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I. Cross And Salvation History For Community Creating

      Today We Asians are suffering and struggling for building of true community in the midst of worldwide destructions of community. In the situation of oppressions, exploitations, alienations and destructions of life and ecosystem, we should inquire the meaning of Jesus' death on the cross. Jesus was killed by the power of the Roman Empire. The cross is the place of killing. However, for Christians cross, that is, the place of killing has become the place of living and salvation. The cross has become the power of salvation and liberation. New Testament proclaims the paradox and miracle of change from place of killing to that of living.

      But in the theology of western tradition, the death of Jesus on the cross is understood as a sacrificial death that is meant to appease God's Anger against all humankind. It is also a payment for sins committed by man and a ransom for man as a slave of sin and death. The traditional theology continues that people can be saved only through faith in the death of Jesus on the cross. Thus the traditional soteriology can be said to betray some of legalistic, sorceric character.

     The traditional soteriology tends to exclude the subjective participation of Christians by emphasizing the mechanical, heteronomical effect of death on cross. For this reason, the Asian Christian people who are bound by its tenets, are very likely to adjust themselves to the prevailing system of oppression and exploitation, accepting it as their fate. And traditional soteriology excuses cheaply sin of all human being, especially the sin of oppression, exploitation and alienation by laying more emphasis on the expiation of universal sin.

      The cross of Jesus should be understood in the context of the salvation history, which according to the Bible is a history of restoring and creating community by God and man in the human history of destructing community. God created world and human to let them live together and to share life abundantly. Humankind and nature were created for a communal life centered around the Presence of God. But Adam and Eve sought a self-centered life of monopoly and rule by assuming fruits from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So Kain killed his own brother and the communal life came to be destroyed. It is a sin to destroy community among God, human and nature. And it is a salvation to restore community from its destruction.

                God’s power of creating community crashed with the killing power of destroying community on the cross. The cross is the place where the power of destroying community kills Jesus, who is the communal life incarnate. And the cross is the door open to communal life and at the same time the fountain of communal life. And faith is subjective participation in the suffering, struggling and community creating activity of God in Jesus Christ on the cross.[1]

II. Understandings Of The Cross In The Gospels

      Jesus tells, acts and lives only for kingdom(will) of God and life of Minjung. Jesus' kingdom of God movement is a movement to bring Minjung to life. Ruling class crashed with his movement. This is the reason why Jesus was politically killed by the same class.

1)  The Suffering Servant And The Outcry On The Cross

  - The understanding of crucified Jesus as messiah by early Christians and gospel authors is contrary to the traditional Judaic understanding of messiah. According to the Judaic tradition, messiah is a liberator of nation, that is, a political-military hero and a victor over an enemy. Jesus understands himself to be a suffering servant and always lives as such. His disciples and early church could confess the crucified Jesus as the messiah in the light of the suffering servant. The suffering servant is the central idea for understanding of Jesus in synoptic gospels.

     According to Isaiah, the suffering servant “surely hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.. .and with his stripes we are healed.” (53, 4.5)

      According to Matthew’s Gospel Jesus “took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses”(Mat. 8,17). Jesus as a suffering servant was a companion of Minjung. He ate together with Minjung and lived together with Minjung. Jesus' kingdom of God movement was a table community movement.[2] Jesus used to liken the Kingdom of God to a feast and lived like a man who came to host a feast with Minjung.[3] To share rice is most concrete symbol and most vivid reality of sharing life.

     Jesus is a companion of Minjung, but never regards them simply as a target of compassion or an object of salvation, that is, a passive being. He set up Minjung as the center and subject of Kingdom of God. He placed Minjung ahead of all others by proclaiming that tax collectors and sex workers would be the first to enter the kingdom of God rather than those Herodians, Sadducees and Pharisees, who then constituted the ruling class. He repeatedly declared that the last shall be first.

     Jesus approached Minjung in the form of servant. A leader who rules upon his people, makes them cringing and submissive: By approaching Minjung in 'the form of servant, Jesus gave life to them so that they can rise. By meeting Jesus Minjung who were dying at hand of the killing power were able to rise up and the sick and the alienated came to life again. It is neither the so-called Jesus' superpower nor his own divine ability that made Minjung to be reborn in a miracle. For Jesus, Minjung is not a simple passive object of salvation, Jesus and Minjung combine themselves together in body and mind to bring forth the event of salvation. They are interactive in life and let each other live. In their meeting with Jesus as humble as earth, the life of Minjung sprouts. Their hidden power of life erupts at a touch by Jesus' pure, clean and warm love for life. For this reason Jesus used to say “Your faith saved you”. Where there is no faith on the part of Minjung, Jesus could not heal their diseases. Jesus' healing power is a miracle of life resulting from the concurrence of faith.

