Author: garhamkwon

[Numbers 1] Census

How hard would it be to count those over the age of 20 and fit for war from a crowd of roughly 2 million people? Yet they managed, and counted 603550 people.

600 thousand strong. They say the Armed Forces of the Republic of Korea have around 650 thousand enlisted men (4 million if we count the reserves). That means the Israelites had an army of a similar scale to the standing army of Korea. This is a very large force.

In most ancient wars, an army’s capability for war was directly proportional to the number of men deployed. 600 thousand, is therefore a massive number. For the Israelites, who had just been chased out of Egypt, this would have been a surprise. They would have considered themselves a useless rabble, but one census changes their perspective.

In addition, they had an army that was logistically efficient (as proven by the fact that they managed to count 600 thousand people).

The reason that a rabble of people could be transformed into a might army was this: “The Israelites did all this, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” [54]

We know the rest of Israel’s history. We know that when they forsake the Lord’s commands, there army is not much better than a rabble. War is not a fight of numbers, but is in God’s hands.

What we need to trust in is NOT numbers, or statistics. We need to rely on God.

// Starting from March, we will be meditating on Numbers. The passages are long, so we will focus on specific verses that give us insight.

[John 14:25-31] Peace

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you.”[27a]

The Greek word translated into ‘peace’, can also mean ‘calmness’ or ‘tranquility’. In Paul’s letters, peace is often paired with Grace. ‘Grace and peace’ is a phrase used frequently as greetings or farewells in his letters.

Jesus promised us peace, peace that the world cannot have, peace that the world cannot understand.

And the more I meditate on the word ‘peace’, the more I think that this word is referring to a communal peace instead of an individual peace. A peace of unity.

“On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” [20] The ‘you’ used in this passage is actually in the plural form. Peace is knowing that Jesus lives within us. Worry and fear only come when we forget that Jesus lives within us.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” [Matthew 5:9]. Jesus already called his disciples his children.

Grace may be received personally, but peace is received as a community.

[John 13:12-20] Serving and Servants

“Do you understand what I’ve done for you?” [12] “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” [17]

I am the teacher, the master. You are the student, the servant. We are in different classes. We are aware of the differences in class. Did someone say ‘the student surpasses the teacher’? No, the servant cannot rise above the master, and the student cannot be higher than the teacher.

Jesus tells us this: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you”.

We need to wash ‘one another’s’ feet. We need to follow the example Jesus set. As you know, the worldly leaders oppress their people, and rulers abuse the population. But Jesus tells the disciples that this is wrong. He tells us that the powerful must serve, and the first must be last.

Jesus’ teachings turn things around. The one who serves is considered great. The servant is held in high esteem. He tells us to serve and be servants. This is what he did for us, and we must follow in his footsteps.

Perhaps we fail in this aspect because, while the word ‘serving’ holds no negative connotation, the word ‘servant’ definitely does. The former describes our actions, and the latter describes our status. Hence, we want to serve as owners, or leaders, not as servants or slaves.

But Jesus commands us, not only to serve, but to become servants. He tells us to serve (action) and be a servant (status). Merely acting like a servant is not good enough. Jesus wants us to become servants. Jesus came to Earth, prepared to die for his master. He put God the Father above him.

I dream of the heavenly feast. The feast where Jesus will serve me and look after me. Perhaps I should become a servant on this Earth.

[John 13:1-11] Unending Love

“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” [1] Jesus’ love has one condition. He loves ‘his own’. He loves his sheep, the sheep he shepherds. He loves the sheep who listen to his voice and follow him. And this type of love has no end. This love is infinite, as well as eternal. What love is this?

“Like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.” [Luke 12:36-37]

This passage is very similar to today’s passage. In Luke, Jesus talks of the master serving in the future tense. But Jesus, in today’s bible passage, is doing just that: he is serving the disciples. The disciples were not wide awake and waiting for Jesus, yet Jesus proves his unending love by his acts of service.

Poor Judas Iscariot. He left those who would be loved until the very end. He has run away, away from the voice of the good shepherd and towards a different voice.

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.” [Psalms 1:1]

Today, the Lord washes my feet. He loves me until the end.

[John 12:44-50] True Light = Eternal Life

“Then Jesus cried out, ‘Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.'” [44-45]

Jesus came to us as a light. He is the source of all light. We know that the moon lacks luminosity, and that it is merely reflecting sunlight. We know that the light we see from the stars are years old. The stars we know are in the past.

However, there is a light on this world that shines directly into each person’s heart. [John 1:9] This light is Jesus, God’s son, and displays the majesty of God the Father, the ultimate source. [1:18] This light does not merely display a God of the past, it shows us the God of the present; the God who is with us in this very moment. This is because God the Father is one with Jesus. Not even a moment is between them.

Jesus claims that his words and deeds come from God the Father. Therefore, God the Father and Jesus says the same thing. Exactly. [50] Jesus lived by God’s command. He states that obedience to God’s commands is the key to eternal life. When we dwell within Jesus, we no longer dwell in the darkness. [46]

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” [John 17:3]

Amen