7th March 2021 (The Third Sunday in Lent)
Title: Worshipping God & Coming to Jesus
(Exodus 20:1-17; John 2:13-22) 
 By Heeyoung Lim Today’s first reading starts “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” In the Book of Exodus, we find the story of the people who led by God out of slavery in Egypt into a new promised land. God gave them ten commandments, and the divine Law was revealed through Moses. It reminds us that the Lord is our God, those are not just commandments, but the gifts of God’s grace that lead to the true life. The Ten Commandments demonstrate human weaknesses and our inability to follow God completely, but it is relational: The first four deal with our relationship with God, and the rest of six focus on our relationships with people. It is not an earthly way, but the divine way that newly understands, truly saves, and frees the world and people. God’s justice and His abundant love always coexist in our lives. A theologian, Calvin said, “the Commandments are showing us how we are to live before God and with neighbour, they play a vital, positive role in Christian life.” The commandments light our way and show us how we should live as people who have already been freely given God’s grace in Jesus Christ. We can appreciate what God has done to provide our salvation and we can take joy in His love for us. The love of God for salvation has been revealed through Jesus. Last Sunday’s text focused on “What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?” Today’s text more focuses on “What does it mean to be the church of Jesus?” John 2:13-22 follows Jesus’ first sign in Cana, where he turned water into wine at his mother’s request. In the first half of John 2, at the wedding feast people saw a sign of glory, joy, and calling, it indicates Christ’s creative power to transform, Christ’s ability to turn humiliation into celebrations, and His commitment to God’s purposes and timing. In today’s text, we see a sign of anger, power, and authority at Jerusalem, it shows Christ’s attitude when he sees what has happened at the temple, Christ’s action to the moneychangers in cleansing the temple, and His prophecy of the resurrection. Jews travelled to Jerusalem early to purify themselves for Passover as the season of Lent helps Christians prepare for Easter. The feast included the eating of the Passover Lamb which commemorated the passing of death over the Israelites before their departure from Egypt. Jesus went to Jerusalem when liberation and rescue from slavery being celebrated at the beginning of His ministry in the gospel of John. However, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke the similar incident occurred in Jesus’ final journey just before His crucifixion. The merchandise described in verse 14 was required for sacrifices. Worshipers had travelled from great distances, and the availability of sacrificial animals was essential to temple worship. They gathered in a holy place remembering God’s deliverance, but the primary purpose of seeking God’s glory through rituals and repentance was forgotten, and the holy place was transformed into a commercial place. Jesus went into a rage, He chased out the animals, sent the merchants after them. He “poured out the coins” and turned over tables. He commanded the dove-sellers: “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”  Worship is not commercial activity; it is connecting with the Father through Jesus Christ. It cannot be relegated to a building like the temple. Today’s text leads us to true worship, it makes us to concentrate on faith more than format in worship. “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23, 24) As in verse 23, God is seeking such people to worship him, He is receiving our worship when we worship Him in spirit and truth. Jesus is the centre of worship, and his involvement is in our lives. Coming to Jesus is not through formality, but through faith. Jesus is our Lord. How do we make sure our faith is real before God? How can we obey completely to the Lord? We can do it through being true worshippers and believers. We should not limit worship to a building, and we need to remember the temple or church is the Father’s house where people pray. Worshipping God and coming to Jesus are relational and essential in our lives. Jesus’ response to the request of Jew was “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews misunderstood and took His words literally as a reference to the temple building, even the disciples did not understand Jesus’ words until after the resurrection. (2:22) Jesus is not speaking of the physical temple but of his own body here. People will seek to destroy him, but the cross will not be the end, for Jesus will rise from the dead. The temple was the meeting place between God and His people, it was a place where human life and divine blessing met. In John’s Gospel, the body of Jesus is the new “holy place”, Jesus himself is the presence of God. Jesus stands as our saviour welcoming all people to enter the kingdom of God through the crucifixion and resurrection. His love broke all barriers and transcended all obstacles. I believe our church as the body of the Christ becomes God’s house when we come to Jesus together. We can think about “how Jesus has revealed his glory” in us, we can do whatever Jesus tells us. Jesus’ act in cleansing the temple in the past raises the reformative thinking on “the cleansing of the church”. The reform of the church is always to be in accordance with

21st February 2021 The First Sunday in Lent Title: God’s Covenant & Good News (Genesis 9:8-17; Mark 1:12-15) By Heeyoung Lim 
