バイブルクラスが行われました。
本所緑星教会
Bible class on Saturday January 17 , 2015
今年最初のﾊﾞｲﾌﾞﾙｸﾗｽが開かれ、４名の皆さんが英語の御言葉を学びに集まりました。
またこの日は、久しぶりに他教会員の方ですが、我が教会のﾊﾞｲﾌﾞﾙｸﾗｽに参加してくださっている女性の参加もありました。
今回はマタイによる福音書の22章で、前回も少し述べましたがイエス様はご自身に危機迫る「最後の一週間」の中にあって、悪意を抱く宗教権力者たちの言葉の罠に対し、巧みなたとえ話と聖書の御言葉（旧約・律法）の正しい理解で対抗し、そして彼らを論破しています。
また22章は4つの話しで構成されていますが、その中の冒頭の"The Story of the Wedding Banquet"「婚宴のたとえ」について、今回話題になった内容を記します。
イエスは、息子の婚宴のために大勢の客を事前に招待していた王様とその家来たちの言動を、神の国のたとえ話として用います。
王様は自ら大変なご馳走を食卓に用意して、何度も家来たちを使いにやってすでに招待した人たちを屋敷に招こうとします。しかし招かれている人々は王様の招きに応じようとはしません。人々は家来たちの呼びかけを聴いても、仕事や自分の都合を出向かない言い訳にし、さらには迎えに来た家来たちを殺してまで王様の招きを拒否する頑なさを示します。
そこで、仕方なく王様は家来たちにあらためて指示するのです。「街の人通りのにぎやかな交差点に行き、誰でも連れてきなさい。」と、そして婚宴は新たに招かれた客で一杯になります。
さて、このたとえ話しのキャストは誰か？そして何を云わんとしているのかは容易に解ります。王様はもちろん神様です。王子は御子イエス、家来は預言者、そして先に招かれていた人々は、旧約・律法によって既に神様に選ばれ契約関係に在ったユダヤ人です。ところがユダヤ人たちは自分たちの商売や事情でもって、神様の招きを拒否します。そこで神様の招きの恵は善人も悪人も、男も女も、老いも若きも何の区別差別なく異邦人に向けられて行くのでした。
但しこの物語の結論の部分は文字通り"考えさせられる"ところが大です。 "That's
what I mean when I say, 'Many get invited; only a few make it.'" 「私が言いたいことは、招かれた人は多いが、選ばれる人は少ない。」
それと今回このような気付きもありました。「街の大通りのにぎやかな交差点」で何人の区別なく神様の国へ招く役割は、ちょうど神様から教会に託されている本来の使命を指しているようにも受け止められます。
Matthew 22 The Message (MSG)
The Story of the Wedding Banquet
22 1-3 Jesus responded
by telling still more stories. "God's
kingdom," he said, "is like a king who threw a wedding banquet for his son.
He sent out servants to call in all the invited guests. And they wouldn't
come!
4 "He
sent out another round of servants, instructing them to tell the guests, 'Look,
everything is on the table, the prime rib is ready for carving. Come to the
feast!'
5-7 "They only shrugged
their shoulders and went off, one to weed his garden, another to work in his
shop. The rest, with nothing better to do, beat up on the messengers and then
killed them. The king was outraged and sent his
soldiers to destroy those thugs and level their city.
8-10 "Then he told his servants, 'We have a wedding banquet all prepared
but no guests. The ones I invited weren't up to it. Go out into the busiest intersections in town and invite anyone you
find to the banquet.' The servants went out on the streets and rounded up
everyone they laid eyes on, good and bad, regardless. And so the banquet was
on--every place filled.
11-13 "When the king entered and looked over the scene, he spotted a man
who wasn't properly dressed. He said to him, 'Friend, how dare you come in here
looking like that!' The man was speechless. Then the king told his servants,
'Get him out of here--fast. Tie him up and ship him to hell. And make sure he
doesn't get back in.'
14 "That's what I mean when
I say, 'Many get invited; only a few make it.'"
Paying Taxes
15-17 That's when the Pharisees plotted a way to trap him into saying
something damaging. They sent their disciples, with a few of Herod's followers
mixed in, to ask, "Teacher, we know you have integrity, teach the way of God
accurately, are indifferent to popular opinion, and don't pander to your
students. So tell us honestly: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
18-19 Jesus knew they were up to no good. He said, "Why are you playing
these games with me? Why are you trying to trap me? Do you have a coin? Let me
see it." They handed him a silver piece.
20 "This
engraving--who does it look like? And whose name is on it?"
21 They
said, "Caesar."
"Then give Caesar what is his, and give God
what is his."
22 The
Pharisees were speechless. They went off shaking their heads.
Marriage and Resurrection
23-28 That same day, Sadducees approached him. This is the party that
denies any possibility of resurrection. They asked, "Teacher, Moses said that
if a man dies childless, his brother is obligated to marry his widow and get
her with child. Here's a case where there were seven brothers. The first
brother married and died, leaving no child, and his wife passed to his brother.
The second brother also left her childless, then the third--and on and on, all
seven. Eventually the wife died. Now here's our question: At the resurrection,
whose wife is she? She was a wife to each of them."
29-33 Jesus answered, "You're off base on two counts: You don't know your
Bibles, and you don't know how God works. At the resurrection we're beyond
marriage. As with the angels, all our ecstasies and intimacies then will be
with God. And regarding your speculation on whether the dead are raised or not,
don't you read your Bibles? The grammar is clear: God says, 'I am--not was--the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.' The living God defines
himself not as the God of dead men, but of the living." Hearing this
exchange the crowd was much impressed.
The Most Important Command
34-36 When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they
gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for
them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: "Teacher, which command
in God's Law is the most important?"
37-40 Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and
prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list.
But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love
yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the
Prophets hangs from them."
David's Son and Master
41-42 As the Pharisees were regrouping, Jesus caught them off balance with
his own test question: "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?"
They said, "David's son."
43-45 Jesus replied, "Well, if the Christ is David's son, how do you
explain that David, under inspiration, named Christ his 'Master'?
God said to my Master,
"Sit here at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool."
"Now if David calls him 'Master,' how can
he at the same time be his son?"
46 That
stumped them, literalists that they were. Unwilling to risk losing face again
in one of these public verbal exchanges, they quit asking questions for good.
次回のﾊﾞｲﾌﾞﾙｸﾗｽは、2月7日午後3時からです。
