영화 ‘친절한 금자씨’에서 금자 씨(이영애 분)는 감옥에서 빨리 풀려나기 위해 신실한 신앙인인 것처럼 위장합니다. 그리고 자신이 원하는 것을 이룬 후 자신을 도왔던 목사에게 이렇게 말합니다. “너나 잘하세요.” 감옥에서 형을 치르는 사람들 중에는 이처럼 그리스도를 교묘하게 이용하는 경우도 있다고 합니다.
소위 말해 ‘용팔이’로 불리는 김용남 씨와 살인마 강호순이 요즘 성경에 빠져 산다는 보도가 나왔습니다. 이들이 자신의 죄를 회개하고 용서를 구하고 있는 중이라고 합니다. 이에 대한 네티즌들의 반응. “쇼 하고 있네~~” 이들은 영화 속의 금자 씨처럼 쇼를 하고 있을지도 모릅니다. 반대로 진심일지도 모릅니다.
오직 하나님만이 아는 일입니다.
본인들도 워낙 급하다보니 이게 신앙인지 희망사항인지 모를 수도 있습니다. 만약 그들이 진정으로 회개했다면 하나님은 그들을 용서하실까? 용서하실 것입니다.
성경에 나오는 신실한 스데반 집사는 예수를 전한다는 이유로 돌에 맞아 죽었습니다. 그리스도인들이 예수를 전하는 것을 극도로 싫어해 축출에 나섰던 자가 바로 바울입니다. 오늘날 사도 바울로 알려진 그 바울은 예수쟁이들을 무척이나 싫어했고 스데반처럼 돌에 맞아 죽는 사람이 생기도록 한 원인제공자였습니다.
그런데 그런 사람을 하나님이 크게 쓰셨습니다. 바울이 그리스도를 만나고 회개하자 당시 사람들도 “쇼 하고 있네~”라고 생각했던 것 같습니다. 처음에는 사람들이 바울을 슬슬 피해 다녔습니다.
강호순도 용팔이도 진심으로 회개했다면 용서를 받고 쓰임을 받을 것입니다. 그러나 그 댓가만큼은 톡톡히 치러야 합니다.
사랑은 받고 구원은 받겠지만 정의를 위해 치러야 할 댓가가 분명이 있습니다. 그들은 무고한 생명을 앗아간 것에 대해 대가를 치러야 합니다. 바울도 그 대가를 치렀습니다. 강호순이 용팔이가 평생 짊어져야 할 짐이 있는 것입니다. 강호순의 경우에는 평생 감옥에서 무기수로 살면서 대가를 치러야 합니다. 그것이 바로 정의인 것입니다. 사형을 당해버리면 어떻게 대가를 치릅니까.
그가 진심으로 회개하고 그리스도를 주로 영접했다면 구원을 받을 것입니다. 그러나 정의에 대한 대가는 반드시 치러야 합니다. 이 땅에서 그래야 합니다.
영화 ‘밀양’에서 남자 아이를 유괴해 죽인 후 기독교인이 된 사람이 아이의 엄마(전도연 분)에게 “나는 이미 용서 받았다”고 말했을 때 엄마는 분노했습니다. 이유는 정의가 빠졌기 때문입니다. 대가가 빠졌기 때문입니다.
구원을 받은 자, 사랑의 빚을 진 자는 그에 대한 정의의 빚을 진 자입니다. 빚 진 채로 주님 앞에 갈 수 있겠습니까. 그러나 빚을 갚기 전에 우리는 빚을 졌는지에 대해 확인할 필요가 있습니다. 그래서 서로 받아들이며(15장7절), 하나님의 진실하심과 그의 약속을 확인시켜주는 게(15장8절) 필요합니다.
그리스도가 주인이심을 받아들인 자는 믿음을 갖게 되며 기쁨과 평화를 그 죄인에게 주실 것이고(15장13절) 성령의 능력으로 치러야 할 대가를 감사히 받아들일 것입니다.
Secret Sunshine (2007) is famous for its awards at the Festival de Cannes in 2007 and other film festivals. Jeon-Do Yeon, who played the newly widowed Shin-ae, won the best actress trophy at the 60th Cannes festival. Secret Sunshine was also a winner of best feature film and Jeon-Do Yeon received a best actress nod from Asia Pacific Screen Awards. In addition, this movie won the best film awards in virtually all Korean film festivals.
