ルカによる福音書9:46-50 Luke 9:46-50,

「わたしの名のためにこの子供を受け入れる者は、わたしを受け入れるのである。わたしを受け入れる者は、わたしをお遣わしになった方を受け入れるのである。あなたがた皆の中で最も小さい者こそ、最も偉い者である。」　　　　　　　　　（ルカ9:48）

自分が偉いと思っている人は、往々にして偉くないように見える人を排除しようとしがちです。しかし、キリストの弟子たちの集まりは、そのようなことをする集まりになってはなりません。むしろ、子どものような偉くないように見える人を受け入れる集まりでなければならないということです。そして、子どものような偉くないように見える人を受け入れなければならない理由は、その偉くないように見える人の背後にはキリストがおられるからです。さらに、キリストの背後には父なる神様がおられるからであります。

そこで、このことをキリスト教会に当てはめますと、教会の内部における人間関係の原則は受容すなわち受け入れることである、と言えます。教会の中には、有能な人もいれば、そうでない人もいます。熱心な人もいれば、そうでない人もいます。しかし、キリストを信じる人は、すべて神様がキリストにおいて受け入れようとしておられる人なのであります。教会の中では、だれ一人として有能で熱心だからという理由で神様に受けられている人はいません。キリストを信じる信仰のゆえに、神様に受け入れられているのです。ですから、神様によって受け入れられている者同士として、お互いに受け入れ合わねばならないのであります。

ただし 例外として排除されるべき人もあります。それは、第一に、ほかの人を裁いたり、攻撃したりする人であります。キリストは、仲間を赦さない家来が王から裁かれるというたとえ話を語った後、マタイによる福音書の18章35節で「あなたがたの一人一人が、心から兄弟を赦さないなら、わたしの天の父もあなたがたに同じようになさるであろう」と警告しておられます。つまり、人を赦さない人は、自分も赦されないということであります。また、第二に、明らかに罪を犯しているのに悔い改めない人も排除されなければなりません。使徒パウロは、コリントの教会の中に父親の妻とみだらな関係をもちながら悔い改めようとしない信徒がいることを指摘しました。そして、「あなたがたの中から悪い者を除き去りなさい」（一コリント5:13）とはっきり命じています。このように、特別な場合には排除ということもあり得るのですが、教会の人間関係の原則は受容ということであります。お互いを受容することによって、誰が一番偉いかというような議論が起こらないようにしていかねばなりません。教会で偉いのはイエス・キリストであって、人間ではないからであります。　　　　　　　（8月27日の説教より）

The history of Christianity is both a history of evangelisation and a history of schisms: the decisive split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church in the 11th century and the split of the Protestant Church from the Catholic Church with the Reformation of the 16th century were major events in world history. Protestant churches tended to value the quest of the truth more than the maintenance of their organisation, as they valued only the authority of Scripture. As a result, Protestant churches have become intricately divided within themselves. The Protestant churches can be broadly divided into Lutheran, Reformed, Presbyterian, Congregational, Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Evangelical and Pentecostal. Each of these denominations is then further divided or connected to each other by various circumstances. Our denomination, the Church of Christ in Japan is in the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition. It is in contact with other denominations belonging to the same tradition, both at home and abroad, and is striving to evangelise and build up churches. By the way, those who attend church conferences, such as presbytery and synod, for the first time may be surprised to find that the members attending the conferences are often in sharp conflict with each other, even though they belong to the same denomination. This is a good tradition of respect for debate, but on the other hand, it also contains the danger that those with opposing arguments will not yield to each other, leading to schism in the worst case scenario.

