Several years ago, my husband and I tutored a young Chinese couple in English as a Second Language on a weekly basis. The four of us sat around a table and discussed different topics each week. This particular week, we talked about the purpose of life and how it differs from a vocation.
We spoke on the significance of life. Why do people exist? What matters in life? We asked them to describe what they believed to be the purpose of human life on earth. The purpose of their own lives?
The young man became pre-occupied with writing something in Chinese on a small notepad as his wife talked with us in her broken English. He slid the notebook over to his wife.
“Does he have a question we could try to answer?” I asked.
She looked from the notepad to me. “He ask, ‘If Jesus be good, why He make mother so sad?'”
I knew immediately that he was referring to the Easter message ofJesus’ death on the cross – a topic we had just talked about the previous week at ESL. He must have been thinking about that all week for him to ask such a profound question, I thought. And something I’ve never considered from that perspective before.
My husband and I explained, and she translated to her husband, “…that by vocation, Jesus was a carpenter, but His purpose in life was to die on the cross for the sins of the world. And yes, that made his mother very sad for a time, but Jesus’ reason for giving His life had a far-more reaching impact on all humanity. Jesus’ work on the cross was different than a vocation, and that those who believed in the finished work of Jesus, would have eternal life, and those who rejected Jesus would be forever separated from God.
We talked about the act of extraordinary kindness Jesus showed toward His mother while in extreme suffering on the corss. Jesus asked His friend, John, to care for His mother.
This time, the Chinese man spoke to his wife. She translated his question – a simple question with a profound answer! He asked, “What is eternal life?”
I realized that people from another culture may not know about eternal life. We decided to forgo the planned topic for the evening. Instead, we shared the gospel – that eternal life is by grace through faith. Of course, we had to try to interpret gospel words we take for granted such as: sin, Savior, salvation, eternal life, grace, faith, death and resurrection. This was no easy task with the language barrier between us. We steered the conversation from the purpose of life to eternal life and its purpose.
We explained that Jesus died for our sins because of grace. Jesus showed kindness toward His mother because of compassion. Both grace and compassion had purpose. Both were done in love. Both provided life. Eternal life.
The Chinese man nodded, but clearly he wanted to hear more. And we had a new topic to discuss the following week.