- Do not be afraid: I bring you good news -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1.1 The words in The Gospel according to Luke that you read describe the famous scene that we often hear in the nativity drama. In the second half, the angel said, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.'What did the shepherds who heard this sudden news think of it? Later, they were able to find Mary and Joseph, and also their new born baby in the manger, as the angel foretold it. As the angel foretold it, were they given the Savior and did they find great joy? Probably not, I imagine.
1.2 In this worship service, how we felt when we read these words in the Bible was probably the same as they felt. I wonder if the fact that the man called Jesus was born 2000 years ago is taken to heart as an event as the Savior's birth to our world after that. Where on earth was great joy provided with? As if it were trying to represent our feelings and to further strengthen our feelings, a truck rammed into a crowded Christmas market in the square next to a church in Germany. At present, our fear of an unfathomable future is growing. We cannot obediently accept that Jesus's birth is the Savior's birth and that it gives us great joy. To our regret, we cannot turn away our eyes from this reality.
2.1 When we read the word that the angel gave to the shepherds carefully again, it says ,
'This wi1l be the sign for you.'A sign means a symbol. It means that even if you directly find a new born baby lying in a manger, you cannot understand that this person is the Savior and that he gives us great joy. At the Christmas Worship Service tomorrow, you will gaze at how Jesus, who used to be lying in the manger, comes to meet his end through the cruel way of execution called crucifixion. What is described there might be a mysterious 'sign,'more than a new born baby lying in the manger. It has been highly ridiculous for people in those days and up to the present day to regard the criminal who was executed on the cross as the Savior.
2.2 It might be an extremely mysterious sign for people in any age that the death of the person called Jesus is the birth of the Savior and that it gives us great joy. It is mysterious not only to us today but also to people in any age. God may take the trouble to do such a thing in that way. It might be a hurdle that God sets for those who try to overcome the mysterious wall set up by him and who still try to seek the person called Jesus.
3.1 Thus a new born baby lying in the manger is a mysterious sign. But still let's pay as much attention as possible to the joy that comes up to the surface from there and to the fact this person is the Savior.
3.2 What the first half of the Bible that you read tells is the fact that all the people in Israel were obliged to move because of the decree issued by the then Roman Emperor. Joseph was also forced to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem with his pregnant betrothed. If we measure the distance between the two cities, it is over 100 kilometers as the crow flies. It would not have been easy to travel with the pregnant betrothed who was probably in the later stages of pregnancy. In Bethlehem where the couple arrived with great difficulty, Mary, felt sudden labor pains, probably because of the difficulty that she had during the journey. As there was no room in the inn for them to stay, she had nothing but to give birth to a baby in such an insanitary place as a stable.
3.3 This kind of situation where Joseph and Mary were put has first a meaning as a 'sign,'I think. It tells us that not only these two people but also all the people in those days were placed under the decree of the then ruler, namely, they were forced to move about in confusion and they couldn't find any place to stay. The Bible that we used to use describes this situation as'there was no room for them at the inn .'It is the same with people who live in the present age. For various reasons, we don't have room to stay, which means that there is no room for us to live. We are placed in such a situation. This situation has remained unchanged since 2000 years ago. It means that we human beings are the existence that was, has been, is, and will be, forced to move about in confusion by the then ruler. Therefore, we should not lament over or be discouraged by, this situation of the present age. For we have been put in this kind of situation all the time in any age.
4.1 And God took the trouble to make the person called Jesus born where there was no room to stay. He made Jesus born in an insanitary place but peacefully, in the age when the infant mortality rate was extremely high, and he made Jesus grow up healthily in such an age, although he was killed on the cross. We can find salvation and joy there, right? Through this event, God promises us, 'In whatever age or situation you are placed, or whether you are placed in where there is no room to live, I'll give you a new life and the life will overcome difficult situations and grow up healthily.'It is a sign that promises,'The life that I give is able to get over the situation where there is no room.'
4.2 It applies not just to a birth. The Bible says that Mary was with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Something wonderful is conceived in us through the Holy Spirit. It is certain that something wonderful, even if we are placed where there is no room, makes it possible for us to be born healthily and provides us with joy.
5.1 I have one thing to say. I remember the following thing that comes as salvation and joy from the event where the nursing baby is lying in the manger. This is just a supposition. God might have been able to send, to this world, the person called Jesus not as the existence that had to be brought up by Joseph and Mary as their nursing baby, but as an adult man from the beginning, right? However, God made the Savior called Jesus born, as a nursing baby, namely, the existence that is feeble and fragile and cannot grow up without deep love of its parents. God entrusted that kind of existence to Mary and Joseph, and furthermore, to us human beings.
5.2 Here I see a sign of God's confidence in us human beings. We human begins commit a numerous number of cruel and silly things but still we bring up infants that we are entrusted with by God and we protect and love not only infants but also the existence that is feeble and fragile. I feel that God regards it as good. There lies salvation of us and human beings and joy and a sign of hope, the Bible seems to say.
5.3 As the message,'Do not be afraid: I bring you good news ,'I heard the angel's news. The situation which scares us, the one where there is no room, and the difficult one go on. However, we would like to be those who see a'sign 'of salvation and joy in the event of Jesus' birth.
(Translated by Akihiko MOCHIZUKI from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel According to Luke Chapter 2 verses 1- 12
1 In those days a decree was issued by the emperor Augustus for a census to be taken throughout the Roman world.
2 This was the first registration of its kind; it took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
3 Everyone made his way to his own town to be registered.
4-5 Joseph went up to Judaea from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to register in the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was of the house of David by descent, and with him went Mary, his betrothed, who was expecting her child.
6 While they were there the time came for her to have her baby,
7 and she gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them at the inn.
8 Now in this same district there were shepherds out in the fields, keeping watch through the night over their flock.
9 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone round them. They were terrified,
10 but the angel said, 'Do not be afraid; I bring you good news, news of great joy for the whole nation.
11 Today there has been born to you in the city of David a deliverer-the Messiah, the Lord.
12 This wi1l be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.'
(The Revised English Bible)
- Jesus facing death sentence -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 At this time of the year as we look forward to the birth of Jesus on the Christmas day, we've been keeping our eyes and we do also today on him as written on the Gospel according to Luke, who was now heading toward his death on a cross. At our last worship service we listened to the words Jesus spoke to his disciples at the closing of the last supper, which one may say was his will, so to say, and also to what is known as his prayers at Gethsemane garden. For today's Bible passage we make a little leap forward from it. It is about the arrest of Jesus by the Jewish authority led by Judas, one of the twelve, and about him taken to the house of high priest, and about Peter denying any knowledge of Jesus for three times before a cock crew.
The trial of Jesus that followed consisted of the one conducted by the Jews and the other by the Roman governor Pilate. Roughly to put it, Israel was under occupation of the Roman Empire in those days. Rome generously granted the occupied nation to govern them themselves. The Jews extremely hated intervention by the ruler in their religious affairs and conflicts often broke out for that reason. On that ground a wide ranging self-government was allowed in the realm of their religion. So the trial of Jesus was first held at Sanhedrin or the so-called assembly of 70 councilors. The interrogation made there was, as written on verses from 66 to 70, about if Jesus was the Messiah or the Son of God. To the question of if he was the Messiah, the answer he gave wasn't all that clear, though from what he said on verse 69, 'the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of Almighty God,' it was probably 'Yes!' To the question of whether he was the Son of God, he answered, 'It is you who say I am.' At these words the Sanhedrin concluded that Jesus was guilty of blasphemy, on account of which he deserved death sentence.
2 I said that the Jews were granted much self-governance in the realm of region. But they weren't given the right of making sentence and putting one to death. Therefore the trial had to be handed over to Pilate the governor for further verdict who was sent by the Roman Empire. Romans didn't welcome, for that reason as hinted earlier, the opportunity to rule over the Jews as conflicts often arose. It was perhaps because Pilate was an able bureaucrat that he was appointed the governor of the Jewish territory. Although I won't go into the details of it, Pilate had experience of having troubles with the Jews over their religious affairs in the past. It is said that the governor in charge could be held accountable for those troubles and was either taken up his position or was even sentenced at the worst case.
Because Pilate had such a history, he had to accept the will of the Jews rather than insisting to enforce his own judgment at the trial of Jesus. As an able bureaucrat Pilate must have naturally obtained information about what Jesus was before the trial and he must have learned why the Jews wanted to sentence him. The only thing he asked Jesus was, 'Are you the king of the Jews?' meaning if he, as the king of the Jews, had intention to rise against the Roman Emperor. Jesus replied saying, 'The words are yours,' probably meaning to say, 'No!' Therefore, Pilate said, 'I have myself examined him in your presence and found nothing to support your charges.' Yet councilors of the Sanhedrin who brought Jesus before him tenaciously demanded that he be declared guilty.
Bewildered, Pilate, on hearing that king Herod Antipas was in Jerusalem for the Passover Festival, he remitted the case to him (this is written only by Luke and we don't know the reason why it was written only by Luke.). But unable to make any judgment on Jesus, Herod sent him back to Pilate. While Pilate repeatedly proposed to let Jesus go, people wouldn't accept it. Instead they kept shouting that Barabbas be set free, who had been put in prison for his part in a rising in the city and for murder. (Interestingly the Gospel according to Mathew tells that his name was also Jesus, the same as Jesus our savior ? which in Hebrew was Joshua, a common name). In the end Pilate yielded to their demand and decided that they should have their way.
3 What I was taught from the above description of the trial of Jesus, first of all, was what we were taught last week. At the closing of the last supper, Jesus told his disciples as his last words something as follows; the words of chapter 53 of the Book of the prophet Isaiah to say, 'he was reckoned among transgressors,' and this must be fulfilled in me. You will wish to carry your purse with you and your pack too; even a sword. But never forget what it was that kept you from being short of anything. That was not to carry your purse, pack and sword but to keep in mind all along that you are being sent by me who was reckoned among transgressors. Beware that you were never short of anything when I sent you out without purse or pack.
The words of the passage for today depict how Jesus came to be reckoned among transgressors, and why people chose to count Jesus as a transgressor and picked Barabbas the murderer to be set free. It points to it that we are ones who believe in Jesus as such and ones being sent by this man. It means that we could be reckoned among transgressors in this world at any time, and the chances are that Barabbas could be picked for freedom.
Now the question is why the Sanhedrin and the people wanted Jesus to be reckoned among transgressors. Why was Barabbas picked? Chapter 23, verse 2 raises three reasons why they sued Jesus before Pilate. It says, they opened the case against him by saying, 'We found this man subverting our nation, opposing the payment of taxes to Caesar, and claiming to be Messiah, a king.' They indicted Jesus on those accounts, but Jesus never did any one of them without saying. I think I can say that the reason why they hated Jesus and would bring him up on a cross was just the opposite of their reasoning; that Jesus wouldn't do any of what they referred as the reasons for suing him. Barabbas tried at least to do these things albeit without success. What the people wanted Jesus to do was that he rose against the Roman Emperor who charged heavy taxes on them, and that he ruled over them as their king. If he couldn't do so he should have given them such a dream just for a while.
It hit home to me that what we seek is this sort in any age. For people to embrace such a desire and for some to tap into those people is called 'populism,' as we see in the news papers etc. That was what was prevailed in the society at the referendum over Britain's departure from the European Union or Brexit and in the presidential election of the Unites States, don't you think? More than half of what Mr. Trump the candidate was saying was either lie or haphazard remark, i.e. policies that cannot be implemented, it was said. However, what the people want is not to know whether it is a lie or truth; it is what will obfuscate them even for a while. It is good and enough that a dream is given of 'The Taxes of the Emperor,' go away (which means the influx of refugees, the shifting of factories to foreign lands, the loss of jobs due to influx of cheap imports, etc.). People would choose a leader who will send them into a frenzy, shouting aloud saying Rome is the enemy and so take up our swords.
4 We are placed in the midst of this world which, as it was 2000 years ago, drives Jesus to be counted among transgressors and picks Barabbas. How is it good for us to live? Jesus tells it is for us to live as ones being sent by this Jesus that makes it a good way of living. That will guard you and support you, Jesus told in his last words.
It was to become a king which Jesus declined to accept the demand of the people and for which he was reckoned among transgressors, I am reminded afresh. Jesus left his will with us on chapter 22, verses 25 and the following saying, 'Among the Gentiles, kings lord it over their subjects; and those in authority are given the title Benefactor. Not so with you; on the contrary, the greatest among you must bear himself like the one who serves, who waits at the table (as I am.)' Everyone would think that to live following what Jesus told might lead, contrary to our wishes, to be ruled at his will by a wrong king ? for example, by the ruler of North Korea. I am afraid it could indeed be the case. Not to rise against the Roman Emperor who charges heavy taxes would mean to accept that it is good to be ruled by him. When overwhelmed by a king like Hitler, how can we live without carrying sword? These are indeed tough questions.
But the answer of Jesus was unambiguous. When one of his disciples reached his sword and drew it as the crowd approached Jesus with their swords to arrest him, he said to him, 'All who take the sword die by the sword. (Mathew chapter 26, verse 52)' Those were the words he left for us at the cost of his life, giving it in exchange of his arrest. One who rises to be a king by swords will die by the swords sometimes. Sooner or later it will come to pass as a fate. Therefore, choose to live as ones being sent by me; live at any age as ones who serve. Live as ones who wait on the table. Just as I gave you my body and blood, you too do live as ones who give important things of yours. That will work as a sword for you to guard you and protect you, Jesus was good to say as his will to us.
Jesus staked his life on his words. Firmly declining to accept the desire of the people to make him a king, and without ever drawing sword against those who drew their swords against him, Jesus made his way to the cross. People picked Barabbas Jesus in his place. That I am afraid is the choice we, humans, will make in any ages. I was made to feel deeply that there is one just here at this point who, confronting with the choice we humans make, absolutely needed Jesus and chose him against our desires. This one is God in heaven. While we indicted Jesus as being guilty, I think God is declaring that it is we who are guilty, who sentenced Jesus to death. There won't ever come a peace to you who seek to become a king using sword no matter how long it will take and no matter where it will take us to, I think, is what God is declaring. One whom we drove to the cross and would get rid of, God resurrected. No matter how much we would expunge Jesus, God makes him, who died on the cross, live forever. That is the choice God makes against the verdict of death we gave him; it is his judgment and his victory. It is a victory not dependent on the power of sword. He is telling us that we shall find our anchorage and sword in such a life which we live as ones being sent by this Jesus.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Luke 23: 13-25
13 Pilate now summoned the chief priest, councilors, and people,
14 and said to them, 'You brought this man before me on a charge of subversion. But, as you see, I have myself examined him in your presence and found nothing to support your charges.
15 No more did Herod, for he has referred him back to us. Clearly he has done nothing to deserve death.
16 I therefore propose to flog him and let him go.'
17 (At the festival time he was obliged to release one person for them;)
18 But there was a general outcry. 'Away with him! Set Barabbas free!'
19 (Now Barabbas had been put in prison for his part in a rising in the city and for murder.)
20 Pilate addressed them again, in his desire to release Jesus,
21 but they shouted back, 'Crucify him, crucify him!'
22 For the third time he spoke to them: 'Why, what wrong has he done? I have not found him guilty or any capital offense. I will therefore flog him and let him go.'
23 But they persisted with their demand, shouting that Jesus should be crucified. Their shouts prevailed,
24 and Pilate decided that they should have their way.
25 He released the man they asked for, the man who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and gave Jesus over to their will.
(The Revised English Bible)
- Yet not my will but yours be done -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 The Bible words for today describe the conversation Jesus had with his disciples at the closing of the last supper. The passage is subtitled, 'Prayer on the Mount Olives.' It describes the scene which is known as the prayer of Jesus at the garden of Gethsemane. The beginning paragraph covers verses from 35 to 38. Whereas I think that it contained vitally important words of Jesus as they were ones Jesus spoke at the end of the last supper to leave for his disciples, there was nothing below the subtitle in Japanese Bible, 'Purse, Sack and Sword,' written for reference to other gospels to consult. This is an event written only by Luke. We have no knowledge as to whether other gospel writers knew about the event. They intentionally omitted to record it if they knew. It was perhaps because they couldn't comprehend the mind of Jesus well that they didn't write it, I gather. I feel that Luke, who did write about it, could not fully understand what Jesus meant either. That's the reason why it has annoyed the readers over the years to get what Jesus wanted to say.
When we read it on its surface, it looks as though Jesus wanted to say as follows: theretofore, the disciples carried no purse, pack or sandals as they went on missions as ones sent out by Jesus and they were never short of anything; but from then on it would be different and they weren't going to be able to live like that. For scripture says he said, "And he was reckoned among transgressors,"(which are the words on verse 12, chapter 53 of Isaiah), and this, I tell you, must be fulfilled in me.'Now you will be sent out as one of the disciples of the one 'Who was reckoned among transgressors. That was why Jesus said, 'Therefore whoever has a purse had better take it with him, and his pack too; and if he has no sword, let him sell his cloak to buy one,' we can take it to mean. And when the disciples said, 'Lord, we have two swords here.' 'Enough!' he replied. The reply of Jesus can be taken to mean 'well done.' Naturally the word 'enough,' in Japanese language can be taken to mean, 'Good enough. So stop it now.' Thus which was the true intention of Jesus isn't clear. However, could it be that Jesus told them, 'well done,' at the closing of the last supper? Does it go along well with what he was talking all along at the last supper table?
2 What I think I can say clearly for the first thing is that, judging from the context of what are written thus far, Jesus couldn't have possibly acknowledged affirmatively that the disciples got swords ready in hands. On verse 25, Jesus unambiguously said, 'Among the Gentiles, kings lord it over their subjects; and those in authority are given the title Benefactor. Not so with you.' At the root of power is power of sword. Jesus, who said, 'Not so with you,' cannot have left his will to the disciples saying, 'Stand up with your swords against those who surround you,' even if they were driven to a situation in which they are surrounded by people with swords after when Jesus, their leader, had been reckoned among transgressors.
What was, then, the true intention of Jesus? I take it that when he spoke to his disciples, he meant to say, 'as disciples of mine, who is reckoned among transgressors and as one sent by me, you are going to be put in difficult circumstances. In a difficult situation, you will ready yourselves with purse and pack, and even with sword. Just as the words of the scripture saying, "He was reckoned among transgressors" were fulfilled in me, it will come to pass also on you.' When Jesus instructed his disciples to carry purse and pack, I think he meant to say 'you are going to carry your purse and pack without fail.' We've been taught many times that when something is said in an imperative form in Greek and in Hebrew too, it carries a meaning to say, 'you are going to do this without fail.' In the light of this, I wonder if the words of Jesus to say 'as this was fulfilled in me, so it is going to be with you, my disciples,' were not mistaken to have meant as an order to say, 'Do this or be so.'
Now the disciples were getting ready to go through difficult situations in the way as mentioned. But when asked if it was good in the eyes of Jesus or if they could ready themselves sufficiently to deal with the situations they were going to go into, I think the answer was no as far as Jesus was concerned. The true intention of Jesus was for the disciples, as ones being sent by him, to go and live to the very end without carrying purse, sack, and swords not to speak of. That way they will put themselves where they'll be short of nothing. Jesus must have made the disciples recollect on verse 35 how it was like at the time of their first journey of mission, wishing to let them remember and so come to stand back on how they started.
3 By these words of Jesus I was taught important things, and the first among them is that we are ones who are being sent by him who was reckoned among transgressors. At this time of the year, towns are full of Christmas colors. What people on the street are reminded of if they are even just a little bit is Jesus baby peacefully sleeping in the arms of mother Mary. But it won't possibly occur to them that he grew up to be reckoned among transgressors. We too are probably apt to forget that Christians are ones who believe in Jesus who was executed as one of transgressors and that we are ones being sent by him to each place of mission. However, it was this that Jesus took time to tell afresh at the table of the last supper. He told this so we don't forget about it.
Why was Jesus reckoned among transgressors? There are various reasons for this. According to what Jesus said to leave it for the disciples was that it was because he said that everyone in this world ? even kings and nobles, and people called saints and virtuous ? is a sick who cannot live without being given the life of Jesus sacrificed and eventually of God. The fundamental reason why the people of the Holiness Church were oppressed during pre-war era was the argument, to dig it deep down, as to whether ultimately the Emperor was also among such sick and transgressors. Why people during early days of Christianity were persecuted by the Roman emperor also comes down to this point. The teaching of Jesus to say that anyone is a sick and a transgressor before God is nothing but one which is least welcome for rulers of this world. It is for this reason that we Christians should not forget that we, who believe in Jesus and as ones being sent by him, can also be reckoned among transgressors.
Yet it is at this very point that we are ensured of not being short of anything. This is the second point of his teaching. That we won't be short of anything comes from the point that we are being sent by Jesus and live to propagate the gospel which Jesus taught us. The characteristic features of life as ones being sent are most expressly described by the words of Jesus which he gave to the twelve disciples and to the 72 at the time of their appointment, as written on chapters 9 and 10 of the Gospel according to Luke. Jesus said, 'if there is a man of peace in the house you go, stay in that house sharing their food and drink and do not move around from house to house. When you are done with your mission, then it will be good to leave the house on to a next journey. When you enter a town and are not made welcome, go out into its streets and say, "The very dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off to your shame."' The attribute of one being sent is never to cater to wishes of someone you meet with, which means not to lose your feature as one on journey or an alien just temporary settling. It means you will walk as a salesman or a door-to-door sales person. What do you sell in that capacity? You sell the product entrusted from Jesus, which is the Gospel, which is probably not welcome for the kings of this world. There are customers for this product without fail if not many in number. With them we'll be short of nothing. Out of the fear of shortage, we as individuals or as a church often try to provide with biggest possible purse and pack and be ready with sword. That way we consequently lose the character of one being sent by Jesus and of a gathering of such. We lose the character of a gathering of ones being sent by Jesus, who was reckoned among transgressors, and end up being short conversely.
4 Jesus at the mount of Olives as written on verse 39 and the following tells that while we are ones being sent by Jesus who prayed as described on the lines from verses 35 to 38, Jesus so praying is himself our purse, pack and sword, Luke is trying to say. Jesus chose to pray 'at about stone's throw,' from the disciples. While the disciples, worn out by grief, fell asleep, yet they witnessed Jesus at prayer and heard him pray. It was nobody else but these disciples who conveyed how he did.
Worn out by grief and fell asleep (though not just for the grief that they fell asleep but because of their weakness in body as, for example, Mathew says on chapter 26, verse 41 that "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak"), the disciples symbolically represent us who cannot pray as Jesus did. Yet we are ones being sent by Jesus as his disciples. Disciples don't have to be greater than their mentor. We cannot pray like him and yet Jesus sends us. It is good and enough for us to bear witness to it that Jesus prayed the kind of prayer he did. It is good if we appreciate the significance of Jesus praying like that deep in ourselves.
By the figure of Jesus at prayer and from his words of prayer various things are taught us. Luke wrote about it in too simple a way compared to how Mathew and Mark wrote it. It was Mathew who wrote it most scrupulously and he wrote Jesus praying for three times. By the first of his prayer, Jesus prayed saying, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Yet not my will but yours.' By the second one he prayed: 'My Father if it is not possible for this cup to pass me by without my drinking it, your will be done.' He prayed the same way at the third time. Luke wrote it putting together all the prayers. Reading the prayers of Jesus written by Mathew we come to notice the change in his prayer, though subtle the change is. In the first of his prayer, he unequivocally made a personal request asking that the cup ? meaning the suffering on cross ? pass him by. But in the second and the third prayers no such request appears.
From this we learn that it wasn't easy even for Jesus to accept the will of God. While proceeding up to Jerusalem as if having no hesitation, Jesus got distressed and anguished and so had to be given strength from an angel. Even with Jesus, there exists a deep and profound gutter between human wishes and the will of God. Jesus showed with his own body how hard it is for us to cross over the ditch and accept the will of God.
At the same time this figure of Jesus also teaches us that there solemnly exists will of God regardless of how far and different it may be from those of ours. The will of God is never going to pass us by no matter how strongly we refuse it. It was indispensable that Jesus offered his life on the cross for our sake; an inescapability that will not disappear no matter how strongly we wished it. Just as it was, it is unavoidable for us also that we suffer for some purpose if we don't understand what the purpose is. There exists a cup of agony which is not going to pass us by how many times we pray for that to go regardless.
Jesus could get to accept the will of God bit by bit as he made prayer after prayers. We may not be able accept the will of God to the very end. Yet as I told you a moment ago, followers don't have to be greater than their mentor. It is enough that we are being sent by this Jesus. As an angel came to give strength to him, Jesus will come for our help. We are ones being sent by such Jesus. That's the thing that makes us short of nothing.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Luke 22: 35-46
35 He said to them, 'When I sent you out barefoot without purse or pack, were you ever short of anything?' 'No,' they answered.
36 'It is different now,' he said; 'whoever has a purse had better take it with him, and his pack too; and if he has no sword, let him sell his cloak to buy one.
37 For scripture says, "And he was reckoned among transgressors," and this, I tell you, must be fulfilled in me; indeed, all that is written of me is reaching its fulfillment.'
38 'Lord,' they said, 'we have two swords here.' 'Enough!' he replied.
39 Then he went out and made his way as usual to the mount of Olives, accompanied by the disciples.
40 When he reached the place he said to them, 'Pray that you may be spared the test.'
41 He himself withdrew from them about a stone's throw, knelt down, and began to pray;
42 'Father, if it be your will, take this cup from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.'
43 And now there appeared to him an angel from heaven bringing him strength,
44 and in anguish of spirit he prayed the more urgently; and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.
45 When he rose from prayer and came to the disciples he found them asleep, worn out by grief.
46 'Why are you sleeping?' he said. 'Rise and pray that you may be spared the test.'
(The Revised English Bible)
- You will be restored -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 I have planned it that way that we will listen to the words of the Gospel according to Luke until the Christmas Sunday Service. The Bible words for today are famous lines, which tell of Jesus having predicted denial of him by Peter for three times, as the title of today's sermon implies. While how the things unfolded the way as predicted by Jesus are described on the passage from verse 54 and the following, today's scene is written by all the four Gospel writers. On the Gospel according to Luke, however, there are words of Jesus written only by Luke. They are the words of verses 31 and 32. Especially the words of Jesus on verse 32 hit us at our hearts every time we read them; it said, 'I have prayed for you, Simon, so that your faith may not fail; and when you are restored, give strength to your brothers.'
The Bible words for today are connected with and follow on those of the previous two passages. While Jesus and his disciples finished the meal of the last supper, today's scene describes what it happened there at the table of the supper after the meal. Jesus said on verse 21 that one at the table is going to betray him, and his disciples began to ask themselves which of them it could possibly be who was to do that. We can take that the dispute written on verse 24 as to 'which of them should be considered the greatest,' arose following it. It doesn't mean that they were literally engaged in a race for higher position in ranking among them; the dispute was rather about which among them was the most distant from betraying Jesus. It was something of a sort of lifting their chests over who had the strongest and biggest faith among them, and so the most distant from betrayal. The words of Peter saying, 'Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death,' were also dubbed in this context. However, the brave determination of Peter was crushed into pieces as predicted by Jesus before the root of his tongue dried, to use Japanese way of saying it.
We would naturally read it as something bad or negative that the marvelous resolution of Peter was crushed and the prediction of Jesus sadly came true just as predicted. We wonder what could have gone wrong that the disciple, the one who only the day before was saying he was ready to die with the mentor, turned out to deny him three times. For Peter himself and for the people of the Early Christianity as well, the disappointment must have been the same as ours, I gather. Peter was especially a leader among them of the Early Christianity which was just born. The Pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, having claimed to be a successor of Peter, is regarded as the leader of the church even today. That a man in leadership position had done such a thing as to betray his mentor is something naturally to be deleted from written record as a disgraceful stain.
Yet all the four Gospels do keep it on record. It was recorded; but was kept not for a passive reason that they couldn't erase it because it was a fact; it was kept on record because it was of vital importance for our faith in Christianity that Peter, who had denied Jesus, got back on his feet again and emerged as one who could now give courage to brothers in faith and that it was thanks to the prayer Jesus made for him, to use his words for today; the point that is never to be erased no matter what. It is not an exaggeration to say, I think, that there lies at this very point the critical difference of Christianity with all other religions.
2 Now, should the brave determination of Peter have been carried through, and consequently, should he have emerged as a leader of a religion called Christianity born after that and of the congregation, I think that Christianity and the gathering of followers would have emerged as a religion and a community of believers, for which such one becomes a leader, to get to the core of it, as have the mightiest resolve to be able to say, 'I am ready to die in prison,' ? although I think that under the circumstances in which Peter's brave resolve could be carried through, the chances of what we can call the Christianity to have been born was indefinitely close to zero; if there had arisen a religion it would have been totally different one from the Christianity.
To refer back to verse 24, the original Greek word for what is translated into Japanese as 'the great,' is 'mega,' which is now adopted in both English and Japanese languages. If such an element had governed, it would have emerged as a kind of religion in which the ranks among the believers are determined by who have the mega most faith, and that the greatness of their faith is measured by it. To say more, faith is regarded as the same kind of things as the resolve.
I regret to say that we may not be having applicants of Baptism at this Christmas Sunday. By the way when an application for Baptism is approved by the church executive board, an applicant must be interviewed by them as a rule. At such an interview, the thought of an applicant as to why he/she would be baptized will be told, after which the board will approve the application. Should the words of Peter at the last supper table have been carried through, and should his "faith," expressed then have been upheld as the standard of our faith, such an interview, in short, would have become an opportunity to look into the "determination," of the applicant. How strong the resolve of the applicant is would have had to become the standard by which to decide whether or not to approve the application for baptism.
It was indeed fortunate that the faith of that kind wasn't what Jesus would to see among his disciples at the last supper. As have been taught time and again, the last supper table was the setting where the foundation of what Jesus would leave for the disciples and for us as fortune was to be revealed because it was the last supper for him and his disciples. It was the time when it was made clear as to what kind of relationship that lay between Jesus and us was, also as to what were we to receive from him.
Jesus regarded him as the lamb sacrificed at the time when the Israelites were to make exodus out of Egypt. He meant to say 'I will save you from "the one who destroys," by the sacrifice of my own life.' It means that we are such that we cannot live without receiving the sacrificed life of Jesus. As I often tell you in the parable of my make, we are the sick who cannot live without having the body of Jesus transplanted, without having his pure blood transfused. Where do you think we have such a thing within us that makes it possible for us to say 'I am strong,' 'I am big, or mega,' 'I have resolve?' Where is the eligibility in us that enable us to speak a big mouth? At the last supper table Jesus told us that we are not qualified to talk like that. Other way to put it would be to say he left for us his fortune words that we don't have to lift our chests with each other over such a matter.
With your permission, I would make a little detour. At the ritual of Holy Communion, we make it a rule to read the words which say, 'If we eat this bread and drink this wine in an unbecoming state, then we sin against the body and the blood of our Lord.' How do you take the word, 'unbecoming?' It is often said ? and I also heard it said- that one feels unbecoming to partake in the Holy Communion because one made quarrel with the better-half this morning before leaving for the church, or conversely that one is suitable because one wishes from the bottom of one's heart to receive the Holy Communion today.
But being becoming as mentioned here means that one is aware of it that one is sick who cannot live without having the sacrificed life of Jesus. This awareness expresses itself in the form, for instance, of consulting with a doctor, being hospitalized and surgically operated. Baptism represents that kind of event. To get to the core of it, baptism is for us to be connected with Jesus and to go through a surgical operation so we are transplanted the body of Jesus and transfused his blood. Once we are surgically treated, we get to be the one who lives by continuing to eat Jesus, by continuing to be transfused, and by continuing to undergo dialysis. That is the meaning of the Holy Communion.
In short, the Holy Communion is to repeat baptism over and again, so to say. That is why the churches from generation to generation have been performing baptism and the Holy Communion without ever separating the two. You will have understood by now how 'unbecoming,' it is to receive the Holy Communion out of one's mood of the day or based on it that one is attending the worship service.
3 Jesus says that Satan has been given leave to sift all of you like wheat. He says it was for the very purpose that our faith doesn't become something like a "determination," that our faith is kept from getting to be dependent on the strength or greatness of us ourselves. To sift us is a good metaphor, I am impressed. When sifted, large gravels will be flipped and only the small ones will pass through. Likewise our faith which has its base on the strength or greatness of us ourselves will be trapped aside. Only small and very small faiths will be treated as good. The faith of Peter which wasn't much different from resolve was sifted and flipped.
The faith of Peter based on the strength and greatness of him as a human being was torn apart due to his denial of Jesus as many as three times, as predicted by him. Such of his faith has gone broke as written on verse 32. That was very point, however, where a new faith was born thanks to the prayer of Jesus as he said, 'I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.' It was the faith which didn't depend on his resolve, or his strength and greatness. It was the faith which had its foundation on it that Jesus still put trust in Peter despite his denial for three times.
What form did the result of prayer of Jesus take as it appeared? The result took the form of Jesus, who was resurrected from death on the cross, coming to meet Peter. It is especially clearly expressed, I think, on the passage of the Gospel according to John, chapter 21, verse 15 and the following where Jesus is said to have talked to Peter for three times saying, 'Do you love me,' and said, 'Then keep my sheep.'
Jesus posed the question to Peter three times and that is related to his denial of Jesus for three times. But Jesus didn't raise the matter to rebuke Peter of his three time denials. Jesus said it meaning to say, 'I invariably love you despite your denial of me for three times because you are fit to keep the sheep which I will entrust you.' Why was Peter fit for the mission? It was because he knew from his own experience that Jesus still loves him in spite of his denial for three times. Peter knew the joy of being cared for and nurtured by Jesus. Such a man is best suited to keep the sheep entrusted by Jesus. Only the one who knows the joy of being nourished can stand up on the side to nourish others.
When I was serving as chairman of the North-Eastern (Tohoku) District of the UCCJ, on occasions of the inaugural function of ministers I often based my message on this passage from the Gospel according to John. The place that ministers stand is only on their knowledge of the joy and indispensability of being themselves nourished by Jesus. There are many, however, who try to stand on other footholds. They try to stand on their own mega, as it were: on the greatness and strength of their own in various sense. When I too tried to do the same, such attempts were torn apart. Then I encountered with Jesus who put trust on me saying that I am fit to be entrusted to keep his sheep, though such a man I am.
4 Having been trusted by Jesus of Resurrection, Peter could get to stand up again. And just as he could rise on his feet again, he became one to help his comrades rise on their feet, i.e. he gave courage to his brothers in faith. I am impressed once again that for one to get back on his feet and to give courage to one's comrades are matters which are inseparably linked to each other.
To rise up again on one's feet includes rehabilitated. Each one of us has had various things of us crushed just as Peter has. We lost mega health, mega family, mega job and economic mega on which we have depended thus far. To get back on our feet or to be rehabilitated is often taken to mean to regain what is lost. It is unfortunate but we cannot get back what is lost. It is impossible to rehabilitate by getting back what is lost. Peter could not get back his lost mega after he rose on his feet again. As the Gospels keep telling to date of his three time denial of Jesus, he remains weak and coward.
Yet it is just because of this that Jesus is being propagated by Peter, who continued to love him despite his three time denial, who entrusted to Peter the mission which he can take up for that very reason. Peter was restored in that he talked of Jesus and that he gave courage to his comrades who were in the same state as Peter was. Our own restoration is also to be found there, I would think.
Having been sifted and having lost various mega, we should have something for which Jesus would entrust us and give his mission to us. There has to be something by which our families and friends are given courage by such very being as we are. On that point there is to be found our restoration and our giving of encouragement to our comrades.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Luke 22: 31-34
31 'Simon, Simon, take heed: Satan has been given leave to sift all of you like wheat;
32 but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail; and when you are restored, give strength to your brothers.'
33 'Lord,' he replied, 'I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.'
34 Jesus said, 'I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow tonight until you have denied three times over that you know me.'
(The Revised English Bible)
- Which of the disciples should be considered the greatest -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 The passage of the Bible given today immediately follows the one covering from verse 14 to verse 23 of chapter 22. The first verse for today, verse 24, says that there arose a dispute as to which of the disciples should be considered the greatest. If we take the words literally as written, the disciples were engaged in a race for ranking at such an important occasion as having the last supper with Jesus. But I don't think they were engaged in that kind of dispute. Verse 21 of the preceding paragraph put Jesus as saying, 'Even now my betrayer is here, his hand with mine on the table,' and this stimulated talks among the disciples as to which of them could possibly be the one to do it, according to the lines up to verse 23.
So I think we can say that the dispute among the disciples arose following their talks up to verse 23. Therefore the dispute could be about who among them was the most distant from betraying their mentor, i.e. it was like lifting their chests over who had the strongest faith. The word translated as 'the great,' is originally Greek, which became both English and Japanese words, 'Mega.' Direct translation of it would be 'large.' While they didn't mean to fight for the higher place of ranking, they disputed about whose faith it was which was the most resisting and had the greatness of not budging.
I am led to feel that there lies one of the points of the message which these lines try to tell us in that such a dispute arose at the very table of the last supper. Reading the Bible with confer reference we see that similar scenes are written in the gospels according to Mathew and to Mark. But they didn't describe it as part of the events during the last supper. It was by Luke only that it is depicted in such a setting. Only Luke wrote that a dispute arose at the table of the last supper of all the possible occasions among the disciples as to the strength and greatness of their faith. I feel that an important message is being told us right at this point.
2 While it's kind of looking back on what we learned the last time, we are reminded once again as to what message Jesus was trying to leave for the disciples at the last supper. That being the last supper, Jesus would naturally teach the very basis of what he would leave for the disciples, of what he would give them as inheritance. Jesus dared to choose the timing of the last supper on the special meal of Passover festival. He portrayed himself as a lamb which was sacrificed on the eve of Exodus from Egypt and thought that the sacrifice of his own life would make "the one who destroys" to Passover his disciples, just as the blood of lamb guarded the Israelites from the one called "who destroys." The inheritance Jesus planned to leave for his disciples as well as for us was his body and blood, i.e. nothing else but his own life, as it is most eloquently expressed in his words when he said, "This is My body, broken for you; This is My blood, shed for you.' That guards us against "the destroyer."