The northern part of the UK is called Scotland, which was originally separate from England in the south. The Church of Scotland was one of the first to embrace the Reformation in the 16th century. And as a Presbyterian church, the Church of Scotland was very influential in the world churches. However, 180 years ago, in 1843, the Church of Scotland split in two. The majority of the divided churches that formed separate denominations rejoined the Church of Scotland in 1929, but a minority of the divided churches, mainly in the rural areas of the Highlands and Islands, remain separate to this day. This minority, which called itself the Free Church of Scotland, was characterised by singing only the old Psalm songs, songs based on the Old Testament, without accompaniment, and by strict preaching in the spirit of the Reformation. However, about 20 years ago, this minority split again. Commenting on this schism, one Japanese pastor, who was studying in Scotland at the time, wrote as follows. “Indeed, we are well aware that in order to secure the spiritual freedom and independence of the church, hard choices must be made, even to the point of schism. …… Nevertheless, it is also true that every time we heard the news of that schism, we could feel first hand the great disappointment and coldness of Scottish society as a whole towards the church.” In other words, even in an originally Christian land like Scotland, people today are increasingly turning away from the church, and a split in the church in such an era would only accelerate people’s distrust of Christianity.

What I have just said is not only a story of a distant foreign country. The Christian churches in Japan are much smaller in size than churches in other countries, but despite this, the reality is that there are not a few internal conflicts of opinion and struggles for leadership. So, although Christians are a minority group, less than 1% of Japanese society as a whole, we also internally argue about who is the greatest. And this is not a stranger to us. Our church is a very small church with about 20 active members. But even in such a small church, there is a danger of arguments as to who is the greatest. This is because even among the twelve disciples of Christ there were such disputes.

Today’s Bible passages reveal that there was a dispute among the disciples of Jesus Christ as to who was the greatest, as in verse 46. Presumably, these disciples are referring to the twelve disciples, who were the core of Christ’s disciples. The twelve disciples, then, would have been spending their strength on unimportant disputes, such as who was the greatest, without knowing the deep will of Christ as he was moving forward step by step to undergo the suffering of the cross. And Christ did not leave this state of affairs as it was. He saw into the hearts of his disciples and took the hand of one child to stand beside him and teach them the following words, which are recorded in verse 48: “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”

According to Mark 9:35, which Luke, the writer of the Gospel, is thought to have referred to in writing this passage, Christ said, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” This passage of the gospel of Mark could be interpreted as “he who serves with a lowly heart is great.” However, Luke seems rather to have taken this verse to mean: “Stop thinking about who is great.” He might have rewritten it as Christ saying, “He who is least among you all is the one who is great.” In other words, according to Luke, Christ’s teaching was that among his disciples it did not matter whether someone was great or not, but rather that it was important to accept the seemingly less great.

People who think they are great are often inclined to exclude those who do not appear to be great. However, a gathering of disciples of Christ should not be a gathering that does this. Rather, it is to be a gathering that accept those who appear not to be great like children. And the reason why we must accept someone who does not look great like a child is because behind that person who does not look great is Christ. Moreover, behind Christ is God the Father, for in verse 48 Christ says: “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.”

So, applying this to the Christian church, we can say that the principle of human relations within the church is acceptance. Some people in the church are competent, others are not. Some are zealous, some are not. But all who believe in Christ are those whom God wants to accept in Christ. No one in the church is accepted by God because he is competent and zealous. They are accepted by God because of their faith in Christ. Therefore, as those who are accepted by God, we must accept each other.

However, there are exceptions who should be excluded. These are, firstly, those who judge or attack others. After Christ told the parable of the king’s judgement of the retainer who did not forgive his fellow man, he warned in Matthew 18:35: “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” In other words, those who do not forgive others will not be forgiven. And secondly, those who have clearly sinned but do not repent must also be excluded. The apostle Paul pointed out that there was a believer in the church of Corinth who was having an illicit relationship with their father’s wife but refused to repent. He clearly commands, “Purge the evil person from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:13) Thus, while in special cases there can be exclusion, the principle of relationships in the church is acceptance. Acceptance of one another should prevent arguments as to who is the greatest. This is because it is Jesus Christ who is the greatest in the church, not man.

What we have discussed so far has been the nature of relationships within the church. However, Christ teaches us that not only within the church, but also to those outside it, his disciples must treat others on the principle of acceptance. Verse 49 reports that there was a person who performed miracles in the name of Jesus Christ, but did not actually want to follow Christ as the disciples did. Namely, John, one of the twelve disciples, is described as saying, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.”

