バイブルクラスが行われました。

 Bible class on Saturday, 15 November, 2014

 

だいぶ秋も深まり、北国からは雪の便りが届く時期になりました。そしてクリスマスの話題もそろそろ出始める頃です。

今日のﾊﾞｲﾌﾞﾙｸﾗｽは定例メンバーの4名で行われました。聖書の箇所はマタイ20章です。

今回は今日のﾊﾞｲﾌﾞﾙｸﾗｽで皆さんの会話が盛り上がった、20章前半のA Story About Workersの箇所（新共同訳の小見出は「ぶどう園の労働者のたとえ」）についてご報告したいと思います。

 

Matthew 20 The Message (MSG)

A Story About Workers

20 ^1-2 "God's kingdom
is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for
his vineyard. They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work.

^3-5 "Later, about nine o'clock, the manager saw some other men hanging
around the town square unemployed. He told them to go to work in his vineyard
and he would pay them a fair wage. They went.

^5-6 "He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o'clock. At five
o'clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, 'Why are
you standing around all day doing nothing?'

⁷ "They
said, 'Because no one hired us.'

"He told them to go to work in his
vineyard.

⁸ "When
the day's work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman,
'Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and
go on to the first.'

^9-12 "Those hired at five o'clock came up and were each given a dollar.
When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. Taking
the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, 'These last workers put in
only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day
under a scorching sun.'

^13-15 "He replied to the one speaking for the rest, 'Friend, I haven't
been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn't we? So take it and go. I
decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can't I do what I
want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?'

¹⁶ "Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up
last, and the last first."

この聖書の箇所も私たちが神の国をしっかりと理解するためのたとえ話で、神の国はぶどう園とそのオーナーにたとえられています。太文字のところが今日の学びで特に話題となったポイントです。

この物語のきっかけとなっているのが、労働者それぞれの就労時間と支払われた賃金のアンバランスなのですが、実は冒頭でこのぶどう園のオーナーは支払われた労賃に不満を持つ最も長い時間働いた労働者と一日1ドルの労働契約が合意されていたのです。...They agreed
on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work.

早朝から次々と労働者を雇い入れたこのぶどう園のオーナーは、初めの労働者以降はfair wage（公平な労賃）を払うと語りかけています。

さらにその日の仕事が終わっていよいよ日当の支払いが始まると、このたとえ話の特徴的な一文が記されています。...Start with the last hired and go on to the first.'　「...最後に雇い入れられた者から始まって、最初に来た者に進んだ」とあります。そしてその支払いの在り様を見た最初に雇われた人はごく自然な期待を抱くわけです。"Those hired at five o'clock came up and were each given a dollar.
When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more.

しかし実際に受け取った労賃は、冒頭のぶどう園のオーナーとの約束通りだったにもかかわらず、最初の労働者はみんなと同額の労賃を受け取ることに大きな失望に陥ってしまうのです。...But they got the same, each of them one dollar.

マタイ20章冒頭のここでの教訓は非常に多くのものがあり、各人が自分なりの聖書解釈を活発に述べあったため、今日のﾊﾞｲﾌﾞﾙｸﾗｽは約30分も超過するほどでした。

 

次回は12月6日（土）マタイによる福音書の21章を学びます。