God did not tell Moses the mechanism: why the blood of lamb would make the destroyer pass them over. Likewise Jesus didn't tell either why his own life sacrificed would guard us against the destroyer. While it should lie at the very root of our faith in Jesus, there isn't a right answer to this question. One may take it in one's own way.
If I may speak of my own faith, I think that to smear the blood of lamb on the doorpost is a declaration to say, 'this house and our family in it are the household and the family which live by receiving the sacrificed life of others.' It is like putting a nameplate on the door, so to say. A lamb is nothing more than an animal. But I take it as symbolizing a sacrificed life which God gives, a sacrifice of the life of God himself. It is a declaration to say that I, my house, and our family are the ones who live eating the life given at the sacrifice of God, and taking it in us. To get to the core of it, I wonder if it's not an expression of our weakness. It is an expression of it that I am sick, for example: a declaration to say that I am such a being as cannot survive without having part of the body of Jesus transplanted and his blood transfused to me. It means that I have myself willingly hospitalized in a facility God runs. That will guard us against the one who destroys.
Reverse way of saying it will be to say that the one who destroys will come in through the door, I am afraid, when I think I don't need a sacrifice of the life of others for me to live, I don't need the sacrifice of the life of God for I and my household can self-suffice with what we produce, for I am not so weak as to have to rely on the sacrifice of the life of others, i.e. when I think I am strong.
3 Now, right after Jesus spoke the words of his will right at the last supper table, the disciples began disputing "My faith is the greatest and strongest,' depicts Luke. This, in a nutshell, amounted to refusal of the inheritance which Jesus gave his disciples at the table of the last supper. It was an attitude on the part of the disciples to try to live towards strength and greatness, rejecting to recognize their weakness. I feel that by depicting the disciples just as they were as if they squarely stood against the heart of Jesus at the table of the last supper, Luke tried to tell us also that we too have similar mind as that of the disciples for an undeniable fact. That is how we, the followers, are as we stand. We are not the kind who, struck in our minds by the marvelous words of Jesus at the table of the last supper, ceases to think that 'we are great.' That is our reality and the undisguised figure of the church, which the followers build. It is a warning to us saying that we should not think and depict ourselves and the churches as an ideal being.
Seeing the disciples as they were, Jesus spoke the words of verse 25: 'Among the Gentiles, kings lord it over their subjects; and those in authority are given the title Benefactor.' Why is it that you, my disciples, would get to rely on the kind of strength and greatness the Gentile kings have? I think Jesus is saying that it is because this world in which you live is such and because you have to live in this world that you would rely on the kind of strength and greatness . This is a world in which the one having the strongest power sits on top of the hierarchy and those under him "eat" to live the power, strength and the authority of their king on the top. Verse 25 says, 'those in authority are given the title Benefactor.' This is a society where it is considered a must to have authority, strength and greatness for securing 'protection,' or for the people to be given peace and security. For this reason we seek for the 'Mega,' willy-nilly. The same is true of the followers of Jesus. So is the organization of the church.
4 To us of such a state, Jesus told, 'Not so with you,' or you shouldn't be like that. While it takes imperative form, I don't think it is an order in the mind of Jesus in telling them that 'You should be like so and so!' Rather it is an inducing comment full of conviction, meaning that 'You can be like that. It is possible with you!' Living in this world, we are also apt to seek Mega as the disciples did. But he says you have a solid element in yourselves which differs from such a tendency. You do have a definite part which makes you refuse to follow the practice of the people of this world and not be dyed with the same color as they are, Jesus assured you.
Reading the words of the passage for today, and when we will read next week the passage that follows beginning with verse 31 where Jesus foretells of the denial of him by Peter for three times, we find that the attitude of Jesus toward his disciples is so very gentle. Don't you feel Jesus was much optimistic? Jesus told Peter on verse 32, who will deny him three times, saying, 'When you are restored, give strength to you brothers.' What could have happened in common society? Jesus had to witness the figure of his disciples who would look for something diametrically opposite to the most important thing Jesus was intent on giving them as inheritance from him. There was nothing strange if he gave them up as hopeless, thinking why they couldn't learn my mind. Yet Jesus kept his trust on them. Even if we are ones to seek Mega in this world, Jesus is convinced that we have 'other element,' solidly in ourselves.
If that is indeed the case with us, how could be the disciples and can we be? It is, as written on verse 26, that we can bear ourselves like the youngest, like one who serves.' At the core of it lies, I think, that we have none of the Mega of this world. I know that there are not a few among us, too, who are made to serve various authorities of this world, who are forced to find themselves in circumstances they don't like. There is no greatness found anywhere which one would hope to get ? it could be mega about health, mega in one's job, mega for one's economy. People of this world cannot find 'protection,' that way; they cannot find peace and security that way. However, Jesus assures us that we can find protection even in there. He offers to make sure that we can find the joy and meaning of life there.
5 How can we find protection, joy and meaning of life even under unfavorable living circumstances? It is not by our faith or strength. On verse 28 Jesus says, 'You have stood firmly by me in my times of trial.' But I have to wonder if there was ever such a time with me. I think what Jesus wanted to say was that we can stand by him in that he stays with us. Yes, Jesus remains with us. Jesus from his side would take the initiative of being with us wherever we may be. That is manifested in Jesus having given his body and blood to Judas who planned to betray him as well as to the disciples who disputed about who among them was the greatest. Even they of such a state were given the benefit of eating Jesus. To the extent they eat Jesus, he wouldn't go wasted. In that we are moved, guided and protected by him. The life of Jesus taken in us cannot help but to move us.
In which direction Jesus moves us to? Verse 27 gives an answer saying, 'I am among you like a servant.' Because Jesus was such a being, we, who were offered to eat him, have got to be like how Jesus was. At the table of the last supper Jesus played the role of a servant. The food and drink served by him were symbolically his own body and blood, i.e. his life. Jesus found joy, which nothing else can compare with, in giving him, in offering to serve, in remaining to be without any greatness or strength. Such a posture of Jesus was denied once when he was put to death on the cross. He was scorned and negated by this world, which is governed by things called Mega. Yet on the third day, Jesus was resurrected. He revived as one with injuries on his hands and sides. That was the proof to show that to give him, to wait on and to serve others were for him to get to be unbeatable and undeniable by this world, the way of being supported by God forever.
Because this Jesus is with us and because we are given the sacrifice of his life, and while we are ones who seek after Mega in this world, we can, on the other hand, find joy and meaning in being made to serve and wait on. Even the life with no Mega we can still live in joy.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Luke 22: 24-30
24 Then a dispute began as to which of them should be considered the greatest.
25 But he said, 'Among the Gentiles, kings lord it over their subjects; and those in authority are given the title Benefactor.
26 No so with you: on the contrary, the greatest among you must bear himself like the youngest, the one who rules like one who serves.
27 For who is greater ―the one who sits at the table or the servant who waits on him? Surely the one who sits at the table. Yet I am among you like a servant.
28 'You have stood firmly by me in my times of trial;
29 and I now entrust to you the kingdom which my Father entrusted to me;
30 in my kingdom you shall eat and drink at my table and sit on thrones as judges of the twelve tribes of Israel.
(The Revised English Bible)
- Do not reap right up to the edges of your field -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 According to the calendar of the United Church of Christ in Japan, it is Thanks-giving Day today. It is our usual practice that on this Sunday we have joint worship service when Sunday school children and adult come before God together. For a joint worship service I pick Bible words for the sermon from the monthly "Friends of CS Teachers," which the church school teachers use. The words scheduled for today happen to be a passage of the Leviticus. Today's passage on the monthly seems to have been picked with thanks-giving in mind. I feel that the choice of today's words is deeply linked also to the Ten Commandments, which the said monthly has been dealing with since the joint worship service in September on Inspirit the Faith Day. When you read from verse one to the final verse you will find that chapter 19 of Leviticus was written with the Ten Commandments at its center.
At the end of verse 10 it says 'I am the LORD your God.' These are the words God spoke as important as the pivot of a fan, so to say. Verse one, chapter 20 of the Exodus put it, 'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.' The short form of saying it is the words written at the end of verse 10 of today's passage, one may say. As has been taught time and again, the Ten Commandments were the prescription God gave the Israelites for day to day life so they don't worship gods and uphold them as their lords other than true God lest the people don't become their slaves. I've compared the Ten Commandments to concrete advice on the way of life or medicine which a physician would give to prevent one from contracting disease or from having it worsened. Many of the commandments given centered around the Ten Commandments ? today's words are one of them ? were given for the purpose of keeping the Israelites from worshiping gods other than true God, thereby, keeping them from being subjected as their slaves.
I think it is deeply significant that the prescription having such a meaning takes the form of an advice linked to harvesting of crops saying, 'do not reap right up to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your crop.' I wanted very much to learn if this advice by God was meant just for the Israelites of those days or was meant universally for all the people of the world. To my regret the Bibles commentaries by me give only brief comments on today's words and I couldn't get to know an answer to my question. I've heard it said that growers keep some pieces of fruit, say persimmon, for instance, without harvesting all on the trees so that small animals like birds can feed on them in passing the winter. But I wonder if there has been such a practice also in Japan to keep some crops on the field without reaping up to the edges so the poor people can benefit from reaping them.
2 Reading the Bible passage for the day, the first thing I was led to consider was the question of what does the advice mean to us when it says 'do not reap right up to the edges of your field, or do not completely strip your vineyard.' Most of you gathered here do not make living by farming and therefore do not have literal interface with the Bible words for today. By reading it over and again though, I could come to realize what it is that the words are telling us.
Reading this passage, I recollected the famous words of Paul on verse 6, chapter 3 of his First Letter to the Corinthians which said, 'I planted the seed, and Apollos watered it; but God made it grow.' He continued saying, 'You are God's garden.' I think we can say that we are given lease of a garden called body, that we are leased a garden called life of 70 or 80 years, and that we are the ones to harvest various crops from the garden. If we take ourselves as such, I wonder if the God's advice not to reap right up to field edges and not to completely strip vineyard isn't telling that one ought not expend the harvest from the field of life just for oneself or just for one's family which is only an extension of oneself. To leave some crops for the poor and for the aliens means, in a nutshell, an advice to offer your body and life for the people and for the matters which are not necessarily of any benefit to you. I feel that this is an advice meant especially for the people who are in the harvesting season in their later stage of life.
In my 24 years of ministry in the North-eastern (Tohoku) District of UCCJ, I served on the executive board of the District for half of that period or 12 years. Moving over to this church, I thought I would be free from that kind of engagement. But 5 years since I came here I am assigned to take responsibility as the head of sub-district, and beginning this past July I was assigned to be an acting pastor of the pre-church mission station at Morokawa because it doesn't have any pastor of its own. Upon assumption of that role it became clear that the purification tank was out of order, the sewer pipe needed to be changed, and the chapel had to be painted. So all in all, some 600,000 yen must be found to pay for these repair works. Moreover, the land is leased from one of the members and no rent has been paid for three years. The mission station has only 200,000 yen in its savings account. On the advice of the District Standing Commission it will now take loans of 400,000 yen from the District, and we have decided to initiate fund-raising in the Kanto District and neighboring Tokyo District to pay back the loan. It was only this past week that we opened a transfer account, and asked the secretariat of both Districts to provide us with the address labels of the churches in the two Districts. In the very near future, I must ask you, members of the Tsukuba Gakuen Church, for helping to send out a prospectus of the fund-raising. I've been making sigh saying why I must do things like this. It is at such a very moment that I am given the Bible words for today in so timely a manner.
Through this experience I feel that this is probably going to be how I live till I am called to heaven. The harvests I've been given in my life as a pastor, I use not to put them in my store house but to donate to a church without a pastor, for instance. I feel I am given an opportunity of being taught right now that this will be how I am going to live for the rest of my life.
3 It is marvelous to learn how certainly such a way of living, especially at our later years, not to use the reaped crops just for ourselves will set us free from being made slaves of various gods or of the lords of this world. It means that otherwise we are subjected to be slaves of our own greed, subjected to our strong desire to finish our life just as we think is good for us.
These days, my wife and I often see TV programs about life in one's later years. In these programs a theme often taken up is, for example, "Ending activities (activities meant to prepare for the end of one's life).' Ending activities are undertaken with a view to facing the end of one's life without giving too much trouble to who will be bereaved children by making well thought-out preparations for funeral function and a tomb during one's time on earth.
But I feel odd about it. I see in there one's desire appears and disappears of wishing to control even the funeral and tomb after one's own death. I may not be a way wrong in guessing that we in the contemporary age have strong desire to control the events even after our death, a desire to have things unfold just in ways one would like till the very end of one's life. This, in today's Bible words, is to try to pick up any tiny crop, to reap right up to the edges of the field without leaving anything unpicked. This, to get down to the bottom of it, is to become the slave of one's own greed.
Novel writer Hiroyuki Itsuki introduced a view of life of the people of India who see human life in four stages; the stage of learning life, the stage of household life, the stage of living under woods or retired life, and the stage of wandering life or renunciation. And they say that the stage of living under woods or retired life is the most appropriate for engaging in the life ending activities. But it seems to me that in any one of the four stages one lives just for oneself or for one's family at the most. Regardless of whether one lives retired or lives renounced, one still lives single-mindedly for oneself, it looks. One does not find true freedom there. Now matter how deeply one lives retired, one is but only a slave of oneself. That way one cannot engage oneself in the ending activities. The true ending activities will mean that through them we have us liberated from us ourselves bit by bit. For that very purpose God advises us to use the harvest given so far especially at our later years for the purposes other than to put them in our own stock house.
4 We are taught that such a way of life helps us find life worth living also in our later years. What remains on the crop field un-reaped and the gleanings are characterized by their small quantity and by their lesser quality. They point to our life of later years, I feel. Compared to the crops reaped by the people of young ages and the people in their prime of life, life of later years is perhaps like what remains in small quantity on the edges of a field, or the gleanings fallen on the soil. If we choose to use them for our own benefit, it looks nothing much more than 'scum that is only so much and fallen on the ground with much of their worthiness lost.' If one chooses to use them for one's sake it looks as something negative.
But how is it going to look if one chooses to donate them for the poor and the aliens? It will look to be a totally different thing. These people are pleased with and appreciate the small quantity of crops left on the edges or the gleanings fallen on the ground. We don't have to or we cannot give in large quantities. What remains with us at our later years is just a little bit. But God says the crops remaining on the edges and the gleanings fallen on the ground are good. The fact that there are people who will be pleased with them sets us free from the negative idea that what remains is only so little, and give us fulfilling life in our later years.
Several people are gathered together to compose a steering committee to kick-start "Children's Canteen" on December 13. It plans to rent YMCA building and will rely on its aid during the initial stage of its activity. But we would begin running it as the activity of the steering committee, not as the work by YMCA staff. Our intention is to invite school children under pupils nursing program who get hungry in late afternoon because their working parents are late in coming to pick them up, and also to invite members of "Dandelion Club" for the handicapped children, rather than invite many children in an unspecified fashion. Members of the steering committee include a mother of a member of "Dandelion Club." For her the main target is her own child, but not just that. What we can do is just a little. Everyone involved will be pleased with donation made to the activity how little it may be.
5 Let me make one last point before I finish today's sermon. So far we've read the Bible words as one in the position to harvest the crops. But we can also read the words as one to pick the crops left and the gleanings fallen, I am led to think.
My heart goes to the people among our congregation here, who are placed in circumstances of poverty or being aliens not having anyone to go to. I sympathize with them thinking how hard they find their circumstances are. The Bible words for today tell that God is who cares for these people. But the way God cares is by seeing to it that the crops on the field are not reaped right up to the edges so the people impoverished pick up the gleanings, he says. It may sound miserable having to do so. They will naturally think why it is that they cannot have their own fields as common man does and reap crops from it as common man does; why do they have to be feeding on what remains un-reaped or on the gleanings? Isn't it unfair? But alas, that is the reality of life. Yet God does feed you. As a means of feeding you there are crops on the field left un-reaped and the gleanings fallen on the soil surface. One should not lose sight of it. Happy is the one who does not lose sight of it and can pick them up.
Those of you who have the Bible having reference will find that the story of picking up the gleanings is referred to the story of Ruth. Ruth attended Naomi, her mother-in-law to her home town to find that she had to support their lives there by picking up the gleanings. Going out to fields to pick up the gleanings, however, changed her life dramatically. She met with Boaz the landowner who fell in love with her and married her. For Ruth and Boaz was born Obed, who became the grandfather of that David. You see that something happy unfolds by picking up what God keeps un-reaped on the edges of the field or the gleanings, don't you? We see that there is deep will of God concealed in that not all the crops are reaped. There is harvest in not harvesting.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
Leviticus 19:9-10
9 When you reap the harvest in your land, do not reap right up to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your crop. 10 Do not completely strip your vineyard, or pick up the fallen grapes; leave them for the poor and for the alien. I am the LORD your God.
(The Revised English Bible)
- Dedicate your selves and don't conform to the pattern of this world -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1.1 Today we start to read Chapter 12 of The Letter of Paul to the Romans. So far Paul has talked about what should be called rules and principles of the Christian faith. They are concerned with just believing in Jesus leading to being connected with God, the relationships between that matter and the practice of Israeli people having been keeping the Law and the salvation of Jewish people who would not believe in Jesus, and so on. Paul has not talked about them just with the intention of asking people of the church in Rome to read an article about theology. The reason why he has talked about these matters is that there arose a serious problem that a rift is widening between Jewish Christians and gentile Christians in the church in Rome and he wanted to solve this problem by all means.
1.2 Today's Chapter 12 starts to talk about how to live an actual Christian life, apart from the aforementioned tone of talking about rules and principles of faith. This part also can apply to what I talked about just now. That is, he is not talking about these things, as if he had the purpose of making people read an article. Not so, but Paul, who heard that believers of the church in Rome had serious worries, is writing this letter, with the intention of giving advice to them. The letter itself doesn't say anything directly about what kinds of worries believers of the church in Rome had but I feel as if I could hear their worries and groans gradually from behind the letter. When we come to understand such worries, then we can better understand why Paul gave them this kind of advice.
2.1 Then what kinds of worries did people at the church in Rome have? First, from the following advice in the second half of Verse 1 that Paul started to say, it could become clear, right? It says, 'I implore you by God's mercy to offer your very selves to him: a living sacrifice, dedicated and fit for his acceptance.'
2.2 Behind the reason why Paul gave this kind of advice lies the reality that people at the church in Rome had to offer their very selves to gods of this world, in concrete, the masters of this world, as a living sacrifice or offering pleasing to such existence, I feel. Paul went so far as to use the word 'your bodies.'Why did he use the word 'your bodies'? The reason is that in reality we had to serve gods, masters and employers of this world, whether we liked it or not, and those who used to be slaves had to dedicate all 24 hours a day and all their bodies and if not, they could not live.
2.3 In early churches, it is often said that among some people who became gentile Christians, a comparatively large proportion of those Christians was slaves in the Roman Empire. In the last chapter of this Letter of Paul to the Romans, Chapter 16, Paul sent various people greetings. It is said that as soon as he read their names, a specialist in history could identify them and interpret that they used to be slaves. It seems that about half of those names listed in Chapter 16 were slaves. Such people could not help offering their bodies to their masters literally as sacrifices pleasing to them. They were deeply worried about whether this way of living was suitable as Christians. They were torn between deciding whether their way of living was suitable as believers.
2.4 This is just the same reality that we all have, right? The other day a certain famous advertisement company underwent a police search under suspicion of their making their employees work overtime illegally. It was attributed to the incident where a new employee who joined the company a year ago committed suicide due to karo (overwork). Just as I said the other day, a survey conducted by a newspaper company reported that one fourth of workers feel that their companies are so-called black enterprises. A morning NHK program two weeks ago dealt with karoshi (death because of overwork). It said that people in their 50's and 60's and in the same age as I criticized those young people for being weak and that they said they did not complain due to such things. However, the environment around young people of today is quite different from that when we used to be young, I think. When we were young, lifelong employment had not collapsed yet. But now one third of all workers are non-regular employees. They are really required to respond to demands from their customers 24 hours a day because of Information Technology at work and globalization. When we were young, there were few 24 hour-open stores but now even nearby drugstores are open for 24 hours. Young people are now placed in the midst of the age and society where if they could not offer their selves as sacrifices pleasing to their employers, they would be fired immediately. In such an age as this, how could we live as Christians? Paul is kind enough to talk to us and to give us its secret.
3.1 The first advice that Paul gives us is that even such a person as you can offer your body not to gods of this world but as a sacrifice pleasing to God. That is the heart that is put in the words, 'I implore you by God's mercy to offer your very selves to him.'Incidentally, although I always say, in words, the Imperative Forms such as 'offer ,'and 'Do not ,'are used. But what Paul meant is never an order or compulsion. Not so but it is an encouragement to the effect that'you could live like this.'We, who cannot help living as sacrifices pleasing to the masters of this world, could offer our selves as existence who is pleasing to God. How glad it makes us feel! This is the message for us.
3.2 Paul says, 'a living sacrifice, dedicated .'This means that if we offer our selves as living sacrifices, pleasing to God, he would see to it that we live as holy ones, right? As I said just now, if we offer our selves to the masters and gods of this world as sacrifices pleasing to them, what would become of us? Just as suicide due to overwork aptly tells us, we would be made to become the opposite of 'living as holy ones ,'right? The willingness to kill oneself tells the sadness of the mother whose daughter committed suicide and who appeared for an interview but that is the dirtiest ever thought that'the dirty one'made us hold. That dirty thought manipulates us and makes it impossible for us to live.
3.3 The reason why it happens is that we offer our selves to the masters and gods of this world as sacrifices pleasing to them. We have nothing but time or opportunities to offer our selves that way. What is pleasing to gods and masters of this world is their own profit. The president-elect said, 'From now on America first. 'For the person who insists on this kind of thing fairly and squarely to be elected leader in the greatest country in the world shows that our age and society puts the first priority on this kind of values. I took it to heart more strongly that this kind of values would be more dominant. In this kind of society, we are required to offer our selves as sacrifices pleasing to this kind of leader or ruler. It might support our life but it might defile us from the bottom up, I feel. When we become sacrifices pleasing to kings and gods who put the first priority on their profits, we are defiled and are faced with death.
4.1 In this kind of reality how on earth could we offer our selves as sacrifices pleasing to God? Where did the then believers who lived as slaves find an opportunity to offer their selves to God and live as holy ones ? Also where can we do that at present? The answer is found in the words at the end of Verse 2, 'This is your spiritual act of worship,'I think.
4.2 It is offering a prayer. In praying, literally apart from offering our bodies to gods and masters of this world, we offer our bodies and hearts to God. To offer a prayer means not for someone to be first but for God to be first. We often remember that in Exodus Chapter 3 Verse 18, the words that God tried to make Moses say to the King of Egypt were , 'let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God .' To make sacrifice to the Lord means to offer a prayer. The decisive point when God was confronted with the King of Egypt through Moses was whether to offer a prayer or whether to work for the King. It means whether to offer to God or to the King. Since 3000 years ago, both have been struggling against each other. And what makes us free from the king of this world is to be the person who makes an offering to God. Only a few people get together and offer a poor praise and the pastor tells a poor message. It is the prayer that gods and masters of this world are the most displeased with and hate the most. However, this is what pleases God. To be able to offer what is pleasing to God is the thing that makes us alive and as holy ones, right?
5.1 Right after the words meaning to offer a prayer, Paul advises, 'Conform no longer to the pattern of this present world.'The word, 'conform to the pattern of this present world'means to be assimilated to people around you, to agree with them or not to be able to be distinguished from people around you. In that because we have bodies, we have to offer sacrifices pleasing to the masters and gods of this world, believers at the church in Rome and we believers living in the present age are not different from people around us in color. We are the existence that cannot help being assimilated to the same color. However, Paul tells such people as us that there exists only one area that is not assimilated to the same color. It is to offer praying.
5.2 You might lament that you cannot live like a Christian, that you are completely assimilated to people around you and that you are defiled. However, what is important is to offer a prayer. It might be impossible to do so every week. How often could people who were slaves at the church in Rome have attended the worship service? It might have been just a few times a year. Paul says that that makes you sacrifices pleasing to God and holy and living sacrifices. He says that that distinguishes you from people around you clearly and classifies you. And he says that God is pleased with it.
5.3 Paul says that the joy of your mind to the effect that'God is pleased with such a person as me, ' 'renews your mind and it transforms you.'The bodily state might not be able to change. It might have nothing to do but serve the master of this world and to be sacrifices to various masters of this world who rule and control us. Probably you can not help accepting the control of a disease that is given birth to in your body. However your minds are renewed. They are not controlled by the master of this world. If you live seeking 'what God's will is ---his good, pleasing and perfect will ,'even if you cannot help being slaves of the masters of this world, and even if you might be defiled in terms of that, still you can live as holy ones and as ones who are pleasing to God. The power from that is great.
(Translated by Akihiko MOCHIZUKI from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Letter of Paul to the Romans 12:1-2
1 Therefore, my friends, I implore you by God's mercy to offer your very selves to him: a living sacrifice, dedicated and fit for his acceptance, the worship offered by mind and heart. 2 Conform no longer to the pattern of this present world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds. Then you will be able to discern the will of God, and to know what is good, acceptable, and perfect.
(The Revised English Bible)
- Blessings given after death of his father -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 In May of this year, I sent my father to heaven at age 98. So I now take my place among the bereaved gathered here this morning. The Bible passage given us today, Genesis chapter 25 verses from 7 to 11, especially the verse 11, gets to my heart every time I read it. The line saying that the son who was left after death of his father was given blessing is a wonder, I've always thought. Now that I am put at the place of Isaac, some of what the line meant became clearer to me as something relevant to my personal experience.
Death and blessing would normally be taken as something diametrically opposite ? as matters that can never be associated with each other. But the words of the passage tell that the blessings Isaac received from God were given through the death of his father. Here death and blessing are linked together. The blessings received were not to be had without the death of his father. We the bereaved will receive blessings of God only after the death of our loved ones, the today's passage tells.
Some among the bereaved may well say that there has not been such a blessing; we don't need it if there is blessing; only that we wanted the loved ones remained alive more than any blessing. I fully understand such a feeling of the bereaved and I have no intention to deny it at all.
While embracing such a feeling though, I want us to listen to what the Bible passage of today is telling us. After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac. These words of the Bible sound worthy that we should lend our ears to. I should like to elucidate what the blessing was like which Isaac received from God by making three points including a personal impression I got.
2 The first point I would make comes from what is revealed on verse 8 which says, Abraham 'died at a great age, a full span of years, and was gathered to his forefathers.' I take it that the line emphasizes more than anything else that his father died fully contented in the eyes of Isaac. To know through the death of a close kin that death was in total contentment must have been the first of the blessings Isaac received from God through the death of his own father, we are taught.
We are apt to think that the death of Abraham was in full contentment because for the first thing he lived for long according to the context of the preceding words which said, 'Abraham had lived for a hundred and seventy-five years when he breathed his last. He died at a great age.' When we look back on our own experience we see that not all the passed ones lived long; some were taken at young ages. Therefore, we might as well think that their passing can never be said to have been in total contentment. But on this point I wonder if the passing of Abraham in full contentment was because he lived as many as one hundred and seventy-five years. I rather feel that there is connotation here, which is to say that it was the death itself that gave contentment to his life.
My father lived a long life till age 98, though a way short of 175. He did live long for sure. Does it mean he lived fully contented while alive? No, not so. As I shared with you at Sunday services several times, in later years of my father it so happened that when he who was thought to be on his way to the church worship service by bus as usual was in fact being lost and his whereabouts got unknown. It was in February of one year before I moved over to Tsukuba. Just about a year after of that happening, I moved over here whose close-by helping hands my father may have looked forward to rely on and it could be one of the causes why he went from bad to worse with his dementia. As many people who had been sent to the battle grounds of the War often experience, my father also started suffering from hallucination and delusion, which made it difficult for him to continue to live with my mother and sister. He behaved somehow problematically at an aged peoples' care-house and had to be put in a mental hospital for about three months. He could come back to the care-house in the end though, it was very hard for me to see my father from whose face smile was gone.
Longevity does not necessarily make one's life and his death contented. I happen to think that in the case of my father it was the death that put period to his suffering from dementia and made his life contented, peaceful and calm. It may sound odd but the face of my father in death was more regal and marvelous than those of others for whom I conducted funeral services. I was very impressed to find that death gave so splendid a countenance to my father, who had only such a dark and withdrawn expression only on his face. Since then, to die became nothing dreadful for me. I got to be able to feel that death is something that will give me a majestic peace.
At the last part of verse 8, it says Abraham 'was gathered to his forefathers.' This we can take to mean that it made him contented on his death. Of course, Isaac could not see how it happened. There are marvelous things happening upon the dead, though the bereaved cannot see them. It is these things that give contentment to the dead which are not given during their life on earth. It is not clear to the bereaved how death will make the dying contented. Though we don't see and understand it there is something which death bestows upon the dead and make them contented. A wonderful step is prepared of 'being gathered to forefathers.' The first of the blessings Isaac received from God was to come to know of this through the death of his father.
3 The second point shown us comes from verse 9 which says, 'His sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the cave at Machpelah.' I will touch on the cave later. What is noteworthy here is the fact that Isaac buried his father together with his paternal half-brother, the elder Ishmael. Ishmael is the son Sarah the wife of Abraham made him beget with her slave-girl Hagar. As the story is told on chapter 21 of Genesis, after when her own son Isaac was born to Abraham and as he grew, she pressed her husband to drive out Hagar and Ishmael. The 21 is the last chapter Hagar and Ishmael appear in Genesis. It is after so many other stories that he appears in the passage of today by which time Hagar is most likely passed away. There is no way of telling how resentful Ishmael had been of the family which drove out him and his mother. They could never hope to meet with Abraham while he was alive.
It was on the occasion of the death and funeral of Abraham that the half-brothers could see each other at long last. The last part of verse 11 puts it that Isaac 'settled close by Beer-Iahai-roi,' after the funeral. This was the place Hagar, the mother of Ishmael had a strong linkage to, according to chapter 16, verse 13 of Genesis. This line may be alluding to it that Isaac lived close by Ishmael after the death of their father. It may be an indication that they not only conducted the funeral together but also made such a peace as to live close by to each other.
I feel that the way God blessed Isaac after the death of Abraham is described here. With the passing of his father, and after his death, Isaac got to be able to do a great job of meeting with his paternal half-brother again and to make peace with him, which he could not in his father's time. Death may sometimes pull a trigger to make the bereaved do a great job unimaginable during the time of the deceased. Such a job may not necessarily lead to peaceful settlement or solution to the problems the family has had over the years. On the contrary, maybe it could make feud or gulf within the family which hitherto remained hazy or ambiguous in appearance come out apparent on surface, and spur the urge to divide and separate. That, though, could also be a way by which God blesses the son or the bereaved after death of their father.
It occurred to me that, as written at the beginning of chapter 12, it was just after the death of Terah, his father at a place called Harran that Abraham received and followed the voice of the LORD who bade him to 'Leave your own country, your kin, and your father's house, and go to a country that I will show you.' There occurred an event after the death of my father last year that urged me also to make a great decision. In and with support of prayers, I could make a job done which I had not been sure if I was capable of doing while my father was alive. This, I can say, is also one of the blessings of God given to a son after death of one's father.
4 Now I would touch on the third and last point about the blessings Isaac received. It relates to what are written on verses 9 and10. It is about a point shown by the fact that the burial ground on which Isaac and Ishmael buried their father was a piece of land that Abraham got from the local resident through special procedure.
What kind of a story was behind his acquisition of the land is written on Genesis chapter 23. The Important point here is that the graveyard was the only piece of land Abraham could get in his hand during his walks of life of 100 years from his arrival at Palestine at age 75 to 175, his passing age. The land being graveyard it wasn't suitable to serve normal daily purposes. No houses could be built on it or no crops could be grown, no trade could be had on it.
What can it mean that their father was buried on the piece of land of such a character, which was the only of his acquisition during the whole of his life? The most frequently quoted explanation says that the graveyard and the tomb symbolically represent the life of the buried person. It is said that in some areas one can easily tell who the person was, what he did and what he made most of in his life time by having a glance at the graveyard and the tomb stone. There are cases where we can also tell what the person made most of by reading the words inscribed on tomb stone. The fact that Abraham was buried under the graveyard which he got as his only acquisition over his life of 175 years shows that his life was indeed such and was not more than that. His was a life during which he could acquire only such a piece of land, not suitable to build a house or to grow crops or to have trade business on, but was good only to serve as graveyard. In essence, he was always a traveler, a temporary resident or a drifter. By burying his father on that graveyard that represents his life, Isaac came to know; he came to learn that although the life of his father was such, or because his life was such that he could die fully contented.
Coming to know of it turned out to be a great blessing for Isaac; a blessing to be given courage that it is good to live through just as his father did; an encouragement that he too can die in total contentment if he lived like his father. It is needless to have his house built on that land, to grow crops and to accumulate asset. It is good just to believe God and walk as a traveler, and a temporary resident.
How the blessing which Isaac received through the death of his father did factually support his life since then is written on the next chapter, chapter 26. The area in which he dwelt was hit by famine and he had to take refuge to other area. At the place of refuge he was bullied by the people there. Every time he dug a well it was either filled in or was taken over by the local people. But Isaac never fought with them. The spot after spot of land he dug happened to be where Abraham his father had dug as a traveler or a temporary resident. Living after the model of his father, he got support in concrete terms.
My father was a member of the Koriyama Church and it was proper that I should ask the Reverend Mr. Komine, the pastor of the church to conduct the functions of wake and funeral. But he was kind to let me conduct the wake, which I did giving the message based on my father's contributions to the 100 Year Anniversary Compilation or to the church's monthly that Pastor Komine found out for me. Having served as the pastor of Koriyama Church myself, I should naturally have already read these articles of my father. But I couldn't remember having done so. One of them said that hit by the dismal experience on the battle field of the War and in the midst of despair after demobilization, he begun to seek for the way of salvation upon hearing the message given by the Reverend Dr. Toyohiko KAWAGA on his itinerant mission and was led to be baptized. 'In retrospect, my fate destined me to have entered the way of faith without even knowing whether it leads to misfortune or to happiness. It was the best choice I could have hoped to make,' he wrote. I consider that I buried my father at graveyard which is called the faith. After the death of my father, I am getting to be able to think more and more that the faith is the clue to my life. And that I should submit is the blessing.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
Genesis 25: 7-11
7 Abraham had lived for a hundred and seventy-five years 8 when he breathed his last. He died at a great age, a full span of years, and was gathered to his forefathers. 9 His sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the cave at Machpelah, on the land of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mambre, 10 the plot which Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 11 After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac, who settled close by Beer-Iahai-roi.
(The Revised English Bible)
- My body given and my blood poured out for you -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1.1 Today"s words describe the event called the Last Supper which is the origin of the Communion Service that we have observed. Also today"s service is held as the one that we should commemorate as the 500 th anniversary of the Religious Reformation next year. Although I didn"t choose a particular place in the Bible today, I feel we were provided with words that are just suitable for this day.
1.2 Now this Last Supper refers to the last supper that Jesus had together with his disciples the night before his crucifixion. This is not just his last supper with his disciples but also the last supper that had a special meaning. It was referred to in Chapter 22, Verse 1 which says , "Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching."Although today we didn"t read it, it is described in Verse 7, like"Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed." This supper was the special meal that they were to have in the festival called the Passover or the Unleavened Festival. The part from Verses 7 to 13 describes how Jesus prepared in advance for the room for protecting his disciples so that he and his disciples could have this meal together. Jesus chose the Passover by himself as the most suitable time when he should suffer.
1.3 What Jesus" heart was like is the central topic of today"s sermon. To be brief, as we were taught last time too, Jesus regards a lamb that is to be sacrificed in the Passover and unleavened bread that is to be broken and eaten there as himself. He tried to impress those things on the disciples" hearts as if his suffering were this lamb and unleavened bread.
2.1 In order to know what kinds of thoughts Jesus put into it, first we have to know what kinds of roles the lambs that were to be sacrificed and unleavened bread in the Passover played. The year when the Passover was started is not determined yet but it is said that it was started probably in the 13 th century B.C. or so. It is referred to in the event called "Exodus."In Exodus, the lambs being sacrificed and unleavened bread played a very important role. Especially as we see from now, lambs being sacrificed was crucially important. Therefore, although we already listened to it in our service, Chapter 12 of Exodus describes the following thing.
2.2 First, Chapter 12, Verse 21 of Exodus and the following describe lambs that were to be sacrificed as follows: "Go at once, procure lambs for your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb. Then take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and smear some blood from the basin on the lintel and the two doorposts. Nobody may go out through the door of his house till morning. The LORD will go throughout Egypt and strike it, but when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, he will pass over that door and not let the destroyer enter to strike you. ," Incidentally, in Chapter 12, Verse 7 and the following say that people should eat the lamb of the lambs during the night that were sacrificed. But as Verse 21 and the following that we read just now don"t mention the eating of the lamb, it is not certain whether they ate lamb of the lambs that were sacrificed or not.
2.3 With regard to unleavened bread, Verse 34 says, " The people picked up their dough before it was leavened, wrapped their kneading troughs on their shoulders." And Verse 39 says, "The dough they had brought from Egypt they baked into unleavened loaves of bread. " Concerning this bread, Verse 8 just before this place says, " they must eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs." Therefore, it is not certain whether they ate unleavened bread on the evening when they left Egypt or not.
3.1 Thus what we can understand by reading Chapter 12 of Exodus is that at the time of Exodus, nothing played so important a role as lambs being killed as a sacrifice and their blood being smeared on the lintel and the two doorposts of the house. And as we have been taught over and over again, somehow that blood made the destroyer sent by God pass over. Here by way of cautioning you, let me add this. With regard to whether God became the destroyer himself or whether the destroyer was something like an angel that God used as a messenger for his work, the description of Chapter 12 of Exodus is dubious. I believe that God never became the destroyer but that the destroyer was sent as something like Satan that is used for God"s work.
