Finding God in Broken Things
2023년 4월 23일Finding God in Broken Things
< Third Sunday of Easter >
Nobody likes broken things. But rather than simply throwing it away gluing the pieces back together, the Japanese have turned the common broken bowl into a rare object of beauty. They mend the broken pieces together using gold. This is called “Kintsugi”, or “golden repair.” Look up “Kintsugi” on Google and you’ll see these exquisite pieces of art made valuable precisely because they had been broken but now are not only fixed, but valuable. On the night before he died, Jesus took bread, blessed and BROKE it, saying “This is my body”. Today’s gospel recounts a beautifully human experience of two disciples fleeing Jerusalem, for they feared the same group that arrested, tried and executed Jesus would soon do the same for them. As they walked to the village called Emmaus, a stranger joined them on the road and asked what they were talking about. Who was this clueless stranger? Then he opened the scriptures for them, especially ones that asked: “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer and enter into his glory?” Not “unfortunate.” Not “regrettable.” But NECESSARY. That is why at the end of the day it wasn’t bad luck but necessary for Christ to be broken for us. That is why, mindful of Jesus’ Last Supper, as soon as the stranger blessed the bread and broke it, the disciples knew it was Jesus, and no sooner did they recognize him, he disappeared. Many things get broken every day: hearts, promises, relationships and hopes. But better than the Japanese art of repairing broken bowls with gold to make works of beauty, Jesus comes into our brokenness and mends us with his body and blood. He remains with us in our brokenness and in his brokenness we are healed.