family. And we always use the term "we." The Korean people do not say, "my house," "my children," "my husband" or "my wife." We say "our house," "our children," "our husband" and "our wife."

It is when we lose this meal table community, of sharing the rice from the same pot, when "our" becomes "my," that we begin to lose our souls to the crazy box – the television – instead of laughing and celebrating in village feasts. Then our society shall

become full of gamblers and robbers.

The meal table community described in the Bible is our very own tradition. We must recover this community.

Suggested Procedures

1. Divide into groups of 5-8 and let each group do this exercise. Imagine that you have been tasked to develop your community/country. What elements would you include as marks of a developed country? You may wish to draw or use pictures, charts or other audio-visual aids for this purpose.

2. Let each group share their plan creatively with the rest. Summarize the sharing and then pose the question, “how does this jive with the biblical vision of the kingdom of God.

3. Proceed with the Bible study presentation here.

4. As church people and SCMers, how should we participate in the task of realizing God’s kingdom right where we are?