3.2 Anyway Jesus regards himself who is to suffer as a lamb whose blood was smeared at the entrance or the lintel of the house so that the destroyer of the Israeli people could pass over.
3.3 Thus the Israeli people who used to be slaves were able to escape from Egypt. This brought people freedom. And Jesus must have regarded himself as unleavened bread that the Israeli people had taken with them at that time. What is important here is why the destroyer passed over the house smeared by the blood of lambs. With regard to this matter, God does not tell anything. Therefore, we each have nothing but to think of it by ourselves. As there is no such thing as a correct answer key, we are allowed to think. I myself have been allowed to think of it, depending on the time.
3.4 When I talked about Chapter 22, Verse 1 and the following in the last sermon, I told you that, in contrast to Juda"s betrayal, "uselessness" and "extravagance"might constitute the basis of it. Just as I told you a few minutes ago, it is not certain whether they were able to eat lamb of the lambs that were killed but even Chapter 12 Verse 10 that allowed people to eat lamb says, "You are not to leave any of it till morning; anything left over until morning must be destroyed by fire. "It was a big burden for the Israeli people who used to be slaves to prepare a lamb, even if it is a young child, right? To kill it and to use only its blood and perhaps to leave without eating its meat in haste is wasteful and extravagant, I think. To do such a thing itself was a symbolic sign of breaking away from the Egyptian life, right? To knead flour without putting leaven into it means breaking away from baking delicious bread by putting leaven and fermenting enough, that is, breaking away from a rich life in Egypt, right? The destroyer means, in the final analysis, what goes into the Egyptian life. Namely, it appears when they used Israeli people as their slaves and tried to make them bake as many bricks as possible. Just because of that, the destroyer passed over those who expressed their will to say a farewell to Egypt by wasting precious lambs and smearing their blood at the lintel and by carrying bread with no leaven in it, right?
4.1 The words that Jesus said when he gave a cup and bread--- which we always read aloud as "Words of institution"still now--- remind us of this extravagance and uselessness, I really think. The words "poured out ,"in Verse 20, ""This cup is God"s new covenant sealed with my blood, which is poured out for you ," especially make me aware of uselessness. The blood of the lambs which were sacrificed at the time of Exodus made the destroyer pass over as a visible form. It gave birth to a visible effect. Their meat could have been eaten in the flurry of Israeli people"s Exodus and could have warded off their hunger. However, what on earth did Jesus" sacrifice by being crucified make his disciples pass over in a visible form? The ominous miserable body was not useful for anything. As is seen from this description, Judas, who received the bread and cup, was going to betray Jesus and furthermore, Verse 24 and the following describe how a dispute among his disciples arose as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus sacrificed his life for the sake of this Judas and his disciples. There we can find nothing but uselessness and extravagance. But Jesus must have thought that it is this uselessness and extravagance that is the blood of a lamb that protects us from the destroyer.
4.2 The thing that is going to enter us and to destroy us is, in short, the one that leads us to live in the opposite way of uselessness and extravagance and the existence that destroys us and makes us slaves. Although I talked about this in the last sermon, I feel that it is very symbolic both to see Judas" betrayal mentioned, just after Jesus said, "This cup is God"s new covenant sealed with my blood, which is poured out for you,"and to see a dispute start among his disciples in Verse 23. It is in their figure that the destroyer that is to enter us and to make us slaves is depicted symbolically, right? As I talked in the last sermon also, the Gospel according to John pointed out that it was Judas who criticized Mary for pouring an expensive perfume on Jesus" feet as "useless ."The reason why Judas chose the time of the Passover as the time for Jesus" suffering to start is that he had expected Jesus" death to give rise to the greatest ever effect. What he hated the most was uselessness and I feel that the cause of the dispute among his disciples as to which of them was considered to be greatest is at the same root. In comparison with the times of Jesus, 2000 years ago, the present age is seeking the effect, power and greatness that enable them to thrive more and more. How strongly they are leading us to go to ruin! Jesus" sacrifice was needed to protect us from being the ones to perish."In our faith in this person, we accept Jesus" sacrifice of life and eat it as bread. Thanks to it, we are protected from being made slaves of the destroyer and we are carrying out the Exodus.
5.1 One more thing I would like to mention: Why did the blood of the lamb make the destroyer pass over? That led to finding a new thing. It is the blood of a lamb and the life of an animal but here is a deep meaning to the effect that it is the person who lives by getting blood, life and sacrifice from others that is protected from the destroyer, right? The destroyer that enters us and destroys us is, from another perspective, an existence that makes us think that we are able to live with our life alone and without receiving the benefit of life of others, I feel. Such people live by themselves and they are closed. To smear the life of sacrifice of others at the lintel is a representation of the fact that this house cannot do without the sacrifice of life of others, and by extension, the life that God provides us with. Just because of that kind of house, the destroyer passes over us.
5.2 Just because of that, Jesus said as follows: "This cup is God"s new covenant sealed with my blood, which is poured out for you."We cannot do without the body and blood of somebody that is "given and poured out for you."In our young childhood, it was the body and blood of our parents. In our daily life, we are made to live by receiving the body and blood of other living things. But just by receiving the body and blood of our parents and other living things in this world, we cannot live enough to be protected from such a destroyer as was taught thus far. Even if we are provided with the life by our parents and the living things of this world, we cannot be set free from living like Judas and other disciples. There we cannot do without the life from God, I think. That is why Jesus repeatedly said,"I am the living bread that has come down from heaven. The bread which I shall give is my own flesh"(The Gospel according to John 6:48), right?
5.3 Lastly I would like to end my sermon by mentioning the Religious Reformation only a little. Four hundred and ninety-nine years ago, on the last day of October, in 1517, the Religious Reformation started with Luther"s putting a letter of 95 questions on the wall of the church that he was taking care of. The point that Luther could not put up with above all things, was that the faith that was talked about in the churches of those days was against today"s words, namely, Jesus" words , "This cup is God"s new covenant sealed with my blood, which is poured out for you,"right? We are protected from the destroyer thanks to the sacrifice of life that Jesus gave us alone. But the churches of those days were teaching people that they were being protected not by Jesus" body and blood and his life but the authority of ministers like the church system of those days and the Pope and bishops and also by their believers" very superstitious acts such as buying strips of paper sold at the churches. Such a kind of faith, far from liberating the believers, lowered their state into a kind of slavery. The center of faith which was rediscovered thanks to the Religious Reformation to the effect that we can be saved from the destroyer and can be provided with freedom thanks to Jesus" sacrifice alone remains the fundamental principle for us even now.
(Translated by Akihiko MOCHIZUKI from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Luke 22: 14-23
14 When the hour came he took his place at table, and the apostles with him;
15 and he said to them, "How I have longed to eat this Passover with you before my death! 16 For I tell you, never again shall I eat it until the time when it finds its fulfillment in the kingdom of God." 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, "Take this and share it among yourselves; 18 for I tell you, from this moment I shall not drink the fruit of the vine until the time when the kingdom of God comes." 19 Then he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, and gave it to them with the words: "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in memory of me." 20 In the same way, he gave them the cup after the supper, saying, "This cup is God"s new covenant sealed with my blood, which is poured out for you. 21 "Even now my betrayer is here, his hand with mine on the table. 22 For the Son of Man is going his appointed way; but alas for that man by whom he is betrayed!" 23 At that they began to ask among themselves which of them it could possibly be who was to do this.
(The Revised English Bible)
- From him and through him and for him all things exist -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
説教要旨
The Letter of Paul to the Romans 11:25-36
25 There is a divine secret here, my friends, which I want to share with you, to keep you from thinking yourselves wise: this partial hardening has come on Israel only until the Gentiles have been admitted in full strength; 26 once that has happened, the whole of Israel will be saved, in accordance with scripture: From Zion shall come the Deliverer; he shall remove wickedness from Jacob. 27 And this is the covenant I will grant them, when I take away their sins. 28 Judged by their response to the gospel, they are God's enemies for your sake; but judged by his choice, they are dear to him for the sake of the patriarchs; 29 for the gracious gifts of God and his calling are irrevocable. 30 Just as formerly you were disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so now, because of the mercy shown to you, they have proved disobedient, but only in order that they too may receive mercy. 32 For in shutting all mankind in the prison of their disobedience, God's purpose was to show mercy to all mankind.
33 How deep are the wealth
and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How inscrutable his judgments,
How unsearchable his ways!
34 'Who knows the mind of the Lord?'
Who has been his counselor?
35 'Who has made a gift to him first,
and earned a gift in return?
36 From him and through him and for him
all things exist ---
to him be glory for ever! Amen
(The Revised English Bible)
- Betrayal by the chosen -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 I put the title of today's sermon as "Betrayal by the chosen.' One of the 12 who were chosen to be disciples of Jesus, Judas Iscariot, betrayed him. I want us to listen, this morning, to the message which this event is trying to tell us.
The fact that there emerged a traitor from among the chosen as close aid to Jesus was more than a stumbling stone; it was a big stumbling rock for the members of the primary church, also for those who wrote the gospels, as well as for us followers of 2000 years after, who succeed the practice of reading the gospels. For the writers of the gospels, the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, one of his twelve disciples, must have been an event they wanted to delete from the stories of gospels or put a cover on to conceal it, just as much as they may have wanted to cover the fact about Peter, one of the leaders of the primary churches, which was that he denied Jesus for three times. However, they could not delete it for it was an undeniable fact. The writers of the gospels faced up to the fact with all their might and tried to record it with interpretation of their own. I am reminded afresh again that the gospel writers accepted it for a fact with all their might and put it in writing without covering up has indeed a great significance for us Christians of today.
For preparing the sermon for today, I borrowed several books from the city library. One of them was a book by Ms. Setsuko TAKESHITA entitled "Judas ? A Psychological History of One Branded with Negative Sign." The fact that Judas, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, betrayed him provided a source of criticism against Christianity from its beginning, especially against Jesus. A philosopher, Kelsos by name, of the school of philosophy called the Epicurean which had great influence in the Greek society of the time, criticized the Christianity and Jesus as follows to quote it from the book of Ms. Takeshita. Kelsos criticized saying, "First of all, if Jesus was God, why did he dare call and designate one as his disciple and even let him take on an evangelical mission, who turned out to be a traitor to sell him to his enemy at a later time. If he was God he couldn't have made such a wrong choice." Kelsos made such criticism during the second century A.D. But I gather that such kind of criticism was around since earlier times. I say this because we can discern in the four gospels the efforts which were made in an attempt somehow to make rebuttal to the criticism, and we can discern the more of them the later the gospel was written.
2 The verse 3 of today's Bible passage says, 'Satan entered into Judas.' One can say that this is a manifestation of such efforts by the gospel writer. While it may be that Luke infused deeper meaning into that phrase, what he tried to tell here was to say, most simply to take it, that Judas betrayed Jesus by the work of Satan. However, when asked if the understanding of the betrayal by Judas in this way proved to be a sufficiently effective rebuttal against the criticism by Kelsos, the answer has to be no, I gather. Such a rebuttal would only lead to more serious skepticism about the divine nature of Jesus, I am afraid. If it was a work of Satan that led Judas to betray Jesus, then it follows that Jesus couldn't keep Satan from entering into Judas, the beloved aid of him. After being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus himself was also tried by temptations from Satan for forty days and he refused all of them. The question here is why it was that he did not keep the most beloved of his disciples from being made a prey to Satan. Was he abandoned? If so Jesus may not keep Satan from entering into us. The aforementioned rebuttal leads us even to embrace such skepticism against Jesus.
The Gospel according to John was written at the latest time among all the gospels and it wrote the reason for Judas' betrayal of Jesus most clearly of all. The Gospel according to John chapter 12 put as follows: when Jesus stayed at the house of Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus whom he raised from the dead, Mary poured expensive perfume, pure oil of Nard and anointed Jesus with it. Similar episodes were written by other gospel writers as well though in slightly different contexts. The Gospel according to John says that it was Judas who saw it and criticized Mary for doing so. 'At this, Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples ? the one who was to betray him ? protested saying, "Could not this perfume have been sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" John added writing, 'He said this, not out of any concern for the poor, but because he was a thief; he had charge of the common purse and used to pilfer the money kept in it.' By John's understanding the direct reason why Judas betrayed Jesus was his unjust handling of the common money.
Yet I don't think even this episode by John can be said to have answered the criticism of Kelsos. If Jesus was a teacher he naturally should have come to know of the unjust practice of his disciple. If he was aware of it and yet let him go on with it to the point where he was driven to betray him, Jesus was to be disqualified as a teacher. It provides yet other reason why he could not be called God by any measure.
3 I wouldn't touch on how Mathew and Mark accepted this event now. In any case, the way they took it wasn't more than how Luke and John took it. My impression is that the ways they took it were not good enough to answer the criticism by Kelsos. What was revealed to me at this time was that, the intention of the gospel writers regardless, what they wrote contained a meaning much deeper than what they intended to say. To read it once again, Luke wrote on verse 3 saying, 'Satan entered into Judas.' I feel that this description embraces a deep connotation which goes much beyond the intention of Luke.
Be it on the Old Testament Bible or in the New Testament, Satan was given the works to do which are far different from what we imagine from the image of the so-called Satan. Where it is written most plainly in the New Testament Bible is the passage of verse 7 and the following of chapter 12, of the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Paul was given a thorn in his flesh. He said it was 'a messenger of Satan,' at the end of verse 7. That as such was evil and indeed a Satan's messenger because it made him agonize and prevented him from making satisfactory work as a missionary. Yet he accepted it as something given him to 'keep him from being unduly elated.' Though he didn't say it explicitly, he accepted it as one coming out of the will of God and of Jesus. Thanks to the thorn given as a messenger of Satan, Paul could hear the words of Jesus saying, 'My grace is all you need; power is most fully seen in weakness.' While the work of Satan is evil in itself, it lies in the will of God if you take a wider view of it. To get down to the core of it, it is an instrument by which to materialize the will of God. It is what was inevasible and a necessary evil. Needless to say that if in the Old Testament Bible, it is in the book of Job where Satan plays such a role.
It is good for us to take the phrase of Luke to say, 'Satan entered,' as one going beyond his intention and included all the works of Satan written in the whole books of the Bible. From here the answer to the criticism by Kelsos begins to give glimpse. Why was it that Jesus did not keep Satan from entering into Judas? Jesus didn't because there was work of God at its base. There was the inevitable work of God which drove Jesus to the cross, and so Judas had to play the role at any price to push the button to get that process going. Yes, Judas' action was evil. Yet it came based on the holy will of God which even Jesus could not avert. Judas was chosen as one who was to play that role. I don't know if Jesus knew it from the beginning. However, since after he made up his mind to go through his own passion, Jesus must have known that Judas was chosen by God to push the starting button for his passion. Therefore just as Jesus did not avoid the cross he did not prevent Judas from betraying him while knowing it.
4 If that was the case, why was it that God gave Judas the role of pushing the start-button for the passion of Jesus? Was it not that Jesus had been destined to go on a cross sooner or later even without Judas? Was it necessary to have one of his twelve disciples play such a hard role? What I think with regard to these questions is that no one else but Judas was assigned the role to push the starting button exactly because he was one of the disciples of Jesus and was closest to him. Because he was close to Jesus than any others, he developed repellence within himself against what Jesus would do, against what God would have Jesus to do.
What was it that Judas wished Jesus and not others to do, what did he wish God to do through Jesus? That is clearly written on chapter 12 of the Gospel according to John. According to one theory, the word 'Iscariot,' may be coming from the word "Sicarii,' a resistance group which was engaged in terrorist actions against the Roman Empire. Judas, as one who possibly belonged to such a group, would always think in terms of cost and benefit ? which was why he was assigned to accounting or cash handling ? so that should the death of Jesus looked inescapable, Judas must have thought of it in terms of how can his death have maximum effect. For that reason Judas thought that it was going to have to be he who must push the button and that at the most suitable time. And the most suitable time for pushing the button seemed to be when the whole Jerusalem will turn into a pot of excitement in memory of exodus from Egypt, i.e. the time of Passover Festival. What Judas hated most must have been to see Jesus die in vain without having any impact.
But that was what conflicted and hit head on most sharply with what God and Jesus had in mind about his death on a cross. Just as Judas thought that it was most appropriate to push the button of the process of passion of Jesus at the time of Passover festival, so did Jesus think in the same way. Why was the time of the festival considered best rather than some other time can be explained by the fact that Jesus understood himself to be a lamb of sacrifice, of which the blood was smeared on the lintel and doorpost of the houses of the Israelites. As written on verse 14 and the following, at the table of the last supper, Jesus said, 'This is my body which is given for you. This cup, poured for you, is the new covenant sealed by my blood.' This saying of Jesus is a manifestation that he understood himself to be the lamb of sacrifice. Here the betrayal of Judas is indeed symbolically written as a plot that totally hinged on Jesus prepared to offer nothing else but his own body and blood as a lamb of sacrifice.
What kind of role the lambs of sacrifice played as we learnt it from the Exodus? 'The one who destroys,' would pass over the houses, on the lintel and doorpost of which blood of the lamb was smeared. Why did the destroyer pass over? It was because, according to my stout imagination, there was waste there. The Israelites were to leave Egypt the next morning, so it had to be a big waste to kill lamb and smear their blood on the door. But I think that this waste served as a symbol of saying no to the Egyptian way of life under which the Israelites were kept as slaves, a symbol of saying so long to them. Destruction passed over the houses because they smeared on the doors what symbolized waste and bid farewell. What the cross of Jesus pointed to was waste and squander. To have faith in Jesus and to receive the sacrifice of Jesus means to smear the waste to be found on the cross. That is what saves us from the one who destroys.
Jesus chose the one who was antithetical to him and dared to appoint him as one of the twelve disciples. As was anticipated, Judas, more than others, repelled to the idea of Jesus going up on a cross, and played the role of pushing the button to get him on to the cross. This is where I feel depth beyond our words of what is called the choice of God which he made in Jesus. He chose the one who would confront him and would push the button driving toward the cross. He let the one like that stay closest around him and was betrayed by him. Don't you think that that was waste and squander? Since years a question has been asked as to what happened to Judas, whether there was salvation for him. I see Judas as our representative just as Peter was. We cannot help but stand fundamentally hostile to Jesus on the cross and the one who represents us as such is Judas. How can it be that Jesus and God who chose Judas to be around closest to them would not save him?
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Luke 22: 1-6
The Gospel according to Luke 22: 1-6
1 The festival of Unleavened Bread, known as Passover, was approaching, 2 and the chief priests and the scribes were trying to devise some means of doing away with him; for they were afraid of the people. 3 Then Satan entered into Judas, who was called Iscariot, one of the Twelve; 4 and he went to the chief priests and temple guards to discuss ways of betraying Jesus to them. 5 They were glad and undertook to pay him a sum of money. 6 He agreed, and began to look for an opportunity to betray him to them without collecting a crowd.
(The Revised English Bible)
- The giving of the Ten Commandments again -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 It's been more than two months now since we last learned from Exodus. The section we lent our ears to then covered from the last part of chapter 31 to the beginning of chapter 32, and the story there was as follows:
Moses stayed up on Mount Sinai for as long as forty days in order to receive the Ten Commandments. When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they were caught by anxiety, congregated before Aaron, the elder brother of Mosses, and asked him to make for them a gold image of bull-calf, before which they bowed in worship. Coming down from the mountain Moses saw it and in a burst of anger he flung down and shattered the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written. He couldn't calm down his anger that he stretched it to the extent of searching and executing 'purge of blood' against those who worshipped the idol.
Today's passage from Exodus is about God giving once again to Moses the two stone tablets with Ten Commandments in place of the ones which he broke.
I just said that the today's passage is 'about God giving once again the two stone tablets with Ten Commandments written.' Verse 28 also says that the LORD wrote down the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments, on the tablets.
In fact, however, the matter doesn't seem to have been as simple as that. As you will easily see by reading today's passage, what God said here was vastly different in its content from the Ten Commandments on chapter 20 of Exodus.
That is why the scholars have been cudgeling their brains with the problem since ages: is the today's passage related to chapter 20? Can we safely say that the words of today's passage are the Ten Commandments given once again? The problem is not so simple that there is even a commentary which says that the scholars have toiled since olden times to classify the words of today's passage in the category of Ten Commandments, making the case without good reasoning.
2. Giving thought in my way to the relationship between the Ten Commandments on chapter 20 and the words of today's passage, I got the following impression, especially reading the part covering verse 11 and the following: this part of today's passage may have been written after the Israelites had begun moving from the wilderness into Palestine which was then called Canaan, written reflecting practical problems that had arisen since then. The way I understand it is that it is exactly because serious problems arose and annoyed the Israelites, they picked the situation as a stage where upon the Ten Commandments were given once again. In this sense, the event of the Ten Commandments given again may be carrying a strongly fictitious character.
Yet at the background of the story there lay the event of the Ten Commandments actually given again, I think. Within the framework of the event of the Ten Commandments given again building upon the Ten Commandments given written on chapter 20, the story tries to depict, reflecting the practical problems that arose in later years, how God had planned to establish relationship with the Israelites.
Therefore I say that chapter 20 of Exodus constitutes tacit premise and groundwork for the words of today's passage, without it explicitly mentioned. Many people tend to think that commanding and coerced relationship with prohibition to say, 'you should not do - -,' or with order to say, 'you shall do - -,' have nothing to do with us Christians any longer. But we've been taught time and again that such is not the essence of the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments tells what kind of being God is, what he would make most of due to such of his nature, and how he would relate with us arising out from what he would make most of. Because God thinks of something as important he cannot help but battle with those who take light of or ignore them. Such of his way of being is expressed in strong words like 'you should not do - -,' or 'you shall do - -,' when translated.
3. I should like us, therefore, to elucidate the words of today's passage by the points of what would God make most of and following that how he would relate to us. It is vividly written, first of all, on verse 1 in which God said to Moses,'I shall write on the tablets the words which were on the first tablets which you broke.' The phrase to say, 'the first tablets which you broke,' is significant.
As I said at the outset, Moses, the leader of the Israelites, in his fury over the people who went to worship idol, shattered the tablets into pieces, on which the God-given Ten Commandments were written. It symbolically shows the understanding of Moses the leader that the relationship with God was broken due to sins committed by men, i.e. the precious relationship which God was good to build.
In response to the action of Moses, God's offer again to give the Commandments on stone tablets amounted to saying 'No!' to the way by which Moses understood the relationship with God, as I take it. Moses! You are furious thinking that the relationship between me and your people was broken due to the sins committed by your people, but it is absolutely not the case. The relationship between me and you, people, is not that fragile, to begin with, as is broken easily due to sins committed by your people. Your understanding as the leader of our relationship is wrong. I am prepared to give you the tablets with Ten Commandments any number of times as required, because my relationship with you people is of such strength, declared God.
The way Moses acted as the leader is what we, the church leaders, have been repeating over time, I was made to think deeply. We have been deciding and cutting off some people, saying that they are the kind with whom the relationship with God has been broken for their actions, or, at times, for the thoughts and faith they embrace within them.
What the words of today's passage about the giving again of Ten Commandments tell us is that such kind of understanding is simply a thought of us humans. God will give us the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments again and any number of times. He declared that his relationship with us is never going to be broken into pieces.
4. Let me elaborate on it a bit further. God wrote on the stone tablets what he would make most of, and for that reason, how he would relate to us. As I said earlier, though the words of today's passage as such are not on the Ten Commandments on chapter 20 of Exodus, they are there at the base without question. In the Ten Commandments on chapter 20 too, what God uttered in the first place was word of self-introduction of himself, telling what kind of being he is. 'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery,' he said. What he makes most of is that we shall not be slaves: we shall be free. Therefore, he would always take us out from a state or a house which keeps us caught in slavery situation. This is fundamentally how he would relate to us.
And this fundamental matter is mentioned by God himself in today's words, too. Here also, he makes self-introduction and on verse 5 it said the LORD came down in the cloud, and 'He pronounced the name 'LORD'. He went on to say, 'The LORD, the LORD, a God compassionate and gracious, long-suffering, ever faithful and true, faithful to thousands, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin but without acquitting the guilty, one who punishes children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the iniquity of their fathers!'
Whereas Exodus chapter 20 exclusively named a state and a house as ones which would bind us in slavery, here in today's passage it's 'iniquity, rebellion, and sin,' which are named to make us slaves. Therefore, God would save us out from slavery out of his compassion, grace, long-suffering, ever faithful to thousands. Here the saving of us out of iniquity and sin is expressed as 'forgiving.'
We've learnt about this by our learning from the Lord's Prayer also. The word 'forgiveness,' originally means 'liberation,' though 'Forgiveness,' and 'Liberation,' sound substantially different things in our impression.
In my sermon last week I touched on the king David. He took Bathsheba as his and when the matter was about to be revealed he put her husband Uriah to death, though not by his own hands. Is that something to be forgiven? To be forgiven means, it sounds to me, to be told, 'What you have done is OK now. You are not going to be accused of it any longer.' Is what David did something to be forgiven; something not to be accused of? No! Never, I think. Yet God, in his relationship with David, recognized him as one who it is OK to make a renewed walk in life. While what David did was not OK he could make a new way of life thanks to his relationship with God. He was not confined by his past iniquity and sin; he was not enslaved. As a matter of fact, while David remained a sinner who took the life of Uriah and took Bathsheba as his, he could live on as one whose words were even recorded on psalms. That, I say, is the liberation from sin.
Also actions of the disciples who betrayed and abandoned Jesus cannot ever be treated as OK. Yet it was the compassion and grace of Jesus of resurrection which set them free from their sins and which allowed them to make a fresh start as ones who were given new mission.
'Faithful to the thousands,' points towards the very grace of Jesus who lives overcoming the death on cross, who allows the disciples and us also to make a new walk of life. It is because the grace of God is there which stays long as it is said to last thousands, and which is so very deep as immeasurable that we get liberated from iniquity, rebellion and sin.
Verse 7 talks, along with 'forgiveness,' about 'punishment,' i.e. another point I would like us to pay attention to. According to the Japanese Bible translation,
the grace lasting to the thousands and the punishment to the third and fourth generation are linked by the connective word, 'but.' I say this is indeed a much to be regretted translation. The grace and the punishment are not mutually-exclusive deeds of God so they can be linked by a connective word, 'but.' The punishment is included in the grace which lasts to the thousands, included in the compassion with which to liberate us from sin. Punishment is a part of grace of God.
I enjoy seeing TV detective dramas. A new drama 'Partner,' will run shortly. The lead character, detective Ukyo Sugishita, has words which he loves to tell criminals. He tells them to serve as appropriate to their sentence and then make a renewed start. Criminals who committed crime or iniquity can come to a fresh starting line for the first time after having paid criminal, civil or social penalty. To be imposed a penalty suitable to sentence means to be punished. God grants such an opportunity. It was kind of such a penalty that made David go through hardship of being purged by his son Absalom. God would squarely give us an opportunity to serve sentence to the third and fourth generations, and with his deep mercy lasting to the thousands he would liberate us from our iniquity, rebellion and sin.
5. How would a relationship evolve between us and God, who thinks it most important that we don't fall into slavery of iniquity and sin? By what that linkage between God and us would be established? The answer is given by the word of God on verse 10 which says, 'Here and now I am making a covenant.' However, if there is such a God, his being means nothing to us unless we cannot be related to him. The matter of most critical importance is that we can get to be related with God. How is it then that we are allowed to be related with God? God himself answers the question by saying that it is by making a covenant.
Why a covenant is something we've learnt a number of times. The scriptures we read are called 'The Old Testament Bible,' and 'The New Testament Bible,' and the concept of a covenant is present there solemnly shown in the name of the books. A scholar Friesen says that in the ancient Orient the relation between gods and man was there as natural unit of a body, while the relationship between the Israelites and God was by 'covenant.' In the ancient Orient, the connection between gods and man was primarily based on land and blood. Only those who dwelt in the territory ruled by gods and only those having specific blood relationship could relate themselves with gods. Exodus means, I think we can say, to get down to the core of it, to come out from the relationship with such gods.
In contrast, the relationship between God and us is established, with us coming to know the being of God as we have been told thus far, and with us moved in our heart by the words he speaks and coming to have an idea that 'I wish to be connected with him. I need him,' in other words with us coming to have faith. The relationship by 'covenant,' is established when we hear the words of God and believe.
This explains why, as on verse 11, having alliance with the inhabitants of Canaan was regarded with that much of hostility. Such an alliance will again draw us into territorial and blood relationship and enslave us like when they were in Egypt. To listen to the words of God and to live based on the faith set us free.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
Exodus 34: 1-16
1 The LORD said to Moses, 'Cut for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I shall write on them the words which were on the first tablets which you broke. 2 Be ready by morning, and then go up Mount Sinai, and present yourself to me there on the top. 3 No one is to go up with you, no one must even be seen anywhere on the mountain, nor must flocks or herds graze within sight of that mountain.' 4 So Moses cut two stone tablets like the first, and early in the morning he went up Mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets in his hands.
5 The LORD came down in the cloud, and, as Moses stood there in his presence, he pronounced the name 'LORD'. 6 He passed in front of Moses and proclaimed: 'The LORD, the LORD, a God compassionate and gracious, long-suffering, ever faithful to thousands, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin but without acquitting the guilty, one who punishes children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the iniquity of their fathers!' 7 ever faithful to thousands, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin but without acquitting the guilty, one who punishes children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the iniquity of their fathers!' 8 At once Moses bowed to the ground in worship. 9 He said, 'If I have indeed won your favour, Lord, then please go in our company. However stubborn a people they are, forgive our iniquity and our sin, and take us as your own possession.' 10 The LORD said: Here and now I am making a covenant. In full view of all your people I shall do such miracles as have never been performed in all the world or in any nation. All the peoples among whom you live shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I shall do for you. 11 Observe all I command you this day; and I for my part shall drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hitties, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
12 Beware of making an alliance with the inhabitants of the land against which you are going, or they will prove a snare in your midst.
13 You must demolish their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their sacred poles. 14 You are not to bow in worship to any other god, for the LORD'S name is the Jealous God, and a jealous God he is. 15 Avoid any alliance with the inhabitants of the land, or when they go wantonly after their gods and sacrifice to them, you, any of you, may be invited to partake of their sacrifices, 16 and marry your sons to their daughters, and when their daughters go wantonly after their gods, they may lead your sons astray too. (The Revised English Bible)
September 11, 2016
- My words will never pass away -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1.1 Already more than one month has passed since 'the Sacred Day for Peace'designated by the United Church of Christ in Japan (UCCJ). In the sermon on that day, we listened to Verses 7 to 19, Chapter 21, in the Gospel according to Luke on the subject of peace. The parts from Verse 7 and the following of this Chapter 21 to Verse 36, which we have just read, are entitled'Signs of the end of the age,'but similar places are found in The Gospels according to Matthew and Mark,too. They are the places where Jesus prophesied events starting with the collapse of Jerusalem Temple to signs of the end of the age one after another. They are technically called 'Little Apocalypse,'where theological questions are given birth to one after another.
1.2 If we raise such difficult questions, there will be no end to them. But the most difficult question is the one that we didn't read directly today but you can find Jesus'words in Verse 27 and the following, just before Verse 29: 'Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When all this begins to happen, stand upright and hold your heads high, because your liberation is near. 'In today's Verse 36, you can find 'the Son of Man ,'which is a special way for Jesus to often call himself and which has a long history in faith of Israeli people. This can be interpreted as Jesus coming again to the earth, as in a way described here, after various events have taken place beginning with the collapse of Jerusalem Temple. Jesus coming again to the world is called the Second Advent. However, this Jesus coming again to the world didn't literally take place. To be sure, various disasters beginning with the collapse of Jerusalem and ensuing disasters did take place but Jesus coming again to the world has not occurred. Thereby, very serious questions arise such as how we should grasp this situation and whether Jesus' prophecy was wrong.
1.3 In order to avoid these difficult questions, another interpretation is given birth to: Not only this word 'the Son of Man ,'but also a lot of parts called 'Little Apocalypse'were not used originally by Jesus, even if basically they are based on Jesus' words, of course. That is, those who encountered events after the collapse of Jerusalem Temple added a lot to a small amount of words that Jesus said originally. With regard to the coming again to the world by the Son of Man, too, there was a wish of
people in those days for Jesus to come again to the world and in a fictitious way they made Jesus talk of it.
2.1 If we take up the problems that have been addressed in the history of theology so far, one by one, there will be no end to them. But the question that we have to face squarely by all means is what these kinds of words are trying to tell us. Honestly speaking, to my own faith, the subject of the coming of the end of the world is very unimportant. It is difficult to say that our wish for Jesus to come to the world again takes an important position in my mind. Probably the same is true with you too. To such people as us, what do today's words tell us? What kind of encouragement can we get? We have to answer these questions in our own way by all means, I think.
2.2 Therefore, let's put aside the question of how today's words can be our hope and encouragement for the time being and we would like to imagine what kind of hope they gave to those who wrote these words in the first century. If we come to realize them, we will be able to feel that they will overlap us in the present age to some extent, right?
2.3 As we were taught on the Sacred Day for Peace, the decisive event that early Christians in the first century encountered was that in AD 70, Jerusalem was surrounded by the Roman Army and it was ruined. According to Josephs, the then historian, the number of Jewish people who fled into Jerusalem, a natural fortress, and died eventually came to, surprisingly, 1.1 million. What's more, 100 something thousand people who survived were held as prisoners of war and became slaves of the Roman Empire, he said. To most of the people who became Christians, their relatives or friends must be victims of this war and some of them must have been made slaves. What they took to heart above all was that what Jesus said came true literally, I think. Just as I said a few minutes ago, how much of this Little Apocalypse Jesus said is not certain but probably Jesus prophesied the collapse of Jerusalem. The part from Verses 20 to 24 describes how Jerusalem was ruined, as is told by the title 'The fall of Jerusalem is informed beforehand.' I think that Jesus really mentioned the essentials of what was written here. And after that, natural disasters occurred, for example, in the first century Pompeii, which is now designated as one of the World Heritage Sites, was buried by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. As is told in Verse 25, such events that cause 'nations to be in anguish and perplexity 'took place one after another. It is certain that Christians in the first century remembered Jesus' words and accepted such events through them and that they were encouraged and got a support for them to live. As is said in Verse 34, they must have escaped from their hearts being weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life.
3.1 Then what kind of encouragement or support did they get? One of the supports that they would have got by remembering Jesus' words is that there is some joy beyond suffering, I think. As I say repeatedly, there is no denying that Jesus' words underlie this series of words. I interpret that what runs through the whole words of Jesus' is that beyond suffering and disasters, a time of some joy--- a time of liberation, the arrival of the Kingdom of God, and meeting with Jesus again in some sense--- is waiting. It is difficult to think that without such words of Jesus,' Christians in the first century invented these words on their own, right? Without Jesus' words we cannot get encouragement. The fall of Jerusalem and natural disasters did take place literally. If so, even if Jesus' coming again to the world has not come true yet, his words implying that beyond suffering some joy is prepared must be true, they thought. And they got a support for them to live.
3.2 We are taught that encouragement or a support from today's words lies there. We do not experience the fall of Jerusalem or natural disasters that people in the first century suffered from. But Verse 23 and the following describe 'They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners of war to all nations,'on one hand and 'Nations will stand helpless, not knowing which way to turn ,'on the other hand. These are the same thing. It is to such people as us that today's words of Jesus' talks. They tell us that suffering never ends in suffering alone. They tell us that God never does the work of ending in suffering alone. Although today's Gospel according to Luke doesn't contain them, in Gospels according to Matthew and Mark that recorded similar words, we can find the word 'birth pains '(Matthew 24,8 and Mark 13,8). Beyond suffering there is joy that something new is given to birth.
3.3 Jesus said at the end of Verse 33, 'my words will never pass away.'What 'my words 'tell above all things is what I told you just now. They mean that God's work is such a thing. God's work that Jesus has promised never passes away. These are the words that speak to us, as a matter that is applied to all the works of God's, with the exception of the matter of the end of the world, and the word that encourages us.
4.1 The second support that Christians in the first century would have got from Jesus' words is to distinguish between what is ruined and what is not ruined. Jesus' words in Verse 32 are somewhat difficult to understand but what he says means that in the final analysis, there are two kinds of things: things that will pass away some day and things that will never pass away, I think. Things that will never pass away are'my words ,'just as I said just now. They refer directly not only to Jesus' words but also to God's work and his will. In contrast, heaven and earth are supposed to pass away. Also, Verse 32 says, 'the present generation will live to see it all,'but if we distinguish things in terms of whether they pass away or not, then what is not supposed to pass away is only conditional. As long as everything takes place, this generation is supposed to pass away some day. This generation means the age that Verse 23 and the following describe and that is full of suffering, I think. To sum up, the world that is created by God, and the world of God's creation surely pass away. However full of suffering it may be, the age will pass away some day. But Jesus' words or God's work will never pass away. Through these words of Jesus' we divide a reality in front of us into what will pass away and what will never pass away. Distinguishing things precisely and wisely liberates us from dissipation and the anxieties of life and saves our hearts from being dulled.
4.2 When people were faced with disasters that I mentioned a minute ago and that occurred one after another beginning with the fall of Jerusalem, how did they accept them? Some people may have thought that this age of suffering will last for ever. They must have thought that through it, good things or meaningful things will be ruined or come to an end. If suffering continues for ever and because of that, good things or joy are all destroyed, the energy to live in such an age will be lost. It manifests itself as dissipation or drunkenness. On the other hand, some people said, 'No, this age will soon end. Very soon the time of liberation, the time for Jesus to come again to the world will come,' and they lived a life that escaped from reality, right?
4.3 The same is true with us today. Our decisive problem is not to be able to distinguish things that will pass away and things that won't pass away, I think. When we get down to it, heaven and earth, the present generation, and even the existence of ourselves, however adorable they might be, belong to what will pass away. In spite of that, we don't want them to pass away forever. We try to think and live, as if they were not going to pass away, and we tend to pin our hope on it. Although those things will pass away, we hold false hopes wishing that they would not pass away. That's why we end up losing our hope. And we become desperate. We lead a dissolute life and lose the willingness to live. In contrast, we are not aware of what will not pass away. We cannot pin our true hopes on it.
