バイブルクラスが行われました

梅雨明けが遅れた夏にも猛暑の毎日が続く今日この頃ですが、今回は３名でルカ福音書の16章を学びました。

今日の話し合いは、この章の冒頭"The Story of the Crooked Manager"「不正を働いた管理者のたとえ」に集中しました。

粗筋は主人の大切な財産を預かっているにもかかわらず不正を働く管理人をその悪事がばれそうになったら、その後の自分の身のために債務者に対して債権額を減額してしまう行動に対して、イエスはその行いを利口なやり方として弟子たちに対して奨めるのでした。

時々新聞沙汰になる大手企業が起こす粉飾決算や脱税の経済事件に類する行動なのですが・・・？今日のバイブルクラスのそれぞれの出席者から、独自の解釈や不可解に対する疑問の意見が長く途切れることがありませんでした。

参考までに一人の解釈と意見は次の通りでした。

「他のイエスの譬え同様に、主人は神、管理人は我々、あるいは現代であれば教会。負債を減額された債務者と云うのは、教会にある種の期待（重荷を軽くしてもらいたい）を持つ来会者ではないだろうか。」

「このたとえ話の中での負債の減額は、どこかの国の経済政策のように一律ではなく一人一人に見合った額になっていて、決して全部を帳消しにするというのではない。人々に負債（罪）の自覚をあえて残しているのではないか。」

...等々、大変話が盛り上がりました。

Luke 16The Message (MSG)

The Story of the Crooked Manager

16 ^1-2 Jesus said to
his disciples, "There was once a rich man who had a manager. He got reports
that the manager had been taking advantage of his position by running up huge
personal expenses. So he called him in and said, 'What's this I hear about you?
You're fired. And I want a complete audit of your books.'

^3-4 "The manager said to himself, 'What am I going to do? I've lost my
job as manager. I'm not strong enough for a laboring job, and I'm too proud to
beg. . . . Ah, I've got a plan. Here's what I'll
do . . . then when I'm turned out into the street, people will
take me into their houses.'

⁵ "Then
he went at it. One after another, he called in the people who were in debt to
his master. He said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'

⁶ "He
replied, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.'

"The manager said, 'Here, take your bill,
sit down here--quick now--write fifty.'

⁷ "To
the next he said, 'And you, what do you owe?'

"He answered, 'A hundred sacks of wheat.'

"He said, 'Take your bill, write in
eighty.'

^8-9 "Now here's a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And
why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter
in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking
for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way--but
for what is right--using every adversity to stimulate you to creative
survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you'll live,
really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior."

God Sees Behind Appearances

^10-13 Jesus went on to make these comments:

If you're honest in small things,
    you'll be honest in big things;
If you're a crook in small things,
    you'll be a crook in big things.
If you're not honest in small jobs,
    who will put you in charge of the store?
No worker can serve two bosses:
    He'll either hate the first and love the second
Or adore the first and despise the second.
    You can't serve both God and the Bank.

^14-18 When the Pharisees, a money-obsessed bunch, heard him say these
things, they rolled their eyes, dismissing him as hopelessly out of touch. So
Jesus spoke to them: "You are masters at making yourselves look good in front
of others, but God knows what's behind the appearance.

What society sees and calls monumental,
    God sees through and calls monstrous.
God's Law and the Prophets climaxed in John;
Now it's all kingdom of God--the glad news
    and compelling invitation to every man and woman.
The sky will disintegrate and the earth dissolve
    before a single letter of God's Law wears out.
Using the legalities of divorce
    as a cover for lust is adultery;
Using the legalities of marriage
    as a cover for lust is adultery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

^19-21 "There once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest
fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption. A poor man named
Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep. All he lived for
was to get a meal from scraps off the rich man's table. His best friends were
the dogs who came and licked his sores.

^22-24 "Then he died, this poor man, and was taken up by the angels to the
lap of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell and in torment,
he looked up and saw Abraham in the distance and Lazarus in his lap. He called
out, 'Father Abraham, mercy! Have mercy! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in
water to cool my tongue. I'm in agony in this fire.'

^25-26 "But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that in your lifetime you got
the good things and Lazarus the bad things. It's not like that here. Here he's
consoled and you're tormented. Besides, in all these matters there is a huge
chasm set between us so that no one can go from us to you even if he wanted to,
nor can anyone cross over from you to us.'

^27-28 "The rich man said, 'Then let me ask you, Father: Send him to the
house of my father where I have five brothers, so he can tell them the score
and warn them so they won't end up here in this place of torment.'

²⁹ "Abraham
answered, 'They have Moses and the Prophets to tell them the score. Let them
listen to them.'

³⁰ "'I
know, Father Abraham,' he said, 'but they're not listening. If someone came
back to them from the dead, they would change their ways.'

³¹ "Abraham
replied, 'If they won't listen to Moses and the Prophets, they're not going to
be convinced by someone who rises from the dead.'"

次回は8月20日（土）午後3時から教会会館でエアコンを利かせて行いますので、お集まりください。