ルカによる福音書10:1-4 Luke 10:1-4,

収穫は多いが、働き手が少ない。だから、収穫のために働き手を送ってくださるように、収穫の主に願いなさい。

（ルカ10:2）

一方で、キリスト教の伝道は、御言葉の種をまくという意味で種まきにたとえられます。たとえば、ルカによる福音書8章4節から15節では、御言葉の種をまいたときに実らない土地と実る土地があることが、道端、石地、茨の中、良い土地などのたとえで示されています。他方、伝道は神様の用意してくださった収穫を刈り入れるという意味で、刈り入れにもたとえることができます。

なぜ伝道が刈り入れにたとえられるかと申しますと、 旧約聖書においては神様が終わりの日に神の民を集めるということが、収穫の刈り入れにたとえられているからであります。すなわち、旧約聖書のイザヤ書27章12節には次のように記されています。「その日が来ると／ユーフラテスの流れからエジプトの大河まで／主は穂を打つように打たれる。しかし、イスラエルの人々よ／あなたたちは、ひとりひとり拾い集められる。」この預言の意味は、神様が終わりの日に最後の審判をなさるときに、逆らう国々は裁かれるが、神の国に属する人々は収穫として集められるという意味です。新約聖書でも、マタイによる福音書13章24節から30節のいわゆる毒麦のたとえにおきまして、最後の審判と救いが収穫の刈り入れにたとえられています。キリストの福音を宣べ伝えて信じる人を救う伝道は、終わりの日の審判と救いを先取りする出来事ですから、伝道は刈り入れにたとえることができるのであります。もっとも、伝道は暫定的な刈り入れと言うべきでしょう。最終的な刈り入れと収穫の選別は、終わりの日の最後の審判によってなされると考えておくべきでありましょう。

伝道が刈り入れであるとしますと、収穫はすでに用意されているということになります。すなわち、伝道するしもべたちの役割は、収穫を刈り入れることであって、みずから収穫を生み出すということではありません。そして、このことは、 伝道を種まきにたとえる種まきのたとえでは、良い土地にまかれた種がおのずから実を結ぶと教えられていることも一致しています。 ですから、しもべたちは、神様が用意してくださった収穫が多いことに信頼して、収穫を刈り入れる働き人が多く起こされるように祈るようにと教えられています。収穫が多いのだから、あなた方が一生懸命働きなさいとは教えられていないことに注意いたしましょう。もちろん、伝道につかわされたしもべたちは一生懸命に働くべきですが、キリストはあえてそのようにはおっしゃらずに「働き手を送ってくださるように、収穫の主に願いなさい」とおっしゃいました。　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　（7月7日の説教より）

Dr. KONDO Katsuhiko of Tokyo Union Theological Seminary, who has been speaking with deep insight on evangelism in Japan, has identified two major reasons why Christian evangelism in Japan has not been successful. The first is that the fervent Christianity introduced to Japan by missionaries from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji era has been severely weakened by Japanese society and culture. The Awakening Movement led to a growing movement to proclaim the gospel of Christ throughout the world: in 1846, a conference of the Evangelical Alliance was held in London, to which foreigners living in Yokohama responded by holding a New Year’s first week prayer meeting for the salvation of the Japanese people. The flames of their prayers were kindled in the young people who were learning English under the missionary Rev. Ballagh. They also held a New Year’s first week prayer meeting, which led to the birth of the first Protestant church in Japan, the present-day Yokohama Kaigan Church, in 1872. As you know, this church is the root of our denomination, the Church of Christ in Japan. However, this fervent Christianity was severely weakened by nationalism before and during the Second World War, socialism after the war, and the secularisation of society as a whole during the era of rapid economic growth. By these, the power of evangelism has been diluted.

The second reason is that the fervent Christianity that came to Japan from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji era had weak point in itself. That is, it was evangelistic but weak in terms of church formation. In the words of Dr KONDO: “Ethical but not doctrinal. It emphasises testimony, but lacks an understanding of confession of faith. It has a warm heart but a weak understanding of orders (i.e., the ministry of pastors and elders) and sacraments (i.e., baptism and the Lord’s supper). Hence it is weak in its resistance to the stormy waves of history.” Even today, it still happens that pastors, evangelists and Christians with good, enthusiastic preaching and testimony and warm hearts fail in their evangelism, pastoral care and life of faith. This is because, as in the case of Christianity from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji era, there is a weak awareness of the church orders and the church’s confession of faith. We are aware of the causes of the weakness of Japanese Christianity, as pointed out by Dr. KONDO, and hope to receive strength to overcome them from the Bible. (The quotation is from the Bulletin of the Central Mission Institute of the Reformed Church in Japan, Mission Seminar: Challenges for Japanese Mission in the 21st Century. Translated by MIYOSHI Akira).

