ルカによる福音書11:37-44　Luke 11:37-44,

それにしても、あなたたちファリサイ派の人々は不幸だ。薄荷や芸香やあらゆる野菜の十分の一は献げるが、正義の実行と神への愛はおろそかにしているからだ。これこそ行うべきことである。もとより、十分の一の献げ物もおろそかにしてはならないが。　　　　　　　　　　　　　　（ルカ11:42）

旧約聖書のレビ記27章30節には「土地から取れる収穫量の十分の一は、穀物であれ、果実であれ、主のものである。それは聖なるもので主に属す」と定められています。そこで、小麦粉やぶどう酒やオリーブ油などの主な産物は、その収穫の十分の一が神様に献げられることになっていました。 ところが、各種の香草や野菜については必ずしも十分の一を献げる必要はありませんでした。そのころのユダヤ人の文献を研究した研究者によりますと、薄荷すなわちミントについては「献げなさい」とも「献げなくてよい」とも記されていなかったそうです。また、次の芸香という植物は、薄荷ほど私たちになじみがありませんが、別名ヘンルーダと呼ばれる香草です。強い香りがあり、興奮剤として用いられたそうです。ところが、この香草は十分の一を献げなくてよいという規定が、ユダヤ人の文献の中にあるそうです。また「あらゆる野菜」という中には、規則上は献げなくてよいものも含まれていたのでしょう。したがって、ここでキリストは、ファリサイ派の人々が規則上は十分の一を献げなくてもよい品までも献げて、自分たちが神様を畏れ敬う敬虔な者であることをひけらかしていることを指摘しておられるのです。そして、一方で自分たちの敬虔さを誇示しながら、他方では正義と神様の愛をおろそかにしている、彼らの歪んだあり方を指摘なさったのでした。

一方では人に認めてもらうために敬虔な振る舞いをしながら、他方で人の見ていないところでは、正義も愛もお構いなしに行動しているのではないか？ということはすべての時代の人々に問われています。紀元前の8世紀のイザヤとほぼ同じ時代の預言者であるミカという人は、エルサレムの人々の不正を厳しく指摘した後に、次のように勧告をしました。「人よ、何が善であり／主が何をお前に求めておられるかは／お前に告げられている。正義を行い、慈しみを愛し／へりくだって神と共に歩むこと、これである。」現代に生きる私たちもまた、表面では善良な一市民としての顔を取り繕いながら、実際には正義と愛を無視した行いを重ねているということはないでしょうか？キリストのファリサイ派の人々への告発の言葉は、現代に生きる私たちへの問いかけでもあるのです。

（8月3日の説教より）

We human beings tend to notice the bad things others do but are less likely to notice the bad things we ourselves do. There was a father who was frustrated with his son, who spent all his time watching cartoons on TV instead of studying, and his wife, who spent all her time watching melodramas on TV instead of doing housework. Then, he declared, “From today on, there will be no TV in this house,” and unplugged the TV. However, the father enjoyed watching baseball games on TV, so after making that declaration, he realised he would lose his own enjoyment and added, “But I will allow TV until the baseball season ends.” This is a humorous story. The father was angry that his children and wife were always watching TV. However, it turned out that he himself was a big TV fan and had forgotten his duties as a father, spending all his time watching TV. As a result, his child and wife may have unconsciously picked up his habits.

The human tendency to be insensitive to one’s own faults is easily carried into the Christian church. It is possible for someone to maintain the outward appearance of a Christian while their heart and actions are filled with injustice. For example, in Acts chapter 5 of the New Testament, there is the story of Ananias and Sapphira. In the first church established in Jerusalem, believers sold their lands and houses and donated the proceeds to the church. The money was used for the spread of the Gospel and to support the poor. However, Ananias and Sapphira, a married couple, sold their land and donated only part of the proceeds to the church, claiming it was the full amount. When the apostle Peter discovered this hypocrisy, he solemnly declared as follows.

“Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” (Acts 5:3-4)

Then Ananias fell down and died. His wife, Sapphira, was also asked by Peter, “Tell me, were you paid such and such a price for the land?” and she lied, saying, “Yes, that was the price,” just like her husband, and she also died on the spot. The problem with Ananias and Sapphira was that they tried to deceive the holy God, who knows everything in their hearts, by putting on a false appearance. The human logic that says, “Even if they lied, they made the offering, so that should be enough,” does not hold up before God. Before God, who knows everything, there is no other way to be accepted by God than to speak the truth as it is. Therefore, Ananias and Sapphira should have said, “We are people of little faith, so we cannot give all the money from the sale of our land. This is only a part of it, but please use it for God’s work,” and made the offering.

In today’s Bible passage, Christ sharply points out the hypocrisy of those who were respected in his own time. Among the people living in Judea during Christ’s time, those who were particularly respected by the people were the Pharisees, a group of teachers within Judaism. The Pharisees were well-versed in the interpretation of the laws of Moses recorded in the Old Testament. They interpreted these laws and taught the Jewish people specific rules for daily life, like that “In such cases, you must do this.”

One of the practices of the Pharisees was the custom of purifying themselves before meals. This is described in Mark 7:3-4 as follows.

For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.

The problem is that these “traditions of the elders” were not the teachings of the Bible itself, but rather human-made rules.

For example, in the Old Testament, priests, who are holy men, are required to purify themselves before eating offerings in a holy place (Leviticus 22:6). However, in the Old Testament, there is no such rule requiring priests to purify themselves when eating ordinary meals or when ordinary people eat. In other words, to enforce the ritualistic rules of purification in the Old Testament more strictly, detailed regulations were created around God’s words, like building a fence around them. According to these regulations, even ordinary people had to wash their hands or purify themselves before eating. It is important to note that the practice of purifying oneself before meals was not done for hygienic reasons, but rather to obey God’s commandment. In fact, although such a commandment was not written in the Old Testament, it was believed to be God’s commandment based on “the traditions of the elders.”

In verse 37 of today’s Bible passage, it is written, “While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table.” However, when he reclined at table, Christ did not purify himself before eating, as required by the Pharisees’ rules. This behaviour was seen as a major challenge to the Pharisees, who claimed that they were the ones who correctly interpreted and followed God’s commandments. Verse 38 states that the Pharisee who invited Jesus “was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner.” It is likely that the Pharisee who invited Christ exclaimed, “Why don’t you purify yourself before eating!?” in astonishment and rebuked Christ. However, Christ’s attitude toward this was completely uncompromising. This is because Christ knew that the Pharisees, who appeared to be following God’s commandments, were actually full of hypocrisy. Moreover, the Pharisees were unaware of their own hypocrisy and believed themselves to be righteous.

Christ pointed out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in three ways. First, they were obsessed with outward ritual purification and ignored the purification of the heart. Second, they offered sacrifices according to the rules but did not practise justice and love. Third, they loved to be honoured by others for their outwardly good works.

Regarding the first point, the following words of Christ are recorded in verses 39–41.

“Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.”

Through the symbolic expressions “outside” and “inside,” Christ is criticising the way of life of the Pharisees. The key point is that while the Pharisees engage in ritual purification, they do not purify their hearts ethically or correct their actions. By saying, “inside you are full of greed and wickedness,” Christ is denouncing the wickedness in the hearts of the Pharisees. These words of accusation from Christ have a similar ring to the words of accusation spoken by the prophets in the Old Testament.

Isaiah, a prophet of the 8th century BC, criticised people who performed ritual worship without repentance, declaring, “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD” (Isaiah 1:11). He then urged them to repent and live a new life, saying, “Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil” (Isaiah 1:15-16). Christ also said in verse 41 of today’s passage, “Give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you,” showing that living a new life and purifying one’s heart are one and the same. This is an exhortation to repent, abandon greed and wickedness in one’s heart, and give generously to the poor with love. This exhortation commands specific acts of giving, but it does not mean that mere outward acts of goodness are sufficient. It means to repent from the bottom of one’s heart and live a new life of compassion. In Matthew 6:3-4, Christ teaches, “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Good works should not be done to be seen by others, but should be done out of trust that God the Father is seeing.

