By Ms. Ji Hoon Suh, MHS Student Life Director
Link : The Collection Shop
When the time of Lent comes, there is a painting that I want to introduce. It is ‘Forgiven’ by Thomas Blackshear II. In the hands of a man, who looks painful and sorrowful, are a hammer and a big bolt. Jesus is firmly holding the back of this man, who can barely stand on his own feet. It seems like this man doesn’t know that Jesus is holding on to him.
While we live, we often feel that we are in pain. Some may even think that I am living the most painful life. It is unbearable when the ones we most love hurt us. This picture shows us that the responsibility of Jesus’ death is on us. Endlessly, there comes painful situations during life, but we experience the Lord who still comes to us within the pain, forgives our sin, and loves us.
In April, there is a special annual event celebrating the Resurrection of Christ. We hold a musical performance at the 2nd prison in northern Kyungbuk. For one month, students prepare for the show. Some students started with curiosity, some with fear. They have different reasons, but share the same heart of spreading the gospel. The noticeable thing that many students similarly experience through the show, is that one inmate catches each student’s eyes during the performance. And I say to them each year,
“Let’s meet the inmates with God’s heart.”
Each student then fixes his or her eyes on that inmate, prays for him/her, and praises God from the beginning to the end of the performance. After the show, students report that the inmates could barely lift up their chin and prayed in repentance of their sins before God. We were able to share the same heart given by God during our worship.
Preparing the musical was physically, mentally painful, like usual. At times, I would be burned out by health problems. When God revealed broken hearts and the weak flesh, students also shared painful experiences during preparation for the musical. April’s musical performance was a time of sorrow and pain that went on for ten years.
We have been living a quiet April for three years, since the pandemic. We miss the strong arms of Jesus who held on to our students, when we were at our weakest state. In this April, we realize that the painful time that we experienced before was actually a precious moment when we could communicate with God heart to heart and miss that time.
