OT Lesson: Song of Solomon 5:2-6 (CEB)
[Woman]
I was sleeping, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My love is knocking:
[Man]
“Open for me, my sister, my dearest,
my dove, my perfect one!
My head is soaked with dew,
my hair, with the night mists.”
[Woman]
“I have taken off my tunic—
why should I put it on again?
I have bathed my feet—
why should I get them dirty?”
My love put his hand in through the latch hole,
and my body ached for him.
I rose; I went to open for my love,
and my hands dripped myrrh,
my fingers, liquid myrrh,
over the handles of the lock.
I went and opened for my love,
but my love had turned, gone away.
I nearly died when he turned away.
I looked for him but couldn’t find him.
I called out to him, but he didn’t answer me.
NT Lesson: Revelation 3:14-22 (NRSV)
And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation:
I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.” You do not realise that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with Me. To the one who conquers I will give a place with Me on My throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with My Father on His throne. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.’
Sermon
Introduction
Good morning, and a joyous Lunar New Year to all! Yesterday marked the celebration of the Lunar New Year, or as I mentioned last Sunday, the Sumerian New Year. To celebrate the Lunar New Year, we had Chinese food at yesterday’s Bible Study. And we will have a wonderful luncheon today in the fellowship hall after the worship service. Some of you brought desserts and foods to share. I brought a box of beer, I mean root beer, the only beer allowed to drink at church. This one is fire brewed and sweetened with Wisconsin honey—Sprecher. This is my favourite root beer, and I hope you will enjoy it as well. This coming Wednesday is not only Ash Wednesday, with our service scheduled for 7 PM at CCC and the pancake dinner at 5:30 PM, both of which we look forward to hosting next year, but it also coincides with Valentine’s Day—a day when we celebrate love in all its forms. By the way, we have a chocolate box for each of you with God’s love letter on it. Please take one before you head to the fellowship hall. This celebration is not confined to romantic love or Eros alone; we extend it to the love among family and friends, and most profoundly, to the love of God. Over two millennia, our church and theological perspectives have evolved and changed significantly. The early church fathers often viewed human love with scepticism, endorsing it solely within the confines of procreation. Today, however, we embrace and encourage human love as well, provided it respects moral and legal boundaries.
In the spirit of discussing love, it often leads to the institution of marriage. I trust that love was the foundation for many of your marriages. I jest, but is there anyone among us who found themselves in marriage not by choice but through more unconventional means, such as being kidnapped? I certainly hope not. If so, it is not too late to report to the police. As for my own experience, Hannah and I joined in marriage out of love for each other, and our anniversary is swiftly approaching in three weeks. Our wedding was held at Hannah’s parents’ church—a completely Korean congregation, chosen because I had recently arrived from Canada and had yet to find a church home. The wedding was splendid, primarily because I was blissfully uninvolved in the planning, leaving Hannah to tailor the event to her liking. In many men’s eyes, my lack of participation made it an ideal wedding for guys, except for one significant detail. The pastor, opting for thoroughness, delivered an exceptionally lengthy sermon in Korean, which I understood perfectly. His message was more than 25 minutes. My rented tuxedo was very uncomfortable, my rented shoes were very uncomfortable. Finally he finished his message, and I shouted in my heart, “Hallelujah!” Then he said, “자 이제 영어로 해볼께요.” which means “OK. I am going to repeat the same message in English.” I was very unhappy. But the real problem was that his English was not that great, and he was speaking extra slow in English. As the groom, I remained standing throughout, which eventually led to dizziness and near fainting. This experience, though taxing, pales in comparison to another wedding mishap I heard. A pastor intended to reference 1 John 4:18 in a wedding bulletin, a verse that beautifully states, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.” Instead, a typographical or possibly intended error led to the citation of John 4:18, which reads, “for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband”—an unfortunate mistake which nobody noticed until the liturgist opened the Bible and read, especially considering it was not the bride’s first marriage. The situation escalated quickly, leaving the pastor to offer countless apologies. Despite the turmoil, this serves as a small consolation that my wedding, though far from perfect, was not the worst imaginable.
Introduction to the Song of Solomon
Today, we delve into the OT, specifically the Song of Solomon, also known as the Song of Songs. Traditionally attributed to King Solomon, modern scholarship often disputes this, citing discrepancies in language, style, and cultural references that do not align with Solomon’s era. This text stands out as a beautiful yet erotically charged love song, raising questions among devout pastors and scholars about its inclusion in the Bible. Let’s explore the background and narrative flow of the Song of Songs more closely.
In this narrative, a figure presumed to be King Solomon engages in a clandestine relationship with a woman whose name remains unrecorded in the scripture. She is likely described as an African woman, given the reference in Song of Solomon 1:5, where she proclaims, “I am black and beautiful.” This interaction underscores the rarity and exotic appeal of people from different regions during a time when travel was limited and the movement of people across long distances was uncommon. The king fell in love with her and began to have an affair because she had the beauty from being exotic. Don’t underestimate the beauty from being exotic. When you go to Bali, Indonesia for example, the beauty is breath-taking. But the locals living there don’t feel it that way because they see it everyday.
