Yesterday, I came across a Kia commercial for the 2024 Kia EV9, which aired during the Super Bowl. The ad featured a young figure skater delivering an outstanding performance before a packed stadium. Yet, she finds herself disappointed, noticing the absence of one family member she had hoped would be there. With the backdrop of music, "Wish You Were Here" by Coldplay, the father of the girl drives the Kia EV9 through the snowy roads and takes her to the home of her grandfather.
There, in the cold winter natural setting, the father decorates the trees surrounding the frozen pond with lights, sets up powerful audio equipment, and uses the car's electricity to power the entire scene. The young figure skater then performs once more, this time for an audience of one—her grandfather, who watches from inside the house. As she concludes her performance, her grandfather writes "10"—a perfect score—on the window, bringing much joy and a smile to the face of the young skater as she concludes the show.
The whole ad was beautifully choreographed with not a single word said or heard and with absolutely no mention of the car. Yet, the whole scene leaves the viewers of the ad with teary eyes, images of touching moments powered by the car lingering and moving in the air. I watched this commercial again and again, wondering and questioning what it was about this commercial—after all, it was just another commercial to buy one more car, wasn't it?—that I found to be so deeply moving and meaningful.
Today, in the coffee shop, as I was pondering the meaning of the commercial, I heard one woman across the table speaking to her friend, "Where am I going with my life? What am I doing with my life? Right now, I have no idea. I'm just working for money. Isn't this what everyone does?" She was asking the deeper existential questions of life expressed in longings for a vocation of hers to be more true and more coherent, a vocation that is true to who she is and that is more coherent with meaning beyond a paycheck.
In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses speaks to the people of God who are about to go into the Promised Land. Moses says when they come into the Promised Land, the next generation will ask a question, "What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules?" The people of God were called to live their lives deeply immersed in the covenantal laws reflected in the vocations of their lives, in economics, in politics, in laws, and in culture so that next generations as well as others will ask what the deeper meaning of their vocations is. Last week, in the church, we talked about the deeper meaning of economics rooted in the world of covenantal cosmos. We talked and talked about how the economics of jubilee rooted in the world of covenantal cosmos may be reflected in the economics of the world here and now.
Whether conscious or not, everyone lives out of a story. Milton Friedman's economic narrative posits that the sole purpose of business is to maximize profits for shareholders. Within this narrative, the work of economics is isolated from the deeper meaning of humanity and the world as it solely pursues profits, without understanding of others and surroundings. The covenantal economics, rooted in the world of covenantal cosmos, reveals that there is much more to that. It reveals that the vocation of economics—rooted in the understanding of vocational stewardship situated in the world of covenantal cosmos—has deeper meanings as it unfolds and develops the possibilities of creation for the flourishing of the world, in a way that is mutual, in relation to the planet, people, and places.
In the one-minute, brief Kia commercial, I got to see glimpses of truths on the meaning of true economics, the way it is meant to be. The ad reveals that there is more than just transactional economics that maximizes profits; there is transformational economics that could potentially improve people's lives. This is the story of true economics and the true meaning of our vocations we all long for—the vocation that helps us make sense of what we do out of who we are deeply matters in the world that is here and is to come.
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