2 Kings 8
Some time later Elisha went to the capital city of Damascus to visit King Benhadad of Syria, who was sick. And when Benhadad was told he was there, 8 he said to Hazael,[b] “Go meet with Elisha the man of God and have him ask the Lord if I will get well. And take along a gift for him.”
9 Hazael left with forty camel loads of the best things made in Damascus as a gift for Elisha. He found the prophet and said, “Your servant, King Benhadad, wants to know if he will get well.”
10 “Tell him he will,” Elisha said to Hazael. “But the Lord has already told me that Benhadad will definitely die.” 11 Elisha stared at him until Hazael was embarrassed, then Elisha began crying.[c]
Lamentations 1
Won’t you look and see
how upset I am, our Lord?
My stomach is in knots,
and my heart is broken
because I betrayed you.
In the streets and at home,
my people are slaughtered.
Heaven’s Sorrowful Heart
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
January 3, 1959
Had Joseph and Mary had the same determination while Jesus was growing up as they had at his conception, they would have been able to block the path of the cross for him. We are aware that because the mother and son failed to complete the internal and external circumstances through cooperation, Jesus abandoned his home and went forth to look for disciples.
For that reason, when asked by Mary to make water into wine at the marriage feast at Cana, Jesus said, “Woman, what have you to do with me?” (John 2:4) When we think about this, we realize that Mary did not understand Jesus. Neither Joseph nor Jesus’ brothers knew. Jesus felt concern about Heaven and the physical living environment. We must understand that it was natural for Jesus to feel concern about God, yet it was a sorrowful fact for him to have to feel concern about the living environment.
Jesus was born and raised in a sorrowful environment. The environment in which he was to live, caring and feeling concern only for God, was lost. Therefore, we must understand the sorrowful fact that Jesus was put in a situation where he had to feel concern about God and be concerned about his physical livelihood.
Jesus being compelled to leave his home was equivalent to having to leave his brothers and the tribe of Joseph, which had 4,000 years of history behind it. We must remember that Jesus’ heart was sorrowful, as he looked at all the people who did not believe in him. Yet he could not confide in anyone. Jesus’ heart ached, not because his circumstances were sorrowful and difficult, but because his mother, brothers and relatives did not recognize who he was. We must understand that this fact was the grief of Jesus’ grief. Therefore, today we must go back into history and restore Mary’s original position, Joseph’s position, the position of Jesus’ brothers, his tribe, and Jesus’ position as well. We must be aware that the bitter historical resentment remains. We cannot help doing this.
Feeling the thirty plus years of Jesus’ life on earth, deeply, in your minds, having been born and having left bearing the cross, you must feel to your marrow that Jesus felt sorrowful, that he was subjected to both mental pain and physical pain. You must not celebrate Jesus’ birthday without that. Only when you know about Jesus, who came and left in such a sorrowful way can you become qualified to celebrate his birthday.
The scene in which Joseph and Mary were looking at Jesus, embracing him after his birth, may have been a condition of happiness before Heaven. Yet because they could not embrace Jesus his whole life and could not offer their best to Jesus, they concluded by not establishing a happy condition before God.
As we welcome Jesus who was born, we must know about Jesus who left. By going back beyond the cross, following Jesus into history, we must have the mind to offer our best wishes, while holding onto the newborn Jesus. Since Jesus had to leave under such circumstances and fought in such a manner, unless you get to know all the Shim Jung Jesus felt in his lifetime and inherit that Shim Jung, you must know that you are not qualified to offer your congratulations to Jesus.
Deeming Jesus’ sorrow as truly your own, Jesus’ pain in his life as truly your own, you must be able to embrace, in your heart, the comprehensive Will for which Jesus worked for 2,000 years until now. It must be your will. We can congratulate Jesus only when we get to know the Shim Jung of Jesus as he grew up and died on the cross in pain as an adult. We can then connect with Jesus. With Jesus as the condition, a relationship then can be formed between God and us. We must know this.