ｲﾝｸﾞﾘｯｼｭ　ﾊﾞｲﾌﾞﾙｸﾗｽが行われました

Bible class on Saturday, 20th December,
2014

 

明日２１日の日曜は教会のクリスマス礼拝、そして２４日の晩はクリスマス・イブ賛美礼拝があります。

いよいよ緑星教会のｲﾝｸﾞﾘｯｼｭ・ﾊﾞｲﾌﾞﾙｸﾗｽも今回が今年最後となりました。

今回の聖書の学び箇所は、マタイによる福音書の２１章２３節から終わりまでです。この２１章からいよいよイエス最後の一週間の出来事が記されています。前回は棕櫚の日曜のエルサレム入城や月曜のイエスの宮清めなどの出来事、そして今日の箇所は火曜に起きたエルサレム神殿でのイエスの権威に関する祭司、律法学者、役人との激しい議論の場面が舞台となっています。

 

True Authority

²³ Then
he was back in the Temple, teaching. The high priests and leaders of the people
came up and demanded, "Show us your credentials. Who authorized you to teach
here?"

^24-25 Jesus responded, "First let me ask you a question. You answer my
question and I'll answer yours. About the baptism of John--who authorized
it: heaven or humans?"

^25-27 They were on the spot and knew it. They pulled back into a huddle
and whispered, "If we say 'heaven,' he'll ask us why we didn't believe him; if
we say 'humans,' we're up against it with the people because they all hold John
up as a prophet." They decided to concede that round to Jesus. "We
don't know," they answered.

Jesus said, "Then neither will I answer your question.

The Story of Two Sons

²⁸ "Tell
me what you think of this story: A man had two sons. He went up to the first
and said, 'Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.'

²⁹ "The
son answered, 'I don't want to.' Later on he thought better of it and went.

³⁰ "The
father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, 'Sure, glad to.'
But he never went.

^31-32 "Which of the two sons did what the father asked?"

They said, "The first."

Jesus said, "Yes, and I tell you that crooks and
whores are going to precede you into God's kingdom. John came to you showing you the right road. You turned up your
noses at him, but the crooks and whores believed him. Even when you saw
their changed lives, you didn't care enough to change and believe him.

The Story of the Greedy Farmhands

^33-34 "Here's another story. Listen closely. There was once a man, a
wealthy farmer, who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, put up a
watchtower, then turned it over to the farmhands and went off on a trip. When
it was time to harvest the grapes, he sent his servants back to collect his
profits.

^35-37 "The farmhands grabbed the first servant and beat him up. The next
one they murdered. They threw stones at the third but he got away. The owner
tried again, sending more servants. They got the same treatment. The owner was
at the end of his rope. He decided to send his son. 'Surely,' he thought, 'they
will respect my son.'

^38-39 "But when the farmhands saw the son arrive, they rubbed their hands
in greed. 'This is the heir! Let's kill him and have it all for ourselves.'
They grabbed him, threw him out, and killed him.

⁴⁰ "Now, when the owner of the vineyard arrives home from his trip,
what do you think he will do to the farmhands?"

⁴¹ "He'll
kill them--a rotten bunch, and good riddance," they answered. "Then he'll assign
the vineyard to farmhands who will hand over the profits when it's time."

^42-44 Jesus
said, "Right--and you can read it for yourselves in your Bibles:

The stone the masons threw out
    is now the cornerstone.
This is God's work;
    we rub our eyes, we can hardly believe it!

"This is the way it is with you. God's kingdom will
be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom
life. Whoever stumbles on this Stone gets
shattered; whoever the Stone falls on gets smashed."

^45-46 When the religious leaders heard this story, they knew it was aimed
at them. They wanted to arrest Jesus and put him in jail, but, intimidated by
public opinion, they held back. Most people held him to be a prophet of God.

The Message
(MSG)

 

The
Messageが記す今回の学びの箇所には"True Authority：本当の権威"、"The Story of
Two Sons：二人の息子のたとえ"、"The Story of the Greedy
Farmhands：貪欲な農場労働者のたとえ"の三つの物語がありますが、ここでもイエスが説く神の国の持論はたとえ話によって一層有効に機能し、当時のユダヤの政治、宗教、司法の権力者たちに対してぐうの音も出ない程に彼らの不信仰を暴き、そして彼らを追い詰めていきます。

しかしその後わずか２、３日で、福音書は劇的なイエスの十字架の場面に向かって急展開されていきます。

次回は年明け最初のﾊﾞｲﾌﾞﾙｸﾗｽは、２０１５年１月１７日、マタイによる福音書の２２章に入っていきます。