ルカによる福音書9:10-17 　Luke 9:10-17

すべての人が食べて満腹した。そして、残ったパンの屑を集めると、十二籠もあった。（ルカ9:17）

キリストがどのようにしてこの奇跡を行われたかということは、14節の後半から17節のところに記されています。第一に、弟子たちに命じて人々を五十人ぐらいずつ組にして座らせました。第二に、キリストが五つのパンと二匹の魚を取り、感謝の祈りをささげてから、それらを裂いて弟子たちに配らせました。第三に、すべての人が食べて満腹して、残ったパンは十二のかごにいっぱいになるくらいでした。この一連の出来事は、あまりにも淡々と記されていますので、一体どのようにして五つのパンと二匹の魚で人々を養われたかは、想像するしかありません。おそらく、弟子たちが裂かれたパンと魚を受け取りそれを分配している間に、パンと魚が増えていったのでありましょう。

もちろん、この出来事を合理的に解釈する聖書の研究者もいます。しかし、合理的な解釈は、聖書に書かれていることの本来の意図から離れてしまいます。たとえば、弟子たちが食べ物を配っていると、群衆が自分の持ってきた食べ物を自発的に提供しだしたので、それが積もり積もってばくだいな量となり、群衆全体が食べてもまだ余分があるくらいだった、というような解釈です。これは確かに興味深い解釈ではありますが、ここで聖書が言おうとしていることとは違っています。そもそも、聖書の中には、古くから食べ物に関する奇跡があったということが記されています。旧約聖書の出エジプト記によれば、エジプトから脱出したイスラエルの人々は荒れ野を旅する間、マナという不思議な食べ物によって養われました。また、列王記によれば、預言者のエリシャは少しの食べ物で百人の人を満腹させたということです(列王下4:42-44)。ですから、現代の人々の基準で、このような奇跡はありえないと考えてこの物語を合理的に解釈するのではなく、旧約聖書の時代になされていたような奇跡が、イエス・キリストによってもなされたと解釈するべきでしょう。

イエス・キリストは、主の祈りの中で「我らの日用の糧を今日も与えたまえ」 と祈るように弟子たちに教えてくださいました。この祈りは、罪の赦しを求める「我らに罪を犯す者を我らが赦すごとく、我らの罪も赦したまえ」という祈りよりも先に出てきます。食べ物と罪の赦しのどちらがキリスト教の中で本質的な恵みかと言えば、それは罪の赦しの方でありましょう。それにもかかわらず、食べ物の方をまず先に祈り求めるように教えてくださったのは、私たち人間にとってまず身近な方を先に祈るようにとキリストが配慮してくださったということなのでしょう。キリストは人間の肉体をとってこの世にお生まれになりましたから、キリストご自身、人間の肉体的な飢えや渇きの苦しさをよくご存じでありました。ですから、荒れ野に集まってきた群衆に対しても、パンの奇跡を行うことによって食べ物をお与えくださったのでありました。

（7月16日の説教より）

One of the Christian customs is the prayer of thanksgiving before the meal. This is the custom of saying a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the food on the table before eating the meal. It may be prayed aloud or in silent prayer. A Christian woman tried to give thanks to God in heaven before eating in front of her non-Christian husband by praying, “Thank you for giving us this food.” The husband then became angry and told his wife that it was not God who gave her this food, but himself. In other words, he wanted to say that you can eat this food only because I go to work hard and get my monthly salary from the company, and that you should thank me rather than God. Certainly, working in an organisation and earning an income can be a lot of hardship that only the worker himself can understand. And for such hardships, the family should not forget to say thank you. However, it is wrong to say, “I am the one who gives you this food, not God, so you should thank me rather than God.” That is hubris. If such a way of thinking is not changed, then sooner or later that person will face a crisis in life.

Farmers know that no matter how hard they work, without the blessings of heaven, their crops will not bear fruit. They also know that if they do not get a proper price for their produce, their path to a cash income will be closed. However, if you are working in a large business organisation, your own performance within that organisation may lead directly to an increase in your income. Therefore, some people have the illusion that they are entirely responsible for their own income. In reality, for an organisation such as a company to be sustained, the whole society to which it belongs must be protected by God’s hand. You cannot do business in a state of anarchy. Also, in order for a person to fulfil a certain role within an organisation, it is necessary for that person’s mental and physical health to be maintained. Mental and physical health can only be maintained by God’s hand. Therefore, it is important to remember that food is something that God provides.