 We are thankful to God that we could hear the good news and hopeful messages, but we live in the flood of negative stories such as corruption, violence, greed, and so on from all around the world. Today’s text is a story of deliverance and new beginnings, but it contains painful process too. “The LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). What is the most surprising about the story of Noah and the flood is not that God decided to remove people from the earth. Today’s story is more about God’s Covenant with Noah and God’s promise for people rather than eradication. God cleaned the sinful world and started it again with the survivors on the ark. He saved the world through righteous Noah and his family. God’s covenant contains a story of deliverance and of relationship with God. (9:17) God directed Noah, the only one who found favour with the Lord, to build an ark so that he and his family and some of the animals might escape the punishing flood. Noah continually obeyed God and waited for building the ark for about one hundred years (Bible does not say the exact years), arriving of the floodwaters for seven days, raining for forty days and forty nights, rising water for one hundred fifty days, decreasing waters from the Ararat Mountain for about three months, waiting to be dried up over the earth for forty days, sending out dove three times for seven days and seven more days, removing the ark’s hatch and walking down from the ark for another waiting time. In the meantime, Noah’s long-time faithful obedience have been done just as God commanded Noah. We know obedience should be persistent, not one-off. I hope faithful obedience in accordance with God’s words will be shown in the rest of our lives. God is gracious, merciful, and slow to anger as Scripture often attests. God designed mankind and the animals to live on the dry land of the earth, so once again He provided new environment for people. We are in between God’s love and righteousness. God alone has the right to judge and destroy with His righteousness, and He surrenders the divine privilege for people’s salvation with His love in His covenant. The covenant was made with “righteous” Noah and would continue with his descendants and every living creature on earth. (16) This was multi-generational, and the ark of Noah was God’s tool of salvation. The sign of the covenant was the rainbow that forms in the clouds, especially after a rain. It would be a sign that would bring remembrance of God’s covenant. The covenant was what God promised to do and the promise was that God would not flood the earth again. (9:12-17) In the light of God’s rainbow promise, new start and reconciliation may blossom and bear fruits, if we can reflect the meaning of rainbow in our lives and our faith communities. This passage invites us to reconsider our relationships with each other and all creation. Our new journey begins in Lent, passes through the passion and the cross, and ends up on the resurrection. In Mark 1, something new has begun from the loneliness of God’s servant in wilderness. After his baptism Jesus at once went into the wilderness. Mark says the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness. Mark used the word “sent” while Matthew used the term “led”. Probably servants are “sent” or “commanded to go” rather than “led”. The sacrificial servant is tested by Satan in his final preparation for fulfilling his mission. Mark uses the term Satan as an adversary when the other Gospel writers use the word Devil as an accuser. Mark does not present the testing of Jesus in detail as the other Gospel writers do. The description about the testing from Mark is brief, and there is no mention about the victory over Satan. This seems to indicate that being tested by Satan is not limited to this one experience in the desert, it looks to imply that it will be continued on Jesus’ entire journey and ministry. (12,13) It is better to translate “being tested” rather than “being tempted” here. His testing may have served as preparation and empowerment for ministry. Mark is telling about the mighty works of the sacrificial servant, and it simply informs us that Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days which are symbolic. They recall the experiences of Moses (Exod. 24) and Elijah (1 Kgs.19) in the desert. They also remind us of the forty years of wandering Israel in the wilderness. Only Mark mentions the wild animals and angels. It demonstrates Jesus’ wilderness experience and God’s protection from dangerous animals. Jesus might have been in the sense of danger, isolation, and distance from normal environment that surrounds him in the wilderness. The son of God might be in a highly dangerous situation, and He was exposed to demonic power too. But there were divine care and angelic protection in the wilderness. Mark 1 can be related to Isaiah 35, which promises a highway or a holy way for God’s people to travel. “And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness.” (Isaiah 35:8) & “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (10) We can imagine the picture of the kingdom of God through the verse “The wolf shall live with the lamb…” in Isaiah 11. God makes our way safe, for no dangerous animals are there and here. We can lie down in safety and experience peace in God’s hands even in our tough

14th February 2021 Transfiguration Sunday Title: God’s Glory & My Beloved Son (2 Kings 2:1-12; Mark 9:2-9) By Heeyoung Lim 