Today’s biblical passage describes Christ’s sending of 72 disciples on a mission, an event recorded only in the Gospel of Luke. The sending of the twelve disciples is recorded in Luke 9, which is also recorded in the Gospel of Matthew and Mark. Critical biblical scholars therefore argue that the sending of the 72 disciples is an article invented by Luke. However, on the other hand, there are scholars that the sending of the 72 disciples is based on solid historical sources. Moreover, from the standpoint of Luke, the writer of the Gospel, it was obvious that if he wrote about the sending of the 72 disciples, other than the twelve disciples, questions would be raised as to whether this was true or not. If Luke knew that such questions would arise and he dared to write about the sending of the 72 disciples, then he must have had solid material on which this event was based. Therefore, we can say that the sending of the 72 disciples is an article with a historical basis.

The next question arises: why the number of the disciples who were sent were 72? Very interestingly, the Greek New Testament manuscripts have both the 70 and the 72 numbers. And it is difficult to determine which was the original. All Japanese Bibles, including newer translations, give the number as 72. However, some English Bibles give the number as 70 (KJV and NRSV). And there is a very interesting fact that corresponds to this question of 72 or 70. That is, in Genesis 10 of the Old Testament, there is a list of the various peoples of the world, and the total number of these various peoples is 70 in the Hebrew Old Testament and 72 in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. So, when Christ sent 72 or 70 disciples, he may have been symbolically referring to the number 72 or 70 as the number by which he would eventually send his disciples to the peoples of the world. Of course, this is speculative but possible. The sending of the 72 disciples was in itself an evangelistic mission to the Jews, but it could also have been a precursor to the eventual sending of Christ’s disciples to the whole world.

In sending the 72 disciples out on mission, Christ taught two major principles. First, in verse 2 Christ says: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” This means that evangelism is like reaping God’s harvest, so we should pray to God to send us laborers. On the one hand, Christian evangelism is compared to sowing in the sense of sowing the word of God. For example, in the parable of sower (Luke 8:4-15), the wayside, stony ground, among thorns and good land shows that when the seed of the word of God is sown, there are fruitless land and fruitful land. On the other hand, evangelism can also be compared to reaping in the sense of reaping the harvest that God has prepared.

The reason why evangelism is compared to reaping is that in the Old Testament, God’s gathering of his people on the Last Day is compared to reaping the harvest. In Isaiah 27:12, Isaiah prophesied as follows. “On that day the Lord will beat out the grain, from the streams of the Euphrates to the wadi of Egypt; but you Israelites will be gathered one by one” (REB). The meaning of this prophecy is that when God makes the final judgement on the Last Day, the transgressing nations will be judged, but those who belong to the kingdom of God will be gathered as a harvest. In the New Testament, too, in the so-called parable of the weeds in Matthew 13:24-30, the final judgement and salvation are compared to the reaping of the harvest. Evangelism, which preaches the gospel of Christ and saves those who believe, is an event that anticipates the judgement and salvation on the Last Day, so evangelism can be compared to the reaping. However, evangelism should be called a provisional reaping. The final reaping and sorting of the harvest will take place at the Last Judgement on the Last Day.

If evangelism is a reaping, then the harvest is already prepared. In other words, the role of the evangelising servant is to reap the harvest, not to produce it himself. This is also consistent with the parable of sower, which compares evangelism to sowing, which teaches that the seed sown on good soil will naturally bear fruit. Therefore, servants are taught to trust that the harvest that God has prepared is plentiful, and to pray that many workers will be raised up to reap the harvest. Note that it is not taught that you should work hard because the harvest is plentiful. Of course, servants sent to evangelise should work hard, but Christ did not say so, but rather, “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Often Christian evangelism is simply measured by numbers. For example, it is sometimes said how many people one person has led. Then there are cases where the numbers are used to evaluate whether a person is a committed Christian or not. However, we must not lose the humility of reaping the harvest that God has prepared for us. It is a great mistake to be proud of oneself as if one had produced the harvest. It is not important who led many people, but rather that a large harvest is reaped by a large number of workers. This also applies to the relationship between churches. Rather than simply evaluating the work of the churches by numbers and comparing each other to see which church is the best, we should rather pray together for evangelists to be raised up who will reap God’s harvest.