4.4 Jesus tells people like us clearly that we all, including heaven and earth, will pass away. If so, in terms of that matter, suffering will never disappear. The phrase'the present generation will live to see it all'means 'As long as we live in this world, in that age and at that time, suffering never ceases to exist.'However, some day the present generation will pass away. Therefore, suffering will pass away some day. It won't last forever. And above all, as we were taught a few minutes ago, there is some joy waiting for us beyond suffering. That's 'birth pains.'Suffering has some meaning. If the age of suffering does not end so easily, what we have to do is to help each other, I think. Just as people help out a pregnant woman in the midst of birth pains voluntarily, we are supposed to encourage each other as fellow people who are in the midst of birth pains.
4.5 At the Bible Study and Prayer Meeting, we started to learn The Psalms last week. The first word in Book 1 of it begins with'Blessed is the man .' It means that the person who loves the law of the Lord and who meditates on it day and night is blessed. The law of the Lord refers to 'God's work that will never pass away ,'in today's words. The words in The Psalms tell us that a person who participates in God's work is like a tree that is planted by streams of water and that yields its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. I form a mental picture of a certain tree with green foliage in a wilderness, although all the trees around it are dead there. Why is that tree lush with green foliage? Because it has roots spread in a stream running deep underground continuously. Those who participate in God's work will never die like this. God's work that will never pass away means that suffering will pass away some day, but beyond that, joy is waiting for us. Such work is going on continuously. We would like to live with our roots spread along the stream.
(Translated by Akihiko MOCHIZUKI from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Luke 21: 29 - 36
29 He told them a parable: 'Look at the fig tree, or at any other tree.
30 As soon as it buds, you can see for yourselves that summer is near.
31 In the same way, when you see all this happening, you may know that the kingdom of God is near.
32 'Truly I tell you: the present generation will live to see it all.
33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
34 'Be on your guard; do not let your minds be dulled by dissipation and drunkenness and worldly cares so that the great day catches you suddenly
35 like a trap; for that day will come on everyone, the whole world over.
36 Be on alert, praying at all times for strength to pass safely through all that is coming and to stand in the presence of the Son of Man.'
(The Revised English Bible)
September 4, 2016
- You must not fall into slavery -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 We at the church school of Tsukuba Gakuen Church observe the first Day of the Lord in September as the Day of Arouse, when the summer recess is over and when kids come back to the church and observe worship service jointly with adult worshippers. On a joint children-adult worship service, it is my practice to use a Bible passage for the sermon picking it from pre-determined text designated for church school teachers. It means that the Bible text of the sermon given us for today happens to be that which we listened to at the service toward the end of May this year. Therefore, I, for a moment, wondered if it won't be better to pick other text from the Bible. However, I came to realize that it will be good for the church school children who will soon be learning the Ten Commandments over several occasions and be useful also for the teachers to learn from it today. So, while my sermon today could be overlapping the one in May in many respects, I have chosen that we would lend our ears to these words of the Bible.
Now, according to the curricula for church schools, it is scheduled that children will learn over a period of several months what are called the three key texts, which are important to our church; the first two they have already learned: the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed. It is so scheduled that children will start learning the Ten Commandments as from today. By the way I am humiliated having to tell that I've learned by the commentary of the text for the first time in my 60 years that the Ten Commandments in Japanese should read as 'Jikkai,' according to the reading attached. Yet if I used the pronunciation I've been accustomed to, I wouldn't be making a huge mistake, and so please allow me to say it in a way as I have been.
While the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed and the Ten Commandments are called a set of three important texts, the place the Ten Commandments are given in our life of faith is much different from the places given to the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed as I told you in my sermon in May. The last two we recite and confess every Sunday at our church, too, but not the Ten Commandments. At the Christ Missionary Station of Kami-no Ai (the Love of God) where I once observed worship service during my summer holidays, they recite the Ten Commandments every Sunday they told me. There are few churches which recite the Ten Commandments, I gather.
I think that there are many reasons for the Ten Commandments being given a low place or neglected in our religious life. The Ten Commandments consist of cease and desist orders saying, 'You must not - - .' The commandment to observe Sabbath, and the commandment to honor your father and you mother are not cease and desist orders. Yet they are the same in that they are imposed upon as orders and compulsion. All in all, we feel that the prohibition, order and compulsion don't go well with our faith, and that could be a reason why the Ten Commandments are given a low place in our religious life. Another reason could be the commandments to say, 'You must have no other god besides me. You must not make a carved image for yourself.' While we Christians know that these are the most important commandments of all, they could be having an element against which we, with long Japanese tradition to carve and worship images of what is called all the eight million deities, somehow have a sense of resistance. There is also doubt that the having faith in and worshipping of the only One God may be causing conflict among religions and intolerance toward other religions.
2 With respect to the idea that the Ten Commandments are orders and compulsion, to get to the core of it, and that they are foreign to our faith, we were taught as the most important message in the worship service of May that the Ten Commandments are not orders and compulsion to begin with. By tradition, we of Christianity take that the first of the Ten Commandments begins with verse 3. By Judaism, however, the Ten Commandments are understood to begin with verse 2 which we've heard read out this morning. I think that their understanding is really good and right. Verse 2 is the key to and forms the groundwork of the Ten Commandments, upon which the ten fitting pillars are built.
What is the message of verse 2? Reading it you will find no order or compulsion there, and it says, 'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.' This is a self-introduction of God by himself, telling what kind of being he is. While the translation puts it in the form of past tense saying, 'who brought you out,' what is implied here is that it wasn't an action done just for once to take them out of Egypt but that such actions will continue to be taken in all the coming years as we've learned many times. Should you fall into a situation where you find yourself slaves in a country like Egypt or in a 'house,' I, your Lord and God, will never fail to take you out, save you out of the situation. Such is your Lord and God. Listen to my message by this word and make your response to my word. Such was the word of God.
In my sermon in May I said that the word is like an impassioned proposal of God to us. Today I should like to add and say that it is a declaration of war by God to all who would enslave us. So strong are the kingdom of Egypt and the house that put us in a state of slavery. Strong also the tone of his word got to be because it was declaration of war against all beings of the sort.
I could have relaxed summer holidays for about fortnight. During these days I spent the morning hours haphazardly reading whichever book was within my easy reach. One of the books I came across with was one by Erich Fromm, a famous Jewish social-psychologist, of which the title is "The Human Perspective of Judaism ? Reading the Old Testament Bible." Reading it once again after many years, I could make a new discovery. According to a commentary, he lived as an ardent Jew till age 26. He then quitted religious life on a ground that 'he wouldn't be part of forces which would divide humans, be they religions or political.' While he may have refused false religion or faulty god that would divide humans, I feel that there is a spirit breaking forth in his book which no others but such one can have, who has been caught deep in oneself by 'the true God,' an ultimate and fundamental being who won't ever divide humans.
He evaluated the Old Testament Bible and said it is the most revolutionary book of all. 'The central theme of it is to set free the humans from incestuous bondages by their blood and land, set them free from idolatry, slavery and authority, and let individuals, races and the entire mankind have liberty. Perhaps we, living today, will be able to understand the Hebrew Bible much better than people in the past ages.'(page 11 of Japanese translation). In my college days at classroom I learned from his book titled, "An Escape from Freedom." As a social-psychologist, Fromm studied the factors that deprive man of his freedom and bind him in disablement. At the bottom of his research into those factors lay the central theme of the Old Testament Bible. And the central theme of the Old Testament Bible is that which is expressed at the beginning of the Ten Commandments.
3 It was revealed to me afresh that all which bind us by hand and foot as their slaves are expressed on verse 2. Fromm called it 'the incestuous bondages by their blood and land.' By the Bible it is expressed as 'the Egyptian kingdom,' or 'the house.' A state would bind us by racial blood and land. 'A house,' though much smaller in size compared to a state, will also bind us by blood relations, by land and property accumulated in that relationship over a long period of years.
Talking of blood relationship, one of the Ten Commandments tells us to honor our father and our mother. This means that God is not making declaration of war against all kinds of blood relationship. Blood relationship represented by a house is a target of his war declaration but our father and mother are not. What difference is there between the two? While verse 2 says, 'I brought you out,' we do depart from our father and mother while keeping respect to them. It so happens that we depart from them naturally. What make us depart from parents or let us set out are allies of God who brings us out. Ones which wouldn't let us depart, set out on trip, or let us be free but bind us are the target of war declaration of God, I think. A house with land and property acquired and augmented in the blood relationship over the years will bind us just there; won't let us go. It will use us for maintaining the family. There are cases where father and mother present themselves as such a barrier. The same is true of a state to get to the core of it.
I think, however, that there are beings which would bind us more strongly than any of the things mentioned so far. It is what is implied as something that lies at the opposite end of what verse 2 suggests when it says, 'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.' God said, 'I am the LORD your God.' However, there are beings that would be our lord in place of God. In this context, a state and a house are good examples of what would be our lord. Yet who would be our lord more strongly than a state or a house is no one else but I. Who wouldn't let me be brought out, who would bind me more than anyone else is I. People around me would often be their own lords.
This past week we heard news of students of middle schools committing suicides one after the other in North-eastern region of the country, supposed to have been victims of bullying. Why suicide? It happens because ones who bully became lords of their own. It happens because ones who were bullied became lords of their own. There was no being who would save the young out from where they were bullied so much that they could do nothing else. It really hits me home that this is indeed the very age when lords and gods are abound who would bind us in a slavery situation. Surrounded we are by such beings, I strongly feel.
4 That being the case, it is all the more a great encouragement for us that God fights the war with beings that would be our lords and enslave us. The Ten Commandments is a call to us by God to join in the battle because he does so out of his wish to let us have freedom. If we want to remain in the bondage of blood and of land, and want to remain slaves of ourselves and of people around us, we don't have to join in this battle. If, however, we don't wish to remain slaves, we have no choice but to join in that battle. The ten items commanded cannot help but have to be translated in the form of cease and desist orders or of compulsion, they basically represent the weapons which are indispensable for us to carry along in joining the battle, I think I can say. If you are to join the battle you cannot do so without taking up the weapons which God supplies; you will inevitably take them up. That kind of nuance of God's intention takes the form of orders and compulsion when translated into human words.
To say this in the form of a parable I often take recourse to, we can think of this battle as one in which we fight sickness, assisted by a physician. A physician will indeed help but it is we who fight with the disease. The weapons a physician gives us are medicines and prescriptions for our daily living. The Ten Commandments are medicines and prescriptions for our daily living. By using these medicine and prescriptions we stand against the forces that would make us their slaves. The first of the weapon or medicine given us is his word which says, 'You must have no other god besides me.'
As I said in the beginning, we, with ancestral tradition of carving and worshipping images of all the eight hundred deities, are apt to feel how narrow-minded it is that we are expected to worship one and the only one God. But there is a reason on the part of God for giving us such a weapon or medicine. We make gods out of anything and everything too easily and as a result we are manipulated by truly many beings. One may be able to say that we are so religious that we make gods out of stones, woods and ones in military service, but we easily get manipulated and enslaved by gods of our own creation. Suicides of middle-school students I touched on earlier are sad examples of them. Too easily the humans, the handicap and the sickness get to be our god and lord. That is why God gives us the weapon which says, 'You must have no other god besides me.' Observe the Sabbath and worship God. Get your relationship straightened up and proper with your father, mother and people around you lest you don't fall into slavery. What a marvelous weapon with which to live in the contemporary age!
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
Exodus 20:1 - 2
1 God spoke all these words:
2 I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
(The Revised English Bible)
June 21, 2016
- Will the kingdom of God ever be realized? -
By The Reverend Mr. Eisuke KANDA, Representative of Friends with the Voiceless International (FVI)
This is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, may your name be hallowed; Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. (Mathew 6:9-10)
This is the prayer the Lord Jesus taught. 'Your kingdom' referred to in this prayer means 'the kingdom of God.' Jesus taught his disciples to pray for the coming of the kingdom of God to this earth. What is then 'the kingdom of God?' Without understanding what it is we won't be able even to pray.
I think it will help us understand what the 'kingdom of God' is if we think what 'Japan' is, and then compare it with 'the kingdom of God.' Many people may think of Japan as landed territory comprised of the island of Hokkaido, the island of Honshu, the island of Shikoku, the islands of Kyushu and Okinawa. But 'Japan' refers to the domain where its sovereignty reaches over rather than its geographical coverage. Likewise, the kingdom of God is where God reigns. The Kingdom of God is realized in the city of Tsukuba if God's sovereignty fully applies to the city and if God's will is done 100% in it. The Tsukuba Gakuen Church is an embassy of 'the God's kingdom,' to bring about 'the kingdom of God,' to the city of Tsukuba. Each one the God's people called here is 'the ambassador of the kingdom of God.' Imagine how marvelous it is if God's will was realized 100% among the ambassadors of Christ, and if God's sovereignty reached 100% over the embassy of 'the kingdom of God,' which is the Tsukuba Gakuen Church. That is why we are called on to pray so 'the kingdom of God comes.'
What about the society of Japan? Unfortunately, it is far away from where God's sovereignty reigns and where God's will is done. Japanese society has gone too much in the way of 'desertification.' As you may know by the news, according to a Gallop's survey, 85% of Japanese responding to the survey said they cannot find any meaning to life,' 30% of the youths at age 15 find themselves lonely (which is three times as many as the second ranking country, Iceland), more than one million stay at-home reclusively, 82.9% of the young at ages between 15~29 replied they 'cannot have hope for the future.' For many years now, the number of people who commit suicide continues to be over 30,000 per year.
While Japanese society is so much like a desert, is the 'kingdom of God' going to be realized here and is the desert going to be turned to forest? The Lord Jesus taught us to pray saying, 'Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.' This means that God wishes that the kingdom of God is realized on earth, and that God's people will be used for that purpose, I believe.
It was the LORD we believe in who said, 'I shall open rivers on the arid heights, and wells in the valleys; I shall turn the desert into pools and dry land into springs of water; I shall plant cedars in the wilderness, acacias, myrtles, and wild olives; I shall grow pines on the barren heath side by side with fir and box tress.' It is God himself who 'turns desert into forest.' And God hopes that each and every one of God's people will join forces in his work to turn desert into forest.
'and then my people whom I have named my own submit and pray to me and seek me and turn back from their evil ways, I shall hear from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their land.'(2 Chronicles 7:14) This is the word God spoke to Solomon on the night when the king completed the house of the LORD.
Until I came across with this Scripture verse I had embraced the idea that it was the fault of the politicians and of the system of society that the great earth is sickened. But the word I just quoted opened my eyes. The word pointed out to me that the responsibility and the privilege of healing the sickness of the earth lies with 'the people whom God calls His own.' In our contemporary society 'the people God named his own,' are no one else but we Christians and the churches. It is expected that we, the people of God, submit and pray to the LORD and seek the LORD and turn back from our evil ways. In the eyes of God, each one of us is like 'a tiny mustard seed of love,' unique in each way, which God sows with a view to healing the desert-like sick world.
More than 60 years ago, a film 'The Living Desert,' was released. It was the first-ever full color film and many school children including me were taken to see it. The last scene of the film remains burnt in my memory to this day. It was a scene when torrential rains poured down occasionally on desert where precipitation was very rare. Several days later, the whole desert is covered with fields of flowers. A miracle in the desert! Why the miracle? It is because the flower seeds survived under subsoil. While they remained inactive as if they were dead under the soil of the desert for months, they were waiting for rains. The seeds absorb water brought by the rains, and all begin to bud and bloom abundantly at the same time; this scenery is repeated every year in the desert, a wonderful landscape.
Jesus told that 'the kingdom of God (a community where everyone rejoices together),' is like 'a mustard seed.' It is so tiny that it is barely half a millimeter long in diameter; yet it grows much bigger than any other kinds of vegetables, and grow in height so birds will build their nest on its branches. It is unfortunate that I cannot get you to see it yourselves. Indeed to a tall tree it grows.
'Mustard seed' refers to each one of us. We are the seeds God Himself sows in our homes, at schools and places of work with a view to realizing 'the kingdom of God.' As Paul wrote in his Letter to the Ephesians on chapter 2, verse 10 saying, 'we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the life of good deeds which God designed for us.' If each one of us as God's handiwork lives a life of good deeds as 'mustard seed, then God will turn the desert into forest at the time of His choice.
God expects His people to live as 'mustard seed,' sown by God Himself. There are three keys for us to live as 'mustard seed.'
1 BELIEVE that the desert WILL turn to forest (faith),
2 KEEP ON sowing the seeds UNDERGROUND (hidden good deeds)
3 STAY CONNECTED TO THE LORD and LIVE AS HIS WITNESSES, using time, talent and money entrusted to us, for others. (sacrifice)
What is expected of God's people is to live with the heart of Jesus. Jesus would go out to find one lost sheep, leaving the 99 heads behind. Each one of the Christians is expected to become a friend of those people who are marginalized in corners of society and suffer without being able to raise their voice if they wanted to. We at 'Friends with Voiceless International (FVI),' for which the Reverend Mr. Sumio Fukusima is good to serve on its board, call those Christian who opted to live in a way as I just said as 'the agents of mustard seed,' in our effort to build a network of people who would be 'Friends with Voiceless,' in Japan and in the world. Allow me to submit that it is our hope that you will, as individuals or as a church, lend your hands to this network for the work of the Lord to turn desert into forest.
We are to live with the heart of Jesus. Jesus would go out to find one lost sheep, leaving the 99 others behind. He showed us by example to become a friend of those who are marginalized on the outskirts of society and who suffer without being able to raise their voices. We at 'Friends with Voiceless International (FVI),' in which the Reverend Mr. Sumio Fukusima is a board member, call Christians living in this way, mustard seed agents. We are trying to build a network of people who would be 'Friends with Voiceless,' in Japan and in the world. Let us joyfully join our hands together with the Lord to turn the desert into forest.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Mathew 6:9-10
9 'This is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, may your name be hallowed; 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
(The Revised English Bible)
August 7, 2016
- Even when you hear of wars and earthquakes -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1.1 The calendar of the United Church of Christ in Japan (UCCJ) designates the First Lord Day as 'the Sacred Day for Peace,'and therefore, since about two years ago, our church has been observing this day as the Sacred Day for Peace. Sometimes I have chosen the words in the Bible connected with this day but today I have decided to listen to the words in Verse 5 and the following of Chapter 21 entitled The Gospel according to Luke, which we read the last time. In today's words, there is no word referring to peace but in society in which wars, riots, earthquakes, and epidemics take place incessantly, it is just suitable for us Christians to listen to Jesus' words that taught how we should grasp and understand it and how we should live. That's why I have chosen these words.
1.2 First, let me talk about a certain thing that is behind the Gospel according to Luke. In the core of today's words, there are Jesus' words that predicted such incidents as the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem and other various incidents that would cause them to feel the end of the world. However, many scholars don't think that every word in the Gospel according to Luke is literally spoken by Jesus. On the basis of the Gospel, there exist Jesus' s words, but as a result of a lot of things, later generations are reminded of them again and they are given a great encouragement and support. Thus, it is understood that with feelings and understanding being added to Jesus' words, today's words were written.
1.3 Then what kind of decisive thing led the authors of today's words to remember Jesus' words again? It is believed to be the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Empire in 70A.D. It is said that in order to escape from the attack from the Roman Empire, Israeli people flowed from all directions into the Sacred Capital Jerusalem that was thought to be immortal. As a result, according to the then Jewish historian Josephs, people who died within the Jerusalem Castle surrounded by the Roman army came to, believe it or not, 1.1 million. It is also said that over 90,000 people were captured as prisoners of war. It is after this atrocious incident that the Gospel according to Luke was written. It is certain that many believers lost their relatives because of this destruction of Jerusalem. This incident led people to remember Jesus' words that predicted the destruction of Jerusalem. The Temple was reduced to rubble, as Jesus said. If so, Jesus' other words having to do with 'the end of the world ,'would be realized, people thought. The persecution of Christians in the entire Roman Empire had not yet started but Emperor Nero's persecution of Christians took place and there were a lot of acts of harassment by Jewish people. Wars and epidemics had been breaking out over and over again. Early Christians who lived in such a difficult period and society were encouraged and supported just by Jesus' words.
1.4 This state of things applies to us of today, I think. As is said in Verse 10, in the present world, we can often see the situation where'Nation will go against nation, kingdom against kingdom.'Wars and riots break out incessantly. Amid those things, the leaders who say boastfully, 'I'm it (the leader who saves this world and this country) ,'are applauded. In comparison with the period and situation 2000 years ago in which believers were put, now we are in the situation where it is much easier for us to live, but still we find some resemblance between them. The words that Jesus said to those who were in a difficult situation 2000 years ago, again speak to us. And they must be a great encouragement to us.
2.1 What is Jesus' words that people who were put in a difficult society triggered by the destruction of the Temple remembered first? It is above all what is written in the second half of Verse 9, I think. That is, Jesus says,'when you hear of wars and insurrections, do not panic. These things are bound to happen first; but the end does not follow at once.'
2.2 '(be) bound to 'refers to 'dei,'in the Greek original. This is technically a term called 'theological necessity dei ,'which refers to the event that is to take place necessarily in God's will and plan. Then why does this kind of thing necessarily have to take place in God's will? Jesus says that it has something to do with 'the end of the world coming.'If I interpret this from the Greek original, 'the end'corresponds to 'telos 'in Greek. This is the Key word that often appears in the New Testament. The word 'telos 'has, of course, the meaning 'end ,' but originally refers to 'goal ,'or 'objective.'Why do wars, riots, or epidemics have to necessarily break out, beginning with the destruction of the Temple, as God's will? It is because God needs them so that he can make this world lead to its goal or objective. It means that it is the necessary approach that cannot be escaped so that this world can lead to its goal or objective that God keeps in mind.
2.3 We can understand this well when we think about each of ourselves. So that we may reach the goal of being called by God and being resurrected again, our present body or state in this world cannot help'falling to pieces ,'in that sense. It is the same as we cannot help going through the process that is equivalent to'wars or riots 'mentally and physically, quite unlike the'peaceful or serene 'state.
2.4 Jesus tells us to accept the present state collapsing and wars occurring in various meanings not as the miserable state that has lost peace and quietness but as the process that we have to go through so that God may lead us to reach our essential goal and objective. It is really an encouragement and support for us, just as it was so to believers of the first century. Peace and quietness are, when we get down to them, maintaining the status quo to us. In spite of that, beginning with the Temple, the present state collapses rapidly and wars, epidemics or earthquakes and so on take place. And in our body and mind, the status quo breaks down without stopping. Then we cannot help feeling scared and the world and we as well, become worried, wondering what will happen to them and fearing that we may go to'the end'after all.
2.5 It is there that Jesus' word 'the end does not follow at once 'sounds loud. This word of his has a double meaning, I feel. First, the world doesn't end in a difficult state. Be assured, as this miserable state is not the end of this world. But not only that but also it means that beyond the goal, a splendid goal is waiting. Judging from the original essential meaning of the word 'telos,' this miserable state is not the one that God intends to bring. To be sure, a lot of things end, in the sense of being likely to collapse, but that end is not the essential end, goal or objective. Beyond the end, there is a wonderful goal waiting. The miserable state of the end is connected to the wonderful goal beyond it, Jesus says.
3.1 Now with regard to what kind of wonderful goal the ends of various things beginning with the collapse of the Temple are connect to, Jesus' word today doesn't say anything. But these things cannot help collapsing as a process of reaching the goal. If we say this from the opposite standpoint, we are able to understand what is the prepared state beyond the way as the goal.
3.2 Jesus said that first the Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed. I think that it includes the destruction of Jerusalem that was considered to be the sacred capital. Israeli people believed that in order to worship God and be connected to him, they could not do without a temple adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. Also they believed that as the place that they could rely on in order to live in this world, they could not do without a country with the capital called Jerusalem. But Jesus said that first, these kinds of things would be destroyed. If we say that in order to reach the goal, the destruction of the temple, and the collapse of the capital or country are inevitable, we can also say from the opposite standpoint that the goal that we are led by God to doesn't have this kind of temple, capital or country, right?
3.3 Then what kind of state is the state of the goal in the concrete? What it suggests can be found in
what Chapter 21 Verses 1 to 4 describe, just before the part that we listened to a few minutes ago: A widow offered all the little money she had to God. Jesus praised it as plentiful. This seems to describe how we are led to the goal, I feel. We do not live by the visible wealth or a large amount but by the richness in offering two copper coins to God. Jesus points out that such a way is how we should be at the time we have reached the goal, and how we should always remain without being destroyed.
3.4 The end of Verse 10 says, 'Nation will go against nation, kingdom against kingdom.'This doesn't refer to the destruction of the Temple or that of Jerusalem but it suggests that by 'going against'repeatedly, soon or later, nation and kingdom will be so exhausted that they cannot go against each other, right? To refer to nation and kingdom as what is to be destroyed this way means that, to put it from the opposite standpoint, goals don't'include races, countries or territories and so on.
3.5 We grieve over the reality of wars breaking out incessantly and ask why. And we ask how wars
will be eliminated, and whether peace will come. The leaders that Verse 8 refers to are the existence that tries to stir up the idea that races or countries are absolutely important under the pretext of 'How can we bring peace and maintain it?'and drives us into war furthermore. In contrast, Jesus' words say that, to our regret, we cannot get rid of the idea that 'Nation will go against nation, kingdom against kingdom ,'by our own power. We depend on races and countries in this world by all means. We think that it is peace. As long as we depend upon it, wars never disappear. We cannot eliminate wars. We cannot escape from them. But at the end of them, God will invite us into the world without races or countries or territories. Even if wars bring us whatever calamities, and they make a lot of things cease to exist, it is not the real end. We have 'telos 'that God brings us. There we can have our hope.
4.1 Now finally, we believers grasp the destruction of the Temple, and races and countries going against each other through Jesus' words, as I have said so far. It is in stark contrast to the idea conceived by people around us. Although I say repeatedly, people think that temples, capitals or races or countries are absolutely necessary for peace. They think that those things crumbling and ending up in ceasing to exist is nothing but disastrous. However, we accept them as collapsing and ceasing to exist by themselves. We look forward to the goal that God prepares for us beyond the collapse and end of them. Our understanding of the collapse, wars and the end of events is quite different from that of people around us.
4.2 Just because of that, what is written in Verse 12 and the following probably cannot help taking place. The word'before'in 'before all this happens ,'doesn't refer to ' prior to ,'in terms of time literally but 'with regard to ,'or 'in case of ,'I think. In the case of these events, we believers who think in the above-mentioned way are persecuted and hated. Especially, to the leaders who think temples, capitals, races or countries as absolutely necessary for peace, our existence is really a hindrance.
We would like to keep in mind that basically we believers are this kind of existence in this world.
(Translated by Akihiko MOCHIZUKI from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Luke 21: 7-19
7 'Teacher,' they asked, 'when will that be? What will be the sign that these things are about to happen? 8 He said, 'take care that you are not misled. For many will come claiming my name and saying, "I am he," and "the time has come." Do not follow them. 9 And when you hear of wars and insurrections, do not panic. These things are bound to happen first; but the end does not follow at once.' 10 then he added, 'Nation will go against nation, kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be severe earthquakes, famines and plagues in many places, and in the sky terrors and great portents. 12 'but before all this happens they will seize you and persecute you. You will be handed over to synagogues and put in prison; you will be haled before kings and governors for your allegiance to me. 13 This will be your opportunity to testify. 14 So resolve not to prepare your defence beforehand, 15 because I myself will give you such words and wisdom as no opponent can resist or refute. 16 Even you parents and brothers, your relations and friends, will betray you. Some of you will be put to death; 17 and everyone will hate you for your allegiance to me. 18 But not a hair of your head will be lost. 19 By standing firm you will win yourselves life. (The Revised English Bible)
- Will the kingdom of God ever be realized? -
By The Reverend Mr. Eisuke KANDA Representative of Friends with the Voiceless International (FVI)
'This is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, may your name be hallowed; Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. (Mathew 6:9-10)
This is the prayer the Lord Jesus taught. 'Your kingdom' referred to in this prayer means 'the kingdom of God.' Jesus taught his disciples to pray for the coming of the kingdom of God to this earth. What is then 'the kingdom of God?' Without understanding what it is we won't be able even to pray.
I think it will help us understand what the 'kingdom of God' is if we think what 'Japan' is, and then compare it with 'the kingdom of God.' Many people may think of Japan as landed territory comprised of the island of Hokkaido, the island of Honshu, the island of Shikoku, the islands of Kyushu and Okinawa. But 'Japan' refers to the domain where its sovereignty reaches over rather than its geographical coverage. Likewise, the kingdom of God is where God reigns. The Kingdom of God is realized in the city of Tsukuba if God's sovereignty fully applies to the city and if God's will is done 100% in it. The Tsukuba Gakuen Church is an embassy of 'the God's kingdom,' to bring about 'the kingdom of God,' to the city of Tsukuba. Each one the God's people called here is 'the ambassador of the kingdom of God.' Imagine how marvelous it is if God's will was realized 100% among the ambassadors of Christ, and if God's sovereignty reached 100% over the embassy of 'the kingdom of God,' which is the Tsukuba Gakuen Church. That is why we are called on to pray so 'the kingdom of God comes.'
What about the society of Japan? Unfortunately, it is far away from where God's sovereignty reigns and where God's will is done. Japanese society has gone too much in the way of 'desertification.' As you may know by the news, according to a Gallop's survey, 85% of Japanese responding to the survey said they cannot find any meaning to life,' 30% of the youths at age 15 find themselves lonely (which is three times as many as the second ranking country, Iceland), more than one million stay at-home reclusively, 82.9% of the young at ages between 15~29 replied they 'cannot have hope for the future.' For many years now, the number of people who commit suicide continues to be over 30,000 per year.
While Japanese society is so much like a desert, is the 'kingdom of God' going to be realized here and is the desert going to be turned to forest? The Lord Jesus taught us to pray saying, 'Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.' This means that God wishes that the kingdom of God is realized on earth, and that God's people will be used for that purpose, I believe.
It was the LORD we believe in who said, 'I shall open rivers on the arid heights, and wells in the valleys; I shall turn the desert into pools and dry land into springs of water; I shall plant cedars in the wilderness, acacias, myrtles, and wild olives; I shall grow pines on the barren heath side by side with fir and box tress.' It is God himself who 'turns desert into forest.' And God hopes that each and every one of God's people will join forces in his work to turn desert into forest.
'and then my people whom I have named my own submit and pray to me and seek me and turn back from their evil ways, I shall hear from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their land.'(2 Chronicles 7:14) This is the word God spoke to Solomon on the night when the king completed the house of the LORD.
Until I came across with this Scripture verse I had embraced the idea that it was the fault of the politicians and of the system of society that the great earth is sickened. But the word I just quoted opened my eyes. The word pointed out to me that the responsibility and the privilege of healing the sickness of the earth lies with 'the people whom God calls His own.' In our contemporary society 'the people God named his own,' are no one else but we Christians and the churches. It is expected that we, the people of God, submit and pray to the LORD and seek the LORD and turn back from our evil ways. In the eyes of God, each one of us is like 'a tiny mustard seed of love,' unique in each way, which God sows with a view to healing the desert-like sick world.
More than 60 years ago, a film 'The Living Desert,' was released. It was the first-ever full color film and many school children including me were taken to see it. The last scene of the film remains burnt in my memory to this day. It was a scene when torrential rains poured down occasionally on desert where precipitation was very rare. Several days later, the whole desert is covered with fields of flowers. A miracle in the desert! Why the miracle? It is because the flower seeds survived under subsoil. While they remained inactive as if they were dead under the soil of the desert for months, they were waiting for rains. The seeds absorb water brought by the rains, and all begin to bud and bloom abundantly at the same time; this scenery is repeated every year in the desert, a wonderful landscape.
Jesus told that 'the kingdom of God (a community where everyone rejoices together),' is like 'a mustard seed.' It is so tiny that it is barely half a millimeter long in diameter; yet it grows much bigger than any other kinds of vegetables, and grow in height so birds will build their nest on its branches. It is unfortunate that I cannot get you to see it yourselves. Indeed to a tall tree it grows.
'Mustard seed' refers to each one of us. We are the seeds God Himself sows in our homes, at schools and places of work with a view to realizing 'the kingdom of God.' As Paul wrote in his Letter to the Ephesians on chapter 2, verse 10 saying, 'we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the life of good deeds which God designed for us.' If each one of us as God's handiwork lives a life of good deeds as 'mustard seed, then God will turn the desert into forest at the time of His choice.
God expects His people to live as 'mustard seed,' sown by God Himself. There are three keys for us to live as 'mustard seed.'
1) BELIEVE that the desert WILL turn to forest (faith),
2) KEEP ON sowing the seeds UNDERGROUND (hidden good deeds)
3) STAY CONNECTED TO THE LORD and LIVE AS HIS WITNESSES, using time, talent and money entrusted to us, for others. (sacrifice)
What is expected of God's people is to live with the heart of Jesus. Jesus would go out to find one lost sheep, leaving the 99 heads behind. Each one of the Christians is expected to become a friend of those people who are marginalized in corners of society and suffer without being able to raise their voice if they wanted to. We at 'Friends with Voiceless International (FVI),' for which the Reverend Mr. Sumio Fukusima is good to serve on its board, call those Christian who opted to live in a way as I just said as 'the agents of mustard seed,' in our effort to build a network of people who would be 'Friends with Voiceless,' in Japan and in the world. Allow me to submit that it is our hope that you will, as individuals or as a church, lend your hands to this network for the work of the Lord to turn desert into forest.
We are to live with the heart of Jesus. Jesus would go out to find one lost sheep, leaving the 99 others behind. He showed us by example to become a friend of those who are marginalized on the outskirts of society and who suffer without being able to raise their voices. We at 'Friends with Voiceless International (FVI),' in which the Reverend Mr. Sumio Fukusima is a board member, call Christians living in this way, mustard seed agents. We are trying to build a network of people who would be 'Friends with Voiceless,' in Japan and in the world. Let us joyfully join our hands together with the Lord to turn the desert into forest.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Mathew 6:9-10
9 'This is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, may your name be hallowed; 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
(The Revised English Bible)
August 7, 2016
- Even when you hear of wars and earthquakes -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1.1 The calendar of the United Church of Christ in Japan (UCCJ) designates the First Lord Day as 'the Sacred Day for Peace,'and therefore, since about two years ago, our church has been observing this day as the Sacred Day for Peace. Sometimes I have chosen the words in the Bible connected with this day but today I have decided to listen to the words in Verse 5 and the following of Chapter 21 entitled The Gospel according to Luke, which we read the last time. In today's words, there is no word referring to peace but in society in which wars, riots, earthquakes, and epidemics take place incessantly, it is just suitable for us Christians to listen to Jesus' words that taught how we should grasp and understand it and how we should live. That's why I have chosen these words.
1.2 First, let me talk about a certain thing that is behind the Gospel according to Luke. In the core of today's words, there are Jesus' words that predicted such incidents as the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem and other various incidents that would cause them to feel the end of the world. However, many scholars don't think that every word in the Gospel according to Luke is literally spoken by Jesus. On the basis of the Gospel, there exist Jesus' s words, but as a result of a lot of things, later generations are reminded of them again and they are given a great encouragement and support. Thus, it is understood that with feelings and understanding being added to Jesus' words, today's words were written.
1.3 Then what kind of decisive thing led the authors of today's words to remember Jesus' words again? It is believed to be the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Empire in 70A.D. It is said that in order to escape from the attack from the Roman Empire, Israeli people flowed from all directions into the Sacred Capital Jerusalem that was thought to be immortal. As a result, according to the then Jewish historian Josephs, people who died within the Jerusalem Castle surrounded by the Roman army came to, believe it or not, 1.1 million. It is also said that over 90,000 people were captured as prisoners of war. It is after this atrocious incident that the Gospel according to Luke was written. It is certain that many believers lost their relatives because of this destruction of Jerusalem. This incident led people to remember Jesus' words that predicted the destruction of Jerusalem. The Temple was reduced to rubble, as Jesus said. If so, Jesus' other words having to do with 'the end of the world ,'would be realized, people thought. The persecution of Christians in the entire Roman Empire had not yet started but Emperor Nero's persecution of Christians took place and there were a lot of acts of harassment by Jewish people. Wars and epidemics had been breaking out over and over again. Early Christians who lived in such a difficult period and society were encouraged and supported just by Jesus' words.
1.4 This state of things applies to us of today, I think. As is said in Verse 10, in the present world, we can often see the situation where'Nation will go against nation, kingdom against kingdom.'Wars and riots break out incessantly. Amid those things, the leaders who say boastfully, 'I'm it (the leader who saves this world and this country) ,'are applauded. In comparison with the period and situation 2000 years ago in which believers were put, now we are in the situation where it is much easier for us to live, but still we find some resemblance between them. The words that Jesus said to those who were in a difficult situation 2000 years ago, again speak to us. And they must be a great encouragement to us.
2.1 What is Jesus' words that people who were put in a difficult society triggered by the destruction of the Temple remembered first? It is above all what is written in the second half of Verse 9, I think. That is, Jesus says,'when you hear of wars and insurrections, do not panic. These things are bound to happen first; but the end does not follow at once.'
2.2 '(be) bound to 'refers to 'dei,'in the Greek original. This is technically a term called 'theological necessity dei ,'which refers to the event that is to take place necessarily in God's will and plan. Then why does this kind of thing necessarily have to take place in God's will? Jesus says that it has something to do with 'the end of the world coming.'If I interpret this from the Greek original, 'the end'corresponds to 'telos 'in Greek. This is the Key word that often appears in the New Testament. The word 'telos 'has, of course, the meaning 'end ,' but originally refers to 'goal ,'or 'objective.'Why do wars, riots, or epidemics have to necessarily break out, beginning with the destruction of the Temple, as God's will? It is because God needs them so that he can make this world lead to its goal or objective. It means that it is the necessary approach that cannot be escaped so that this world can lead to its goal or objective that God keeps in mind.