In the scripture we are focusing on today, the king arrives at the woman’s door late at night covered in dew and night mist, illustrating their love was still a secret at this time. The woman, initially asleep, is awakened by his knocking. She then recognised it was her lover’s knocking. Speaking of knocking, I found that knock-knock joke is a big thing in America, which we don’t have in Korea. So I am not familiar to the knock-knock jokes and consequently I don’t find most knock-knock jokes funny. But I got a few knock-knock jokes which you may need: ‘Knock, knock. Who’s there? Harry. Harry who? Harry up, it’s time for worship!’ The other is: ‘Knock, knock. Who’s there? Lettuce. Lettuce who? Lettuce pray together.’
Returning to our scripture, the king was knocking on the door of his lover at midnight saying, ‘Hey baby, open up! Your love is here!’ And the lady replied, “I am already in my pyjamas lying on my bed. Please don’t bother.” Then the guy tried to open the locked door forcefully because the Bible says, “My love put his hand in through the latch hole.” I believe it is needless to say, but don’t do this. I believe in Indiana and other states as well, it is a crime when your girlfriend is not opening her door, and you open it up forcefully. He was OK because he was a king, but you are not. Even a king these days shall not do that. So don’t do that. Anyway, the lady became more awaken and realised what she had done—rejecting the sovereign who can execute you without trial. So she hurried and opened the door, but the king was gone already. I think the king was upset, “How dare you reject me? If not you, I have thousand more women waiting for me every night.”
This Song of Solomon is quite unreal, and many scholars view it as more allegorical than historical. These days, there are so many Hollywood movies and TV shows with the basic story line of a rich man falling in love with a poor girl, with the best know film of Pretty Woman 1990, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Before Hollywood, there were Medieval Romance Novels famous with the knights in shining armours, or a price. And before the Medieval Romance Novels, there was Song of Solomon in the Bible. We don’t need a handsome prince because the king himself is the main character. So this is a quite unreal love story where the king falls in love with a lowly, poor, and gentile woman.
Most Unreal Love Story
This unreal narrative of an unparalleled love story is revisited and magnified in the NT, where the King of kings, the Creator God, professes an unfathomable love for humanity. As Jesus Himself declared, there is no greater love than to lay down His life for His friends, that is us. We see a parallel in the OT with Jacob, who laboured seven years to marry Rachel, his first cousin. To Jacob, these seven years seemed but a few days because of his love for Rachael. Yet, when we compare Jacob’s sacrifice with that of Jesus, who willingly gave His life out of love for us, whose love is greater, Jacob’s or Jesus’? The magnitude of Jesus’ love eclipses all others. By the way the eclipse is coming on April 8th. You can get mooned in Boone.
Anyway, King Solomon’s love, conducted in secrecy, contrasts sharply with the open, sacrificial love Jesus offered. Jesus’ love was manifest from the beginning to the end, surpassing the clandestine affection of Solomon. This brings us to the essence of our NT lesson today: Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, stands at the door of our hearts, knocking. If we hear and recognise His voice and open the door, Jesus will come in to us and eat with us, that is the communion. Jesus said that if we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we will have eternal life. So Jesus is knocking on the door of our hearts to have communion with us so that we can have eternal life.
This motif of knocking and invitation recurs in both the Song of Solomon and the Revelation, yet with significant distinctions. Solomon, in his pursuit of love, initially resorts to force and then departs in frustration upon being rejected. In contrast, Jesus embodies patience and unwavering love, never imposing His presence but instead waiting for us to willingly open the door to Him. Unlike a sovereign who might assert his will through power, Jesus respects our freedom, embodying the very principle of free will because He is the author of the free will being the Creator God. He desires that we open our hearts of our own accord, not under compulsion.
This comparison not only highlights the depth of divine love but also underscores the nature of our relationship with God—a relationship invited, nurtured, and sustained by love, not coercion. Jesus’ persistent presence at our door, regardless of our past rejections, offers a profound reflection on the nature of divine love and the invitation to communion that promises eternal life.
Conclusion
Jesus continues to wait patiently, persistently knocking at the door of our hearts. His call may come at times that seem less than ideal—during our moments of rest, amidst our busiest hours, or even when we are enveloped in anger. The response to this divine knocking rests solely in our hands. Jesus still knocks. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Jesus. Now, what are we going to do? Are we going to say, “Jesus who?” waiting for a punch line? We might find ourselves hesitating, much like the beloved in the Song of Solomon, or we might choose to welcome Jesus into our hearts without delay.
Allow me to echo the words of Scripture: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.” Let us then answer Jesus’ gentle knocking by opening our hearts to Him, reciprocating His love, loving Him back, and extending that love to others in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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