Psalm 146, Luke 16:19-31, and 1 Timothy 6:6-19
When was the biggest mistake you made in your life? The biggest mistake and experience of repentance that I remember was when I was 15 years old and in middle school. At that time, Korea’s foreign exchange reserves rapidly decreased as companies went bankrupt one after another. There was, however, a problem with the ability to pay foreign investors and creditors. At that time, Korea received financial support from the International Monetary Fund. The problem was that in this process, Korea had to accept demands such as flexible employment conditions that met the standards of the American market. As a result, countless workers were laid off, and in the short term, the government, individuals, and households shouldered the burden of corporate debt. It was a very dark time socioeconomically, and as it overlapped with my adolescence, I had many concerns about rebellion and financial independence. I started a part-time job delivering newspapers at dawn to help support my family. The first problem was that I left home and lived in a newspaper distribution office. The second problem is that I delivered newspapers on a motorcycle without a license. Of course, my hometown is a small county, so the police didn’t punish me for this kind of mistake. However, I remember giving my parents a pretty hard time for a few weeks and skipping church. When I realized my mistake, I didn’t dare to go home right away. I recall that a few days later, I apologized to my parents, repented at church, and resumed living faithfully at home and at school.
The important thing is that we are all humans and can make mistakes or do wrong. Sometimes we sin even though we don’t want to. However, we can learn valuable lessons from mistakes, and we must acknowledge our mistakes before God and the world and repent. This is the story of Lazarus and the rich man, as in the Gospel of Luke. A rich man, who ignores the suffering and hunger of the poor while alive, is suffering in Hades. Lazarus, on the other hand, was taken to Abraham’s side. Now the rich man regrets his past in extreme pain. So, he asks Abraham to help the five living brothers repent. We know that if we have anything to repent of, it is wise to do so as soon as possible while we are still alive. We must repent before it is too late, lest we lose our last chance to do so.
I see the wisdom of Canadians and the Presbyterian Church in Canada in this regard. Our denomination operated twelve residential schools at the time, the closest of which was Stony Plain School (St. John’s Schools) in west Edmonton from 1947 to 1963. Of course, we know that the boarding school was run with good intentions. On the one hand, we might think that there were mistakes on the part of our seniors or people with no connection to us at all. On the other hand, there are still people who are experiencing conflicts due to big and small issues near the Indigenous reserve. It takes courage to speak of apologies and work toward reconciliation in this situation. Through this, we also come face to face with mistakes we were unaware of and the sins of our predecessors. We know that despite good initial intentions and planning, inadequate budgets and inexperienced operations have caused significant harm to First Nations.
Today, we wear orange shirts and remember six-year-old Phyllis Webstad. She entered the St. Joseph Mission Residential School in B.C. Young Phyllis was wearing a brand-new and beloved orange shirt on her first day of school, but those in charge took it away and replaced it with the school’s institutional uniform. She never saw the shirt again. The loss of an orange shirt has become symbolic of all that was taken from children at the schools—language, spirituality, culture, family and community relationships, safety, security, identity, and sometimes even their lives. Today, we empathize with their pain and, at the same time, courageously confess the mistakes of our predecessors as our own. Respecting and caring for their culture, our church continues to provide responsible apologies and relief for the ongoing identity issues and various physical and mental pain and issues within Indigenous communities.
Second, we are invited to fight the good fight of faith. Paul speaks to Timothy: “11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” “Timothy, you have been called to be the pastor of the church in Ephesus. Be sure to be sound in the faith,” Paul encourages. So, fight the good fight of faith. Why did he recommend this? This is because there were many false teachers at the time, and some cleverly mixed truth with lies. Even today, some people cleverly mix truth and lies to create news and YouTube clips. Some organizations engage in scams and fraud. They manipulate statistics or partially exploit science to hide the truth. As smartphones and social networking services become deeply ingrained in our lives, personal privacy is often compromised and disclosed indiscriminately. This is also collected and weaponized by artificial intelligence and hackers. Although much time has passed since the Bible was written, it still calls us, the saints, to fight the good fight of faith. Being asked to be courageous in the face of adversity is also part of the good fight. Facing the truth is sometimes painful, but having the courage to face it is also part of fighting the good fight. And let us live through all this with righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness, as Paul admonished. Our God will give us eternal life as a gift. Amen.