      Though he suffered all the hardship and death with his own body, we can never find any trace of pessimism or defeatism from Jesus. Obviously he learned from nature the truth of living through suffering and death. He explained the Kingdom of God in the metaphor of growing seed. Life resurrected beyond death is like the life of wheat that multiplies hundred times after death. In the Jesus movement, nature and history are integrated. In the historical situation of despair and death, Jesus never lost his optimistic faith in the natural life that is created and provided by God. From field flowers raised by God as well as those birds flying high in the sky, he learned optimistic faith. His saying “seek, and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened,” teaches us to have an optimistic faith and a positive attitude toward the future of Minjung.

      Jesus, the suffering servant, in his death on the cross, shows his deep unity with Minjung. His cry on the cross “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, reflects not only his own pain but also the reality of history and society in which Minjung suffered from hardship and death. The same cry represents the screams of Minjung ever coming out of the bottom of history. Even at this moment he is carrying their burdens and is suffering, groaning and crying always with them. The outcry of Jesus on the cross is the outcry of all those people who are groaning under the heavy burdens of their society. Even now in the core of our heart, in the center of this world and from the bottom of this history, carrying all the burden of Minjung, Jesus is screaming at the top of his voice. Because he groans and suffers under the burden of our life, we are reborn, gain power, enjoy life and receive blessing. Surely because he burdens himself with our sins, death, sufferings and curses, we will never be alone but be blessed with an eternal life without ever perishing.

      In this world, where life is being destroyed and becoming extinct, Jesus lets us keenly feel the pains of living and hear the throes of suffering life. Jesus on the cross opens our ears so that we can hear all those sounds uttered by silent life in nature,, by those abandoned at the bottom of society and history, and by us at the bottom of our soul. It is our duty to appeal to the world as well as God for the life of the wounded. Together with Jesus hanging on the cross, we must shout loud the pains of living.

                For those who turn away from the agonies on the cross, there is neither reconciliation nor salvation. Only when we respond to the agonies coming from Minjung through the cross, and when we accept in our heart the afflicted life of Minjung, we will be held firmly in the love and life of God. If we hold dearly in our heart those Minjung who are suffering from the institutionalized evil, we will surely be saved by God through Minjung, rather than we save Minjung

2)  Son Of Man And Restoring Of Minjung's Sovereignty

– Jesus also understood himself as the Son of Man. And likewise, the Gospel authors and early church so understood. According to Daniel, the Son of Man is a collective persona representing suffering Minjung in contrast with the imperialistic force symbolized by beast, thereby symbolizing the sovereignty of Minjung liberated from the oppression and exploitation by the imperialistic force, as well as God's sovereignty which brought down the imperialistic force. (Dan. 7,14.26-27) The Son of Man represents the restoring of sovereignty to Minjung who are now oppressed and trampled down. And also in Aramaic, the Son of Man means an ordinary man. Calling himself Son of Man, Jesus identifies himself not only with the sovereignty of God(Minjung) in the Book of Daniel, but also with “ordinary man”.

      The son of man who goes through the passion of the cross “will come in the clouds with great power and glory” (Mar. 13, 26-27). The son of man who will come in the glory of his father and of the holy angels (Mar. 8.38) symbolizes the sovereignty of the kingdom of God and the establishment of the sovereignty of Minjung. The ruling power that brandish law for monopoly and control, is a killing power that leads the whole society including Minjung to death, and belongs to the dead. Jesus, the son of Man, who abandons himself to death, is the power of life that leads to life the whole society as well as Minjung.

      Jesus who starts his public life, proclaims Jubilee, thereby liberating the life of Minjung. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind; To set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Lk. 4,18-19) While Jubilee as appears in the Old Testament is an Idea to reform the existing system and institutions,[4] the year of Jubilee announced by Jesus is the creation of new man. The Jubilee of Jesus is realized with Minjung at the bottom through the power of the holy spirit, making those fallen in despair and resignation rise again forcefully, and breathing new life into those seized by the power of death, making the blind see, and the deaf hear, and the crippled jump.[5]

      To restore body and mind wholly is to integrate God's creation. We can find no occasion in the Bible when the spirit alone is saved to the exclusion of body. Any God who saves the spirit alone can never be God, Creator. God created the heaven and earth and made humans from the earth. Upon the fall of the humans into sin, God was incarnated in the body of Jesus, Jesus became bread for the humans through the Eucharist, crucified Jesus was resurrected in flesh. The destination of way of God is bodiliness.[6]