Today’s Bible passages describe the miracle of Christ in giving food to people. The twelve disciples of Christ had returned from a mission and needed rest. So Christ took the twelve disciples into the wilderness around Bethsaida, which lies to the north-east of the Lake Galilee. Reading only verse 10, it seems that they went to the town of Bethsaida. However, when the words of verse 12 and Mark 6:32 are read together, it is clear that they did not go to the town but to somewhere in the wilderness around it.

However, they could not rest because a crowd came after Christ and the twelve disciples. Christ welcomed this crowd, preaching as usual about the kingdom of God and healing the sick as a sign of the kingdom of God. And soon it was dusk. Naturally, the twelve disciples began to worry about supper. If they did not provide, a large crowd would be left hungry. The twelve disciples suggested to Christ that the crowd should disperse. “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.” This proposal is a very common-sense suggestion. For the twelve disciples, the people gathered here were those who have followed them, who were trying to rest quietly. So it is not unreasonable to assume that the twelve disciples would not need or be able to afford to prepare supper for them.

Christ’s answer to this, however, came as a complete surprise to the twelve disciples: “You give them something to eat.” The twelve disciples have no provision of food for the crowd. They were commanded by Christ to serve far beyond their own strength when they had no provision at all. So they honestly said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” This answer has the implication that it is very impossible for them to go and buy food.

According to today’s Bible scholars, Luke’s Gospel is believed to have been written on the basis of Mark’s Gospel and several other sources. And it seems that Luke shortened or abbreviated the text of Mark’s Gospel when he recorded this miracle. It is therefore possible that the words in Mark’s Gospel are closer to the original words said by Jesus and disciples. According to Mark 6:37, the twelve disciples are recorded as asking back, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” One denarius is one day’s wages for a labourer, so for the sake of clarity, if we replace it with ten thousand yen, two hundred denarii means two million yen. So the twelve disciples were saying to Christ, “Why should we spend two million yen to buy bread for the crowd?” Then there would be not only surprise, but there was probably even a mixture of frustration, such as “That’s impossible!”

Verse 14 tells us that there were five thousand men there. This figure of five thousand may be a literal number, or it may be a symbolic number that indicates a large number. Either way, the fact remains that what Christ did on this occasion was a supernatural event. How Christ performed this miracle is described in the second half of verse 14 to verse 17. First, he commanded his disciples to seat the people in pairs of about fifty. Second, Christ took five loaves of bread and two fish and, after giving thanks, broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. Third, all ate and were full, so that the remaining bread filled twelve baskets. This sequence of events is so blandly described that one can only imagine how in the world Jesus fed the people with the five loaves and two fish. Presumably, the bread and fish multiplied as the disciples received and distributed the broken bread and fish.

Of course, some biblical scholars interpret this event rationally. However, a rational interpretation takes us away from the original intent of what the Bible says. For example, the disciples were distributing food and the crowd volunteered the food they had brought, which accumulated to such an extent that there was still enough left over for the whole crowd to eat. This is certainly an interesting interpretation, but it is not what the Bible is trying to say here. In the first place, the Bible tells us that there have been miracles related to food since Old Testament times. According to the book of Exodus, the Israelites who departed from Egypt were nourished by a strange food called manna during their journey through the wilderness. And according to the book of Kings, the prophet Elisha filled a hundred men with a little food (2 Kings 4:42-44). So instead of rationally interpreting the story by the standards of modern people, thinking that such miracles are impossible, we should interpret the story as meaning that the same kind of miracles that were performed in Old Testament times were also performed by Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ taught his disciples to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This prayer precedes the prayer for forgiveness of sins, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” If one were to ask which is the essential grace in Christianity, food or forgiveness of sins, it would be forgiveness of sins. Nevertheless, the fact that Christ taught us to pray and ask for food before forgiveness of sins, probably means that he took care to pray first for the one that is closer to us humans. Since Christ took on human flesh and was born into the world, He himself was well aware of the bitterness of human physical hunger and thirst. Therefore, he gave food to the crowd gathered in the wilderness by performing the miracle of bread. Through that miracle, he taught us that the One who gives us the food which we need to sustain our bodies, also gives us what we need for our souls.

When Christ was hungry in the wilderness and tempted by the devil, He quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 and said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)” As we are taught, “Man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of God,” human life is entirely sustained by God’s will. God gives human beings the power to live through food. Therefore, the fact that food is given to human beings is an indication of God’s will that “you shall eat it and live.” And the teaching of the forgiveness of sins through the cross of Jesus Christ even more directly expresses God’s loving will “You shall live.”