 There are many connections between Moses and Elijah in the Bible such as the separation of water, fire from heaven, meeting the Lord on Mount Sinai, and so on. The two leaders ended their earthly lives in remarkable ways, and they are associated with each other on the Mount of Jesus’ transfiguration in Mark 9. Regarding the separation of water, the Red Sea and the Jordan River are different, but God was at His work in the same way. They were wonderful leaders, both had important successors (Joshua and Elisha) who extended the work the Lord had given them to do and experienced amazing moments. God made them leaders and witnesses for God’s work. During Elijah and Elisha’s walking and talking, a chariot of fire and something else appeared and separated the two of them. Elijah’s departure happened through supernatural intervention. The history of interpretation for this text focuses on Elijah’s ascension and its relation to his unended life. Elijah’s ascension signifies hope and presence of the spirit’s continuation since he was taken up without dying, (2 Kings 2:12) Chariots and horses were military symbols, but they represented God himself as the ultimate protection of his people. There were special words and meaning we need to remember in today’s text. Those were “Stay here” from Elijah & “I will not leave you.” From Elisha. Elijah gave Elisha three opportunities to leave, and each time Elisha said no at a respectful distance. The loss of Elijah did not prevent Elisha from what must be done because it was not a person’s ministry but God’s. Elisha’s faithfulness provides inspiration in a world of disposable relationships and temporary loyalties. His faithfulness to the process allowed and influenced his transformation. Transfiguring by faithful journey will be connected to transformation. A dying man would traditionally say a blessing over his successors in those days. The leadership will pass on to Elisha from Elijah as it had been done from Moses to Joshua. When Elijah was asked about the blessing, Elisha replied, let me inherit a double portion of your spirit. (7) It was Elisha’s response after Elijah’s blessing. Elisha knew that he had been appointed to be Elijah’s successor (1 Kgs. 19:19-21). But he needed Elijah’s God-given empowerment for the task. (2 Kings 2:7) The departure of Elijah into heaven was filled with divine symbolism, and God had enabled Elisha to witness the departure of his mentor. (7,13) We need more than God’s appointment for a position; we need to be anointed through His Spirit. That means spiritual condition is more important than our ministry position. Position without power, is a burden not a blessing. Every single person is precious, and all roles are important in our lives and our service, but our trust and focus need to be on the Lord alone. When God gives opportunities, our primary concern needs to be integrity and faithfulness to the Lord, not the impression we are making on others. We need to focus on the God of people, not the people of God. While Elijah may have departed, everything of God remained. Israel’s need was not Elijah but the Lord. Elisha’s focus was on the God of the man, not the man. He had been given not only Elijah’s position but his power as well. Our need is also not just being appointed by God to a position but being anointed by Him to carry out His missional tasks. In the reign of God, strength comes from weakness, glory from despair. We can invite people to be transformed and transfigured inside out under God’s protection. Today’s text from the Gospel of Mark is about a transfiguration story on the mountain. What is it like on a mountain top? Some of us may have driven or climbed to a mountain lookout. I have been to the height with 1708 meter of Seorak-San (Mountain), 1947 meter of Halla San (Mountain) and so many mountains, and I had lots of hiking opportunities in South Korea. I can remember sitting on top of a mountain looking at God’s beautiful creations and thinking of God’s love. Those were good chances to spend time with God and others with a thankful heart. Jesus was on the mountain with His disciples. When people were speculating that Jesus is one of the prophets, Peter confessed that Jesus is the Messiah. (8:29) Crucifixion and resurrection go together in Mark’s Gospel. Crucifixion is in Jesus’ future, but God’s glory and power are his as well. (Mark 9:9) Jesus knew that he would be rejected and killed by people, but he will rise on the third day and return in glory. Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain. He was indeed clothed in the dazzling light of God on the mountain. The Transfiguration gave the disciples the experience of witnessing a most amazing moment that attracts them to want to stay there. The appearance of Moses and Elijah from the Scriptures represent the Law and the Prophets, but Jesus is higher and greater than the law and the two representatives. The transfiguration of Jesus reveals his true glory. Jesus on the mountain with Moses and Elijah is not transformed but transfigured before his disciples. Transformation is more about complete inner change, but transfiguration is more about the change of appearance. One of the differences between transformation and transfiguration is vision. However, His transfiguration transforms the disciples by witnessing in the text and transforms us by removing our biased and limited vision in our lives. Jesus’ disciples are confronted with Jesus’ glory three times in the Gospel of Mark: First, the feeding of the 5,000 (6:47–52), then seeing Jesus transfigured (9:2–9), and the resurrection of Jesus. (16:1–8) Peter, James, and John saw the glory of the Lord by Jesus’ transfiguration. In the transfiguration story, from the cloud there