The second point is found in the following words of Christ of verse 42.

“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

In Leviticus 27:30, it is written, “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the LORD’S; it is holy to the LORD.” Thus, the main products such as wheat flour, wine, and olive oil were required to be offered to God as tithe of the harvest. However, it was not always necessary to offer tithe of various herbs. According to a scholar who studied Jewish literature of that period, mint was neither explicitly required nor prohibited from being offered as tithe. Another plant called “rue,” which is less familiar to us than mint, is also a herb with a strong fragrance and was used as a stimulant. However, there was a provision in Jewish literature stating that this herb did not need to be offered as tithe. Furthermore, the phrase “every herb” likely included items that were not required to be offered according to the rules. Therefore, Christ was pointing out that the Pharisees were boasting about their piety and reverence for God by offering even items that were not required to be offered as tithe according to the rules. Christ was pointing out their distorted way of being, that is, on the one hand, they were boasting about their piety, while on the other hand, they were neglecting justice and the love of God.

The following question is posed to people of all ages: Are you not acting piously to be recognised by others where people were watching, while disregarding justice and love in places where no one is watching? Micah, a prophet who lived around the same time as Isaiah in the 8th century BC, harshly criticised the injustices of the people of Jerusalem and then gave the exhortation as follows.

O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Even we who live in the modern age, while maintaining the appearance of being good citizens on the surface, are we not in fact repeating actions that ignore justice and love? Christ’s words of accusation against the Pharisees are also a question for us who live in the modern age.

Regarding the third point, Christ says in verse 43, “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.” This means that the Pharisees expected and desired the respect of the general public for their outwardly good works. In other words, they were performing outwardly good works in order to receive the reward of respect from the general public. Their hearts were not directed toward God, who sees hidden works, but toward people who respond to visible works. Therefore, when Jesus Christ gained popularity among the people through his powerful preaching and miracles, the Pharisees became intensely jealous of him and sought to destroy him. They incited the people to demand that Jesus be crucified, and thus they drove him to his death. By crucifying Christ, the Pharisees revealed themselves to be hypocrites who harboured evil intentions in their hearts. Therefore, in verse 44, Christ referred to the Pharisees as “like unmarked graves.” This means that their hearts were corrupt and filled with the stench of death, contrary to their outward appearance.

How should we receive today’s words of Bibel? For example, we may hear them as referring to someone else, such as “This is exactly like so-and-so in my neighbourhood.” And such a way of hearing them may not be entirely wrong. However, we must be careful, for hypocrites are unaware of their own wickedness. If we think, “The hypocrites mentioned in today’s Bible passage are exactly like so-and-so,” and feel satisfied with ourselves, we may unknowingly become even worse hypocrites ourselves. Therefore, the appropriate way to receive these harsh words of Christ is not as something about others, but as something about oneself.

It takes considerable resolve to honestly accept such harsh words as applying to oneself. However, the Christ who spoke these words is the one who died on the cross for our sins. Christ, who died for us, is speaking these words to make us aware of our sins and lead us to repentance. In other words, in order to lead us to true salvation, Christ is speaking these words as if he were a surgeon performing an operation, using the scalpel of his words to cut away our sins. Therefore, when we hear these harsh words of Christ, perhaps we should accept them in the following way: “Lord, you have shown me my sins. And I thank you that you did not merely speak your words, but actually died on the cross to save us from our sins.” When we accept these words in this way, these words of judgment simultaneously sound like words of grace that invite us to faith in Christ’s cross. Christ’s words that point out hypocrisy make it clear that we are saved not by our own works but by the grace of Christ’s cross alone. They lead us to the faith that trusts in the grace of Christ’s cross alone. And they teach us to live a life purified by the Holy Spirit.