2.3 We can understand this well when we think about each of ourselves. So that we may reach the goal of being called by God and being resurrected again, our present body or state in this world cannot help'falling to pieces ,'in that sense. It is the same as we cannot help going through the process that is equivalent to'wars or riots 'mentally and physically, quite unlike the'peaceful or serene 'state.
2.4 Jesus tells us to accept the present state collapsing and wars occurring in various meanings not as the miserable state that has lost peace and quietness but as the process that we have to go through so that God may lead us to reach our essential goal and objective. It is really an encouragement and support for us, just as it was so to believers of the first century. Peace and quietness are, when we get down to them, maintaining the status quo to us. In spite of that, beginning with the Temple, the present state collapses rapidly and wars, epidemics or earthquakes and so on take place. And in our body and mind, the status quo breaks down without stopping. Then we cannot help feeling scared and the world and we as well, become worried, wondering what will happen to them and fearing that we may go to'the end'after all.
2.5 It is there that Jesus' word 'the end does not follow at once 'sounds loud. This word of his has a double meaning, I feel. First, the world doesn't end in a difficult state. Be assured, as this miserable state is not the end of this world. But not only that but also it means that beyond the goal, a splendid goal is waiting. Judging from the original essential meaning of the word 'telos,' this miserable state is not the one that God intends to bring. To be sure, a lot of things end, in the sense of being likely to collapse, but that end is not the essential end, goal or objective. Beyond the end, there is a wonderful goal waiting. The miserable state of the end is connected to the wonderful goal beyond it, Jesus says.
3.1 Now with regard to what kind of wonderful goal the ends of various things beginning with the collapse of the Temple are connect to, Jesus' word today doesn't say anything. But these things cannot help collapsing as a process of reaching the goal. If we say this from the opposite standpoint, we are able to understand what is the prepared state beyond the way as the goal.
3.2 Jesus said that first the Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed. I think that it includes the destruction of Jerusalem that was considered to be the sacred capital. Israeli people believed that in order to worship God and be connected to him, they could not do without a temple adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. Also they believed that as the place that they could rely on in order to live in this world, they could not do without a country with the capital called Jerusalem. But Jesus said that first, these kinds of things would be destroyed. If we say that in order to reach the goal, the destruction of the temple, and the collapse of the capital or country are inevitable, we can also say from the opposite standpoint that the goal that we are led by God to doesn't have this kind of temple, capital or country, right?
3.3 Then what kind of state is the state of the goal in the concrete? What it suggests can be found in what Chapter 21 Verses 1 to 4 describe, just before the part that we listened to a few minutes ago: A widow offered all the little money she had to God. Jesus praised it as plentiful. This seems to describe how we are led to the goal, I feel. We do not live by the visible wealth or a large amount but by the richness in offering two copper coins to God. Jesus points out that such a way is how we should be at the time we have reached the goal, and how we should always remain without being destroyed.
3.4 The end of Verse 10 says, 'Nation will go against nation, kingdom against kingdom.'This doesn't refer to the destruction of the Temple or that of Jerusalem but it suggests that by 'going against'repeatedly, soon or later, nation and kingdom will be so exhausted that they cannot go against each other, right? To refer to nation and kingdom as what is to be destroyed this way means that, to put it from the opposite standpoint, goals don't'include races, countries or territories and so on.
3.5 We grieve over the reality of wars breaking out incessantly and ask why. And we ask how wars
will be eliminated, and whether peace will come. The leaders that Verse 8 refers to are the existence that tries to stir up the idea that races or countries are absolutely important under the pretext of 'How can we bring peace and maintain it?'and drives us into war furthermore. In contrast, Jesus' words say that, to our regret, we cannot get rid of the idea that 'Nation will go against nation, kingdom against kingdom ,'by our own power. We depend on races and countries in this world by all means. We think that it is peace. As long as we depend upon it, wars never disappear. We cannot eliminate wars. We cannot escape from them. But at the end of them, God will invite us into the world without races or countries or territories. Even if wars bring us whatever calamities, and they make a lot of things cease to exist, it is not the real end. We have 'telos 'that God brings us. There we can have our hope.
4.1 Now finally, we believers grasp the destruction of the Temple, and races and countries going against each other through Jesus' words, as I have said so far. It is in stark contrast to the idea conceived by people around us. Although I say repeatedly, people think that temples, capitals or races or countries are absolutely necessary for peace. They think that those things crumbling and ending up in ceasing to exist is nothing but disastrous. However, we accept them as collapsing and ceasing to exist by themselves. We look forward to the goal that God prepares for us beyond the collapse and end of them. Our understanding of the collapse, wars and the end of events is quite different from that of people around us.
4.2 Just because of that, what is written in Verse 12 and the following probably cannot help taking place. The word'before'in 'before all this happens ,'doesn't refer to ' prior to ,'in terms of time literally but 'with regard to ,'or 'in case of ,'I think. In the case of these events, we believers who think in the above-mentioned way are persecuted and hated. Especially, to the leaders who think temples, capitals, races or countries as absolutely necessary for peace, our existence is really a hindrance. We would like to keep in mind that basically we believers are this kind of existence in this world.
(Translated by Akihiko MOCHIZUKI from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Luke 21: 7 - 19
7 'Teacher,' they asked, 'when will that be? What will be the sign that these things are about to happen? 8 He said, 'take care that you are not misled. For many will come claiming my name and saying, "I am he," and "the time has come." Do not follow them. 9 And when you hear of wars and insurrections, do not panic. These things are bound to happen first; but the end does not follow at once.' 10 then he added, 'Nation will go against nation, kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be severe earthquakes, famines and plagues in many places, and in the sky terrors and great portents. 12 'but before all this happens they will seize you and persecute you. You will be handed over to synagogues and put in prison; you will be haled before kings and governors for your allegiance to me. 13 This will be your opportunity to testify. 14 So resolve not to prepare your defence beforehand, 15 because I myself will give you such words and wisdom as no opponent can resist or refute. 16 Even you parents and brothers, your relations and friends, will betray you. Some of you will be put to death; 17 and everyone will hate you for your allegiance to me. 18 But not a hair of your head will be lost. 19 By standing firm you will win yourselves life.
(The Revised English Bible)
June 12, 2016
- Accept the kingdom of God like a child -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1.1 As today is the Flowers' Day and Children's Day, we have the Joint Service for attending divine service together with the church school students. At the Joint Worship Service, I make it a rule to choose the part of the Bible in accordance with the textbook that the teachers of the church school use. Today Jesus' word that has to do with the Children's Day and that all of you know well is given to us.
1.2 Now Jesus says here,'the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.' 'such as these 'means children and infants. And he says, 'whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.' 'the Kingdom of God 'doesn't mean 'the Kingdom of Heaven ' that after our death we are supposed to go to, as we have often been told, but literally, 'God's rule.'To put in the usual way that we are accustomed to, it means our being invited into the relationship with God. Jesus says that the relationship between God and us is just like that between parents and their young children. It means that we, who are invited to be related to God, can be treated as if we were his young children.
1.3 Just because of that, unless you can regard the relationship between God and us as that between parents and their young children, unfortunately, you cannot be invited into that, Jesus says. It never means that God sends us out. He tries to invite everyone of us into his relationship with us. But if we cannot accept that relationship as that between young children and their parents, unfortunately we cannot help rejecting it on our side even if we are invited. We do not understand the charm of our relationship with God. Therefore, we go so far as to reject God's kind invitation.
1.4 What happened to the person who rejected the invitation from God is described in the episode in Verse 17 that follows today's word. In all the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark and Luke that describe today's event, just after today's episode, whose contents are a little different from each other, the event entitled 'The rich man 'is written. This indicates that in the early church where the New Testament was written, these two episodes were always handed down from generation to generation, as one set of events.
2.2 This rich man was a certain ruler in the Gospel according to Luke (Chapter 18, Verse 18). He asked Jesus, 'Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? ' 'to inherit eternal life 'is basically the same as 'enter the kingdom of God ,'although their wordings are different. This man was seeking earnestly being connected with God who has eternal life. It is quite certain. However, the question is how he considered his relationship with God. He asked, 'What must I do …?'He has acquired his money, and position by 'doing something 'without fail so far. And what he has acquired benefits him to a large degree. Therefore, he thinks that he is able to obtain his relationship with God and what is available through it and that those are of the same nature. Just because this man thinks that way, Jesus says, 'If your relationship with God benefits you to such a degree, and you are able to get it by doing something, then sell everything you have and give to the poor.'It should never demand the same thing as it literally does. Our relationship with God is probably not available through doing something on our side, or in exchange for it. Jesus tells him to be aware of it. If an infant is loved and treated kindly by his parents, will he do anything to them? No, he cannot do anything. Still, his parents will gladly love him, right?
2.3 Also, what parents give their child will surely benefit him but it is quite different from becoming a rich person or a ruler. To feed the child, to change diapers or to hug him is done only at that time and all of them just disappear. Parents' affection for their child doesn't leave its mark in their child. Rather if its mark is left clearly and visibly, then you cannot help saying that such a mark is not affection. My youngest daughter seems as if she were still in the rebellious period but honestly sometimes I wonder where the affection is that my wife and I showed her when we raised her at her young age. But that is the relationship between parents and their young child. Jesus tells us to regard our relationship with God as such a thing.
3.1 Now this rich man failed in having to do with God. But he was seeking it earnestly somehow or other. As long as he sought it, he probably was invited to enter it some day, I think. In contrast, when I read today's word, what I am keenly aware of is the reality that a lot of people in the world are not seeking being invited to enter the connection with God. This is true not only in Japan where Christians account for only less than 1 % of the whole population but also in western countries. The remarkable reality shows that even western people are getting away from faith, I hear. The reason is that they are already adults, I wonder. They don't need to depend on God, an unseen being, as parents. They are no longer such children. Even if they rely, they don't rely on such a thing as God but on their real parents, friends or money or property. Therefore, they don't need their relationship with God at all, I wonder.
3.2 I would like to say in a loud voice, 'Is it really true? 'Is it unnecessary for us to be invited to enter the relationship with God like the relationship between parents and their young child in today's society? For the past few weeks we have learned the Ten Commandments deeply. We have been taught that the Ten Commandments do not put us in the relationship where God forces or orders us but they put us in the relationship like that between partners and lead us to get out of the slavish state. For our relationship with God to be like the one between husband and wife has power that liberates us from the slavish state in the way we live concretely in this world. Actually by getting power from the Ten Commandments, Israeli people have been keeping on being liberated. What today's word talks about is not the relationship between husband and wife in the Ten Commandments but the relationship between parents and their young child. This relationship also leads us to get out of rulers and things that put us in a state like slaves, right?
3.3 Is it possible for us, who have become adults and who have lots of things to rely on, to say today that there is nothing that puts us in such a state like slaves anywhere? Not really. In Romans that we learned the other day, the words of Chapter 8, Verse 31 and the following show that Paul pointed out nearly 20 things that are against us, bring some charge against us and rule us. Even if we have become adults and even if we have a lot of things to rely on, the faction that tries to control us as slaves is still prevalent. Its power is great. Under its power, we are made into those like helpless infants, right? Just because of that, we definitely need the relationship with God that leads us to get out of there, right?
4.1 Then in this relationship, how will God, and Jesus treat us in the concrete? How will that treatment guide us to get out of the slavish state? First, Verses 13 and 14 say, 'They brought children for him to touch. The disciples rebuked them, but when Jesus saw it, he was indignant. 'According to notes to the Bible, it is only here in Gospels that Jesus was indignant. Jesus was this indignant against those who prevent us from trying to touch God and Jesus as children of God. It is a very symbolic meaning but those who prevent us from touching God and Jesus are the existence that is trying to subordinate us, I think. There are some people who deal with us by regarding us as the existence that is not to be qualified to touch God and Jesus.
4.2 Until Ms MIURA Kazuko was cremated, her husband Katsuhiro had over and over again been touching her. He had not only touched her with his hands but also he had touched her by bringing his cheek up close to her forehead until the last moment before her cremation. There I feel the deep meaning of touching. To touch means to treat the other person kindly in such a way. It means to feel attached to the other person as a valuable existence, even if she becomes a dead body. There is some power in this world that won't touch us as what is not valuable any longer. We are made slaves by such a power. That is, we are regarded as not worth touching. Thinking of the relationship between husband and wife, I wonder anew whether I have been touched by my wife or touched her. I remember my father looking pleased when I saw him last and I cut the hairs of his nostrils. God and Jesus kindly touch us, whom nobody won't touch. They become indignant at someone trying to prevent it.
4.3 The words in Verse 16 'And he put his arms round them, laid his hands on them, and blessed them,', which is the same as touching, describe how God and Jesus treat us, I think. This is a memory of what happened a long time ago, in the year 2001. I went to the home for elderly people requiring special care at Funabiki-cho, Fukushima Prefecture, with my wife, where her father was being take care of. I had been waiting sitting on a chair at the entrance hall of the building just ahead of my wife, when some unknown woman, who was an inmate of it, sat next to me and said, 'I would like to see my mother. I wonder where she is. 'She was a woman aged well over 80. Still she said that she would like to see her mother. She said so, probably because she had senile dementia. She told me that she had parted from her biological mother when she was very young and that she had had no contact since that time. We have a lot of burdens and are'heavy. 'That is why we seek the existence that will put his arms round us, and lay his hands on us. We are, losing and being robbed of, a lot of precious things. That is why we are asking God to bless us.
4.4 Is very glad from the bottom of his heart to see and touches parents and their young child. Puts his arms round them, lays his hands on them, and blesses them. Treats them kindly as the existence full of life and also as the existence that grows up rapidly toward the future. In that way God treats us kindly, doesn't he? Even us, who are elderly. Even us, who are dead. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit treat us in that way, who are not touched, or hugged or blessed by anyone.
(Translated by Akihiko MOCHIZUKI from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Mark 10: 13 - 16
13 They brought children for him to touch. The disciples rebuked them, 14 but when Jesus saw it he was indignant, and said to them, 'Let the children come to me; do not try to stop them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you: whoever does not accept the kingdom of god like a child will never enter it.' 16 And he put his arms round them, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
(The Revised English Bible)
May 22, 2016
- You must have no other god besides me -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 I conducted funeral function for the late Ms. Kazuko MIURA this past week. With memory of her in mind, I should like to deliver to you what's been revealed to me as the words of God. We would listen to what the Exodus tells us this week and also the next week.
Now, learning from the Exodus we've been taught time and again that the footstep which the Israelites made in the wilderness after they came out of Egypt is something of a model of life in faith for us to follow after. The life in faith often turns out to be like going through wilderness. That, however, is the very reason why we can have such experiences as we are fed with God-given strange food, manna, when no food of this world becomes available, and are given water from within a rock when it gets to it that no drinking water is otherwise available.
The Israelites were then given Ten Commandments. What kind of model for life in faith is it for us? We have a way of saying San-Yo-Mon which refers to the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed and the Ten Commandments. Strange word isn't it? It means three important documents. Our church makes it a rule to sing in chorus the Lord's Prayer and to make confession of our faith, reciting the Apostles' Creed at every worship service, but not the Ten Commandments. Very few churches recite the Ten Commandments at every service I suspect as they do the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed. So although they are referred to as the three important documents, San-Yo-Mon, the fact is that the role which the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed play is totally different from that played by the Ten Commandments.
There must be various reasons as to why the Ten Commandments are only given such a position in churches, I gather. Among the factors to determine its positioning as such, one with the largest influence, I think, is that in the letters of Paul, as we've read a number of times in his Letter to the Romans, for instance, a number of descriptions are made to law in very negative tone which is composed with the Ten Commandments at its center. We should not ignore the fact though that he referred to the law as holy and good (Romans 7:12). Yet on the whole, his attitude towards law is negative. On chapter 3, verses 6 and 7 of his 2nd Letter to the Corinthians, he wrote in negative tone even about the Ten Commandments saying, 'The written law condemns to death, but the Spirit gives life. The ministry that brought death, and that was engraved in written form on stone was inaugurated ?? .' Along with such descriptions by Paul, another major reason for the Ten Commandments to be only so positioned in our service is, I feel, that they can be read as something that forces us or coerces upon us saying, 'You must ??.' We don't like to be forced or coerced, and I'll come back to this point later. That is incompatible with our life in faith, we think.
In the Judaism during the days of Paul, there was certainly a reality that the law, which was constituted centered on Ten Commandments and engraved on cold stones, imposed coercion on the people and killed their faith, I am afraid. But it was men and not God who twisted the law that way. The Ten Commandments ? putting aside the question of whether they were originally given in the form as written in today's Bible ? their prototype was indeed holy and good as given by God. What is holy coming from God cannot kill us. It can never be just coercion. It was God himself who gave Ten Commandments and it is a very important model for us living today for our life in faith. It points to the prototype.
2 In what way, then, the Ten Commandments point to the prototype of our life in faith? My attention is drawn in the first place to the beginning of verse 1, though not part of the Ten Commandments but just preceding them. It says, 'God spoke all these words;' Ten Commandments were given as spoken words, not by any other means. Because they were given as spoken words they could be engraved in letters on two sheets of stone. Whereabouts of the stones we don't presently know to our regret. It no big deal anyway. What is important is that they were given as spoken words and further that they were written in letters which we can read and understand. For this reason we can see them today written on a book called the Bible so that anyone can read them.
What does God fundamentally show us by this? It shows that the linkage or connection between God and us is made means of words. It clearly demonstrates that the linkage is not formed by something other than words; like some special secretive rite or secret never revealed to outsiders.
This point had not been there when manna and water from rock were given in the wilderness or when the Israelites were led by the pillars of fire or of cloud. Should our relationship with God have to be built today by such means, it is not going to be made unless there came manna and water from rock, unless pillars of fire or of cloud appear before our eyes. It was because God wanted to show that the relationship between God and us was going to be critically different from what it had used to be thus far that God gave Ten Commandments in words. We no longer need to have strange experience like eating manna or drinking water from rock. The relationship between us and God or our life in faith will be built, God tells us, through the words of God put in letters, be they either on paper or on stone, and us reading and making response to them, though very indirect a manner it is compared to eating manna and drinking rock water.
Thanks to this point of origin, the relationship between us Christians and God as well as the relationship between us and Jesus is built. John said that Jesus was the embodiment of God's words in the form of a man (John 1:14). Yet Jesus in flesh was put to death on a cross, and though he was resurrected, he ascended to heaven. We cannot see Jesus in flesh with our eyes. Nor can we touch him by our hands. Yet according to the words given us today, God said it is good that way. For this reason we will hear about him by the words of the Bible, which are written words. Though invisible or intangible, we'll be given linkage with Jesus just by hearing about him. That was the will of God concealed behind the Ten Commandments, I am taught.
3 Why did God make it so that his linkage with us be built through words rather than by any other means? That is because words were the means most appropriate for building linkage between us and God and Jesus across time and space, I think. 'What good is word for other than being unreliable?' is the saying we come across with now and then. But it serves as the only means that links the being which became invisible and us, going beyond time and space in some cases.
I put on the radio on Saturday morning. The program was meant to give courage to the victims of earthquake in Kumamoto on their way of rehabilitation. One on interview lost his father under the crashed structure. Practical hands of volunteers in disposing the debris have been so much help, without saying. But for him who got almost depressed, the words his father left on his diary on the day just before his passing, which was found by a volunteer, gave him greatest strength. His father who had visits of reunion with his grandchildren in universities wrote after they left 'It was a good day today, too.' These words gave him, the son, true solace as he felt he could make his father's life a happy one even a bit. Where the distance separates and bars them from meeting again, words fill the gap. It is word that brings about certain 'closeness.'
I am shown afresh that this is why Paul in his letter to the Romans chapter 10, verse 8 said quoting from Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 14 saying, 'The word is near you: on your lips and in your heart.'
The relationship with God built in this way is one of 'believing' more than anything else. If given manna and water from rock, you don't need to believe. If Jesus stood before our eyes, stayed beside us and kept performing miracles, there is no need to believe. God gave us words because he decided it was good that the relationship between him and us is established by 'believing.' Paul said on verse 17 following verse 8 of chapter 10 of his letter to the Romans, 'Faith does come from hearing.' Faith in response to words coming out from hearing; that is what God determined is good for our relationship between him and us.
4 What kind of fundamental relationship does God intend to build between him and us by giving us words of Ten Commandments and thereby facilitating the relationship of believing, in the first place? As the word 'Imashime,' or lesson or warning suggests, and as every one of the Ten Commandments utters words of prohibition saying, 'must not,' is the relationship characterized by coercion or order? It is absolutely not so, I wish strongly to underline.
What God said by words were those of verse 2. According to a Bible commentary, our Christian churches by tradition, be it Catholic or of Protestants, do not reckon this 2nd verse as constituting the Ten Commandments. But the followers of Judaism take this verse as the 1st of the commandments. That indeed must be right, I take it. This 2nd verse is the key of Ten Commandments. Without it the Ten Commandments do not stand, I would think.
What God intended by the 2nd verse was to make self-introduction of him as God, showing what kind of being he was. For an introduction he could have well said that he is the creator of heaven and earth, for instance, or that he created us in his image. But he dared to make a specific statement saying, 'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.' I am God specifically in relation to this fact, he meant to say. It is I, God, that relate to you in this way, not in any other manner, he said.
According to the translation in Japanese language, the past tense is used saying, 'I brought you out.' But a Bible commentary points out that the essential meaning of it has a nuance of saying, 'I keep on bringing you out.' In other words, that God is such a being is not just for once, but for forever into the future; should we be forced to be like a slave in what is like Egypt, he will come and bring us out from it any number of times. That is what is meant by 'I brought you out.' And this is the key, 1st verse of the Ten Commandments. It is no coercion or order at all. On the contrary, he says if we are like in slavery I will save you out from it by whatever means it takes to do so because it's me, God. That is a presentation of unilateral grace. I am with you to be related with you that way. Listen to me, I plead! Make response to my call and please come into relationship with me, God says. This to me is nothing but a marriage proposal from God. Please accept this proposal from me and come into relationship with me, says God. This is the presentation of his promise to say that in this way you will be free, and you won't be a slave.
The phrase 'must not' has original nuance, according to an expert, to say, '"If you hear about God like that," how can you make others beside me as your God? You won't be able to, can you?' What God presupposed implicitly or without saying so was the forces or the way of life that will enslave us all. Should we make god other than this one, and carve out creature in the image of god, we will be made slaves instantly. We'll be made to work without taking recess and will be led to take things belonging to others without a qualm and even to kill each other. That is why I bring you out from being such or from such a way of life. And the means of being brought out from it is just to listen; listen and respond. Nothing else is required.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
Exodus 20:1 - 7
1 God spoke all these words:
2 I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 You must have no other god besides me. 4 You must not make a carved image for yourself, nor the likeness of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth.' 5 You must not bow down to them in worship; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children of the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me. 6 But I keep faith with thousands, those who love me and keep my commandments. You must not make wrong use of the name of the LORD your God; the LORD will not leave unpunished anyone who misuses his name.
(The Revised English Bible)
May 1, 2016
- You cannot do it alone -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1.1 Today we are going to listen to the second half of Chapter 18 of Exodus. According to a book with notes, the first half of Exodus ends with Chapter 18 and the latter half starts with Chapter 19. The first half of Exodus which is up to Chapter 18 describes what happens until Israel people escapes from Egypt and the latter part describes what happens after that. We have learned repeatedly that the steps that Israeli people took after they escaped from Egypt are a model of a life of faith and of a church life as well, for us. We have learned that their characteristic is above all the steps through the wilderness, a detour and roundabout way. Usually in order to go from Egypt to Palestine, if you take the highway along the Mediterranean Sea, it will take you only 10 days but God guided them to go through the wilderness by making them spend as many as 40 years traveling. Likewise, our life of faith and church life are often a detour. The same is true with repair work of our church. If it were repair work of an ordinary house, it would take only a half year and the repair work would be completed. But when it comes to a church, it takes 10 years or more. I don't know who said but we have kept in mind the words "Only the Devil hurries." Of course, what concerns the crisis of life needs to be dealt with urgently but important things for our life of faith and church have to be dealt with without hurrying and slowly. That's God's will, right?
1.2 Now just because they had to take steps through the wilderness, Israeli people ate manna from heaven and drank water pouring out of rock. There are mysterious food and drinks that would never be tasted if we didn't live a religious life. It is the true joy of a religious life.And today's word describes anew how wonderful our religious life is, as a summary of the first half of Exodus.
2.1 In today's word, for the first time in a long time, Jethro, the father of Moses' wife Zipporah, appears. Nothing is written about how the whole thing came about but Zipporah and her children took refuge with this Jethro. When he heard that Israeli people had escaped from Egypt, he came to Moses with Zipporah and her children. By the way, Zipporah's father is called 'Reuel ,'in Verse 18, Chapter 2, but 'Jethro, priest of Midian ,'in Verse 1, Chapter 3. We don't know which is his real name but 'Jethro'might be something like the official name that the priest of Midian has been inheriting from generation to generation. Everyone of you knows that Moses who became a person wanted by King of Egypt at the age of 40, put himself under the protection of this Jethro and that he went on staying there until he turned 80. Some person thinks that thanks to Jethro, Moses came to know about God and to believe in him but there are many theories about it and we are not sure which is true. This Jethro came to Moses and he praised God for succeeding in Exodus together with Israeli people and in Verse 12 he is giving an offering to God and worshipping God. And we move on to today's Verse 13.
2.2 'On the morrow, Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from morning till evening. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, 'What is this that you are doing for the people?''In response to Moses' reply, Jethro said to him, 'What you are doing is not good. 'The true joy of a religious life and church life is ,first, that this kind of comment is given. Some of you might say that a person who doesn't live a religious life could give such a comment. But imagine now the situation in which Moses is put. He is over 80 years old. He is ,above all, the great leader who succeeded in the large project of letting Israeli people escape from King of Egypt. Who could say , 'What you are doing is not good 'in the presence of such a great man? As he is the father of Moses' wife, so-called his father-in-law, probably he could give such a comment to his daughter's husband. But I would like to mention a little later, but just because Jethro is priest of Midian and he is the predecessor of religious people, he can do it, I think.
2.3 I remember that I myself have often been given such comments by my predecessors of religious people. Almost all those predecessors who gave me such kind comments were called by Heaven. I turned 60 years old this year and already I might be in a position of giving advice. But however old we might be, just as Moses got advice even when he turned 80, we are those who need to be scolded, right? It is our religious life and the steps in our church that provide it for us, I think.
3.1 Then for what point is Moses blamed? In Verse 15, Moses says like this: 'Because the people come to me to inquire of God; when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God and his decisions.'When we read through these words of Moses' which part can we say immediately is not good? Rather, we think that what he is doing is what should be done as a leader, right? That's right. That's the point that we should pay attention to. What is not good doesn't look good at a glance. Nobody does what doesn't look good at a glance. It is in what doesn't look 'not good ,'rather, in what looks good, that there lies 'what is not good. 'To continue doing it turns out to make Moses and people tired out. We can say that it is the'enemy's way'to make believers do what at a glance is natural to do and to make them tired out, right?
3.2 What is shown to me as a 'not good 'point in Moses' words and ways, is that in his short words he repeated the word 'I 'as often as three times: ' the people come to me to inquire of God; when they have a dispute, they come to me and … and I make them know the statutes of God.'Here we can find his willingness to respond to the people's wishes. I must do it, I must respond to it and who could do it if I didn't do it? There, we find his pluck, to be sure, but we find arrogance in him. He would like to show what he can do to the people who come to him, right? To put it another way, it is pain to show what he cannot respond to. He hates to show what he cannot do. It is right here that we can find a'not good 'point.
3.3 Last week from Monday through Tuesday, I visited the Oou Parish, which includes Akita Prefecture in which I lived my religious life for 18 years after I was born, as a member of the Teachers' Committee of the Denomination of this church, and the pastors of the four churches that were struck with the Great East Japan Earthquake, 2011. Some of them looked exhausted and others were obliged to take leave after the earthquake. On the last leg of my trip, I visited Esashi Church. where I met Ms. Mikoshiba's mother because she belonged to it. I asked the pastor of the church who used to serve as the chairman of the Oou Parish for a long time, 'What do you think of young pastors today? '.He replied, 'They are too excellent.'If a pastor is excellent, what will happen? He cannot tolerate his self that is not capable. He cannot expose his self that is not capable. And just as is shown in today's word, he will'wear himself out.'What Jethro points out to Moses above all is that Moses is trying to show only his self that is capable, right? That is, he is not able to show his self that is not capable, right?
3.4 In the past I talked about it but I remembered what brought about a big turning point to myself. To me, what corresponded to Jethro at that time was my wife. When I went to take charge of Kooriyama Church, I took over the directors of three attached facilities and on Sundays I had to give different messages for morning and evening worship services. So I had to live a life by sitting at my desk after dinner, too. My wife, who watched me doing so, was kind enough to say to me. She said, 'What you are doing is not good . How about planning that you won't have to work after dinner?'Then it is connected to what I am going to do later. I declared that I could never take charge of directors of the three attached facilities and that I could never prepare messages which are different at the morning and evening worship services. So saying, I entrusted two people who used to serve as executives of the church and who retired from teaching, with the jobs of directors of the two facilities. I was allowed to make the contents of the morning and evening worship services equivalent. That is, I exposed my self that is not 'capable. 'I asked the executives of the church and all the members of it to accept my self that is not capable. All of them gladly accepted it. Nobody dared to object to my plan or to ask why I could not do it, although my predecessor pastor could perform those duties. If I had tried to hide my self that is not capable, I must have literally worn myself out. The same is true with you. This is just what is not good about Moses. It is the way that we often take.
4.1 Furthermore, there is one more 'not good 'thing. It is what shows up clearly when we checkVerse20 and the following of Jethro's advice. First of all, his advice points out that Moses should distinguish what he should do alone and what he doesn't have to do, that is, what he can entrust other people with and what he cannot. Judging from this advice, what is not good about Moses' way is that he is trying to do everything by himself. Moses' word in Verse 15 says, 'the people come to me to inquire of God; when they have a dispute, they come to me and … and I make them know the statutes of God.'Namely, religious matters and secular disputes are not distinguished. Which should Moses alone deal with? The best thing to do is to be able to deal with the two things, but it is impossible. If so, he should take charge of what he should do alone. He should entrust other people with what he doesn't have to take charge of. What I asked the executives of my church to do by following my wife's suggestion just corresponds to it. I didn't do it just because I read this part of Exodus but it went that way naturally. As a result, I was saved from wearing myself out.
4.2 Then, what should Moses do alone? It shows up more clearly, from Jethro's advice. If I translate the word after Verse 19 ' God be with you,'literally from Hebrew, then it will go like this: 'Be, you, for the people in the presence of God. 'First, it is advised that he should be in the presence of God. It means that to be for the people is to be in the presence of God. What you can do alone for the people is not to meet them and to listen to them and to make decisions. It is not to do so but to be in the presence of God above all. Naturally it means to maintain a distance from the people. It means not to meet the people even if they want to meet the pastor or to consult with him. In concrete, what does it mean to us pastors? It means to prepare the sermon in the presence of the Bible quietly. If he neglects this, he cannot be for the people. To meet the people all the time wears him out.
4.3 This is the advice that can apply not only to pastors but also to you believers, I think. If you intend to be for your family, first you are to be in the presence of God, Jethro advises. He insists that first you have time to be away from your family who demands a lot from you and to be quiet alone in the presence of God. To be together with your family around the clock wears you out.
4.4 First, manage to find such time, and then deal with problems that the people have, Jethro advises. He doesn't say that you have only to be in the presence of God and that you don't have to deal with the problems that the people have. But furthermore Jethro gave advice concerning dealing with the problems as follows: Do not bear the burden on your shoulders alone but find such people that can share it with you. This is probably the point of the part that is explained from Verse 21 and the following. However valuable your work may be, you cannot do it alone. You must have people who can share it with you. In other words, however valuable the work may be, if a plural number of people don't volunteer to share it, namely, if they don't understand it and bear the burden of it together with you, you shouldn't bear it, the advice says. The word'officers over units of a thousand'means that the whole community should bear it. Can the whole church understand bearing the burden? If they don't share it as what should be shouldered by the whole church, to bear it wears you out. We need to spend plenty of time to make it the problem for the whole community.
(Translated by Akihiko MOCHIZUKI from the gist prepared in Japanese)
Exodus 18: 13 - 27
13. On the morrow Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from morning till evening. 14. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, "What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand about you from morning till evening?" 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to inquire of God; 16. when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statues of God and his decisions." 17. Moses' father -in-law said to him, "What you are doing is not good. 18 You will only wear yourself out and wear out the people who are here. The task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. 19 Now listen to me: take my advice, and God be with you. It is for you to be the people's representative before God, and bring their disputes to him, 20 to instruct them in the statutes and laws, and teach them how they must behave and what they must do. 21 But you should search for capable, god-fearing men among all the people, honest and incorruptible men, and appoint them over the people as officers over units of a thousand, of a hundred, of fifty, and of ten. 22 They can act as judges for the people at all times; difficult cases they should refer to you, but decide simple cases themselves. In this way your burden will be lightened, as they will be sharing it with you. 23 If you do this, then God will direct you and you will be able to go on. And, moreover, this whole people will arrive at its destination in harmony.' 24 Moses heeded his father-in-law and did all he had suggested. 25 He chose capable men from all Israel and appointed them leaders of the people, officers over unites of a thousand, of a hundred, of fifty, and of ten. 26 They sat as a permanent court, bringing the difficult cases to Moses but deciding simple cases themselves. 27 When his father-in-law went back to his own country, Moses set him on his way.
(The Revised English Bible)
April 24, 2016
- In everything he co-operates for good with those who love God -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 Some of you, I gather, may retain the words on verse 28, chapter 8 of the Letter of Paul to the Romans as your favorite line; it says, 'in everything he co-operates for good with those who love God.' In order to have better understanding of what Paul wanted to tell by these marvelous words, I want us to listen, first of all, to what the phrase 'In the same way,' at the beginning of verse 26 means.
The whole of that sentence says, 'In the same way the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness.' By just having a glance at the sentence we cannot tell which element of the preceding paragraph the phrase 'In the same way' follows. If any lines on the preceding paragraph covering verses from 18 to 25 included such words as 'good to help us,' then we could readily understand that the phrase 'In the same way' follows on it. However, no sentence from verse 18 to 25 directly uses such words as 'good to help us.'
Yet as we remember the teaching taught at the previous sermon, I think that the intention of the passage was clear in telling us that God helps us, if not so expressed in direct words. One of the points of the paragraph from verse 18 to 25 was that we as flesh are a being who has to suffer. And the paragraph was about that God helps us in our suffering. How would God help us, did it say? The answer was that it is with hope that he helps us. It is with hope which we do not see that God helps us. In almost all cases with us the hope we in suffering embrace is hope that we can see realized. My father has been hospitalized for some time; of late he could come out of it and go back to the nursing house. The hope we embrace is a hope that things will visibly improve. I saw on a TV news program a man of about my age; he looked completely struck-down, unable to have hope no more. His just reformed brand-new looking house got shaken down by the earth-quake of Kumamoto & Oh-ita prefectures. Hopes which the quake-hit victims have cannot be anything else but to be able to see their houses reconstructed.
Yet as we were taught the last time, some such a situation will come on us, without fail, in which we can no longer embrace hope in visible forms such as an ill gets healed, a crashed house gets reconstructed. If we unlimitedly continued to pursue visible hope chances could be that we end up losing hope and fall in despair. God helps us in such a very situation by giving us invisible hope, Paul tells us. What kind of hope was Paul talking about? It is that because our present suffering ? of not healed, not reconstructed ? is connected with the suffering of Jesus, it is connected with his resurrection, too. Just as the suffering of Jesus on the cross was turned into marvelous works done with his resurrected body, our suffering will also turn to marvelous works in the future. Thought it is a hope we cannot see with our eyes, it is never going to be betrayed. This hope is what God gives us and helps us with. This is what helps us bear out sufferings.
2 The phrase 'In the same way' follows on what I just explained. What it means is that just as God helped us in our suffering, in the same way the Spirit ? which is the Holy Spirit ? comes to the aid of our weakness. 'We in our weakness,' means us in our suffering. We in weakness 'do not even know how we ought to pray,' tells Paul.
That we do not even know how to pray points us who are placed in suffering, and cannot do anything else but to stick to the kind of hope which we can see and tenaciously pray for; it points us who get despaired because such a hope as eyes can see cannot be realized, and us who get unable even to pray. This reminds me once again of the man who, seeing his house crashed, fell-down and felt he cannot rise up again. If he would pray what would he pray for? Would he pray that his house be re-built again? If he continued praying for it, I am afraid, it will lead him and his family to despair. Yet the only thing he can do may be to pray for the house to be re-built. He does not know what else to pray for. He mirrors us in our weaknesses who also do not know how to pray.
It is such a being as we are that the Holy Spirit helps. What kind of help is it that the Holy Spirit will extend to us? Paul repeats telling that it is 'intercession.' Verse 26 puts it saying, 'through our inarticulate groans the Spirit himself is pleading for us,' and the last part of verse 27 says, 'he pleads for God's people as God himself wills.'
In the Gospel according to John, Jesus called the Spirit 'your advocate.' For this reason, I tend to think, now and then, of the Spirit as a defense counsel in the secular world. When put in suffering, we often get confused and tend to lose sight of the action or direction we ought to take. As I say time and again, we stick to pursue a direction, which in the eyes of others is simply impossible to achieve no matter how earnestly one wishes and prays for it; and we end up going headlong into an even worse direction. To us as such defense counsel, with his wisdom and expertise, points to the matter to be resolved or to the direction to take. He will show entangled things in right perspective, will give advice on which means are available and encourage us to be hopeful.
