バイブルクラスが行なわれました
本所緑星教会
Bible class on Saturday 5 September, 2015
先月は「夏休み」で、しばらくぶりのこの日のバイブルクラスは、３名の出席者でした。
聖書箇所は、ルカによる福音書の2章を学びました。
この2章の最初の部分は、「イエスの誕生：The Birth of Jesus」と小見出しが付き、イエスが生まれた時代背景、イスラエル民族がローマ帝国の覇権の下に置かれていた時とイエスが大変厳しい環境の中で生まれたことが記されています。イエスの両親マリア・ヨセフはナザレからベツレヘムまで人口調査（徴税目的）のため旅に出、その途中の宿屋の馬小屋でイエスの出産を迎えました。この時代背景の描写は、単に付随的ではなく、物語にとって極めて重要なメッセージと捉えることができます。古代の世界を征服した国は、様々な方法で被征服の民衆から富を徴収する手段を実施することが解かります。
次の小見出し「An Event for Everyone：全ての人のための出来事」では、恵まれない人々と共に在るルカ福音書の魅力はここにあります。
イエスの最初の訪問客は、けして地位の高い大使や高官、または裕福な資産家で無いことが著されています。救い主に敬意をはらう1番目は、質素な羊飼い、古代の農地経済の最低賃金の労働者であった人たちでした。彼らは時の世にほとんど地位を持たない。（存在価値を認められていない）人たちであった。彼ら質素で貧しいがゆえに、偉大な救い主と天のメッセージ、および多くの民衆にその喜びを伝えるために、今神が立たせられた人々です。
この物語の中、この貧しい人々の喜びのテーマは繰り返されていきます。
「They Found Him in the Temple：両親は神殿でイエスを見つける」のところも深く印象に残ります。
イエスの誕生から30歳までの間の生涯に関してはほとんど僅かな記録しかないのですが、しかしこの場面のエピソードは非常に多くを伝えています。
第一に、イエスとその家族の家庭生活は、多くの普通の人たちと同様に、多くの災難と誤解でいっぱいであったようです。
第二に、イエスが若い成人期に入って、彼は驚異的な自分らしさの感覚を明らかにし始めます。（12歳はイスラエル民族においては少年ではなく。彼は大人になり始めている）
そして、既にイエスはメアリーの息子でも、ヨセフの継子でもなく、イエスは主のものとして神との直接的な関係が確立し、その人生が父なる神のために働く道をたどるということを既に悟っていることが描かれています。
Luke 2The Message (MSG)
The Birth of Jesus
2 1-5 About that time
Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was
the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel
to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the
Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the
census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his
fiancée, who was pregnant.
6-7 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave
birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a
manger, because there was no room in the hostel.
An Event for Everyone
8-12 There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set
night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and
God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be
afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for
everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who
is Messiah and Master. This is what you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a
blanket and lying in a manger."
13-14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's
praises:
Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.
15-18 As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it
over. "Let's get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what
God has revealed to us." They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the
baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met
what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were
impressed.
19-20 Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep
within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and
praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the
way they'd been told!
Blessings
21 When
the eighth day arrived, the day of circumcision, the child was named Jesus, the
name given by the angel before he was conceived.
22-24 Then when the days stipulated by Moses for purification were
complete, they took him up to Jerusalem to offer him to God as commanded in
God's Law: "Every male who opens the womb shall be a holy offering to God," and
also to sacrifice the "pair of doves or two young pigeons" prescribed in God's
Law.
25-32 In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good
man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the
Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the
Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the
parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law,
Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God:
God, you can now release your servant;
release me in peace as you promised.
With my own eyes I've seen your salvation;
it's now out in the open for everyone to see:
A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,
and of glory for your people Israel.
33-35 Jesus' father and mother were speechless with surprise at these
words. Simeon went on to bless them, and said to Mary his mother,
This child marks both the failure and
the recovery of many in Israel,
A figure misunderstood and contradicted--
the pain of a sword-thrust through you--
But the rejection will force honesty,
as God reveals who they really are.
36-38 Anna the prophetess was also there, a daughter of Phanuel from the
tribe of Asher. She was by now a very old woman. She had been married seven
years and a widow for eighty-four. She never left the Temple area, worshiping
night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the very time Simeon was
praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God, and talked about
the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem.
39-40 When they finished everything required by God in the Law, they
returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth. There the child grew strong
in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him.
They Found Him in the Temple
41-45 Every year Jesus' parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast of
Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up as they always did for the
Feast. When it was over and they left for home, the child Jesus stayed behind
in Jerusalem, but his parents didn't know it. Thinking he was somewhere in the
company of pilgrims, they journeyed for a whole day and then began looking for
him among relatives and neighbors. When they didn't find him, they went back to
Jerusalem looking for him.
46-48 The next day they found him in the Temple seated among the teachers,
listening to them and asking questions. The teachers were all quite taken with
him, impressed with the sharpness of his answers. But his parents were not
impressed; they were upset and hurt.
His mother said, "Young man, why have you
done this to us? Your father and I have been half out of our minds looking for
you."
49-50 He said, "Why were you looking for me? Didn't you know that I had to
be here, dealing with the things of my Father?" But they had no idea what he
was talking about.
51-52 So he went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with
them. His mother held these things dearly, deep within herself. And Jesus
matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people.
次回は9月19日 午後3時から、ルカによる福音書の3章を学びます。