       Asked by John in prison, through his disciples “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect some other?”, Jesus told in the foregoing text that he was. He said, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard; How the blind recover their sight; The lame walk, the leprosy stricken are made clean, the poor are hearing the good news” (Lk.7,22) In place of speculations about whether he is Messiah, Jesus presents what he has done. By making the lame walk he accomplishes the mission of Messiah.[7] The crippled are placed at the bottom of society. They are the meanest members of Minjung in a society, most strongly influenced by the killing power. Jesus perfects God's work of creation and firmly set up the sovereignty of the kingdom of God, by overcoming the killing power, raising up the body and spirit of the crippled, and giving the abundant life.[8]

3.  Cross and Responsible Action

– The crucifixion of Jesus was an extension of all the sufferings which had been forced upon the Israel people for millenniums by a number of strong nations and their unjust rulers. The people of Israel, the people of God, historically had to undergo lots of oppressions and exploitations at the hand of imperialistic strong nations and their unjust rulers. God's salvation reaches the kingdom of God through long sufferings by Minjung. Bearing all the sufferings of his people, Jesus went upon the cross.

       The cross stands for not only God's salvation and power but also all the greed, hatred, and curse borne by the political and religious leaders of the Roman Empire and Israel-in defiance of God's grace and liberation. The cross signifies resignation, defeat, submission, damnation, sighs, and tears on the part of the ruled. The cross was a yoke set up by the ruler who denied Jubilee. It is also a place where all kinds of people, some agonizing under the rolling wheel of history, some blind, some deaf, some lame, some no more alive than dead gathered to their despair. The kingdom of God had to dawn by breaking off the yoke.[9]

      The death on the cross is “Nothing” – (an empty space) where all human schemes and efforts fall down. Before the cross, all kinds of greedy pursuit of interest, oppressions and exploitations, selfish struggle for survival, and self-centered judgment between good and evil come to a stop. When we stand before Jesus, whose hands and legs are nailed to the cross, we will realize that our selfish words, thoughts, actions, and even our own being get nailed to the cross. The cross is a place where we empty and give up ourselves. Moreover, it is a place where we rise up on our own by emptying and giving up ourselves. A place where we are urged to act on our own in a responsible way in place of Jesus who had his hands and legs nailed. A place where we are called as one of God's coworkers. A place where we are called upon to work with our own hands, legs, and brain in stead of the crucified Jesus.

       The cross is a place of fierce struggle, but it denies any militarism. It goes beyond primitive confrontations and conflicts caused by hatred and curses to open communal life of reconciliation and interliving. Before we pass any ethical judgment between good and evil, and before we begin a class struggle, we must affirm the creative communal life and the reward and meaning of God's life. The power, I think, that overcomes despair and resignation derives from our affirming God's love that recognizes our life, rather than from our outrage, hatred, or criticism, In other words, when we affirm the divine power which works in us beyond the realm of death, we can win over death. From the cross which is void and empty, there blows the wind of spirit, of Jesus' resurrected life. In a void, in an empty space is God working for his great creation. God's power which wins the strength by the weakness and accomplishes works by not doing, will be revealed in the life of Minjung who are feeble and wounded. However the cross tolerates neither escapism nor seclusion. We can set up a community of reconciliation and liberation by confronting face to face the unjust power of killing in the middle of history and society, The cross demands our thoroughly responsible action.

4)  Forgiveness Of Minjung

– Jesus teaches to make peace before offering sacrifices(Mat, 5,23-24). First, peace should be made by the offender to the victims, According to the parable of last judgment, the oppressed, alienated Minjung are identified with the judge, People are judged according to what has been done to Minjung. The parable of an evil servant shows that we will never be forgiven our debts by God, unless we first forgive our colleagues of their debts(Mat, 18, 23ff). Zacchaeus had to return his wealth to the poor and seek forgiveness from the poor Minjung.(Luk. 19,1-10), Only when the wounded victims forgive, God does so, God's forgiveness and salvation come from the cross through Minjung.