7th February 2021 Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany Title: God’s Protection & Jesus’ Healing (Isaiah 40:21-31; Mark 1:29-39) By Heeyoung Lim 
 The holy God is our Creator, He brings comfort and renewed strength to his people. At the beginning of Isaiah 40, a call went out to comfort the people who have been exiled from their homeland, those who are tired and weary, experiencing trouble thinking of a new future. In verses 21-24, there are questions and rebukes, “Have you not known?”, “Have you not heard?” People did not feel God’s protection and His creative power, but today’s text proclaims God’s power that will make this vision a reality.  Isaiah tells us God is more than one who brings punishment and judgment, He is also the one who brings comfort. We need to be aware of the importance of God’s power and humanity’s powerlessness in our lives. Our powerful, caring God will provide people with strength to overcome their difficulties when darkness enters every person’s life. We sometimes see no way out of the situation we face, but God will make a way for us. We may have reasons to fear evil as we acknowledge the existence of evil, however because we are under God’s protection, we fully trust that God will keep us safe, as God is with us even in the darkest moments. I hope we can trust in our comforter and His promise to save us even when we are suffering. We can ask God for strength to continue serving Him and others when we are weak and tired of doing good. God is telling us through Isaiah. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint. (29-31) We shared Jesus’ first exorcism last Sunday, Jesus could have stayed in Capernaum more and become a local hero in many people’s problems and demands for the purpose of being popular. However, he decided to move on to another ministry of healing. As soon as Jesus left the Capernaum synagogue, Jesus went into a house, a private place for women because the synagogue gathering was for men in those days. The house belonged to Simon and Andrew, and Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever. Jesus healed the woman, and she served Jesus and his disciples straight-away. Every patient needs to rest to be completely recovered, but how come the healed woman’s first response to serve Jesus and his disciples? The fact that she got up and served immediately indicates that the woman was fully healed at once or she might be expected to serve in her culture. Jesus healed the woman and set her free from her fever and her service was a faithful response which is a way to show respect and gratitude to her healer. What a miracle. Jesus describes himself as one who came to serve, and he commends humble service to us. (10:45) We can imagine the scenes from Scriptures, Jesus was busy to spread the gospel and to heal many people including another exorcism in both private and public places, He encountered a few people or big crowds in various situations. But He went into the dark desert to pray seeking God’s will. Jesus showed us the way to live out the gospel. Our lives and service need to be in prayers just like Jesus. The sacrificial servant continued his ministry with His disciples, He also got crowds to hear the good news of the gospel. (29) Jesus did not allow the demons to speak in verse 25, he did not want them to have power over him. They are forbidden by Jesus. We encountered Jesus’ first healing when He raised up Simon’s mother-in-law. The verb to “raise up” is used in healing stories several times in Mark. (1:31, 2:9, 2:11, 3:3, 5:41, 9:27.) The healing of the woman is the first healing and the echo of resurrection story in the gospel. Mark’s gospel invites us to look for experiences of healing and resurrection in everyday life. We believe that we will be resurrected in God’s timing, but we can live the life of resurrection here and now restarting and getting up even from the deep abyss of despair and anxiety. Jesus did not just heal individuals, but also, He restored people’s relationships and communities. Even the unaccompanied woman in the crowd was healed by touching Jesus. “Who touched me?”, he said and looked around to see who has done it. Jesus said to her “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease.” All we are His daughter or son, and Jesus is looking around to see you. That is one of reasons that we are not alone, Jesus is always with us. The LORD is the everlasting God. We can walk through the toughest situations without giving up because the unchangeable fact that the LORD knows, recreates, and strengthen us. God brings comfort and renewed strength to us. That is why those who place their hope in the LORD find new strength. We will be able to soar like eagles to new heights of achievement under God’s protection. (Isaiah 40:27) Jesus had his own private place to pray. Do we have our own special place? We all need to find our own time and place to fill our hearts and pray once again. Jesus is our healer. I believe Jesus will touch our broken hearts and anxious minds. We are all going through different situations and tough times, but we can still travel, rebuild, and trust in the Lord. It requires energy and strength when we are on a journey of faith, but those can be ways to move forward into the new creation that the LORD has created and in further

31st January 2021 
Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany Title: Jesus’ Authority & Christian Freedom (1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28) By Heeyoung Lim 