Mr. NISHIMURA Kyuzo, the protagonist of the biographical novel The Genius of Love written by Christian novelist Ms. MIURA Ayako was one of the leaders of our denominataion as an elder of the Sapporo Kitaichijo Church. Mr. NISNIMURA Kyuzo’s 55-year-old life on earth is full of the grace and suffering of the cross. It was a life in which he received the grace of the cross of Christ in abundance, while he himself also followed Christ and walked in the suffering of the cross. Therefore, following the novel by Ms. MIURA Ayako, I would like to look at the grace that Mr. NISNIMURA Kyuzo received.

Mr. NISNIMURA Kyuzo’s family was a milk distributor. The year was 1919, when the Great Depression, which started with the stock market crash on Wall Street in New York, spread to the whole world and Japan was also in the depths of recession. The NISNIMURA family, who sold milk, also had to stop taking orders from restaurants and large hospitals, which were the main customers for large quantities of milk, and they had to distribute the remaining milk to their neighbours, who had no choice but to dispose of it. At the time, Kyuzo was also working as a teacher at the Sapporo Commercial School and used his salary to support his parents, who were suffering from poor sales in the family business.

In order to rebuild the tilting family business, Kyuzo’s younger brother, who had been in Tokyo to pursue a career in literature, was called back to the family. One day, this younger brother saw a large amount of unsold milk and said, “Dad, why don’t you try making cream puffs with this leftover milk.” Hearing this, the family thought it was a very good idea and started preparing to open a confectionery shop. The father, Nobuo, was 53, the mother, Kaku, 48, Kyuzo, 32 and the younger brother, Shinkichi, 27. First, they borrowed 650 yen from a financial institution they had dealt with when they were milk dealers. At that time, 500 yen was enough to buy a house with land in Hokkaido. In addition to the four members of the family, two colleague teachers of the Sapporo Commercial School were named as founders of the confectionery shop. However, none of these people were experts in western confectionery, and they tried to build an oven just as they saw fit, but it did not work. After repeated trial and error, the 650-yen fund was soon gone, and everyone was discouraged.

However, under the influence of her son, the mother, Kaku, who was already a Christian, went for the money with the belief that “if God sees fit, this work will surely succeed.” This scene is described very vividly in the novel. Kyuzo said to his mother, “Don’t take it too hard. When you think about it, it was probably too reckless for us amateurs to start a confectionary shop at a time when even banks were on the verge of bankruptcy. Let’s reconsider and see if there is any other way to change our business other than a confectionery shop.” His mother then retorted, “Kyuzo, you always say that if only God wills it, you can do anything.” Kyuzo said, “That’s right. But I think the reason we can’t find the money is because God doesn’t see our work as good enough.” His mother retorted again, “How can you know whether God sees our work as good or not? When we are approached with a big matter, we too say, ‘Let me think about it,’ and do not give an immediate reply. Even God would not respond immediately to those of us who are starting work in this difficult age. At a time like this, when we seem to be in a tight spot, Kyuzo, don’t you think we have something to do?” Hearing this question, Kyuzo realised that he had tried to start the business by relying on his own talents and lacked the faith to yield to God from the bottom of his heart. Together with his mother, he prayed, “If this change of business is in accordance with God’s will, please provide us with everything we need. But if it is not in accordance with your will, please tell me what I should do next.”

To his surprise, a few days later Kyuzo received a phone call from one of the wealthiest men in Sapporo. This wealthy man was Mr. YABU Soshichi, who had once worked for Kyuzo’s mother’s family, one of the leading trading companies in Hokkaido. The man said that he had heard that Kyuzo’s mother, was walking around looking for funds for her confectionery shop, so he wanted to help her as a way of thanking her for her help in the past. Thus, after having found the money, Kyuzo read the original French book on western confectionery, translated it with great difficulty and carefully made the oven according to the original. he also met people who had learnt how to make Western food and confectionery on foreign vessels and were looking for work back in their hometown of Sapporo. Thus, the Nishimura Confectionery Shop was born in Sapporo in 1929 and the business was successful. However, this is not just a success story. Then came the war with the USA, and during and after the war, both Kyuzo and his confectionery shop went through great hardship. However, God guided Kyuzo’s steps even in the midst of these hardships. In the process of Ms. MIURA Ayako’s baptism and becoming a Christian novelist, Mr. NISNIMURA Kyuzo played a major role in visiting Ms. MIURA on her sickbed and leading her to faith.