3 I would say that the intercession by the Holy Spirit is just like the works of a defense counsel. What I think is very important in the mediation by a counsel is that while keeping sight of the rules of the law, he will stay close to client who bears suffering, worries and problems. It is needless to say that he will try to resolve suffering of the client; but that has to be on the premise that he does so following the rules of the law. At times he may have to follow the truth, veracity and justice which transcend words of the rule books applicable to the case. In an extreme case it could well be that wish of the client cannot be realized no matter how strongly the client wanted it so long as the wish is not in line with the law, is incompatible with justice and truth.
I think the same is true of intercession by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us who do not know how to pray. The help or intercession by the Holy Spirit is given 'as God himself wills,' according to verse 27. To get down to the core of it, the help is not given in accordance with the wish we have. It is given as God wills. And the pleading made for us according to the will of God turns out to be of true help to us in weakness and leads us to true direction to take. As the latter part of verse 26 puts it, the prayers which we make not knowing with which words and how to, our prayers which is no more articulate than groans, the Spirit accepts and groans for us. The Spirit receives groans of us client as his groans. However, the Spirit does so fundamentally 'as God wills.' It groans but not on the same plane with us, it helps but not from the same dimension with us. Because of this difference it can be of real help to us.
4 What is then the will of God like? It is written on verses 28 and the following. The will of God is that the Spirit 'in everything co-operates for good with those,' who love God and are called according to his purpose ? in other words, us believers. Just as a defense counsel thinks for the good of his client on top of anything else, so God thinks for the good of us believers as the first thing.
The question here is what constitutes our 'good.' The good which God thinks and would give us may in part consist of what is decisively different from the good which we think of. The good which God thinks of is apparent in the words of verse 29 which says, 'For those whom God knew before ever they were, he also ordained to share the likeness of his Son.' According to these words, God does not think that it will be to our good that we remain as we are at the present moment. God thinks that our good is for us to lose, change from our present form of being and acquire the image of Jesus ? especially the image of Jesus of resurrection.
Reading the Paul's words on verse 30, I strongly feel God in 'actions.' It says, 'God called ･･also justified those whom he called･･.' It is not the will of God to keep us stay where we are. Just as Abraham did 'leave the country of his birth, his father's house,' (Genesis 12:1), just as the Israelites left Egypt where there were plenty of fleshpots and drinking water, just as Ezra and Nehemiah left the land of captivity where they both got to a high position, God keeps calling us, so God continues to give us motions to move forward. God does not plan that we stay in the conditions in which we are presently; as green caterpillar grows to pupa and to butterfly, God wants us to grow to be like Jesus of resurrection. In contrast to what God wishes us to be, are we not thinking that it is to our good that we remain as we are at present like caterpillar and pupa? Getting unable to remain where we are and changing from what we are, these things are the source of suffering for us. That is how we fall into a situation where we don't see how to pray. The intercession by the Holy Spirit is aimed at this very point, and helps us. Be at peace, for the direction we are led to is one which is good for us, the Spirit says. In this way, everything which occurs on us, especially the sufferings that fall on us, are mobilized for our 'good.'
What is 'the image of the Son of God' fundamentally like, toward which we will be led to share? In this context I am reminded of what we were taught at the Easter worship service: the Bible told us that the body of Jesus of resurrection had marks of nails on it; and that they gave peace, joy and the believing heart to the disciples. We who live on earth are such that we are caught up solely by desire for revenge, hatred and malice. But in Jesus of resurrection those marks of nails are turned round to effectuate 180 degrees opposite works. We were taught that it is so because Jesus of resurrection is such that single-mindedly he loves the disciples, gives peace, joy and what is good to them. In the process of arriving at that goal, our present suffering has meaning. There is also meaning for us in not being able see our hopes realized in visible fashion. All of these things are mobilized to work together and lead us to the highest 'good' when we will have been made like Jesus of resurrection.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Letter of Paul to the Romans 8: 26 - 30
26 In the same way the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness. We do not even know how we ought to pray, but through our inarticulate groans the Spirit himself is pleading for us, 27 and God who searches our inmost being knows what the Spirit means, because he pleads for God's people as God himself wills; 28 and in everything, as we know, he co-operates for good with those who love God and are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom God knew before ever they were, he also ordained to share the likeness of his Son, so that he might be the eldest among a large family of brothers;
30 and those whom he foreordained, he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (The Revised English Bible)
(The Revised English Bible)
April 10, 2016
- Water pouring out of rock -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1.1 Several weeks have passed since we listened to the words of Exodus last. The Israeli people who used to be slaves in Egypt were able to escape from the King of Egypt. We have been taught that the steps in this Exodus were the ones in our faith. Then what is the characteristic of them? What kind of steps will God provide us, believers, with?
1.2 We learned that that characteristic is, above all,'go round by way of the wilderness.'In those days and at present as well, the most common and shortest way between Egypt and Palestine was the road called 'Philistine Highway.' As is shown on a map, it is at most 250 kilometers as the crow flies. It is just a distance between Tsukuba City and Kooriyama City. It would take you 10 or so days to reach there on foot. At first, Israeli people must have thought that after leaving Egypt, they would take this way. But the way that God guided them to take though Moses was the one around the wilderness , the detour and the lost way , to their surprise. It was the way along which they ran out of food and water as well as is described in today's word, and where they wandered as long as 40 years. If they had known this from the beginning, the Israeli people would not have made a decision to leave Egypt, right? If they had stayed in Egypt, they would have had enough of a meat hotpot and water although they were slaves. God didn't inform the Israeli people accurately what kind of road would be in store for them. To put it in today's word, he didn't obtain their informed consent. Judging from this standpoint, it is natural for them to often complain.
2.1 Our steps of faith are just like that, I think. On April 5, last Tuesday, I attended the entrance ceremony of my alma mater, Tokyo University of Theology, for the first time in many years. One sister that I have several times talked about, and whom I baptized at Kooriyama Church, set herself an aim to be a preacher. She was admitted and allotted to a class of an appropriate level at that university. She has a handicap by nature, that is, she is as tall as a kindergarten pupil. Probably because of that, recently she suffers from lower-back ache. Such a person as she has to study for four years and to take steps as a preacher that are hard to follow after that. How hard it must have been for her parents to allow her, their only daughter, to take such steps! My father used to serve as one of executive members of a church. Even he, or rather, probably because he served as an executive member, used to vehemently object to me with tears in his eyes when I told him that I would like to enter Tokyo University of Theology. This is the first time that he objected to what I was going to do in such a way. It never had or has never happened. For the past 30 years, I have several times wondered how that could have happened. If I had been foretold that this kind of thing could happen, I would never have become a pastor. Probably she would think alike. She would wonder why on earth she had taken this hard step.
2.2 But is it only a pastor who thinks that way? Probably the same is true with you, church members. Now at the Bible Study and Prayer Meeting, we are learning Daniel (Chapter 6). Last week we listened to the following words: Daniel lost his homeland and was taken prisoner. But he was entrusted with an important job by the King of Persia. The vassals who envied him tried to put him in a difficult position by all means but they could not find an excuse. Finally, they found one excuse.: It is that he ardently believes in a different god from the one that people in Persia as well as the King believe in. Using this as an excuse, they thought of putting him in a difficult situation and urged the King to issue the following law: 'Whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions (Chapter 6, Verse 7).'Although he knew this, he offered a prayer to God and praised him at his home as usual. Because of that, immediately he was arrested and cast into the den of lions.
2.3 This is a well-known story in the Bible. Although Daniel is free from any defects or faults, he is sued only for his faith, and is cast into the den of lions. For us, too, this is not other people's affairs. When you get down to it, people around us depend upon the king of this world. They are those who think that we should not make petition to any god or man except to the king of this world. In couples, families and at workplaces, there are kings respectively. There is a pressure for us to read the atmosphere where we should not make petition to any god or man except to the king of this world. In our country, it is said that this'pressure to fit in with everybody else 'is especially strong. Being in such a country, we are the existence that depends upon not the King but God, and follows Jesus, who was put on the cross, as our master. Sometimes, even if we don't have any other problem, just because of this point, we are hated or become estranged from our friends or get isolated. Just because of our faith, we face difficulty. The steps through the wilderness that we have never expected are the characteristic of our steps.
3.1 Why does God invite us to take such a way? It is because he makes us eat mysterious food called manna that otherwise we would never taste, we learned last time. And today's word tells us that it is because God makes us experience drinking water out of rock.
3.2 Now the last part of Verse 1 says, 'there was no water for the people to drink. 'To us, what kind of situation on earth does this describe? We cannot imagine literally that drinking water will be reduced to zero in our country. Then what kind of drinking water will be reduced to zero?
3.3 I have thought anew about the role that water plays for us. The difference between water and food is that nutrients of food dissolve in water and are carried to every corner of our body. Oxygen is taken in water and carried. Also waste matter and poisonous substances dissolve in water and they are removed from our body as urine or feces.
3.4 From that perspective, the essential function of water for our body is 'pour ,'right? In other words, it is to put us in a flow and to produce a flow in ourselves, right? To put it symbolically, it can be said that we are the existence that never ceases to flow. In a way that is visible, we exist as solid matter and as an existence that is solidified. Nevertheless, essentially we are the existence
that always flows. We are the existence that is placed in a flow. If we were not placed in a flow, we could not live. It is the water that produces this flow. And the water that puts us in a flow and that causes a flow must be clear water above all. We must be put in a clear limpid stream.
3.5 Therefore, that there is no water for the people to drink means the situation where we are not put in a stream, and a clear stream, I think. In concrete, imagine the disciples who were described in the Easter Morning Worship Service the other day and who locked the door and shup themselves up in their house. They are not put in a flow. Or we can say like this. The flow that shut them up is the one like a flood and or like a whirlpool. It is the flow of water in this world, which derives from human beings. It is the flow of the way of thinking or that of values that we who forsook our loved master cannot be forgiven and are not qualified to be alive. To put it in the words of Daniel that I mentioned a few minutes ago, it is the flow that derives from the king of this world. The flow of water in this world, the usual flow of the water flows from upward to downward but the flow in this world is in short, the one from people in a high position or high status toward people in a low position or low status. It is the flow from a powerful or healthy person to a less powerful or unhealthy person. This stream never flows in the opposite direction. It is the flow that shows that only the king and the powerful person or healthy one are happy. When we are put in such a stream, especially as a weak person or a sick one, we get thirsty. It is the situation where there is no water to drink.
4.1 At that time, what shall we do? God says,'You will find me waiting for you there, by a rock in Horeb. Strike the rock; water will pour out of it for the people to drink.(Verse 6).'I have no idea about what kind of thing a rock in Horeb is. We imagine that it is just the opposite of the place that produces water the most. How can we get water out of a hard bedrock? An oasis in the wilderness would be just in the opposite place. But God stood on the rock. He told Moses to strike the rock with a staff.
4.2 A rock is the place from which it never looks possible to our eyes to get water and that is seen in that way in the flow of this world. And it is the situation like that. But as God stands there, we have to strike it. But we must not strike with bare hands. God said, 'Bring along the staff. ' 1Corinthians, Chapter 10, Verse 4, says that Paul regarded Jesus as the rock but rather, a staff is Christ, I think. Jesus made water of resurrection gush out of a rock of the death of the cross, and he bathed his disciples in the stream of the clear water from God. We strike a rock in front of us by regarding Jesus as our staff. And surprisingly enough, water gushes out of it.
4.3 Daniel also would have struck with a staff of faith the rock of his being thrown into the den of lions. And surprisingly enough, he was saved out of it without being hurt. We also strike the rock. We will deal with difficulty in front of us, and a difficult situation. We will poke our nose. By doing so, believers have got water from generation to generation, right? The water pouring out of rock means a stream from God. It is not a stream that human beings made not a stream that derives from the king of this world but a stream from heaven. To drink this water means to put ourselves in a stream from heaven.
4.4 This may be gilding the lily, but I would like to mention 'war with Amalek,'which is written in Verse 8 and the following but which we didn't read today. Why do we fight with Amalek? At the end of Verse 14, God went so far as to say, 'I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven .'We should never interpret this literally. What does Amalek symbolize? It symbolizes those who can live without depending upon manna or water pouring out of rock in the wilderness where Israeli people have to depend upon solely manna and water pouring out of rock for a living. In myself actually there is a person like Amalek. We have Amalek within ourselves who do not live by drinking water from heaven but who are satisfied to drink the water of this world. It is this kind of selves within that we have to fight with.
(Translated by Akihiko MOCHIZUKI from the gist prepared in Japanese)
Exodus 17: 1 - 7
1.The whole community of Israel set out from the wilderness of Sin and travelled by stages as the LORD directed. They encamped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink, 2. and a dispute arose between them and Moses. Whey they said, 'Give us water to drink,' Moses said, 'Why do you dispute with me? Why do you challenge the LORD? 3. The people became so thirst there that they raised an outcry against Moses: 'Why have you brought us out of Egypt with our children and our herds to let us die of thirst?' 4. Moses appealed to the LORD, 'What shall I do with these people? In a moment they will be stoning me.' 5. The LORD answered, 'Go forward ahead of the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel and bring along the staff with which you struck the Nile. Go. 6. You will find me waiting for you there, by a rock in Horeb. Strike the rock; water will pour out of it for the people to drink.' Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7. He named the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites had disputed with him and put the LORD to the test with their question, 'Is the LORD in our midst or not?'
(The Revised English Bible)
April 3, 2016
- The present sufferings and the glory in store -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 It's been sometime since we learnt from the Letter of Paul to the Romans. The passage given to us today begins with his famous words: 'For I reckon that the sufferings we now endure bear no comparison with the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is in store for us.' Paul deals with the problem of sufferings. He dealt with the problem of suffering as an extension of what he talked in verses from 12 to 17, which precede today's passage. Especially the last part of verse 17 says, 'we must share his suffering if we are also to share his glory.' It is apparent from these words that today's passage is put as an extension of the preceding passage.
It will be useful for us, therefore, to make a brief review of what the passage covering from verse 12 to 17 was about. The problem shown there was that we must live in 'flesh.' 'Flesh' means, as implied by the words 'earthen ware made from the soil', such of our state as we are caught by the spirit of slavery and are led back (by sufferings) into a life of fear as written on verse 15, because our bodies are weak and vulnerable so our spirit and heart also get caught by anxiety. It was to save us out from such misery that Jesus was born in this world as a flesh like us. Paul taught that we are led to believe this Jesus as our savior, are united with Jesus by this faith in him, and given the Spirit from God and Jesus, we are treated as children of God. Paul also taught that the proof that we will be treated as children of God is to be found in that we are allowed to call God 'Abba, Father!' as shown at the beginning of the Lord's Prayer.
Yet the problem is that we, 'the flesh', are still placed in the midst of sufferings. Even though it is said that we are treated as children of God, if sufferings do not disappear we might end up being their slaves. As to the question of how should we understand about the fact of suffering. Paul as a pastor could not escape from saying words on this problem.
He told at the last part of verse 17 that we don't suffer ourselves alone, but that we suffer with Christ sharing the sufferings. If we are united with Jesus by having faith in him, our sufferings are firmly connected with those of Jesus. And if this is indeed the case, we, under sufferings now, will receive the glory of God just as Jesus, who suffered on the cross, was resurrected and received the marvelous glory of God. Paul began his speech of today's passage in order to delve further into this truth.
2 Now the words of Paul on verse 18; marvelous as they are, but I am afraid they are often taken in a twisted manner. The phrase to say, 'bear no comparison' gives too strong an impression so that the present sufferings, sufferings in flesh, tend to be treated too lightly, I feel. I don't think it was any part of Paul's idea to put the future glory and the present sufferings on a pair of balances and to assert that we should pass off and withstand the sufferings for they are no match to the glory to come in the future. It was because Paul knew too well how heavy are the sufferings for us as a flesh, how powerful they are so they can put us in a fear as their slaves that he dared to pick up and tackled with the problem of sufferings. He never thought one can easily deal with the sufferings by putting the future glory and the present sufferings on a weigh scale.
The word 'compare' means, I think, that the present sufferings and the future glory are 'related to each other.' What he wanted to say, before anything else, I think, was that the present sufferings are connected closely with the future glory ? a marvelous glory. While they are on a pair of the same balance, they cannot be separated.
How are the two connected, then? The answer is concretely shown by the way the sufferings of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection is connected. Incidentally we learnt how the two were connected at our Easter Service last week. The Jesus of resurrection had scars of wounds on his glorified body; there were remnants of sufferings. Those things are something unfit for the resurrected body, I am inclined to think. It would have been better had the body of resurrection not kept the marks of sufferings, of pains and of death, would it not? But it was those scars of wounds that gave his disciples the peace and joy, and that changed Thomas from unbelieving to believing. It was those scars of wounds that led his disciples to unlock the doors and make new steps outward. Here we see there is shown an unambiguous answer to the question of how the present sufferings in flesh are connected to the future glory.
As I was pondering once again about this theme over the week, one thing occurred to me. It was a question of how was it that the scars of wounds on the body of the Jesus of resurrection, which he suffered on the cross, were turned to have such a work. I felt that it must have been because the purpose of the presence of Jesus or the direction he aimed at was single-mindedly to give his disciples and us the peace and joy, and the believing hearts, i.e. to give something good. While his life on earth also had such an orientation, it became ever stronger after his resurrection. He had absolutely no orientation to seek joy for him. That I think was decisively opposite to our orientation or aims of life we seek in this world. I am inclined to think that it was exactly because of this that the scars of wounds on the cross, which were the source of sufferings and something no body likes, came to have diametrically opposite function in his body of resurrection. How wonderful it is going to be for us if we are also given such an astounding change, who are blessed being united with Jesus in faith!
3 The true intention of Paul was to tell us to understand the present sufferings, to receive them, overcome them, and learn the meaning which the present sufferings have and thank God.
I wonder if Jesus himself could predict that the sufferings on the cross would turn his body into having an astounding work as we've just learnt; much less so with us. We cannot now predict or it doesn't come to our sight at all what kind of good thing we are going to be given when some form of glorious bodies are given from God in the future. It may be for this reason that Paul, on the verses from 24 and the following, says that such a hope for the future is something 'we do not yet see.' No one can see that the sufferings Jesus had on the cross will turn to perform such a function. However, though we don't see it now, the present sufferings will surely turn to that which performs valuable functions in the glorified bodies in the future.
The point of Paul's message is that we get to be able to endure and carry on our shoulders the present sufferings only by hoping to be given something in the future which we do not yet see. It is impossible to accept, find meaning and carry on our back the sufferings in the light of the hope our eyes can presently see. There may be such a stage in life where it is possible for us to do so, without saying. For example, there are cases in which pains are mitigated visibly by treatment by physicians. There are stages when we can maintain hope. But time will come when we reached the stage where we cannot have any hope whatsoever in the form our eyes can see, no matter whatever we do. When we get unable to have hope, then at the same time, we get unable to bear the suffering on our back. We become slaves of sufferings and will be put into a life of fear.
However, we are able to believe that our present sufferings are connected to the future glory which God will give us as ones united with Christ. I repeat to say that we don't know how the present sufferings will perform valuable function with our future bodies. It doesn't get to appear from the present sufferings in their present forms. Nevertheless, the scars of wounds on the future glorified bodies which stem from the present sufferings will work to accept our loved ones into the scars, and surprisingly good things flow out from there, just as the Jesus of resurrection allowed Thomas to put his fingers and hand into the wounds and gave him peace and the faith. How valuable the present sufferings are! How important and indispensable they are! The sufferings we have in flesh have such meanings. They can have significance only on the glorified bodies of the future.
4 The last point I wish to make is ? and this is the point I couldn't get to understand for several days during my preparation of today's sermon ? why was it that Paul talked about the salvation and hopes for God's creatures on verse 19 and the following. While I don't have too many Bible commentary books at hand, one which turned out to be the most persuasive for me was that which was written by Calvin, one of the reformers. He wrote as follows (quoted from Calvin, 'The Bible Commentary �� The Letter of Paul to the Romans' p215. The title of the Book and his words in the following are translation of the Japanese version ? Nishido, the interpreter). - He wrote saying, 'The patience we are exhorted to follow has its exempla even among the creatures which do not speak.' 'There is no element or no part in this world which is not hit low by the recognition of the present misery or which does not embrace hope of resurrection.' As a matter of fact he points out two things. One is that all of the created universe is suffering and is in sorrow. Two is that despite the first point they are supported and solaced by hope. ?
Just as Calvin elucidated, Paul said the created universe including plants and animals 'is waiting with eager expectation for God's sons to be revealed (this may mean that we, humans, be changed to beings like the Jesus of resurrection), and 'is hoping that the universe itself is to be freed from the shackles of mortality and is to enter upon the glorious liberty of the children of God.' But I am a bit skeptical and think that it may be of too much personalization of animals and plants, and too much of projection of the feelings the human has of sufferings on the creatures.
However, if the created universe is suffering, as Paul says it is, placed in a miserable situation, i.e. 'is made subject to frustration,' - and I gather it may mean that they are put to where they get killed in an blink of an eye or trampled down ? it has to have a hope just the same. That hope is not of the kind one can see or the kind one can predict based on the present sufferings. Yet if even the creatures are saved by having such a hope, the more so with the humans, Paul wanted to point out. Should we not be able to have a hope, the more miserable the humans are than other creatures. For we, the humans, are so decisively different from animals and plants that we are able to be keenly aware of our own present sufferings; we become slaves of sufferings. Therefore it is all the more necessary for humans to have hope, Paul wanted to say, as we can understand it.
Verse 22 says, 'Up to the present, as we know, the whole created universe in all its parts groans as if in the pangs of childbirth.' This 'created universe' probably includes humans. In other words, it is not just the humans but the whole universe is also suffering. His intention may be to try to solace us saying it is not especially the humans that suffer. It may well be that when we are changed to be like the Jesus of resurrection and changed to be ones who try single-mindedly to give good things to others, and the orientation of us, humans, turns round 180 degrees like that perhaps time comes when other creatures are also saved.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Letter of Paul to the Romans 8: 18 - 25
18 For I reckon that the sufferings we now endure bear no comparison with the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is in store for us. 19 The created universe is waiting with eager expectation for God's sons to be revealed. 20 It was made subject to frustration, not of its own choice but by the will of him who subjected it, yet with the hope 21 that the universe itself is to be freed from the shackles of mortality and is to enter upon the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 Up to the present, as we know, the whole created universe in all its parts groans as if in the pangs of childbirth. 23 What is more, we also, to whom the Spirit is given as the first-fruits of the harvest to come, are groaning inwardly while we look forward eagerly to our adoption, our liberation from mortality. 24 It was with this hope that we were saved. Now to see something is no longer to hope: why hope for what is already seen? 25 But if we hope for something we do not yet see, then we look forward to it eagerly and with patience.
(The Revised English Bible)
March 27, 2016
- From unbelieving to believing -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 As we read the passage about the resurrected Jesus encountering or meeting again with his disciples, we are made to learn afresh that there is a conspicuous point in this passage. It is that the Jesus of resurrection was giving the disciples something 'good,' or positive, which they could never produce from within themselves.
This conspicuous feature is vividly apparent also in the lines from verse 24 and the following of chapter 20 of the Gospel according to John, read by master of the service a few minutes ago. It tells that a week after the first Easter night, his disciples stayed hidden in a room with all the doors locked when Jesus came in, though we cannot tell how, and stood among them, saying, 'Peace be with you!'The same took place in the night of the first Easter as we see written on verses 19 to 23. From this we get to learn that the Jesus of resurrection brought peace of mind, sense of relief and assurance to the disciples. Jesus gave them joy also as verse 20 puts it saying, 'On seeing the Lord the disciples were overjoyed.' Moreover, today's passage tells about Thomas having been changed from unbelieving to believing. As seen above, the Jesus of resurrection gave his disciples peace, joy and the believing heart. None of these things, I think, could be produced from within the disciples themselves. If Jesus, who died on a cross, had remained dead, the fearful disciples would have remained locked themselves up, as can be easily imagined.
There is yet other motif in the story of resurrection, which is also told repeatedly. It is that when encountering with the Jesus of resurrection the disciples were terrified thinking that they were seeing a ghost or an apparition (cf. Luke 24:37). It could be a reflection of the fact that the disciples indeed thought they were seeing a ghost; it could also be reflecting that Christians of early days could take the event of resurrection in only that way. However, we have to ask if the disciples could receive peace, joy and the believing heart if Jesus as appeared to them had been kind of a ghost or a phantom. I doubt that a being such as ghost or phantom could ever give disciples something good or positive.
2 Allow me to change topic for a moment. As I set to prepare the sermon for today, one thing came forcefully out of my memory; it is the March 11 disaster. Easter Sunday of this year is just about 2 weeks from March 11th, and this being the 5th year after the disaster, things may have risen in my memory.
I have just talked about ghost or apparition. And the following is what my wife told me as having heard from a radio program around March 11, this year. That is that a fairly large percentage of taxi drivers working in the areas hit by the Tsunami have experience of having carried customer passengers who the drivers thought died in the disaster. If a passenger you carry is ghost or apparition, it is natural that you feel a thrill of horror in such a circumstance, but strangely in their case they didn't have such a sense of shudder, they also told. That regardless, ghost or apparition doesn't speak a word; let alone have power to give us peace, joy and new steps of life with the doors unlocked, which the Jesus of resurrection gave to his disciples. If they could, I wish real strong that instead of being carried silently as ones who cannot utter a word, they got to be able to give the disaster survivors, who live as if their doors are locked, something good, peace and joy as the Jesus of resurrection did. It is only those who passed away that can do so for the benefit of survivors. But they cannot when they are dead and turned just to be ghost or apparition.
One more thing related to March 11th. Please forgive my vague memory. I read a news paper article, in which a man was asserting that even the people, who passed away in the disaster, have the right and responsibility to have a say about how the post-disaster society should be rebuilt and run. When you take the opinion on its surface it looks to be an utterly strange assertion for we don't see how the dead people can have a say about the post-mortem society. Nevertheless, I felt that it got at the heart of the problem. What the Jesus of resurrection did to his disciples was indeed to speak to them who were hiding in confinement, wasn't it? He did so not as a dead, not as ghost or apparition, but as a resurrected being, and gave a critically important influence on the way the survived disciples should take in their life thereafter. Moreover, he lives now, speaks to us and is giving vital influence on our society.
I repeat saying how much I wish that some 20,000 people who lost their life in Tsunami got to be such beings. If they didn't the survivors won't ever be freed from their self-confinement for they don't have power to produce something good from within themselves. Yes, surviving they are. But it's in miserable and hard ways that they survive. I am inclined to think that those who passed away have duties and responsibilities to give peace, joy and the believing heart to survivors, are you not? They aren't to be allowed to be just silent dead, are they?
How do those who passed away get to be able to have their say about the society of us survivors and to participate in building the future society instead of remaining as the dead, ghost or apparition? How do they get to become ones who are able to give good things? I think that Jesus plays a key role for that to happen. It means that those who are surviving get to believe that the passed- away are together with the Jesus of resurrection, that the survivors get to listen to the words spoken by Jesus as spoken by the passed-away, and are given peace and joy. The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians chapter 15 tells of a strange thing, i.e. 'baptism on behalf of the dead.' It likely meant a ritual which the survivors performed in their hope somehow to connect those with Jesus, who passed away without believing in him, don't you think? That's how the survivors believe that those who are passed away are with and connected to the Jesus of resurrection. That's how the passed-away doesn't remain just dead, or ghost or apparition, but gets to be a being who gives good things to survivors, isn't it?
3 Let us now get back from a prolonged detour to learning what was the good thing like, which the Jesus of resurrection gave his disciples, and what kind of peace and joy they were.
Let us see first of all what it is that the passage from verse 24 to the beginning of verse 26 was trying to tell. It says that while Thomas wasn't with the fellow disciples of Jesus on the first night of Easter, 8 days ago, he is with together with them today, 8 days hence. Thomas was told by other disciples after the first Easter that'We have seen the Lord.'But he said, 'Unless I see the mark of the nails on his hands, unless I put my finger into the place where the nails were, and my hand into his side, I will never believe it.'
Why was it that Thomas wasn't together with the fellow disciples on the first Easter night? My guess is that he could not forgive himself and the fellow- disciples for having the beloved mentor die alone on a cross while they shamelessly survive. What kind of face he could have to be with the rest of the disciples? The Gospel according to John, chapter 11, verse16 tells of this Thomas saying to his fellow-disciples, 'Let us also go and die with him,' when Jesus told them to go together to Lazarus who was reported dead. Thomas was more passionate than Peter. Living or dying, he wanted to be with Jesus till the very end. I am such and yet surviving at ease. That he could not forgive. When he said to his fellow-disciples, 'Unless I see the mark of the nails on his hands, and so forth,' what he had in mind was not skepticism as it is often said is the case, but the question of how could it be good for such a man as he to be forgiven. To put his finger into where the nails were and his hand into his side was his way of saying how can it be that the Lord will accept and receive such a sinful one as me who abandoned the mentor.
His fellow-disciples must have had, I think, exactly the same feeling as Thomas had, on the first Easter night. And that very thought was what kept the surviving disciples locked in a room. The thought of those who outlived the Tsunami is probably the same as this: they could not help their family members; they couldn't reach out their hands; and that only they survived. They are sorry that they survived, to get down to the bottom of it. Yet that is very where Jesus mysteriously came in, stood on the center and told, 'Peace be with you!' It is the kind of peace founded on the assurance Jesus gave saying, 'Here I am now standing at the center in the midst of you to be connected with you once again. Your having abandoned me cannot be of any hindrance to what I plan to do.' You go on to live for I live connecting with you, for you and I will live together. It is important for me that you continue on to live. It is my belief that this message lies at the base of 'peace,' Jesus gave us.
On the first Easter night the disciples received such kind of peace from the Jesus of resurrection, and they told Thomas about it with all they had, who were unable to believe. The peace they received from Jesus got instilled in Thomas though just bit by bit, day by day. That is how Thomas, who doubted, 'how can I ever be forgiven?' got to be together with his fellow-disciples seeking forgiveness of Jesus. Full of fears the disciples were, so they remained hidden behind locked doors still on the 8th day. Yet the peace and joy they received on the first Easter night helped them open the door just a little bit so Thomas could get in. The disciples who feared and hid themselves were changed to be ones who could usher the fellow-disciple in there.
4 On verse 27, Jesus came to the disciples on the day 8 again, saying, 'Peace be with you!' Then he said to Thomas,'Reach your finger here; look at my hands. Reach your hand here and put it into my side. Be unbelieving no longer, but believe.'As I said earlier, to allow the one who abandoned him to put his finger and hand into the wounds made on the cross symbolizes his 'forgiveness,' I think.
I say also now what I say at every Easter Sunday sermon: I ask you to please keep in your mind this question: why was it that the Jesus of resurrection had on his mysterious body the scars of wound made on the cross. The wounds, of course, brought upon Jesus the pains and death. I wonder if it had not been better to have had all such negativity disappeared and gone completely when he was resurrected. Yet God kept them. It was the remaining scars of wound that gave disciples the joy, according to verse 20. In today's words of the Bible, they were where Jesus let Thomas put in his finger and hand, and the wounds changed him from unbelieving to believing.
Here is the message of peace and joy which only the Jesus of resurrection brings to us, as I am made to feel every time I read this. For us who live in this world with our bodies, the wound gives us pains and brings death to us. Yet, we are taught that the same wound will do real valuable works for us when God gives us new life and bodies in that world. People who have survived cannot forget the wounds left on the body of the deceased. What we can do is only to feel sorry that it must have been painful and agonizing. What about with the Jesus of resurrection? The wound turned to be something that gave joy to the disciples. It worked as something which, by allowing Thomas to put his finger and hand in, changed him from unbelieving to believing. People who lost their lives in the quake-disaster also speak to us survivors in the Jesus of resurrection, to put our fingers and hands in their wounds.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to John 20: 24 - 29
24 One of the twelve, Thomas the Twin, was not with the rest when Jesus came. 25 So the others kept telling him, 'We have seen the Lord.' But he said, 'Unless I see the mark of the nails on his hands, unless I put my finger into the place where the nails were, and my hand into his side, I will never believe it. 26 A week later his disciples were once again in the room, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them, saying, 'Peace be with you!' 27 Then he said to Thomas, 'Reach your finger here; look at my hands. Reach your hand here and put it into my side. Be unbelieving no longer, but believe.' 28 Thomas said, 'My Lord and my God!' 29 Jesus said to him, 'Because you have seen me you have found faith. Happy are they who find faith without seeing me.'
(The Revised English Bible)
March 20, 2016
- Ascent to Jerusalem and Cleaning of the Temple -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1.1 Today we are going to listen to The Gospel according to Luke, following last week's sermon. Today's word describes how Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on the colt, how Jesus wept for the sake of Jerusalem, and how he drove out the traders who were doing business in the temple.
1.2 It is not certain that the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem corresponds to Sunday when we observe our worship. But as on Friday of this week --- the day before the Sabbath for Jewish people --- in the afternoon, the event where Jesus was put on the cross took place, people thought the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem today, to be a week before the sufferings and churches designated this day as the Lord's day, especially "Palm Sunday," and they have observed it from generation to generation. We cannot find the word "palm," in any part that we read today, but the Gospel according to John Chapter 12, verses 12 and 13 say, 'The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him .'So this day came to be called Palm Sunday. By the way, the event of Jesus' entering Jerusalem riding on the colt is one of a very few events that four Gospels describe in common except the cross and Jesus' resurrection. Also, Jesus driving out the traders doing business in the temple is dealt with in all four Gospels, although the place that the Gospel according to John refers to is different from the one in the other three gospels. This is also one of a very few things that are described in all the four Gospels.
1.3 In this way, the two events that today's word describe were unforgettable to believers of early days. What Jesus did was talked about and was edited as the Gospel. Also people kept on talking about and writing down these two things without hiding or omitting them, in the age when printing technology was not invented.
2.1 Today first, let's think about how Jesus felt when he entered Jerusalem taking the trouble of riding on the cold. In order to know about it, it is very important to know in what kind of atmosphere the then Jerusalem was and what people desired strongly.
2.2 Soon the time for the Passover that is the New Year Holiday for Jewish people was about to start. The feast called the Passover is what we learned just recently in Exodus that we learn once in every three weeks. It is the event that triggered the liberation of Jewish slaves from the King of Egypt in Egypt. The disaster that was called 'the destroyer'passed over the Jewish house where the blood of lambs was put on its two doorposts. The disaster entered the houses of the King of Egypt and people who did not do it and slew their first-born babies. This incident finally caused the King of Egypt to liberate Jewish people. In memory of this event, Jewish people observed the Passover Feast by regarding this day as the New Year's Day.
2.3 It was just the time when this festival was about to start. It is said that as many as two million people from all over the world made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. What those who got together had looked forward to in unison was that a second Moses would appear as their savior and that a second Exodus would take place. And the destroyer would strike the Roman Empire that controls them. People were anxious for a second Moses or a second King of David to do such things.
2.4 Verse 37 and the following describe how Jesus' disciples greeted him in their joy. Probably people around them were shouting together too. What they were shouting was 'Blessed is he who comes as king in the name of the Lord! 'People as well as the disciples were welcoming Jesus as their king. And the king means the King that I meant just now.
3.1 Jesus entered Jerusalem full of these expectations, riding on the colt. Why did he ride on the colt? It was read in today's Call to Worship, too. It is clear from Zechariah 9: 9-10 in the Bible, too. 'Daughter of Zion, rejoice with all your heart; shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king is coming to you, his cause won, his victory gained, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 He will banish the chariot from Ephraim, the war-horse from Jerusalem; the warrior's bow will be banished, and he will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth. 'By following the word of Zechariah, in a sense, Jesus also proclaims that 'See, your king is coming to you .'However, the king is just the opposite of the king that people in Jerusalem were eager for. What people wish for is the king who destroys the Roman Empire with chariots and war-horses and who builds the kingdom on the earth and peace thanks to him. But what Jesus brings as King is the peace that we have when we accept the man who rides on the colt and behaves foolishly like a clown and when we obey him.
3.2 People welcomed Jesus with cheers without knowing what he meant together with his disciples at this time. But immediately they knew what Jesus really meant and as they expected a lot from him, when they thought that they were betrayed, their hatred grew strong. A few days later, their expectation turns into the shout 'Put him on the cross. 'We sometimes wonder why Jesus who rides on the colt is the king who brings peace without driving out various pressures or oppression that torment us. Now we are in the age when terrorism is spreading and when the whole world is leaning toward peace that depends on military power. In the U.S. presidential election candidates who make such claims as are never heard in the past are trying to get nominated. We feel strongly how we are moving toward the age when those who make an appearance on the stage and gallantly with lots of chariots and war-horses, receive applause and are made king.
3.3 But however much we want such a king or even if we want peace by that king, Jesus comes in as king who rides on the colt, contrary to our expectation. He doesn't try to be king other than that. He proclaims that our peace and calm lie only in accepting him as king and in obeying him. That is what Jesus insisted even by being put on the cross and dying.
4.1 What does it mean to accept this Jesus as king and obey him? How does it mean for us to live? It means first to follow Jesus who rides on the colt. As an adult rides on the colt, its steps are slower and staggering. They are reeling because of the weight. The steps each are really unbearable, with the load of Jesus on its back. Jesus tells us to follow its steps. We have to walk staggeringly and totteringly with the load given by God respectively. It is far from advancing gallantly, riding on a war-horse and driving out the enemy. But that is the steps that we take as those who accept Jesus as king. We, who take such steps, may not feel that there is no peace or calm. But Jesus says that it is there that peace lies.
4.2 Also whenever I read this word, I lay my figure on top of the colt that Jesus used by saying, 'The Master needs it. 'As I recall, in novels written by Miura Ayako, there is a novel called 'Chiiroba (A little old) 'that described the whole life of the pastor Enomoto, Yasurou, who served as leader of the Ashura movement in Japan. I remember Pastor Enomoto calling himself 'Chiiroba ,'(a little colt), by laying himself on top of this colt. Verse 30 says, 'a colt tied there which no one has ever ridden ,'and it means that this colt is not useful for people to ride on or for a load to be carried on, I think. But Jesus decided that this kind of colt is the one'The Master needs ,'and he needs it so that the prophecy in Zechariah will be realized. To accept Jesus as king means to accept being used as a colt by God and Jesus with gladness. Zacchaeus, who had a handicap as being too short, probably corresponds to this little colt.