 Today is the fourth Sunday after Epiphany. I hope the light of Epiphany will shine upon all of us. When you think of your school days, what do you remember the most? Do you remember a special teacher? How much of the contents in all the teachings and sermons, do you remember from all your preachers? Most likely not that much. Mark tells us that Jesus preaches, but he gives us little of the content of Jesus’ sermons. It focuses on who Jesus is. Teaching focuses are more about relationship and existence rather than information and content in many cases. This story is about food sacrificed to idols. In the Greek culture of Paul’s day, families often participated in religious sacrifices, offering sacrificial animals in pagan temples. Corinthians said to Paul. “We all possess knowledge.” The knowledge is that idols were nothing and that there is only one God, but not everyone understood it. They have not realized that human knowledge is fragmentary. Knowledge can result in humility and love, but often it produces unsympathetic arrogance. Love always builds us up while knowledge often make us arrogant. Paul wanted the Corinthians to place a priority on love, not on knowledge and he said, “whoever loves God is known by God.” (1 Corinthians 8:1, 3) What a blessing! You are known by God because you love God. Today’s text indicates the primacy of love over knowledge, and it is connected to believers’ behaviour. There could be no problem with eating the meat offered to idols since it had been offered to something that did not exist. (4) In comparison with Jesus, demons need not be feared because they are nothing under Jesus’ name. That is why Paul felt free to permit the Corinthians to eat meat sacrificed to idols. However, Paul insisted that their proper theological conclusions did not justify their deeds. They sinned by eating meat sacrificed to idols, it was not because of the idols, but because of the damage to fellow believers. (7) Paul is pastorally concerned for those with weak consciences, so he led the Corinthians to restrain their behaviour, and he warned that the freedom might become a stumbling block to the weak. (9) We have great freedom in the gospel, but we need to be aware of our weaker brothers and sisters in Christ. Christian freedom needs to be sacrificed when it leads others to sin. We sin against Christ if we cause other believers to sin. Using knowledge of Christ is necessary to avoid sin because proper theological knowledge can lead us away from sinning against Christ, others, and ourselves. Christian freedom grows as Christian understanding grows, but our freedom should be in consideration of others and communities. People try to limit other’s freedom according to their prejudice, fixed idea, and stereotypes, but Christians must not resent or condemn those who are involved with the differences. The freedom of individuals and communities in the gospel need to be respected by weaker brothers and sisters in Christ too, because the freedom in the gospel is greater than our own. To do this we need to seek to improve our Christian understanding, have openness to others and to love one another. God’s words and truth needs to be kept in any situation, but ways of keeping it should be in love and consideration. We need to have freedom in truth and love in communities if we are part of God’s family. Mark 1 talks about “who Jesus is?” more than the contents of Jesus’ teaching. The cultural distance between the past and the present challenges for interpretation regarding today’s text. On the Sabbath Jesus enters the synagogue and begins teaching. The people who heard him teach were amazed, “for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” (Mark 1: 21,22) They had never experienced such authority and they were utterly amazed. We can imagine a scene in a Capernaum synagogue which has worship, teaching, and the community are gathered. There would be possible questions of Jesus’ authority. For instance, “For whom does he speak and act?”, “Who has authorized his ministry? “, and “Is he really sent by God?” The service from the synagogue was interrupted by the cries of a man who was possessed by an evil spirit. Here the voice was not from heaven, it came from the unclean spirit. Immediately Jesus was encountered by Satan, but it became an opportunity to show his authority over the power of Satan. The man’s personality had been damaged, and his existence was under the demon’s control. (23) The question “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? shows that there was more than one demon possessing the man and causing him to cry out. The demons with the unclean spirit found Jesus, and clearly recognized the authority and mission of Jesus. Jesus ordered the demon to “be quiet” as he commands the sea to “be still”. He rebuked the unclean spirit and the sea. (Mark 4:30) Jesus healed the man, and His exorcism represented a demonstration of authority. It results in healing and restoration, and the people were amazed once again. (27) Those who witness it are utterly amazed both by the authority of his teaching and his authority over the unclean spirits. The impact of his actions causes his reputation to grow throughout Galilee. (28) The command to come out of him has meanings that God’s enemies are beginning to be defeated, and the rule over the world is about to end. It is the conflict between the power of evil and the power of God in this battlefield of life. There are times when Jesus’ teaching causes conflict with the authority in those in religious and political power. But here he is causing conflict with the powers of darkness. Jesus is not just healing a suffering man. He is challenging