      Jesus, who had exercised authority to give sin in his worldly life, was judged and executed by the ruling class, His disciples locked themselves in their houses in fear of being judged and persecuted by them, The resurrected Jesus breathes upon his disciples hiding in fear of the Judaic authorities to authorize them to forgive, “Receive the Holy Spirit! If you forgive any man's sins, they stand forgiven; if you pronounce them unforgiving, unforgiving they remain.” (Joh. 20, 22-23) To judge and forgive is the exercise of the sovereignty,

      To Peter who said that he was messiah, Jesus gave the keys to the Kingdom of heaven, “You are Peter, the rock, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall never conquer it, I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven; What you forbid on earth shall be forbidden in heaven, and what you allow on earth shall be allowed in heaven,” (Mat, 16,18-19), The saying that Peter was given the keys of the heaven is interpreted to mean that the church authorities are given the power of forgiving, However, Jesus never conferred it upon the church authority. The power of forgiveness given by Jesus is based upon Peter's confession that he was the messiah, And his confession was the reconfirmation of his dedication to the Jesus movement, Upon his confession Peter as representative of the movement received the keys to the heaven and earth, It should also be noted that the early church represented by Peter was an extension and consequence of the Jesusmovement, The early church was a community of Minjung liberation, The Jesusmovement which aims to realize that kingdom of God on earth is the foundation of the church that enables it to win over the power of killing. The sovereignty of heaven and earth was given to the Minjung who followed Jesus to join in the movement,

      Nevertheless Minjung should be forgiven, In his prayer Jesus teaches us, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Mat. 6,12), The same applies to Minjung, for they must forgive others their sins in order for them to be forgiven by God, For Jesus forgiveness is not an apathetic pardon of accountability but the positive restoration of community and the creative overcoming of hostile relationship.

      It is quite rare that those who oppress and exploit ask Minjung to forgive. They have never cease to oppress and trample down Minjung. Conflicts between races, religions and classes are doomed to fall in an endless vicious cycle of hatred and violence.

      In the middle of the vicious cycle of mutual killing, Jesus taught the suffering Minjung to love their enemy. He also said, “whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. If anyone will take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain,” (Mat, 5,39-41) To love our enemy is neither a cowardly compromise nor a humiliation, but an action of strength and generosity as expected of a triumphant prince. In ancient society, to bestow generosity upon enemy was a privilege of the victor.[10] Dependent upon the life of Jesus who conquered death through the passions on the cross and his resurrection, Minjung can open the kingdom of God by loving their enemy as victor. Love for enemy is a trust in the powers of the kingdom of God which work through Minjung at the bottom of history. Love for enemy means to commit ourselves and our enemy to the hand of God who creates community, through reconciliation and liberation between ourselves and our enemy.

      Love for enemy is based on God's love of life that lets rain and light fall down on the good and bad in the same way. Love for enemy is presupposed the fact that the root of evil is entangled each other. The root of evil is deeply enmeshed in our self-centered life. As long as we follow the way of mutual annihilation, in which we persist in our selfish ego and pay evil with evil, we would never be able to pull out the root of evil I, As a being awaiting God to forgive, Minjung is fighting the evil of the unjust system not by violence of hatred and curse but by the powers of God.

      Love for enemy neither recognizes nor condones injustice. It refuses to accept injustice and evil, but treat the hostile men kindly and fairly. This is possible only in our strong faith in and hope for the Kingdom of God that bring forth reconciliation and liberation on earth. Like Jesus, the suffering servant, we Christian Minjung in Asia, may be able to cut away the vicious cycle of revenge by accepting sufferings, and death in a daring manner. Helped by life and love of the cross, the Minjung will set themselves free from the vicious cycle of killing and advance towards the world of interliving community.

III. Living Jesus

– Communion is an action to participate in the communal life of Jesus that overcoming death on the cross. Through pain and self-sacrifice it shows the mystery of sharing cosmic life, the solidarity of the dead and living, the unity of rice and word, cosmic matter and divine spirit, man and God. It is also the power of creating community and feast of communal life for suffering, struggling Minjung.

      Communion then is not only a religious symbol of Christian ritual, It is the event of breaking the chains of monopoly and isolation and opening new worlds of justice and peace. And it is unification of Jesus and me in my body. Jesus is resurrected in my body through communion, So I can feel the blood and body of Jesus Christ in me.

      Remember, today Jesus Christ is still present among the suffering, dying people deprived of table-community. Now he is suffering and dying with the oppressed people. He is shedding his blood with the people who are shedding their blood for justice and peace in this world. Therefore when we take the body and blood of Christ in communion, we should think of the body and blood of the righteous who are now shedding their blood. So when we celebrate communion, we can hear their outcry in our body.

