Much of the world thinks the 23 Korean evangelicals held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan were naïve, if not deluded, to leave their comfortable homes and venture to the war-torn country.  That reaction, in Lorna Dueck’s view, shows that the world is still confounded by Jesus’ call to spread the kingdom of God everywhere.

Jesus intended that everything would be affected and ordered under the touch of God, which is why Koreans, 2,000 years later, are still taking the challenge seriously. To them, even southern Afghanistan is part of the horizon to be adapted to that Kingdom of God vision. In essence, they want to move from being a bunch of blessed Koreans into being a blessing. It's why a missionary pastor such as bullet-riddled Bae Hyung-kyu would hope to place a kit of pencils into the hands of an illiterate child and consider his work worthwhile.

It really makes no international policy sense that a band of do-gooders can't live with the fact that innocent people suffer while they live in Korea in comfort.

Such self-sacrifice is hard to explain at the best of times.

What would St Paul say about the Korean hostages?  Here’s one possibility, from his second letter to the Corinthians:

If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God . . .

The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea asks Christians around the world to pray for the safe return of the remaining hostages.