バイブルクラスがおこなわれました

 

Bible class on Saturday 1^st Augst,
2015

猛暑のこの日、バイブルクラスは３名の出席者でした。

聖書箇所は、ルカによる福音書の１章21節からこの章最後の80節までを学びました。

前回から引き続いて、高齢ながら身篭ったエリザベツの夫であり祭司であるザカリアが口が利けなくなる場面。そしてA Virgin Conceives：処女が妊娠するという小見出しの、聖母となるマリヤに天使が受胎告知をする場面を学びました。この場面はキリストの誕生に関わる名場面として、著名な芸術家たちによる絵画やクラッシク音楽の作品で数多く取り上げられています。

エリザベツが後のバプテスマのヨハネを妊娠し、親戚であり未だ婚約状態に在ったマリアが救い主イエスを妊娠するという、妊娠の当事者の女性たちも、またその家族にとってもきわめて衝撃的な出来事が、神の救済の出来事として起きたわけです。

そして、その偉大な知らせを双方にもたらしたのが天使ガブリエルでした。

The Messageによるマリアへの天使ガブリエルの受胎告知に先立つ挨拶は、どこか中々軽いノリのような印象を与えてくれます。

Good morning!
You're beautiful with God's beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you.

「おはよう！お美しいお嬢さん！」みたいな調子で語りかけています。もちろんその後の天使のメッセージの内容が内容だけに、直後のマリアは非常に驚いた様子ですが、最後にはマリアの謙虚で敬虔な信仰告白とも云える証しで天使の御告げを受け入れているところが非常に印象的でした。

And Mary said,

Yes, I see it all now:
    I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve.
Let it be with me
一方、少し残念だったのが祭司ザカリアです。神殿聖所での勤めの最中に天使ガブリエルから我妻の妊娠を知らされても、一般的な常識が彼と偉大な神の御業との隔たりとなって、その喜びをヨハネが実際に誕生（御業の成就）するまで受け入れることができなかったのです。

その後、小見出しThe
Birth of Johnの下線箇所では、祭司ザカリアも聖霊に満たされ立派な預言を実行しています。

 

67-79
Then Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,

Blessed
be the Lord, the God of Israel;

    he came and set his people free.

He set
the power of salvation in the center of our lives,

    and in the very house of David his servant,

Just as
he promised long ago

    through the preaching of his holy prophets:

Deliverance
from our enemies

    and every hateful hand;

Mercy to
our fathers,

    as he remembers to do what he said he'd do,

What he
swore to our father Abraham--

    a clean rescue from the enemy camp,

So we can
worship him without a care in the world,

    made holy before him as long as we live.

And you,
my child, "Prophet of the Highest,"

    will go ahead of the Master to prepare his
ways,

Present
the offer of salvation to his people,

    the forgiveness of their sins.

Through
the heartfelt mercies of our God,

    God's Sunrise will break in upon us,

Shining
on those in the darkness,

    those sitting in the shadow of death,

Then
showing us the way, one foot at a time,

    down the path of peace.

 

^21-22 Meanwhile, the congregation waiting for Zachariah was getting
restless, wondering what was keeping him so long in the sanctuary. When he
came out and couldn't speak, they knew he had seen a vision. He continued
speechless and had to use sign language with the people.

^23-25 When the course of his priestly assignment was completed, he went
back home. It wasn't long before his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. She went off
by herself for five months, relishing her pregnancy. "So, this is how God acts
to remedy my unfortunate condition!" she said.

A Virgin Conceives

^26-28 In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel
Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married
to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name,
Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:

Good morning!
You're beautiful with God's beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you.

^29-33 She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like
that. But the angel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a
surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his
name Jesus.

He will be great,
    be called 'Son of the Highest.'
The Lord God will give him
    the throne of his father David;
He will rule Jacob's house forever--
    no end, ever, to his kingdom."

³⁴ Mary
said to the angel, "But how? I've never slept with a man."

³⁵ The
angel answered,

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
    the power of the Highest hover over you;
Therefore, the child you bring to birth
    will be called Holy, Son of God.

^36-38 "And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as
she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant!
Nothing, you see, is impossible with God."

And Mary said,

Yes, I see it all now:
    I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve.
Let it be with me
    just as you say.

Then the angel left her.

Blessed Among Women

^39-45 Mary didn't waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in
Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah's house, and greeted
Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leaped.
She was filled with the Holy Spirit, and sang out exuberantly,

You're so blessed among women,
    and the babe in your womb, also blessed!
And why am I so blessed that
    the mother of my Lord visits me?
The moment the sound of your
    greeting entered my ears,
The babe in my womb
    skipped like a lamb for sheer joy.
Blessed woman, who believed what God said,
    believed every word would come true!

^46-55 And Mary said,

I'm bursting with God-news;
    I'm dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened--
    I'm the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
    the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all
others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
    on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
    scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
    pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
    the callous rich were left out in the cold.
He embraced his chosen child, Israel;
    he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them
high.
It's exactly what he promised,
    beginning with Abraham and right up to now.

⁵⁶ Mary
stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home.

The Birth of John

^57-58 When Elizabeth was full-term in her pregnancy, she bore a son. Her
neighbors and relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy,
celebrated with her.

^59-60 On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were
calling him Zachariah after his father. But his mother intervened: "No. He is
to be called John."

^61-62 "But," they said, "no one in your family is named that." They used
sign language to ask Zachariah what he wanted him named.

^63-64 Asking for a tablet, Zachariah wrote, "His name is to be John." That
took everyone by surprise. Surprise followed surprise--Zachariah's mouth was now
open, his tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God!

^65-66 A deep, reverential fear settled over the neighborhood, and in all
that Judean hill country people talked about nothing else. Everyone who heard
about it took it to heart, wondering, "What will become of this child? Clearly,
God has his hand in this."

^67-79 Then Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
    he came and set his
people free.
He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives,
    and in the very house of David his servant,
Just as he promised long ago
    through the preaching of his holy prophets:
Deliverance from our enemies
    and every hateful hand;
Mercy to our fathers,
    as he remembers to do what he said he'd do,
What he swore to our father Abraham--
    a clean rescue from the enemy camp,
So we can worship him without a care in the world,
    made holy before him as long as we live.
And you, my child, "Prophet of the Highest,"
    will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways,
Present the offer of salvation to his people,
    the forgiveness of their sins.
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
    God's Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
    those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
    down the path of peace.

⁸⁰ The
child grew up, healthy and spirited. He lived out in the desert until the day
he made his prophetic debut in Israel.

 

８月１５日は休会で、次回ﾊﾞｲﾌﾞﾙｸﾗｽは９月５日（土）です。

ルカ福音書の２章に入っていきます。