      The body of Jesus holds the power of sharing life. It has the power of breaking down the walls of political oppression. economic exploitation. sexism, and racism. It has the power of creating a new world that exceeds capitalism and totalitarianism. So that when we receive the body of Jesus, we receive power for living together. And when we share the body in communion, we are one with the suffering people in Jesus Christ.[11]

2)  Power Of The Killed For Justice

– Today Asian Christians who live in the death and resurrection of Jesus, feel in their body and blood the spirits of those who have been killed for the cause of justice. The Asiatic tradition of reverence for the dead is still strong with us. We Asians who live in the long tradition of disciplining body and mind, have great sensitivity of hearing the voice of wounded soul, outcry of trampled life.

      In Korea the power of the dead is stronger than that of the living. Even atheists recognize the influence of the dead in their memorial address. Koreans have lived with their ancestors and owing to the virtue of ancestors for a long time. Actually under the oppression of Japan Imperialism and military dictatorship Koreans could maintain their national spirit owing to the killed for justice during the Donghak revolution movement, the March 1st independence movement, the April 19th revolution. And the April 19th revolution was touched off by the dead body of the high school student Kim Joo Yul who was brutally murdered by dictatorial government. Especially all the movement undertaken for the cause of democracy and reunification in 70's and 80's was promoted by the power of the killed. In 1970 a factory worker named Chon Tae-Il burned himself to death in an action of appeal for the right to the livelihood of the laborers. His death has been considered to be the incarnation of Minjung liberation movement and the source of national inspiration for struggle for Minjung liberation. Almost 200 dead souls massacred by the military during the Kwangju Minjung and students struggle for democracy, played the role of prime mover for democratization and reunification movements. It should also be noted that Park Jong-Chol, a college student who had been tortured to death by the military government, and Lee Han-Yol, another college student killed by tear gas, played a decisive role in bringing down the Chon Tu-Whan military government. Excluding two hundred people who lost their lives in Kwangju, since the death of Chon Tae-IL. the Number of those who offered their lives for the cause of democratization totals more than 120.[12] The intense lives of the dead are exploring the frontiers of history at the head of the living people.

       The traditional faith of Koreans in the power of ancestors and the influence of the killed for justice is in accord with the Christian faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. In the light of resurrection faith we Asians hear the voice of suffering people in our body and hear the voice of God in the history of our nations.[13]

3)  Living Jesus: Community As Body Of Jesus

– Jesus is alive in the suffering and struggle of Christians and in the church community. Early church called Jesus in its worship, “Maranata(come, Lord)!” (rev. 22,17-20) Church community is the place for proclaiming Jesus as the Lord and the place in which Jesus lives.

       The body of Christ is unseparably united with the alienated and marginalized Minjung. To separate Christ from the alienated Minjung is to deny the life and work, death and resurrection of Jesus and to break apart the body of Christ. Jesus separated from Minjung is abstract, false and dead. By separating Jesus from Minjung through dogmas and ecclesiastical authority, the western traditional church came to succumb to power and money, thereby becoming a church without Jesus. A church without Jesus is a dead church. Today Jesus should be alive in church in order that it might live. In order to live, Jesus must be set free to meet Minjung.

       Jesus is power and fountain of community of Creation, and church is the reality of that community. Church is the community of cross, the tree of life. The cross, the tree of killing, became the tree of interliving through Jesus. Church, the tree of life, should guide human being to the community of life. The church of the cross should be tree of interliving in the world of interkilling.

        Church is the place of life flowing forth among the Minjung. The cross of church is life buried in the ground, the seed of Jesus movement buried in the heart of Minjung. Life of the cross grows more and more abundant through sharing, and stronger and stronger through buried in the ground, and more and more powerful through persecution.

       Church should catch the spirit and life of Minjung. Church is the place in which Minjung stands up to overcome despair and death with Jesus. To let a member of Minjung rise up is to open new heaven and earth.

        We Asians live in the world (market economy) ruled by transnational capitals stimulating greed and competition for oppression and exploitation. We live in the modern industrial societies destined to destruction and death. In this world as Kim Yong Bock said, church is the subject in overcoming grades and discriminations among the classes through the realization of poltics-economy of God, and is an “agent who activates Minjung movement like yeast and seed of God's Kingdom”[14] Church should seek for communal life that leads to abundant life of God, throwing away the capitalistic values and egoistic lifestyle, which only bring about the destruction of life of community and nature.

        Church should be place for feasts of God's Kingdom where are invited not only Minjung but also the rich and powerful. In order to draw into motion all the resources and abilities, church should be open for all. Let's cultivate the garden of life in Asia with the power of God working in the heart of our body, nature, history and society. Nothing is impossible for the creating Ruach of God and for the life of Jesus who died on the cross and was resurrected three days later.