Masterfully written and directed, and uniquely photographed, Secret Sunshine expressed the hope and salvation that can be found when life is painful because of continuous tragedy. This film also talked about the forgiveness of God and people. Lee Chang Dong, director and writer of this movie, said in an interview, "In a vast sense, I wanted to express what love is and this movie could be a melodrama in a sense. Without love, we can't talk about hope and salvation." Lee acknowledged that Secret Sunshine had no apparent genre. This movie is not a movie about religion, but it drew attention from many Christians in Korea because there were a lot of Christian elements in the movie.
The turning point in Secret Sunshine comes when Jun, Shin-ae's son, is kidnapped and killed. The kidnapper asks for money because he presumes that since she can buy land, she must be rich. Her lie causes much sorrow.
Shin-ae becomes a church-goer and wants to forgive the murderer. She decides to visit her son's murderer in prison and forgive him. Jong-chan, Shin-ae's guy friend, says, "Just forgive in your heart. Do you have to go to the prison?" Her church fellows cheer for her and say they will pray for her. Her pastor agrees with what she wants to do. That is a sad moment because it is too early for her to do an action. The result of the meeting with the murderer is another turning point in Shin-ae's life. The murderer says with a peaceful smile that he has already been forgiven by God. This sparks anger in her toward God. She says, "How could You forgive the man before I forgive?"
She begins to fight against God. She looks up to the sky and proclaims, "I won't lose to You." She becomes a snare, her heart is a trap, and her hands are chains. It is more bitter than death. She becomes crazier and crazier and is sent to a mental hospital. On the day Shin-ae is discharged from the hospital, she goes to a beauty shop and sees a familiar face. The daughter of her son's murderer works in the shop and cuts her hair. The murderer's daughter has helped kidnapped Shin-ae's son. While she cuts Shin-ae's hair, the protagonist can't understand what's going on and gets out of the shop quickly.
It is difficult not to talk about Jong-chan in the movie. Jong-chan does his best to be by Shin-ae's side. Although Shin-ae doesn't care about him at all, he is beside her all the time. Shin-ae leaves church quickly, but Jong-chan, who started attending church because of Shin-ae, stays there because he feels peace with God. Lee Chang-dong, the director of Secret Sunshine, says that Jong-chan is like Milyang( secret sunshine), the rural city or vice versa. He seems to "be too secular and frivolous, but he is always two steps behind her and takes care of her. Milyang is like him." Mr. Lee adds, "Someone joked that Jong-chan could be an angel. I think that he could be the angel. Who knows? We can't say for sure that there is no angel."
If there is a person like Jong-chan who forever accompanies his lover's twists and turns, we can defend ourselves against the overpowered. The life of Shin-ae is full of meaninglessness. Her husband died after he cheated on her, and her only son was killed cruelly by a murderer after she moved to her husband's hometown. And her soul was damaged because she learned Christianity in a wrong way—and that makes her crazy, literally. It is too easy to say that her life is filled with meaninglessness.
Does she still have hope in her life? Can she find meaning in her life? The final scene gives us hope. Shin-ae tries to cut her hair by herself: we walk our life's journey by ourselves. She, however, realizes that it is hard to do it by herself, and we know that we can't do everything by ourselves. We see Jong-chan holding the mirror for her while she cuts her hair. That's her hope. She has Jong-chan beside her and he is willing to help her in whatever situation she is. As I mentioned earlier, Jong-chan is like an angel for her. If we feel that an angel is always beside and behind us, we can find joy in life even though we face adversity in our lives.
Secret Sunshine was a hot topic of conversation in Korea. It is like Da Vinci Code. While Da Vinci Code helps us discuss the early church history, Secret Sunshine prompts us to deal with life's messiness and find meaning when life seems unbearable. With a shallow interpretation of the movie, people misunderstand Christianity and its theology. With a deeper interpretation, this movie will help us see beneath the surface. Some people say they quit attending church worship service after they watched Secret Sunshine, and Lee Chang-dong responds by saying, "They were already anti-Christ before they watched this movie. Secret Sunshine is a life story of a woman and we can interpret our life through Shin-ae's life. [Written by B.K. Park, Webservant of JesusInCulture.com]