4.3 When he heard Jesus' word, ' I must stay at your house today, 'he felt that peace had come to his heart that was struck with an inferiority complex. There is no peace where we use chariots or war-horses by always fighting against others and trying to win a victory. Not like that, but there is peace in feeling that in such a small colt as me, I am entrusted with a very important duty to carry Jesus.
5.1 Now I am going to deal with two things together that are described in Verse 41 and the following: that Jesus wept for the sake of Jerusalem and that he drove out the traders who were doing business in the temple. Here I feel keenly that there lies Jesus's look at Jerusalem or the temple that is quite different from that of people in those days.
5.2 First, people would have thought that the very Jerusalem that draws millions of people from all over the world is the center of the world and the capital of Kingdom of God that will be built sooner or later. They would have thought that it is the imperishable and eternal capital. However, actually Jerusalem was destroyed to pieces by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70 and turned into what Verses 43 and 44 described. Therefore, Jesus wept for the sake of Jerusalem. We can find only two Gospels that described Jesus weeping here and in the story about the death of Lazarus, Verse 35, Chapter 11, in the Gospel according to John. Jesus lamented saying , 'If only you had known on this day the way that leads to peace!' and if'you had recognized the time of God's visitation ,'it would not go like that.
5.3 And Jesus entered the temple in Jerusalem and drove out the traders who were doing business there. The fact that people were doing thriving business in the precincts of the temple like that means, in other words, that the temple thrives and lives of people who worked for it become prosperous. But to Jesus' s eyes, his house that should be called'a house of prayer ' became a bandits' cave and, as is described in Jeremiah, Chapter 7, he regarded the situation as the cause of this place falling into ruins someday.
6.1 I feel deeply encouraged that we have Jesus who looks at our 'capital 'and our church that can be called the actual temple, with his firm viewpoint. Today is the day of the commemorative service that celebrates the 38 th anniversary of founding of this church, since it was established on March 21,1978. With regard to what our country or our life should be , or what our church should be, too, Jesus turns his look that is quite different from ours. He teaches us that our country or church, however greatly they may prosper or however rich they may be, cannot form the basis for continuing to exist. The church does continue to exist only by being 'a house of prayer. 'However small the number of people may be, as long as the church is trying to be 'a house of prayer, 'God and Jesus never let this fall into ruins. The capital will fall into ruins. Countries in the world will turn into the state described in Verses 43 and 44. But peace comes to those who accept Jesus who comes riding on the colt as king.
(Translated by Akihiko MOCHIZUKI from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Luke 19: 28 - 48
28 With that Jesus set out on the ascent to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called Olives, he sent off two of the disciples, 30 telling them: 'Go into the village opposite; as you enter it you will find a colt tied there which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks why you are untying it, say, "The Master needs it."' 32 The two went on their errand and found everything just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked, 'Why are you untying that colt?' 34 They answered, 'The Master needs it.' 35 So they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their cloaks on it for Jesus to mount. 36 As he went along people laid their cloaks on the road. 37 And when he reached the descent from the mount of Olives, the whole company of his disciples in their joy began to sing aloud the praises of God for all the great things they had seen: 38 'Blessed is he who comes as king in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, glory in highest heaven!' 39 Some Pharisees in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, restrain your disciples.' 40 He answered, 'I tell you, if my disciples are silent the stones will shout aloud.' 41 When he came in sight of the city, he wept over it 42 and said, 'If only you had known on this day the way that leads to peace! But no; it is hidden from your sight. 43 For a time will come upon you, when your enemies will set up siege-works against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on every side; 44 they will bring you to the ground, you and your children within your walls, and not leave you one stone standing on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's visitation.' 45 then he went into the temple and began driving out the traders, 46 with these words: 'Scripture says, "My house shall be called a house of prayer"; but you have made it a bandits' cave.' 47 Day by day he taught in the temple. The chief priests and scribes, with the support of the leading citizens, wanted to bring about his death, 48 but found they were helpless, because the people all hung on his words.
(The Revised English Bible)
Zechariah 9: 9 - 10
9 Daughter of Zion, rejoice with all your heart; shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king is coming to you, his cause won, his victory gained, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 He will banish the chariot from Ephraim, the war-horse from Jerusalem; the warrior's bow will be banished, and he will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.
(The Revised English Bible)
February 21, 2016
- Worship Service on the Second Sunday of Lent, -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 The episode of the Bible for today is written only in the Gospel according to Luke; the one in which Zacchaeus the superintendent of taxes appears, whom those of you who are familiar with the Bible know very well. Today's Bible passage follows an episode of a blind beggar written in the passage on chapter 18, verse 35 and the following, to which we lent our ears the last time. What struck me home as soon as I read today's passage was that it forms a pair with the episode about a wealthy man, a member of Sanhedrin appearing in the passage from chapter 18, verse 18 and the following. On verse 24 and the following of that chapter, Jesus said 'How hard it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God.' We were then taught that we should not take it to mean what it says literally.
An apparent proof of it appears in today's passage, for tehrein Jesus said to Zacchaeus, 'Today salvation has come to this house.'To say that 'salvation has come,' means the same as to say that one was allowed to enter the kingdom of God. This shows it doesn't follow that one is not saved because one is rich in this world, or that one is saved because one is a beggar and blind. The point is if one is rich or poor in one's relation to God, if one is begging and is blind or not. Such one as is poor in relation to God and realizes that one is defect, unable to see what one should, and who desperately implores like a beggar that the defect be filled is allowed to enter the kingdom of God, without fail, is saved. That is the message Jesus is giving us. Zacchaeus was such a man who appears in our today's passage.
2 Then what was Zacchaeus failing to see? What did he wish to see and tried that hard to see Jesus for? Verse 3 says, 'He was eager to see what Jesus looked like; but, being a little man, he could not see him for the crowd.' This sentence symbolically tells, I feel, what he was wishing to see. Although the verse literally means that being a little one he could not see Jesus for the crowd, what he could not see for the crowd, I think, was something much more fundamental.
I speak now out of my own imagination though, Zacchaeus was depicted especially as a little man because he was little much beyond what the phrase meant in normal sense of the term; so little as could probably be called handicapped.
There is a young sister whom I baptized while at Koriyama Church. She passed an examination for admission last November and will start studying at the Tokyo Theological Seminary, my alma mater, from this April. Handicapped she is. She came to the church first around the time when she was finishing high school. From the days of seinor grades in primary school through the days at a middle school, her life at schools was no easy time. That 'he could not see,' is a situation, I gather, in which people surround the handicapped with their glances, their criteria and value. Surrounded by gaze over a short, miserable and handicapped, she got to see herself with the same line of sight as theirs.
It was probably out of his desire to refute such surrounding glances that Zacchaeus, after engaging himself in tax business, had made special effort and endeavored to become a superintendent. For sure, it was to see Jesus that he climbed a sycamore tree. But it looks to me that it was an expression of his desire to overcome, to get over in that way the people who looked down on and discriminated him.
But I wonder if he could get to see what he was to by climbing the tree. What was it that Zacchaeus was to see, what he had to see? I think what he had to see was for him to come to realize the deep meaning of why he was handicapped. Even the disciples of Jesus asked 'Why was this man born blind? Who sinned, this man or his parents?' It is such a view which surrounded the handicapped that barred him from seeing what he was to. To this question Jesus answered; 'he was born blind so that God's power might be displayed in curing him.' (John, chapter 9).
What Zacchaeus had to see was to get to understand why God had given him such handicap. Climbing a sycamore tree and becoming a superintendent of taxes in his attempt to refute discriminatory glances from his surrounding and to get over, to triumph over them meant he was blocked out that much more by the glances and value of the crowd. It didn't lead him to see what he truly should.
3 At this time, Zacchaeus fortunately tried to see Jesus that way. He must have seen many things thus far by the same method and it was Jesus this time that he would see. What was his mind like that he wanted to see Jesus by taking even that much of trouble? He had the same outcry, I feel, as the blind beggar who exclaimed, 'Lord, I want my sight back.' Not obstructed by the people around, not by the glances of the surrounding people, but Lord, I wish to get to be able to see the handicap I have through your visual line, with the eyes of God. I want to know what this handicap means. I feel as if such a desperate scream of Zacchaeus sounds in our ears.
To the call of Zacchaeus Jesus replied, 'Zacchaeus, be quick and come down.' What a comforting word of Jesus it is for us who have handicaps in this or in that sense and who think we need to climb desperately to a high point by any means in order to get over the handicap. I feel like hearing the voice of Jesus telling you no longer need to struggle to climb to such a high point, come down and be at the low ground; why be so concerned about being obstructed by the crowd; what's the problem of being a short stature? For it is at your house that I need to stay for having rest tonight, said Jesus.
If indeed Jesus stayed in the house of Zacchaeus that night as he said he would, it fell on the very next day that Jesus at last stepped into Jerusalem as written on chapter 19, verse 28 and the following. By the way, I plan to talk at the outset of a discussion meeting just after the worship service today about the episode of temple cleaning which Jesus did for the first thing after entering on a donkey Jerusalem. This was the very event that got to be the critical cause against Jesus of him being hung on a cross. When such harsh steps were to take place come next day, Jesus would spend a moment of rest at none other's but at the house of a handicapped little man, called 'sinful man,' by the people. Jesus said for him at that moment he needed you; it is you whom he needed for him to take rest.
4 When so told by Jesus, Zacchaeus, I think, understood in no time, must have gotten to see why he was made to live as handicapped. The significance of being handicapped he must have comprehended through the eyes of God, by the words of Jesus. We, the handicapped, are beings who are needed by Jesus for him to take rest; we are handicapped to be of help for that purpose.
After the worship service last Sunday, I had a chance to chat with a person who told me of often overwhelmed by an idea it would have been better if hadn't been born. The Bible passage for today is telling how such a view about oneself represents, obstructed by the crowd, the state of not seeing what to see like Zacchaeus in today's story. Are you not thinking that you need to climb to the high point more than you need to? Jesus is telling you who harbor such an idea to come down, for he wishes to take rest at your house where you are as you are having come down from a needlessly high point. Jesus said we the handicapped and sinful are whom he needed to be a host for him. Who need us is probably not just Jesus but also the people around us. The people around us are also wishing to stay at our very houses with us the handicapped.
Zacchaeus having been so spoken to by Jesus realized not just the significance of being handicapped as he was, but also understood, it seems to me, the meaning of wealth he had earned. He had earned dirty money, so to say, based on his inferior complex or out of sheer desire to look back on the discriminating people. Now he got to be able see ways of putting the money for new uses. He got to be able to repay the poor four times over the money he defrauded. The money earned in dirty manner changes and is put to work for such purposes. Zacchaeus could deeply realize that one like him became a tax collector for such a very purpose. And this is what 'salvation' means.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Luke 19: 1-10
1 Entering Jericho he made his way through the city.
2 There was a man there named Zacchaeus; he was superintendent of taxes and very rich. 3 He was eager to see what Jesus looked like; but, being a little man, he could not see him for the crowd. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see him, for he was to pass that way. 5 when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said, 'Zacchaeus, be quick and come down, for I must stay at your house today.' 6 He climbed down as quickly as he could and welcomed him gladly. 7At this there was a general murmur of disapproval. 'He has gone in to be the guest of a sinner,' they said. 8 But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, 'Here and now, sir, I give half my possessions to charity; and if I have defrauded anyone, I will repay him four times over.' 9 Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house ? for this man too is a son of Abraham. 10 The son of Man has come to seek and save what is lost.
(The Revised English Bible)
February 14, 2016
- God guided them not by the shortest way -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1.1 Every three weeks we listen to Exodus. I feel that it can be said that we have entered the Second Part of Exodus since last time or at today's word. I mean that so far Israeli people have been burdened with labor as slaves under the Egyptian King and that they have coped with the situation as hard as possible with Moses and Aaron as their leaders backed by God. From last time or today's word, at long last, Israeli people escape from the King of Egypt, ending up roaming about the wilderness as long as 40 years, and return to the place where their distant ancestors Abraham and Jacob used to live.
1.2 When I have read this part that should be called the Second Part, something has struck me first.
It is what Israeli people escaping from the King of Egypt and starting for their hometown has to do with the present day people "us." In the First Part, the situation in which Israeli people are burdened with labor has a lot of things that we can accept as our own things in various meanings. We learned that in terms of social and economic terms, the system where a lot of people are forced to work extremely hard, not to say, just like slaves, whereas only a portion of our society can accumulate wealth rapidly, has been going deep all over the world. Also, each of us is subject to'the King of Egypt'who burdens us with labor. We have the realty where we cannot help facing such an existence and fighting against it with God supporting us.
1.3 Then, what does it mean to us for Israeli people to 'get out of'this situation , I wonder. The reason why I ask you this question is that literally we cannot 'get out of'this situation, I think. It is impossible for us to get out of the social economic system that covers the whole world and it is also very difficult to get out of the difficult situation that torments each of us. In the age of Jesus, Israeli people who were tormented by the Roman Empire wished strongly that a Second Exodus would take place and that Jesus were a Second Moses. But they didn't take place. In any age, literally Exodus can never take place. Then what on earth does this Exodus mean to us? We cannot help thinking about it.
1.4 I think that it could be grasped this way. As I said just now, we cannot help being under such an existence as the King of Egypt still now. However, although we are put under such a situation, we are in such an environment as we can leave the King of Egypt and we can live a quite different life or take quite different steps from that. It can be said that we are provided with, as it were,'two kinds of scaffolding ,'or two domains of living, I think. That is, the world that the King of Egypt still controls and the world that God guides. With regard to the latter world, in concrete it goes without saying that it is the steps of faith and the life in our church. The steps that Israeli people take after they get out of Egypt stand for our religious life or our church life symbolically, right? Or they indicate what a church in this world should be, I think.
2.1 When this becomes clear first, we are convinced that what today's word shows us is peculiar characteristics of this religious life or church life, or a peculiar feature that the existence of a church possesses.
2.2 The first characteristic is revealed from what Verses 17 and 18 describe: '17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not guide them by the road leading towards the Philistines, although that was the shortest way; for he said, 'The people may change their minds when war confronts them, and they may turn back to Egypt.' 18 So God made them go round by way of the wilderness towards the Red Sea. Thus the fifth generation of Israelites departed from Egypt. '
It means that it was not by the shortest way to the Philistines, the route along the Mediterranean Sea that God guided Israeli people with the famous 'pillar of fire and pillar of cloud.'By the way, the Philistines is the origin of the place called present Palestine. According to a book with notes, there were roughly three kinds of highways from Egypt to Palestine. Of them, the shortest way and most effective route was this Philistine Highway. As is shown on a map, it is at most 300 kilometers as the crow flies. A lot of people travel. So probably they did not walk a long distance in one day but they could have reached this highway at most in a week or ten days.
2.3 But God didn't dare to let the people go by this shortcut. The reason is also mentioned in Verse 1, Chapter 14 and the following, but here Chapter 13 says, 'The people may change their minds when war confronts them, and they may turn back to Egypt.' Verse 37, Chapter 12 says that Israeli adults who reached manhood alone totaled 600,000. It is said that actually they did not total such a large number. If Israeli people, including women and their children, become a large group that amounts to one million, then when the first part arrives at Palestine, whatever file they may form, the last part will be near Egypt. But even if the number is about 10,000, the same problem as we see when refugees from Syria are trying to flee to Europe at present, will happen. Naturally those who lived there will prevent the intruders from coming in. There a fight will take place. That is why'God made them go round by way of the wilderness.' As a result, it took them 40 years. If the place is the wilderness where no one lives and that has no merits, then no one attacks Israeli people. The steps of Israeli people who used to be refugees are protected just because of that.
2.4 God shows us another domain for our life that is different from the life under the King of Egypt, by making us live a religious life and church life that has these kinds of characteristics. I mean that to put it plainly, a religious life is 'not a shortcut .'It is a detour. To take the trouble to take a detour and to take time means to live a life that is quite the opposite way of avoiding waste. But the very that thing protects us from 'war .'It protects us from our being made slaves by the King of Egypt again.
2.5 To worship every 7 days and to support a church and to offer a lot of money for the repair of the church like this time is just a detour that is 'not a shortcut .'I had to undergo the repair work of the church as often as two times in my pastor life that is no more than 30 years. If you want to live an effective life, and if you always want to go by a shortcut, you don't have to attend the worship service. You can look at a worship service at some church online. You can listen to a message by an excellent pastor as often as you can and effectively. But God says that such a way of life will cause us to make 'war 'without fail. He says that it will make us turn back to the way controlled by the King of Egypt. The reason is that we will be made slaves mentally and physically and will fall in war.
3.1 Chapter 14 describes how God made Israeli people walk in a more characteristic way. Verse 1 says, 'The LORD spoke to Moses. 'Tell the Israelites, he said, 'they are to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the seas to the east of Baal-zephon; your camp shall be opposite, by the sea. ' His intention is described in Verse 3 and the following like 'Pharaoh will then think that the Israelites are finding themselves in difficult country, and are hemmed in by the wilderness. I shall make Pharaoh obstinate, and he will pursue them.'It means that the King of Egypt, knowing that Israeli people are roaming about the wilderness, will think that this is the best chance and he will pursue Israeli people. But actually it was God's plot. The reason is that he made the Egyptian army pursue Israeli people for them only to be engulfed by the sea so that God might make the King of Egypt overcome his regret decisively for Israeli people.
3.2 When today we read this part, we think that the Egyptian army being engulfed by the sea, of course, did take place in some form but was shown as a very symbolic matter. The King of Egypt was astounded to see the Israeli people who managed to escape from Egypt but who were roaming about the wilderness without taking the Philistines Highway, by being guided by God, right? It is like the world of a rakugo comic story. I love rakugo and visit a variety theater. In recent years it doesn't take place but I sometimes fall asleep while listening to a rakugo story. In rakugo, there appear really foolish people. Such a story as Sokotsu nagaya, (a row house where only careless people live) is very silly however often I hear, but somewhat attractive. The King of Egypt felt silly to see how Israeli people behaved. He thought that he didn't want them to return to him and cause some trouble again. Therefore, he stopped pursuing them.
3.3 We offer our prayer every week this way and sometimes spend tens of millions of yen repairing the church building. If it becomes our property, to offer money is convincing. Like temples, by right of descent, if the building is taken over, it is natural for the pastor or the representative of the congregation to take trouble. But the church is nobody's property. It is regarded as 'wandering ,'by the King of Egypt and by people in the world. We cannot help describing it as 'wandering.'But that very thing is our characteristic and it protects us. It prevents the King of Egypt from pursuing us. That is a clear line that is drawn between them and us.
3.4 The church should not lose this characteristic of 'wandering,'I think. Next week after the morning worship service, we will hold a social gathering entitled 'I would like to do this or that in the repaired church building.'First, I would like to give a talk. I am going to give you the words that I quoted at the thanksgiving worship service on January 30 to commemorate the completion of repair work of the church building. Jesus risked his life and said, 'It is written "My house will be called a house of prayer" but you are making it a "den of robbers"'(Matthew 21:12). Then he purified the temple in Jerusalem. His word is based on the word that a prophet called Jeremiah said. Jeremiah gave a message from the Lord, saying'If you do not make the temple the place where you execute justice one with another, and where you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, or shed innocent blood , and on the contrary, if you make the temple the place where you race in pursuit of your own interests such as a den of robbers, I will destroy it. '(Jeremiah Chapter 7: Verse 1 and the following). In this world, if this kind of thing is done, it is'wandering, 'right? The king of the world would think it is silly and would ignore it.
3.5 At my previous church, Kooriyama Church, when it was designed, we made a plan to include 'A suicide-prevention hot line,'in the chapel, which I can now disclose, because it was removed to another place. Since it was dedicated, it has been lent to Korean residents in Japan as their place for prayers for five years. Therefore, there was some inconvenience in using it as the chapel. Also the church building was used as a meeting place for people suffering from dependence such as ACA four times a week at one time. Besides, almost every day, people other than church members such as a chorus group and a handbells group used the church building. Just because of that, my wife and I had to endure a lot, but on the contrary, it protects our church.
4.1 Lastly, the third characteristic comes to light, as is described in Verse 19, 'Moses took the bones of Joseph with him.'He took the bones of his ancestor who died four hundred years ago with him. This is also a silly and foolish characteristic of Israeli people, right? Isn't there anything else that they should have taken with them? It is money or weapons. When they make a tough trip, what is the use of the bones of their ancestors? Everybody thinks that way. However, God made Moses, the leader of his people, take the bones of their ancestor with him, above all things.
4.2 Our steps are the same. What does it mean to take the bones of Joseph? It means that Joseph took the figure of God with him that Joseph's word or a man called Joseph testified to for all his lifetime. The Bible says, 'God will show his care for you.'Although I don't have time to talk about his whole life, Joseph, who was sold as a slave, rose to the position of a minister in Egypt and called his family together from his hometown who had been suffering from hunger. He became a helping hand for them. He took God with him. A community who shoulders Jesus' death is us. To shoulder this silliness protects us.
(Translated by Akihiko MOCHIZUKI from the gist prepared in Japanese)
Exodus 13: 17 - 14 :4
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not guide them by the road leading towards the Philistines, although that was the shortest way; for he said, 'The people may change their minds when war confronts them, and they may turn back to Egypt.' 18 So God made them go round by way of the wilderness towards the Red Sea. Thus the fifth generation of Israelites departed from Egypt. 19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph had exacted an oath from the Israelites: 'Some day', he said, 'God will show his care for you, and then, as you leave, you must take my bones with you.' 20 They set out from Succoth and encamped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. 21 And all the time the LORD went before them, by day a pillar of cloud to guide them on their journey, by night a pillar of fire to give them light; so they could travel both by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud never left its place in front of the people by day, nor did the pillar of fire by night.
1 The LORD spoke to Moses. 2 'Tell the Israelites, he said, 'they are to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the seas to the east of Baal-zephon; your camp shall be opposite, by the sea. 3 Pharaoh will then think that the Israelites are finding themselves in difficult country, and are hemmed in by the wilderness. 4 I shall make Pharaoh obstinate, and he will pursue them, so that I may win glory for myself at the expense of Pharaoh and all his army; and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.' The Israelites did as they were ordered.
(The Revised English Bible)
February 7, 20166
- If united with Christ Jesus -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 Of the Letter of Paul to the Romans with which we have been struggling once in every three weeks, we will tackle with its chapter 8 today. The passage given today is closely related in its substance to the preceding passage we learnt the last time, i.e. from verses 7 to 25 of chapter 7. I would therefore begin by making a brief review of what that passage meant to tell.
Paul has been talking about the principle of the Gospel all along; that for us to be reckoned as righteous by God we don't need deeds of the law; and that faith in Jesus alone will suffice. Paul elaborated the principle by taking up several problems and questions. The one we learnt at the last sermon was related to the question of what in fact is the law if faith in Jesus alone suffices for us to be saved. On this question Paul made a definitive statement saying that the law is not a product of human thinking; it came from God and as such it is holy and spiritual. If I may put it in my own words, the law is like a life-saving rope which God hangs down from heaven to save us who are nearly drown in high waves of water; and to practice deeds of the law is like gripping firmly on that rope. If this is the case, I'd say that for us it is nothing else but to be raised to heaven, pulled up by God, i.e. reckoned as righteous. Out of such a belief, I gather, the Jews and the Muslims loyally practice the deeds of the law or the Five Pillars of Islam to date.
2 Paul says, however, that it is not the way to our salvation. We, Christians, take Paul's view. Why? On chapter 7 verse 7 and the following, we find that Paul repeatedly referred to 'inside us.' Again to put it in my analogy, we are certainly pulled up by God as long as we keep a firm grip on his life-saving rope. Yet Paul points out that we have such an 'internal self' as is not being pulled by God; we have an inside that remains un-lifted by God, he says.
As we have never practiced deeds of the law, it is kind of difficult for us to closely realize what it means. But I think that what it meant was crystal clear to Paul as he, as a Pharisee, had practiced the law more earnestly than anyone else. He said on verse 7 of chapter 7 as follows; 'I should never have known what it was to covet, if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."' We remember that in our learning from the Gospel according Luke, Jesus said that a Pharisee prayed saying, 'I thank you, God, that I am not like the rest of mankind ? greedy, dishonest, adulterous ? or, for that matter, like this tax-collector.' That, Luke wrote, was a teaching by Jesus given to 'those who exalted themselves as righteous and looked down on others.' The more one practices the law, the greater the one's ego gets, leading one to look down on others. As long as one has such defilement within oneself, that internal self will remain un-lifted howsoever hard one practiced the deeds of the law and howsoever firmly one took hold of the life-saving rope hung down from heaven.
This state of us is described by Paul when he said on verse 3 of today's passage, 'the law could not do, because human weakness [flesh] robbed it of all potency.' The word 'flesh,' refers not just to the body; it represents the whole of heart and spirit that are in the body. To put it straight, 'the weakness of the flesh,' is the ego, the worries and concerns which we have in us due to the fact that we live in our bodies. And the weakness of the flesh carries with it sin more than anything else. We were taught by chapter 3 of Genesis that we humans had tried to be like God out of the weakness of our flesh. That attempt ended up with us recognizing that we are totally naked, hence getting to fear God, and hiding in the trees of Eden and covering our bodies with tree leaves. The practicing of the law cannot do any help about the weakness of our flesh or our sin resulting from it. This must have been what Paul, a Pharisee for long, realized, I gather.
3 'What the law could not do, because human weakness robbed it of all potency, God has done.' It is so written on verse 3 of today's passage. It meant that God has 'sent his own Son in the likeness of our sinful nature and to deal with sin,' and 'united us with Christ Jesus,' as written on verse 1.
Now and then we see on a TV news program a rescue team in their mission to help people drowning in the waves or fallen in a pocket of valley; a rescue man unites himself with the to-be-rescued firmly by a rope, and continues to give an encouraging word all the way until the to-be-rescued is retrieved safely in helicopter. The rescuer doesn't simply hang down a saving rope; he himself comes down to the level of the to-be-rescued and ties him firmly to the body of the rescuer. The phrase 'united with,' Paul used on verse 1 in the sentence to say, 'there is now no condemnation for those who are united with Christ Jesus,' I think, was much more than united with the rescue man.
As I said a few minutes ago, what matters is the internal 'human weakness.' Howsoever firmly one's outer body is tied to become one, one is not going to be saved unless one's inside is united and pulled up. What God did to save us by pulling up our inside was nothing but to send Jesus 'in the likeness of our sinful nature.' Not just that. It followed that this Jesus in the likeness of our flesh and we came to see each other, and we were united with him in faith. By this the flesh of Jesus and our flesh are united; we get to be one.
As to how we got to be one, I have been doing my best to elaborate by using my kind of analogy at times. Sometimes I used an analogy of organ transplanting. We may also understand how by having recourse to the word of Jesus when he said, 'I am the vine; you are the branches.' Of the parables Paul spoke, that of marriage on chapter 7 verse 1 and the following is also helpful. Our flesh is united with that of Jesus just by believing him as our savior, who was born as flesh in our likeness. That is as if our flesh is grafted on the body of Jesus. Or it is as if the flesh of Jesus is transplanted to our flesh. Furthermore, it is as if we and Jesus become a married couple and we get one in body. In this way our 'fleshy weakness,' is integrated into the 'strength of flesh,' of Jesus. By the 'strength of flesh,' of Jesus I mean the 'strength,' which showed appearance by going through the 'weakness,' of dying on a cross and then being resurrected.
What will become of the borough and leaves grafted on the stem of vine? The borough and leaves in themselves still have the 'weakness of flesh.' But being grafted on the stem, their weakness is covered by the strength of the stem and by the nutrition it surely sends. Therefore, no need to worry about the weakness they have as a borough and leaves. Should they run dry they could produce buds once again as long as they remain connected with the stem. An organ which got ill and dysfunctional can be replaced by a healthy organ, which will grow and work in place of the dysfunctional one. The illness of the old organ no longer poses a problem. The same can be said of the analogy of a married couple. Once married, neither has to make both ends meet on his/her own. Should either lose job, one can live on the income of one's partner.
United with the flesh of Jesus that way, we are not bound by the weakness of our own flesh. We get to be able rely on the flesh of Jesus. This allows us to evade from the 'weakness of our flesh.' This saves us. In contrast to Adam and Eve who had to hide among the trees of Eden and cover them with tree leaves, we depend on Jesus as food for our life, who united us with him. We rely on Jesus in his flesh as our hideout. While still having the weakness of flesh which produces sin, we proceed to be saved more and more. We are pulled up more and more.
While this is something I need to have formal approval of the board of elected officials of the church, a burial function of the late Ohgimito, the eldest daughter of Ms. Namiko Komatsu, will be held at the graveyard of the church on 20th instance. On the way back from before-the-tombs worship service in commemoration of the deceased last November, Ms. Komatsu told me something: incidentally, at the worship service in the church the same morning, I talked about a person who had been coming to the Sunday service for several times, who, after the sermon, approached me and said he felt it was a defeat on the part of Jesus, Jesus lost his faith in God to have screamed on the cross, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' He derided saying how can such a man be our savior. The daughter of Ms. Komatsu told her asking for confirmation if it was alright for her too to scream because Jesus screamed just like that. This, I think, is the very solace and salvation brought on us thanks to it that we got united with Jesus. Yes, the weakness of flesh we still have. Yet as long as we get united with the 'weakness and strength,' of the flesh of Jesus, we no longer need to worry about our own weakness. It gets to be something that doesn't matter.
4 On verse 4 and the following of chapter 8, Paul repeated saying that something will be given to or something will get indwelling in our flesh, which is united with the flesh of Jesus. And that something is the 'Spirit.' Paul repeated saying that the God's Spirit and the Spirit of Christ will come to dwell in us. To say it in the words of my analogy, the Spirit is the nutrition coming from Jesus, the stem into us, the borough and leaves. In the analogy of a married couple, the Spirit is the daily bread supplied by Jesus, the partner to us. To us the married, God and Jesus send fitting nutrition or daily bread appropriate to the married. Married we become and they won't say so long and leave us alone forcing us to earn daily bread on our own.
What good will the Spirit of God and Jesus bring to us? I think what Paul was trying to tell more than anything else was that the force of the Spirit is indeed great. Though united we are with Jesus in faith, we still have worries and anxieties due to the weakness of our flesh. Despite having faith in Jesus, we still find us 'living on the level of the old nature･･and have our outlook formed by it,' so we are still in a state 'that spells death,' and 'the outlook of the unspiritual nature is enmity with God.' This is where we, the followers, find ourselves in as we come to realize it. Forgetting it all that we are assured of the supply of daily bread and nutrition as a consequence of having been united with Jesus in flesh, we keep on worrying.
To such of us, Paul tells that the Holy Spirit is being poured on us once that we are united with Jesus, and that the Spirit of Jesus and God's Spirit dwell in us. He tells us not to forget how great the force and the gift of the Spirit are. They are much, much greater than how we realize they are. Paul said that with the Holy Spirit poured, 'those who live on the level of the spirit have the spiritual outlook,' and 'that is life and peace.' Indeed as he said, the Holy Spirit helps us embrace thought and outlook fitting to it; the spirit within us does move us. The force of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us is much stronger than the force of weakness of our flesh.
Verses 9 and the following tell us: 'So long as you live by the spirit, [if you are still under the influence of sin due to the weakness of your flesh] since God's Spirit dwells in you, you live under the rule of the spirit.' 'If Christ is in you, [and though the weakness of our flesh is still within us] then although the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is your life [meaning that you live supported by the Spirit] because you have been justified.' 'If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then the God who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give new life to your mortal bodies through his indwelling Spirit.'
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Letter of Paul to the Romans 8:1-11
1 It follows that there is now no condemnation for those who are united with Christ Jesus. 2 In Christ Jesus the life-giving law of the Spirit has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 What the law could not do, because human weakness robbed it of all potency, God has done: by sending his own Son in the likeness of our sinful nature and to deal with sin, he has passed judgment against sin within that very nature, 4 so that the commandment of the law may find fulfillment in us, whose conduct is no longer controlled by the old nature, but by the Spirit. 5-6 Those who live on the level of the old nature have their outlook formed by it, and that spells death; but those who live on t he level of the spirit have the spiritual outlook, and that is life and peace. 7 For the outlook of the unspiritual nature is enmity with God; it is not subject to the law of God and indeed it cannot be; 8 those who live under its control cannot please God. 9 'But you do not live like that. You live by the spirit, since God's Spirit dwells in you; and anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then although the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is your life because you have been justified. 11 Moreover, if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then the God who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give new life to your mortal bodies through his indwelling Spirit.
(The Revised English Bible)
- Sir, I want my sight back -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1.1 What strikes me first when I read today's word is that today's word, especially Verse 35 and the following, is in stark contrast with the event that is described in Chapter 18, Verse 18 and the following.
1.2 The title that is given to the beginning of Verse 18 and the following is 'The Rich Ruler .'There was a rich man who rose to the position of a ruler.In Israel in those days only about 70 people were able to become rulers.He asked Jesus, 'What must I do to win eternal life? ,'and at the end of a lot of different questions and answers, he heard, "Then come and follow me,” andhe 'became very sad.'Although it is not written in the Gospel according to Luke,the Gospels according to Matthew and Mark that described the similar scene say, 'He went away with a heavy heart (for example, Matthew 19:22). '
1.3 In contrast, in today's word, there appears a blind man who is sitting by the roadside begging and who is quite different from this rich ruler. He doesn't ask Jesus such a sophisticated question as 'What must I do to win eternal life ?'He goes on and on shouting , 'Have pity on me .'When Jesus asks him, 'What do you want me to do for you? ,'he answers,'I want my sight back'. And Jesus says, 'Receive your sight; your faith has healed you. 'Immediately the blind man received his sight and followed Jesus.
1.4 This is just like a pair of paintings that describe really contrastive scenes.Those whom Jesus refers to as'your faith has healed you'are four people: First, the woman who was called, a'sinful woman .'She wiped Jesus' feet with her hair and poured perfume on them (Chapter 7: 36 and the following).The second person was a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years (Chapter 8:48).The third person was one of ten men who had leprosy and were healed.He was the only man who came back to thank Jesus (Chapter 17: 19).And the fourth person is today's blind beggar. Although Jesus says, 'Your faith has healed you ,'how much faith did these four people have? Except for the first woman, all of them had nothing but 'faith in divine favor in this life ,'right?Even if such is your faith, Jesus says that he will save you.In contrast with these four people, didn't the rich ruler have faith?Yes, he did. He has faith to the effect that he wanted to inherit eternal life.He has had faith in the Ten Commandments since he was a child.Surely he has faith but he cannot be told, 'Your faith has healed you .'Rather, he gains grief due to that faith.He cannot follow Jesus. On the contrary, his faith keeps him away from Jesus.
2.1 Then we are obliged to wonder what on earth makes this kind of difference.It is never that this man is a rich ruler, whereas the person described in today's word is a blind beggar. If so, it follows that a person who has a fortune with whatever faith within him cannot be saved. The point is whether we are a'blind person 'and 'beggar 'and whether our faith starts from it.
2.2 As we were taught last time, this rich ruler asks,'What must I do to win eternal life? 'In terms of inheriting eternal life, naturally he thinks that he can do something on his side.As he was able to become one of the only 70 rulers, he was so-called a'capable man 'in this secular society and in person-to-person relationships as well. He continues to retain it in his relationship with God too. He has scored so-called 99 points out of 100, in his relationship with God and, as for the rest, 'if he inherits eternal life ,'then he scores 100 points.His faith is such a kind of thing, right?
2.3 But that is not the case with those four people who are told, 'Your faith has healed you ,'nor with those who are mentioned in parables in Chapter 18, Verse 1 and the following. No other person is so symbolic in real appearance as the person in today's word: He is a beggar.He is the existence that shows that he is nothing but a beggar to God and that contains just negatives. Then his faith originates from it. His cry comes from it. His prayer derives from it.
2.4 As we have got together to pray this way, naturally we will have faith.We hope from the bottom of our heart that that faith is not the faith that rather makes us sad and keeps us away from Jesus, as is shown in 'the rich ruler ,' but the faith that is worth being told, 'Your faith has healed you . '
2.5 What is important for that is for us to be 'beggars ' to God. Can we be that kind of people? At the little church in the countryside of Akita Prefecture in the Tohoku Area where my father used to take me since I was born, there was something about those who got together that was reminiscent of 'beggars 'to God in terms of scent or smell, I think.To be sure, defects or negative sides that each person has are different, but just because they have them, they come to church and they believe in God, which although I was young, struck me somehow.Probably my father had such a kind of thing within himself. However, in a church in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture in the Tohoku Area where I used to go, away from the church in my hometown, and also in a church in Suginami, Tokyo,very few people reminded me of their being such'beggars, 'I felt.At Takaido Church in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, the General Meeting of that district was held but especially, the pastors whom I met were not like those in my hometown whom I met. Those whom I felt familiar with were, although just a few, those who had something like 'beggars, 'about them. Among those who got together at a night prayer meeting at Takaido Church, indeed, there were such people.The couple who lost their son going to a kindergarten attached to the church in a traffic accident and took the opportunity to have faith belonged to them. The husband was active as an international lawyer and his house was very big and his wife was also very rich. But they had surely a part like 'beggars 'to God.
2.6 We would like to be 'beggars 'to God that way.Also we would like to be a faith community where we can share such a part and where we can associate with and connect with each other just through such a part. We would like to connect with and understand each other in that we are'beggars 'to God equally, without criticizing each other for not having a part or being unable to do a certain thing.
3.1 Then in what respect on earth can we say we are 'beggars 'to God? You might say that it is regrettable to say, 'I cannot actually realize such negative sides or defects yet. 'It is in today's word and in this'beggar 'being 'blind 'that we are toldwhere we can feel it. Being blind caused this person to be a 'beggar 'to God.'That way, you are blind to God, aren't you?,'Jesus asks us. He talks to us, 'Knowing that, beg God to allow us to 'recover our sight.'