The second important principle of evangelism is to trust in God alone. In other words, we must not rely on human beings. In verse 3 Christ says: “Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” The reality is that a worker sent to evangelise, on the one hand, needs to be helped by the people he is evangelising. This is also taught in verse 7: “And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages.” For example, Rev. TAKEDA Eishiro, the pastor of Osaka Nishi Church, who has already passed away, was sent to Osaka in 1950, when the city still bore the scars of the air raids of the Second World War. He then went to the manager’s house of his neighbouring company, Kameda Kogyo, which traded in iron, to take a bath there. Then, he became friends with the manager, Mr. TSURUKAWA. Later, Mr. TSURUKAWA was baptised and became an elder of the Osaka Nishi Church. Christ said in Luke 9:50: “The one who is not against you is for you.” He who evangelise must accept people’s goodwill with an open heart.

On the other hand, it must also be remembered that he who evangelise must not rely on people. This is because every human being has a wolf-like aspect, just as it is likened to “sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves” to evangelise. Another man who has already gone to heaven, Rev. SONODA Yukichi, pastor of Shimabara Church in Kyushu, was trained as a young seminary student by Rev. UEMURA Masahisa who was a pastor of Fujimi-cho Church, a leader of the Church of Christ in Japan before the Second World War. One day, pastor UEMURA was in a very good mood, so Mr. SONODA slipped up and said, “Pastor, Fujimimi-cho Church is a fine church,” to which Pastor Uemura replied with a very sharp sword, “What! What’s so good about it?” Mr. SONODA answered, “Fujimi-cho Church is the biggest church in Japan, and there are presidents, professors, executives, doctors, etc. as members.” Then, Pastor UEMURA listened intently and then spat out, “You can’t count on any of them!” Pastor UEMURA’s words are not meant to slander the character of the people who gather in the church, but to show that when doing God’s work of evangelism, we must not rely on human beings but simply trust in God.

The teaching in verse 4, “Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals,” is also a symbolic reference to the fact that we should simply trust in God to provide us with our daily bread. However, there are places in the Bible where the opposite seems to be true. It is Luke 22:35-36. There it is written as follows.

And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.

Christ’s words, “but now,” tell us that the situation is different from the time when he sent the 72 disciples and now that the suffering of the cross is imminent. He said, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.” These words do not mean literally, but they mean that we should prepare ourselves for the suffering with such a mindset. In other words, considering that Christ was about to be handed over for crucifixion at this time, the disciples of Christ are probably taught that when suffering is imminent, they should make provision for it using their worldly possessions. Therefore, when going to evangelise in places like Japan, where there is prejudice against Christianity, it is necessary to prepare for suffering using worldly possessions while standing on the principle of simply trusting God. The instruction in the second half of verse 4, “greet no one on the road,” probably means that we should concentrate on preaching the gospel and not be distracted by ritualistic socialising.

Dr. KONDO Katsuhiko, whose words I quoted at the beginning of today’s article, defines evangelism as “gathering of God’s people for the sake of the kingdom of God.” Today’s Bible passage also illustrates this well. That is, evangelism means reaping God’s harvest and must be done in trust in God alone. Therefore, evangelism is God’s work from beginning to end. The church is an organisation. As an organisation, it is natural to want to expand it. However, through this natural thing, something different from the true evangelism may come in. In other words, in order to increase the number of people and expand the organisation, the church may teach things that are not from the Bible, the word of God. The result is that the church will be swayed by the ideas and atmosphere of the times and will end up with empty results.

In this respect, the faith of the missionaries who came to Japan at the end of the Edo period should be emulated. They firmly believed in the teachings of the Bible, lived according to those teachings, prayed and worshipped, and waited for the day when God himself would cause a fountain of faith to spring up in the land of Japan, even though Christianity was still officially banned. Rev. UEMURA Masahisa likened that period to a “restrained fountain.” That is, the force of the water was gradually increasing, but there were obstacles on top that prevented the water from gushing forth with any vigour yet. According to this metaphor, when God himself decides that evangelism will progress, the water pressure will increase sufficiently to push aside obstacles and cause the water to gush forth. Our Shiki Kita Presbyterian Church has also gone through a period of this restrained fountain. However, it could also be said that the water from that suppressed fountain has gushed out a little, and we have gone from being a mission station to a church. And if we firmly believe in the teachings of the Bible and live according to those teachings, praying and worshipping, the day will come when the water will gush even more vigorously. Believing that that day will come, we will pray and serve God.