Did the person in question have faith in Christ? The Bible does not say that he had or did not have faith. In Acts 19:13 and followings, we read of an incident in which Jewish exorcists who claimed to perform miracles in the name of Jesus Christ, despite having no faith, failed to cast out evil spirits. In today’s passages, unlike that, it does not say that the person who used the name of Christ failed, so we can assume that this person must have had faith in Christ. However, this person did not go with the disciples to follow Christ. In other words, he was performing miracles in Christ’s name, but he did not sacrifice himself for Christ. This, it must be said, was a very half-hearted way of life. That is why the disciples wanted him to stop using Christ’s name. The disciples would have thought that Christ would have felt the same way. However, as verse 50 says, surprisingly, Jesus Christ said, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”

At first glance, such a generous attitude of Christ may seem to contradict his strict teaching in Luke 9:23: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Certainly, Christ requires his disciples to live a hard life, to deny themselves and take up their crosses. At the same time, however, he also reminds his disciples that they should not be deluded into thinking that they are the only ones qualified to use Christ’s name because they are taking the hard path, by saying, “The one who is not against you is for you.” This could be said to be a warning against a kind of Christian elitism. There are indeed many battles to fight if we are to live rightly as Christians in today’s society. You have to fight against greed and idolatry, and you have to take every opportunity to confess that you are a Christian. You must also bear burdens and make sacrifices in your relationships with your neighbours. If only those who can do all these things can become Christians, who will be saved? And who can come to church?

When Christ told his disciples, “The one who is not against you is for you,” he meant that those who are familiar with the name of Jesus Christ and want to achieve something in his name should be accepted as allies. For example, a school or organisation that is run on a Christian basis may in fact have only a small percentage of its members who are Christians and, taken as a whole, may strongly reflect the views of non-Christians. The content of such schools and organisations may not seem very different from that of ordinary schools and organisations. However, it is best not to criticise such schools and organisations unnecessarily. This is because Christian schools and organisations have the power to enter where the church cannot penetrate.

There are also those who are not Christians themselves, but who have a certain respect for Christ. Christians should treat such people with gratitude. In Mark 9:41, Christ tells us that “whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.” It is true that there are people who say that they are not Christ’s disciples, but who show favour towards Christ’s disciples. For example, when one of a couple is a Christian and the other is not, on the one hand, often he or she is not pleased for his/her partner to go to church. On the other hand, the opposite may be the case: not only does his/her partner approve of her/his going to church, but he or she also understands the work of the church and helps her/him with money and effort. Others may not be serious about seeking the way of Christianity, but are interested in the Bible and like to talk and listen to Christian-related stories. There are also those who do not attend regular Sunday services, but come for special gatherings such as Christmas or evangelistic services. Of course, it would be preferable if they actively seek the way further, but we must first love and accept them. In this way, it is a proper attitude for the church to always be receptive to outsiders.

Thus, disciples of Christ, i.e., Christians, must always be receptive to others, both to those inside the church and to those outside. However, deep within our human hearts lies a nature that prevents us from being receptive to others. The religious reformer Calvin said that it was “self-love and love of victory.” (Institute of Christian Religion, Book 3, Chapter 7, 4) To be receptive to others, we must continually abandon this “self-love and love of victory.” Of course, we can never completely abandon it, but that is why we must repent and pray daily and continue to abandon the “self-love and love of victory” that wells up and builds up in our hearts.

By discarding such a superfluous thing, we can be better used as vessels to carry the grace of Christ. The missionaries who came to Japan from America at the end of the Edo period, when Christianity was still officially banned, did really dedicated work: three missionary couples, Mr. and Ms. Hepburn, Mr. and Ms. Brown and Mr. and Ms. Ballagh, lived in a temple called Joubutsuji in present-day Kanagawa Honcho, Yokohama, where they patiently waited for the opportunity to evangelise. They all had different gifts. They accepted each other and the people of Japan, and did different and wonderful works. It is interesting to note that the first Japanese to be baptised by Protestant missionaries was a doctor named YANO Mototaka, who taught them Japanese. We hope to be used as God’s vessels by accepting one another and by accepting people from outside.