バイブルクラスが行われました。

Bible class on Saturday, August 2, 2014

今日のﾊﾞｲﾌﾞﾙｸﾗｽは、このところの猛暑の影響か、参加者は少しすくなく３名でした。

聖書の箇所は前回に引き続き、マタイによる福音書の１５章の２１節から３９節までです。

この箇所の構成は、「カナンの女の信仰」「大勢の病人をいやす」「四千人に食べ物を与える」からなっています。私たちが今、学んでいるThe Messageのタイトルは"Healing the
People"と記され、イエスがご自分のもとに救いや癒しを懇願して来る人たちに対し、それぞれ癒し、あるいは大勢の空腹を僅かなパンと魚で有り余るほどに満たす場面です。

Healing the People

^21-22 From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon. They had hardly
arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, "Mercy,
Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit."²³ Jesus
ignored her. The disciples came and complained, "Now she's bothering us. Would
you please take care of her? She's driving us crazy."

²⁴ Jesus refused, telling them, "I've got my hands full dealing with
the lost sheep of Israel."²⁵ Then the woman came back to Jesus, went to her knees, and begged.
"Master, help me."²⁶ He said, "It's not right to take bread out
of children's mouths and throw it to dogs."²⁷ She was quick:
"You're right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master's table."²⁸ Jesus
gave in. "Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you
get!" Right then her daughter became well.

^29-31 After Jesus returned, he walked along Lake Galilee and then climbed
a mountain and took his place, ready to receive visitors. They came, tons of
them, bringing along the paraplegic, the blind, the maimed, the mute--all sorts
of people in need--and more or less threw them down at Jesus' feet to see what
he would do with them. He healed them. When the people saw the mutes speaking,
the maimed healthy, the paraplegics walking around, the blind looking around,
they were astonished and let everyone know that God was blazingly alive among
them.

³² But
Jesus wasn't finished with them. He called his disciples and said, "I hurt for
these people. For three days now they've been with me, and now they have
nothing to eat. I can't send them away without a meal--they'd probably collapse
on the road."

³³ His
disciples said, "But where in this deserted place are you going to dig up
enough food for a meal?"

^34-39 Jesus asked, "How much bread do you have?"

"Seven loaves," they said, "plus a few
fish." At that, Jesus directed the people to sit down. He took the seven loaves
and the fish. After giving thanks, he divided it up and gave it to the people.
Everyone ate. They had all they wanted. It took seven large baskets to collect
the leftovers. Over four thousand people ate their fill at that meal. After
Jesus sent them away, he climbed in the boat and crossed over to the Magadan
hills.

この聖書の場面のほとんどは、イエスに救いを求めて来る多くの人々がその願いが叶うということで極めて結構なのですが、少し気になるイエスの言葉が記されています。

²⁴ Jesus refused, telling them, I've got my hands full dealing with the
lost sheep of Israel."（イエスはカナンの女の求めに対して）拒絶して彼らに云った。「私はイスラエルの失われた羊のことで手いっぱいである。」ここでイエスが云った"the lost sheep of Israel"とは具体的に何なんでしょうか？

イエスの生涯が描かれた福音書には、他にも多くの奇跡と癒しが描かれています。現代的な言い方をすれば社会福祉活動ですが、十字架の死を選び、三日目に復活されたイエス・キリストのこの地上での本来の目的は何だったのでしょうか。この場面でイエスが云った「イスラエルの失われた羊」という言葉にその方向性が表わされているように思います。