3.2 Naturally you would say,'No, I'm not blind. 'What is important here is that the original Greek word uses the word 'ana-prebo 'for being able to see.Although just 'ana-prebo 'means 'being able to see ,'Luke dares to use the Greek word with the prefix 'ana'in order to show Jesus' s will.'ana'has two meanings: (1) once again or again and (2) toward upward or from above. Here it means 'see from above.' 'From above ,'that is, unless we see from the viewpoint of God, we cannot say that we have really seen.If we see with our naked eyes, under the light of this world alone, we cannot regard it as 'ana-prebo. 'The Bible says that we are those who cannot see decisively important things.
3.3 Then what cannot be seen from above?I knew well for the first time that in order to teach that, the words from Verses 31 to 34 were written. The part beginning with Verse 28 in the next chapter describes how Jesus enters Jerusalem to suffer.There in this Verse 31 and the following Jesus announces beforehand his suffering and resurrection.The disciples who heard this'did not understand this at all or grasp what he was talking about .'Namely, they couldn't 'ana-prebo 'Jesus' word.It means that they could only see from below, that is, from the human perspective or from the standpoint of this society, but not from above.
3.4 Jesus always uses the special term, 'the Son of Man ,'in order to announce beforehand his own sufferings and resurrection.Of course, this word refers to the special Savior that God sends but according to a more common usage of the Old Testament, it is a word that means a human being. Jesus didn't talk about his own sufferings and resurrection alone but announced beforehand that all of us, the sons of men, would have to take that kind of way, I think.He said to them, 'I am going to take this way ahead of you as a pioneer of that road and as a guide for you.'
3.5 The way that Jesus takes is surely a miserable way. But it is the way that leads firmly to the resurrection.And the suffering of his sufferings is the way that can become an essential encouragement for us that follow him or that can strengthen us.In Exodus about which we learned last week, the very blood of a lamb that Israeli people applied on their entranceways of their houses in order to protect themselves from their destroyers was the sacrifice that Jesus shed on the cross. Jesus' way of sufferings protects us from our destroyers.The same meaning is found in the suffering of us, who are the sons of men, right?This is the viewpoint that 'ana-prebo 'provides us with.
4.1 If we could not see these things, and if we could only see this way that we have to take from below, then how miserable it would be for us!
4.2 As on Thursday and Friday I went to bed thinking about today's sermon, I woke up early and I turned on the radio to find it broadcasting a health program. It was dealing with pancreatic cancer for this week. Although TV, and radio programs as well as publications are filled with these types of programs, the real viewpoint underlying them is the one only from below. So I get fed up with them before long and end up turning them off.Whatever precaution we may take, and however hard we may try to detect a disease in its early stages, we, the sons of men, have nothing to do but to go ahead with the process described in Verse 31 and the following. There is nothing for everything but to 'find its fulfillment.'The word, ' the Gentiles' in the phrase 'will be handed over to the Gentiles 'means 'being in a foreign land'to us when we are in good health. We become unable to walk by ourselves, or to excrete or to sleep well.We are put into a humiliating situation, maltreated, are spat upon as nuisances, ending up dying. How miserable and how bitter!
4.3 But if we see this from above, what does it mean?Jesus teaches us that it is a way leading to the resurrection. As we were taught last time, the words in Verses 29 and 30 originally mean that way.If we read only letters, we tend to interpret that we have to discard our houses and families. Who can ever do such a thing? Not so but a difficult time when we have to leave will surely come. But going through it leads to the Kingdom of God.It means that it leads to 'receiving many times as much in this age and in the age to come, eternal life.'We would like to see from above like this. In that respect, we would like to be
'beggars 'to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
(Translated by Akihiko MOCHIZUKI from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Luke 18: 31 - 43
31 He took the Twelve aside and said, 'We are now going up to Jerusalem; and everything that was written by the prophets will find its fulfillment in the Son of Man.
32 He will be handed over to the Gentiles. He will be mocked, maltreated, and spat upon;
33 they will flog him and kill him; and on the third day he will rise again.'
34 But they did not understand this at all or grasp what he was talking about; its meaning was concealed from them. A Blind Beggar Receives His Sight
35 As he approached Jericho a blind man sat at the roadside begging.
36 Hearing a crowd going past, he asked what was happening,
37 and was told that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.
38 Then he called out, 'Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.'
39 The people in front told him to hold his tongue; but he shouted all the more, 'Son of David, have pity on me.'
40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came up Jesus asked him,
41 'What do you want me to do for you?' 'Sir, I want my sight back,' he answered.
42 Jesus said to him, 'Have back your sight; your faith has healed you.'
43 He recovered his sight instantly and followed Jesus, praising God. And all the people gave praise to God for what they had seen.
(The Revised English Bible)
- The exodus from Egypt -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 In the last of our worship service we learnt from chapter 7 of the Exodus. Today we make a stride forward and we've just had chapter 12 read. Moses and Aaron conveyed the message of God to the Egyptian king Pharaoh to say, 'Let my people go into the wilderness to serve me.' The Egyptian king responded to it by giving the Israelites additional works in baking bricks. With a view to liberating the Israelites out from such a situation and to let them serve him, God brought 10 different plagues one after the other upon Egypt from 'the harm of water turned to blood,' to 'the dying of the firstborn.' With the coming of the last harm the Egyptian king at last decided to let the Israelites go from him.
As it is written on verse 21 and the following, the LORD, by this last or tenth of the plagues, went throughout Egypt and struck the Egyptians; in doing so, however, the LORD 'passed over' the houses of the Israelites when he saw the blood smeared on the lintel and the two doorposts, blood taken from the slaughter sacrificed for 'the Passover.' As written on verse 24 and the following, the Israelites have hence observed to this day 'the rite of Passover,' in order to commemorate this event. I am told that even today children will ask their father during the rite, “What is the meaning of this rite?" and the father will say in reply, “It is the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and spared our houses."
We Christians do not observe 'the rite of Passover.' But we do observe a rite to this day, which has its origin in the rite of Passover that originated in the event written in the Bible passage for today. Can you tell what? It is the sacrament of Holy Communion. The Last Supper which Jesus had with his disciples the night before his crucifixion was the special supper the Israelites had had in the rite of Passover. This Last Supper evolved to become the Holy Communion. In the Communion service pastor reads out the words of institution: words Jesus spoke to the disciples saying, “This is My body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me." “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." These were indeed the words Jesus spoke to the disciples during the Last Supper. What Jesus had in mind in saying this was that 'the blood I'll shed on cross is the blood of sacrificial lamb slaughtered during the Passover some 3500 years ago, the blood smeared on the doorposts of the houses of Israelites to protect them from the one who destroys. Though in forms different from that of Passover, we too are 'observing this rite,' as commanded on verse 25 by observing the Holy Communion.
2 What I think I must touch on in today's sermon is that God, in his initiative to let the Israelites leave away from the Egyptian king, killed the firstborn of Egyptians in his tenth act of plaguing them. There may well be some who think it was natural that Egyptians were given such a blow. An Egyptian king of earlier days, who was in the throne when Moses was born, ordered that all male babies born to the Israeli families be put to death washed off in the Nile. Egyptian kings put the Israelites under heavy load of labor, though we are not too sure for how long. Can we therefore say that it is natural for God to wreak such havoc on Egyptians in order to save the Israelites from their kings or in retaliation to how they had been treated? Were the babies to take responsibility?
This is not an easy question to make answers. Yet several things can be said. First, according to Bible commentaries, nine out of ten harms that plagued Egypt often did so by the cycle of nature. 'The plague of blood,' for instance, is considered to be a natural phenomenon that took place as the level of Nile got higher when water flow began to increase, something also observed here and there in Japan called, 'rusty water.' Rusty water was often followed by overpopulation of frogs, gnats and horseflies. If that was the case we could take the tenth plague as some kind of serious epidemic disease triggered by dead bodies of immense number of animals and insects, which resulted from the preceding nine plagues. Verse 27 says, 'he (the LORD) struck the Egyptians,' and verse 29, 'the LORD had struck down.' But verse 23 says, 'he will not let the destroyer enter to strike.' Those harms were acts of God at their basics. Yet we may also take them not as God's direct actions but as disasters which the nature and the destroyer brought about.
The other point I can make in answer to the question is that if the Egyptian king, reflecting on the preceding nine plagues, had let the Israelites leave from his rule, the tenth harm wouldn't have taken place. God gave the Egyptian king, the leader, opportunities as many as nine times to keep harms from falling on his own Egyptian people. The havoc was not given to the Egyptians by God as a penalty naturally due on them, or as an inescapable fine, it looks to me. Egyptians they certainly were. But, hearing rumors of the commandment of God given to Moses, they could also have smeared blood of the Passover on the doorposts of their houses. God prepared that way as a means for Egyptians to escape from 'the destroyer,' I would think.
3 To our regret though, the Egyptian king wouldn't let the Israelites leave. The majority of Egyptians living under the rule of the king did not say 'no,' to the way the king treated the Israelites. They also missed as many as nine time opportunities to say no. I am taught from this how too good and difficult it was for the king and the large majority of Egyptians to let go the Israeli slaves from their hands. At the same time I am made to feel that there is always such a being or a regime at any age or in any society as is symbolically represented by this Egyptian king. That is a regime that would use people as if they are their slaves to bake bricks, and make huge unjust profit from it and keep the society wealthy.
Here I have a short detour to make. I bought a book titled “The people who resisted Hitler,' (by Tatsuso Tsushima, Chuko-Shisho Books). We all know how terrible it was when Hitler ruled Germany from 1930' till 1945. Who supported the Hitler regime? The author says it was the Germen people more than anyone else who supported the regime. The most compelling reason of their support was economical. Having been defeated in the WWI, Germany was made to pay a dreadful amount of money for reparations, and the jobless rate shot up as high as 50%. Too many political parties stood and they could do nothing to lead the nation to outlive the difficult period. People lost pride as being a German. In that psychology of people Hitler crept. By upholding him as their strong leader, the economy, more than anything else, got on the truck of recovery. Giving people the work of constructing Auto-Bahn highways (and that with manual labors), coming up with an idea of work-sharing plan, and under the banner of one-car-for-each-family the regime invented Volkswagen vehicles. Many of the manufacture business of USA and of the UK too set up their plants in Germany and benefited themselves from the booming economy, though these countries ultimately stood up against Germany. I cannot help but feel that this is exactly the way of thinking of our contemporary society.
The Hitler regime deprived the wealth of the Jews in the meantime; their jobs, property and ultimately their lives. Crowds of Germans gathered at bazaars selling articles confiscated from the Jews. Millions of people frenziedly supported Hitler. This was exactly the same regime as the Egyptian kings built up 3500 years ago, which by enslaving someone else, unjustly deprived their worth, property and lives, and gained and maintained wealth. It was indeed a very difficult challenge to let go of them then. It has perhaps become more difficult to do so today, I suspect. The whole world is rushing into that kind of a regime, I am afraid. That the Egyptian kings enslaved and worked the Israelites hard 3500 years ago is not a thing of long past. They are very closely around us today.
4 How would God deal with such a regime is the very message, I think, that the whole events written in the Exodus and the passage given us today also intended to convey to us. It is the very message spoken to today's age.
God sent Moses and Aaron to the Egyptian king and told him to let the Israelites go. When the king refused to follow that commandment and would keep the unreasonable regime, God sent ten plagues to him. Ultimately God sent 'the destroyer,' to show his denial of the regime, and tried to save the Israelites out from his ruling. I find a great encouragement in this. I am also reminded by this of the conscious as a Christian. That we Christians keep remembering the event of the Passover by observing the Holy Communion 3500 years after that event means, I think, that we are being sent by God just as Moses and Aaron were, and are appointed as ones also to deny the Egyptian king and his regime.
The book I quoted a little earlier reveals that it was fortunately the churches and the followers of Christ who were at the center of those who resisted in hiding the regime of Hitler, which the vast majority of people supported. In this context, I may add to say that some 3,000 of 19,000 pastors of Evangelical churches were imprisoned, and that 1,858 of 8,000 pastors who were forced to go to military service lost their lives in the war (p.182, op. cit) according to the book. Should a Hitler-like leader emerge in Japan, I doubt if I can behave like the resistance pastors of Germany.
Should we fail to say no to such a regime, God will, without fail, send plagues and 'the destroyer' to those who would maintain that kind of regime the Bible passage for today tells. That is a great blessing. It is an act of God out of his grace lest we support such an unreasonable regime. I mean to say, for example, that such a kind of society is not going to sustain forever, in which one-third of the workers are not given the status of regular employee and can earn merely some Yen 2 million a year with their full-strength works. God-sent destroyer will come in there without fail.
5 What saved the Israelites from the hands of 'the destroyer' and from the Egyptian king was their action to follow God's commandment to slaughter the 'Passover' lamb and to smear the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts of their houses. How was it that such of their action made the destroyer pass them over? I think it was because doing so meant a show of denial to the regime of Egyptian king. Because it tantamount to resolutely leaving away from the Egyptian king and to declaring that they won't side with him.
The preceding passage of the Bible running from verse 8 shows that the Israelites were allowed to eat the slaughtered lamb for sacrifice. It had to be hard and hectic, I gather, for the enslaved Israelites of the time to procure and eat lambs just a day before their departure the next night. If the lambs were kept on feed, grown and gave birth to babies they will have grown in their value. But they were slaughtered and loss was incurred. Going out into the wilderness was also a loss. To worship God instead of being obedient to the king was also a loss. Slaughtering of a lamb implies making a loss. It meant to say no to everything which was symbolized by the Egyptian king. That was how the destroyer passed them over.
Jesus said that he is the lamb of sacrifice. If Jesus had used the power given him by God, it would have been possible for him to become a king. How much wealth and power would he have gained? Jesus said no to any such a way of being. He offered himself as a slaughter turning to be of no value. For us to believe in this Jesus means to smear his sacrificed blood on us. It is to put up Jesus of sacrifice on the doorposts of our houses, so to say. Then, we'll come to shed our own blood somewhere as it is fitting for ones having put up Jesus as a doorplate. Many followers of Christ literally shed their blood, who resisted the regime of Hitler in hiding. There are times when one has to. Unless we shed our blood somewhere, we cannot leave away from the Egyptian king who holds us strong by his hands. A destroyer will intrude.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
Exodus 12:21-42
21 Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said, 'Go at once, procure lambs for your families, and slaughter the Passover. 22 then take a bunch of marjoram, dip it in the blood in the basin, and smear some blood from the basin on the lintel and the two doorposts. Nobody may go out through the door of his house till morning. 23 The LORD will go throughout Egypt and strike it, but when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, he will pass over that door and not let the destroyer enter to strike you. 24 You are to observe this as a statute for you and your children for all time; 25 when you enter the land which the LORD will give you as he promised, you are to observe this rite. 26 When your children ask you, “What is the meaning of this rite?" 27 you must say, “It is the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and spared our houses."' The people bowed low in worship. 28 the Israelites went and did exactly as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron; 29 and by midnight the LORD had struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in dungeon, besides the firstborn of cattle. 30 Before night was over Pharaoh rose, he and all his courtiers and all the Egyptians, and there was great wailing, for not a house in Egypt was without the dead. 31 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron while it was still night and said, 'Up with you! Be off, and leave my people, you and the Israelites. Go and worship the LORD, as you request; 32 take your sheep and cattle, and go; and ask God's blessing on me also.' 33 the Egyptians urged on the people and hurried them out of the country, 'or else', they said, 'we shall all the dead'. 34 the people; picked up their dough before it was leavened, wrapped their kneading troughs in their cloaks, and slung them on their shoulders. 35 Meanwhile, as Moses had told the, the Israelites had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewellery and for clothing. 36 Because the LORD had made the Egyptians well disposed towards them, they let the Israelites have whatever they asked; in this way the Egyptians were plundered.
Exodus 12:21-42
21 Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said, 'Go at once, procure lambs for your families, and slaughter the Passover.
22 then take a bunch of marjoram, dip it in the blood in the basin, and smear some blood from the basin on the lintel and the two doorposts. Nobody may go out through the door of his house till morning.
23 The LORD will go throughout Egypt and strike it, but when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, he will pass over that door and not let the destroyer enter to strike you.
24 You are to observe this as a statute for you and your children for all time;
25 when you enter the land which the LORD will give you as he promised, you are to observe this rite.
26 When your children ask you, “What is the meaning of this rite?"
27 you must say, “It is the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and spared our houses."' The people bowed low in worship.
28 the Israelites went and did exactly as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron;
29 and by midnight the LORD had struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in dungeon, besides the firstborn of cattle.
30 Before night was over Pharaoh rose, he and all his courtiers and all the Egyptians, and there was great wailing, for not a house in Egypt was without the dead.
31 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron while it was still night and said, 'Up with you! Be off, and leave my people, you and the Israelites. Go and worship the LORD, as you request;
32 take your sheep and cattle, and go; and ask God's blessing on me also.'
33 the Egyptians urged on the people and hurried them out of the country, 'or else', they said, 'we shall all the dead'.
34 the people; picked up their dough before it was leavened, wrapped their kneading troughs in their cloaks, and slung them on their shoulders.
35 Meanwhile, as Moses had told the, the Israelites had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewellery and for clothing.
36 Because the LORD had made the Egyptians well disposed towards them, they let the Israelites have whatever they asked; in this way the Egyptians were plundered.
37 The Israelites set out from Rameses on the way to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, as well as women and children.
38 With them too went a large company of others, and animals in great numbers, both flocks and herds.
39 The dough they had brought from Egypt they baked into unleavened loaves of bread, because there were no leaven; for they had been driven out of Egypt and had had no time even to get food ready for themselves.
40 The Israelites had been settled in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years.
41 At the end of the four hundred and thirty years to the very day, all the tribes of the LORD came out of Egypt.
42 This was the night when the LORD kept vigil to bring them out of Egypt. It is the LORD's night, a vigil for all Israelites generation after generation.
(The Revised English Bible)
- What is impossible for men is possible for God -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
The passage of the Bible given us today is one well known to those of you who have been reading the scripture for years. As such it won't be necessary to make a review of its gist for you. Nevertheless when asked if the message Jesus or Luke intended to convey to us is correctly received by us, I am afraid the answer may have to be 'not necessarily' at least in part.
Should the word of Jesus be taken on its face value, it will turn out to be really difficult for men to enter the kingdom of God. It turns out to be a place where it possible to enter only after we sold all our properties and gave the proceeds to the poor. It becomes possible to enter only by giving up our home, or wife, brothers, parents, or children. There were people who took it on the face value and attempted to do as written. Many of them ended up stumbling over these words of Jesus and grieved that there was absolutely no way they could get to be eligible to enter the kingdom of God, just as the wealthy member of the council had his 'heart sank.'
But I am sure that Jesus did not mean to say what he did as written in the passage. This I can say for sure judging from the context of what he had been saying about the kingdom of God. The same scene written by also Mathew and Mark is preceded
by the word of Jesus saying, 'Whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.' Jesus likened us being brought under the reign of God as an infant held in the arms of parent. Does an infant have to give up something as a condition of being held in the arms of parent? There's no difficulty at all for an infant to be held in the arms of parent; it is very natural and indeed common for an infant to be embraced by parent.
In order to understand the word of Jesus in the right context, let us go back a little to preceding passages. On the subject of making prayers Jesus talked two parables to help us understand in concrete terms how what he told in chapter 17, verse 21 saying, 'the kingdom of God is among you,' would be realized among us. He talked about a widow who won justice from a judge and also about a tax-collector who went home acquitted of his sins. (Let us recollect in this connection that the word "justice," or the phrase "acquitted of sins or justified," is synonymous to being allowed to enter the kingdom of God.) I want us to remember here that neither the widow nor the tax-collector was asked to give up something in order to be allowed to enter the kingdom of God. Like an infant, they simply prayed and leaned on the arm of God or of a judge. To put it my word, if I may, they had no other clue but to throw themselves on and pray to the judge or to God to help them out from 'the situations they couldn't stand.' Even as they had 'problems which it was impossible for men,' to solve, to use the expression of verse 27 of the Bible passage for today and from which today's title of my sermon is quoted, they had no other means but to cling to God to have something done about it. What Jesus told was that God would without fail bring under his guard and into his kingdom such a person as, like an infant, will come to him. It is indeed very easy for us, who have unmanageable things in us, to be allowed to enter the kingdom of God.
2 When we read the Bible passage for today with the just mentioned context in mind, we get to understand why Jesus confronted the rich council member with a difficult task. Jesus did so, in short, because the man was not taking it as something 'impossible for men,' to enter the kingdom of God, ― or to 'win eternal life,' to say it in his own word. He thought he could win it for himself. That very way of his thinking was eloquently expressed when he said, 'What must I do?' He thought he could suitably do whatever it would take him to do for him to get to be eligible to enter the kingdom of God. He thought that it was how one could get into the kingdom of God. It typically represented the very idea of a man who became rich in the Jewish community of the time, who was promoted to be one of the only 70 council members there were. He had gotten whatever he had for himself. Now that he had gotten all he wanted in this world, he may well have thought that what he didn't have was eternal life and he wanted to have assurance of getting it, wondering how it would be possible. Sensing what the man had in mind, Jesus confronted him with the harsh demand as written on verse 19 and the following. The confrontation was meant to crack down to pieces the man's idea that 'he could do things for himself.' It was to confront the man with the fact that it was 'impossible for men.'
With this view in mind, the first response Jesus made to the man was to say, 'Why do you call me "good?"' On this particular point I am afraid I cannot make a firm comment today except to say as follows: the most remarkable feature of heterodox Christianity put Jesus as just a man, not God; and they often quote the word of Jesus to support their argument. By saying, 'No one is good except God,' Jesus treated himself differently from God. This is because Jesus himself did not regard him as God. It followed then that Jesus could be treated as just a man, according to their argument.
The point which Jesus was probably trying to make, I think, was that the man was wrong in thinking that humans are 'good.' The point Jesus made was that the man didn't have desperate need to be given some 'good,' relying on and from God rather than from man. At this time, I won't go further in making comment on this point.
The council member said, 'Yes I can, I can.' In response, Jesus told him to practice what are in the law. The man replied that he's kept all those things since childhood. When he insisted saying, 'I can, I can,' Jesus challenged him somewhat spitefully saying, 'then do what I tell you to do. Sell everything you have and give to the poor.' At this, the heart of the man sank, the passage says. But Mathew and Mark wrote in a different tone saying, 'At these words his face fell and he went away with a heavy heart.' (ex. Mark 10: 22) But Luke didn't write that he went away. It was because Luke wanted to tell, I gather, that the door of the kingdom of God was open to that very man at that very moment in time.
The self-conviction of the man to say, 'I can, I can,' must have been torn into pieces, then. He realized that, according to Jesus, he was not at all equipped with any qualifications to make him fit to be ushered in the kingdom of God. What then should he do? Shall he just go away as Mathew and Mark wrote? Or should he have earnestly wished and hung on saying 'Ineligible I am. But let me in,' like a spoiled child? What Jesus told him meant that it was good for him to ask like a wooing child to be let in, throwing away the pride of a rich council member and what not, recognizing that he could do nothing for himself. One who had been reckoned as 'an able,' elite thus far was confronted with the reality that he was in fact not 'able,' for the first time in his life. But even now that he was turned to be a 'cannot do man,' the door was open for him to the world where 'it is possible for God,' i.e. something impossible is made possible by God. That, I gather, was how Luke understood the intent of Jesus was in interacting with the man.
3 The dialogue went further on to verse 24 and the following. Who was referred to on verses 24 and 25, as the wealthy or a rich man may be referring to us, I think, who have some 'wealth of an able man.' 'How hard,' it is for 'an able self' to establish a relationship and gain linkage with God!' It is easier for 'a camel to go through the eyes of a needle,' than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
What, I guess, I am trying to confess is that I find myself inclined to walk, thinking that 'I could to this as a pastor, and I can do that.' I find myself living in relation to God with an idea that so able I am and I am walking as such a pastor. Such a path of mission is very difficult and may well end up going broke. This has been the case of my path of 30 years as a pastor. At Koriyama where I had served before I came to Tsukuba, I interacted with some people with strongest thought in my mind in the whole of my missionary life that 'I can and I must.' As a result, they were led to baptism. But I lost them all as they left the church. Also other several people left the church just at the time when construction work of the chapel was starting and I commenced serving as the chairman of the North-Eastern (Tohoku) Region of the United Church of Christ in Japan with the strongest-ever of conviction in mind again that 'I can and I must.' The path we tread believing that 'I can. It is possible for me,' has to go broke sometimes.
It was at the very time, however, when I was made to see eye to eye with my incapable self, and the time when I shed tears openly before the elder pastor whom I used to consult and before congregation of the church, that I came to realize that my relationship with God was changing to something new, different from how it had been thus far. I was invited to come under the reign of God who is and draws me closer to him. I also had an encounter with Jesus who whispered to my ears saying, 'I entrust my loved valuable sheep in your hands just because you have experienced failure in your mission.' My deep encounter with God was also helped by a letter from Ms. Ima-izumi. When facing the harsh reality that 'It is not possible for humans or it is not possible for me,' that is the very time when we encounter with God as in the passage it is said, 'what is impossible for men is possible for God.' That turns out to be a time when we are invited to come under the reign of God. In this way we get to learn how fortunate we are to face such a difficulty as will make us feel, 'It is impossible for me.'
4 My last point for today. After Jesus talked to the disciples as mentioned, Peter made a kind of question he typically would make saying, 'What about us?' Peter sort of boasted of the followers including him saying, 'We left all we had to follow you,' just after Jesus taught them that the time when we face with impossible difficulty is the very time when we encounter with God who will do 'what is impossible for men.' Sometime after this, the disciples had their pride broken down by the cross of the Lord, and were made to face with incapable selves. Yet it was the Easter which turned the failed disciples to ones capable of continuing on advancing the mission. That is how our Christian faith started.
As to how we should accept the words of verses 29 and 30 won't need much explanation now. To give up home, wife, brothers, parents or children was not said as a condition for entering the kingdom of God. The point doesn't lie in whether we can give them up or not. Time will come when we have to part with such valuable relationship. It comes as a time which it is 'impossible for men,' not to, even if we don't want to. It is, however, at such a time that God will appear before us as someone, for whom 'it is possible,' to do something for us. When it is impossible for us to do is just when we are invited to the kingdom of God; when things are impossible for us is just when we are given reward or remuneration from God and that in ways beyond our imagination, teaches Jesus.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
The Gospel according to Luke 18: 18-30
18 One of the rulers put this question to him: 'Good Teacher, what must I do to win eternal life?' 19 Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: "Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not give false evidence; honour your father and mother."' 21 the man answered, 'I have kept all these since I was a boy.' 22 On hearing this Jesus said, there is still one thing you lack: sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me.' 23 When he heard this his heart sank, for he was a very rich man. 24 When Jesus saw it he said, 'How hard it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eyes of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God!' 26 those who heard asked, 'then who can be saved?' 27 He answered, 'What is impossible for men is possible for God.' 28 Peter said, 'What about us? We left all we had to follow you.' 29 Jesus said to them, 'Truly I tell you: there is no one who has given up home, or wife, brothers, parents, or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not be repaid many times over in the age, and in the age to come have eternal life.' (The Revised English Bible)
January 3, 2016
- Stretch your staff, Aaron -
By Reverend Sumio Fukushima
1 At the last sermon and the one before last, we listened to the passage of Exodus from its chapter 5, verse 1 to verse 13 of chapter 6. The story began when Moses and Aaron confronted with Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, and that even for a number of times, with the demand of God about what he expected the king to do with the Israelites as written on chapter 7, verse 16, and as it will appear repeatedly in the course of their successive confrontations with him. The demand of God was to say, 'Let my people go in order to worship me in the wilderness.' As a result of presenting God's demand before the king, the Israelites were put in harsh living conditions. What was no more than mere slaves put an inordinate demand before the king of all authorities, and Pharaoh was extremely upset; he ordered them to continue baking no less bricks as before, but now without the king supplying the straw used in making them, which henceforth they had to go and collect for themselves.
Put in a severer condition, what could the Israelites do? Did God help them in some ways? If we were to be put in the same condition, I am afraid, we would throw ourselves at the feet of the king, telling him in apology, 'It was our mistake to have squarely accepted words from a god, submitted before you an inordinate wish and even that out of our short-term illusion'; this with a view for us to be put back to the earlier 'peaceful slavery.' The situation is such that, I doubt if there is any other way than to do so to help us out from the difficulty.
Yet as we go on reading the passage for today we find that 'Moses and Aaron did exactly as the LORD had commanded.' As the God's word to be given at the new year of 2016, I cannot help but feel that it is indeed heartening and full of encouragement. Criticized by fellow Israelites saying, 'You have made us stink in the nostrils of Pharaoh; you have put a sword in their hands to slay us,' Moses made a complaint to God. Yet Moses did continue to stand face to face with the Pharaoh and tell him the demand of God as the LORD commanded. We are going to read today the 'First trouble,' written on verse 14 and the following. The two so tenaciously hung on confronting the king that they had stood before him as many as ten times until Pharaoh let the Israelites leave, albeit unwillingly.
The question then is what they were. Verse 7 symbolically and impressively tells that they were just old men of 83 and 80 by age. They had neither authority nor means empowering them to confront the Egyptian king as many as 10 times. Yet they were able to 'do exactly as the LORD commanded.' This is where, I think, the following generation of Israelites got an immense encouragement. We also would like to be encouraged by this very point of the passage.
2 How on earth were they able to do what they did? I am led to see the fact that the two were of ages 83 and 80 was critically important. Perhaps some of you will get to be of the same ages, this year, and you may feel like saying you cannot do anything at your ages. Yet I would say to you that there is a great role still to be played by you. The Bible passage for today tells that very believers like you are the ones made to be our leaders and made to stand before 'Pharaoh exactly as commanded by the LORD.'
As I said earlier in this sermon, if it were us that were put in the same situation as the Israelites of the time, it may well be that we would cease presenting the demand of God before the king and wished to return to the peaceful condition as before, even though it means falling back to slavery. This, in fact, may have been what the leaders of youths and of men in their prime of life were having in their minds. But these two old men were different. Persistently they would do exactly as the LORD commanded. They were firmly committed to pursuing the way of life 'to worship the LORD in the wilderness,' leaving off the life of slaves of the Egyptian king though it might be assuring peace. For them to do so may have been made possible because, I am led to think, they knew the value of life 'to serve God, the LORD, in the wilderness,' thanks to the ages they reached, i.e. 83 and 80 respectively.
Just to remind us once more, let us see where lies the vital difference between serving the Egyptian king and serving God in the wilderness. To serve the Egyptian king tantamount to what is symbolized by baking bricks for the king or for the state. In this case the value rests, living on fertile land, in producing as many as brick as possible. That's how one would get food for living. In contrast to this, they could not bake bricks in the wilderness. In the wilderness no king or state could stand. The 83 and 80 year-old two aged men symbolically represent 'the wilderness,' I think.
They could no longer bake bricks at their ages. But God told them to 'serve me,' telling that having become unable to bake bricks for the king or for the state, yet as such, you are the very ones who can serve me. Serve me, and ultimately help and support each other as ones who live in the wilderness. They knew the value to live in service of God because they were aged. As such they guided the young and men in their prime of life, and as their representatives they stood face to face with the king.
3 Let me take a short detour here. The Asahi News Paper, I thought it was, ran a special column some fortnight ago. It was about victims of the nuclear plant accident who have been compelled to live in temporary shelters. More than just a few of them have committed suicide and this doesn't seem to stop any time soon; heart-aching for me for one having lived in Fukushima many years. Reading the article I wanted to return to Fukushima and do whatever I can to help. Why is it that some people choose to kill them? The people picked in the article had been engaged in developing the nuclear power plants that were erected along Hama-Dohri (route along coast of the Pacific Ocean). It may sound a little harsh when I say, using the expression of the Bible passage for today, that these are people who served the Egyptian king and baked bricks. But they were driven out to what is precisely the wilderness after the outbreak of the power plant accident. Not just these people but many in this country have no knowledge of how one can live out in the wilderness. That is what is meant by serving the LORD in the wilderness. I wouldn't dare say to them to believe in God and come to church. Yet it should be possible for them, as I said earlier, to lead such a life that people distressed in the wilderness help and support each other. Evacuees are financially supported more or less so they can make both ends meet; they should be able to engage themselves in the problems such as children below the poverty line and so forth.
A press article on the New Year's Day reports that people earning standard monthly incomes of about Yen 300,000 will be granted around Yen 130,000 per month in pension benefit when retired. What I am going to be entitled to may be a bit lower than that, I predict. The press report warned that with that amount of pension benefit, a retired without having own house can barely manage day to day living. Though voices calling for more pension benefit may sound loud, our society is going to be such that people cannot be helped by the state which is already burdened with Yen 1,000 trillion in debt. We are indeed headed towards an age of living in the wilderness. But we are given courage, I think, by the word of the Bible passage for today; it says that there is a way for us to live to serve God precisely because it is in the wilderness that we live. That, I think, is indeed where our way of life changes drastically; it is going to be an age when the way of life in the wilderness such as sharing an empty house and helping each other is going to support us, it looks to me.
4 Back to today's story, now. Moses at age 80 and Aaron at 83; these old men confronted the Egyptian king as leaders of the Israelites. To them God said on verse 9, 'If Pharaoh demands some portent from you, then you, Moses, must say to Aaron, "Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh," and it will turn into a serpent.'
It was highly suggestive, I feel, that the Egyptian king would demand from the two old men to 'show portent,' who were pushed out by God to confront the Pharaoh. Portent the king demanded was, in a nutshell, nothing difference in nature from the baking of bricks, I gather. Drawing us onto the same field of values as the king held, he whispers to us saying you cannot perform miracles and so no benefit will accrue by serving God; that being the case, come and serve me.
To this God said 'take up the staff of Aaron.' When he threw down the staff before Pharaoh, it turned into a serpent. Verse 11 and the following tell that when the wise men and the sorcerer threw their staff they likewise turned into serpents. Yet the serpent from Aaron swallowed up theirs. The staff Aaron had (and Moses also had one) and those of the wise men, sorcerers and the magicians were the same sticks. But they were of contrasting nature, I would think. The ones Aaron and Moses had were staff for the aged men to use; to help them support the weakened bodies. In contrast, the staff the wise men and the sorcerer had was the kind the Egyptian king had ? according to an explanation, some cobra were so trained, if I may, that when thrown they got hard as sticks. At the top of the staff was fixed a serpent as I recollect it from a motion picture I saw. And it symbolizes the power of the king; it represents gods of Egypt.
It is an irony and humor of God that staff?turned serpent of the old man should swallow ones turned from staff symbolizing the king. God was saying as follows: should the Egyptian king demand a portent from you, deploy the staff you, old man, use. It would turn into a serpent and the serpent would swallow up the serpents symbolizing the king. Confront their staff symbolizing their strength with the staff, which is a symbol of your weakness and is the support for your weakness, for it is how you should live. If you live the way you should, you will be able to overcome the king, said God.
What does the staff of Aaron mean to us? It means to me nothing else but Jesus, especially Jesus put to death on the cross, though some may criticize my saying so as being a jump of logic. Reading this line I could not help but recollect a passage from the Gospel according to John. Chapter 3, verse 14 of John leaves cryptic words to say, 'Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,' though it does not refer to the scene of today's passage. In the Gospel according to John, the first miracle Jesus performed was to turn water into wine during a wedding banquet at Cana?in?Galilee. This story indeed overlaps with the story of the first portent which Moses and Aaron showed by turning the waters of Egypt including that of the Nile into blood. Yet the first miracle Jesus performed was not to turn water into in-potable blood, but to turn it into the best quality wine.
We are not going to review each of the 9 harms done to Egypt which are written on chapter 7, verse 25 through the chapter 11. These miracles performed by Moses and Aaron we can understand, so it is told, as events that broke down the symbols of respective gods of Egypt. Miracles they were, but not miracles in common sense of the words. They were miracles performed by 83 and 80 year-old aged men to hit down the Egyptian king, the symbol of strength; miracles by which the weak stroke down the strong. I should like that we, the weak, take up the staff, Jesus, and with it confront the earthly king during the year just opening.
(Translated by Hiroshi NISHIDO from the gist prepared in Japanese)
Exodus 7:6-24
6 Moses and Aaron did exactly as the LORD had commanded.
7 At the time when they spoke to Pharaoh, Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three.
8 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
9 'If Pharaoh demands some portent from you, then you, Moses, must say to Aaron, "Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh," and it will turn into a serpent.'
10 When Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, they did as the LORD has told them; Aaron threw down his staff in front of Pharaoh and his courtiers, and it turned into a serpent.
11 At this, Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerer, and the Egyptian magicians did the same thing by their spells:
12 every man threw his staff down, and each staff turned into a serpent. But Aaron's staff swallowed up theirs.
13 Pharaoh, however, was obstinate; as the LORD had foretold, he would not listen to Moses and Aaron.
14 The LORD said to Moses, 'Pharaoh has been obdurate: he has refused to let the people go.
15 In the morning go to him on his way out to the river. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take with you the staff that turned into a snake.
16 Say to him: "The LORD the God of the Hebrews sent me with this message for you: Let my people go in order to worship me in the wilderness. So far you have not listened.
17 Now the LORD says; By this you will know that I am the LORD. With this rod I hold in my hand, I shall strike the water of the Nile and it will be changed into blood.
18 The fish will die and the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile."'
19 The LORD told Moses to say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch your hand out over the waters of Egypt, its rivers and its canals, and over every pool and cistern, to turn them into blood. There will be blood throughout the whole of Egypt, blood even in their wooden bowls and stone jars.
20 Moses and Aaron did as the LORD had commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and his courtiers Aaron lifted his staff and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed to blood.
21 The fish died and the river stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood everywhere in Egypt.
22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same thing by their spells. So Pharaoh still remained obstinate, as the LORD had foretold, and he did not listen to Moses and Aaron.
23 He turned and went into his palace, dismissing the matter from his mind.
24 The Egyptians all dug for drinking water round about the river, because they could not drink from the waters of the Nile itself.
(The Revised English Bible)