「イエス・キリストの食べ物とは」 八月第一主日礼拝 宣教 2024年8月4日
ヨハネによる福音書 John 4章31〜38節 牧師 河野信一郎
Good morning. We are now in August. The dangerously hot days are continuing. I do not mean to make you nervous at all, but I learned on yesterday’s news that 123 people in the 23 wards of Tokyo died of suspected heat stroke during July. At the same time, the number of people infected with a new mutant strain of coronavirus is increasing. We should try to refrain from going out unnecessarily. If you feel anxious about Sunday services, please also offer your worship online. Please do not overdo it. Drink plenty of water and look for shade when walking on sidewalks. The other day, my daughter said to me, “Dad, I’m going to get you a parasol for men.” Please be careful this summer as the heat wave continues, making parasols a necessity for men and women alike.
Well, August in Japan is “Peace Month”. Next week marks the 79th anniversary since Japan lost the war and the end of the war, and the day after tomorrow we will remember Hiroshima on the 6th and Nagasaki on the 9th. The Olympics are being held in Paris, France, and at the same time wars continue in Ukraine, Myanmar, and Palestine. There is a danger of a new war between Israel and Iran. In the midst of such anxiety and fear, we need to pray together for a world that believes in God and chooses daily to live together, rejoicing and cherishing each life that God has given us.
Now, having said that, there was something that happened last week that caused me strong resentment, and I would like to share it with you. As you may have heard in the news, a boy who took a local bus to go home from an elementary school in a certain town the other week got on the bus without realizing that his IC card had insufficient balance, and when he got off the bus, he was confused because he did not have enough money, and to top it off, the bus driver in his 40s warned him in a strong tone, There was news that he could not catch a connecting bus and had to walk for two hours on foot back to his home in the sweltering heat of 37.7℃.
He is a boy in the early grades of elementary school, and before blaming his parents for not knowing that his IC card had a low balance, I was angry at the other passengers on the bus, especially the adults, wondering why they could not help the boy and why the bus driver could not be more tolerant. The driver later admitted that his response was inappropriate and regretted his actions, but how would you have reacted if you had been on the bus? If Jesus had been a passenger on that bus and seen the child being severely cautioned, how would you have responded? Do we not need to be more forgiving and kind?
What are the reasons why we cannot be tolerant or kind? I am sure that a wide variety of reasons can be cited from various perspectives, but one of the reasons may be that we are bound by manuals and have an earnestness that we have to follow the manuals. Tourists from the U.S. always say that Tully’s and Starbucks coffee in Japan tastes the same no matter where they go. Why is this? The reason is that the staff follows the manual, and the company ensures that the staff follows the manual as well.
What, then, is the manual for us Christians? It is the Bible, the Word of God. The Bible is the manual for our lives. The Bible tells us who we are, what we live for, why we are alive, how we should live, where we are headed, the meaning of our existence, the reason for our existence, the purpose of our life, and our mission in life. In order to know who we really are, we need to encounter, believe, and listen to God, who created us with love, truth, plans, and care.
The Word of God, Jesus’ teachings, wisdom, and God’s power that we need to live faithfully to God, sincere to people, and true to ourselves according to God’s will are found in the Bible. Love the Lord God and Jesus, love your neighbor, and love one another. And go out to the ends of the earth to share God’s love and Jesus’ gospel with people and make them His disciples. To live according to this will of God, the Lord Jesus gives us the encouraging promise, “I am with you always, to the end of the world,” and the Holy Spirit accompanies us. Therefore, we believe that if we believe the words of that promise and follow God’s Word, the Bible, the manual for life, and the words of Jesus, we and those who hear the gospel will be filled with God’s love and mercy and receive true happiness.
Well, since June we have been continuing our series on “Knowing the Will of God,” and since last week we have been listening to the Gospel of John. We are trying to choose a passage in this Gospel where the words “will and purpose” appear and listen to Jesus’ words from there. This morning’s message is from chapter 4, verses 31-38, and I have titled it “What is the Food of Jesus Christ?” It is a very intriguing passage.
This Gospel of John chapter 4 describes the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, their verbal exchange, and the wide range of topics that unfold: what is the water that leads to eternal life, what is true worship, and what is a worshiper. At first, the theme is water, but in the middle of the book, the theme becomes worship of God, and then food. It is very interesting.
Who will quench our spiritual thirst? Who satisfies our spiritual hunger? It is God. It is God who satisfies our spiritual hunger and dryness and gives us joy, excitement, and purpose in life when we put God first in all things. And that it to worship.
The Samaritan woman who spoke with Jesus senses that he is the Savior, the Christ, the Messiah she has been seeking, so she goes into town to bring people to him. Instead of her, the disciples who went into town to buy food for Jesus return.
Let’s read from verse 31. It says, “The disciples suggested, ‘Rabbi, have a meal.’ They had bought it for Jesus. You would think they would be happy to see Jesus eats it. But what did Jesus say? In verse 32, “Jesus said, ‘I have food you do not know.'” In verse 33, “The disciples said to each other, ‘Did someone bring us food? Did they feel disappointed? Or did they feel that their hard work had been in vain?
Now, I would like to change the topic a little here, and I would like to ask you all a question. Do you like to eat? In Japan, there is a saying, “Rice cakes are better than flowers,” and my family prefers to eat delicious food rather than admire beautiful things all the time. We eat them in an instant. Food is the source of our vitality, our pleasure, and our joy. For some people, eating may be the only thing that makes their life worth living.
Jesus says something very interesting to His disciples in verse 34. He says, “My food,” He says, “is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His works”. He says that the food of Jesus, which the disciples do not know, the source of His vitality, the joy of living, the joy that makes life worth living, is doing the will of God the Father and accomplishing His works.
Two points must be noted in these words of Jesus. One is that Jesus was sent by God the Father. He was sent by God the Father with a purpose and mission to fulfill. The second is that Jesus accomplished the work that God entrusted to him. At the time of this fourth chapter, the entrusted work was still in progress, but at the end, Jesus will fulfill that work.
There are two major works that Jesus was sent by God to this earth to faithfully fulfill. One is that He died on the cross so that we might be saved by believing in Him, and through His death He fulfilled the work of eternal redemption. The second is that He trained and sent His disciples to accurately preach the gospel of God’s love and salvation to all the people of the world. The question for us here is, like Jesus, are we willing to share God’s love with people, to introduce Jesus to people, to invite people to church to worship with us, to enjoy it, and to make it the purpose of our lives?
It means that you are not living for your own pleasure and enjoyment. Are you living only for yourself? We are sent by God to the whole world through Jesus. The question here is whether we know God’s will and whether we are striving to fulfill our mission and purpose on earth as entrusted by God and Jesus.
Look at verse 35. Jesus says, “There are still four months to go before the harvest. ‘I say to you, Lift up your eyes and look at the fields. They are in full color, waiting to be harvested’.” Indeed, there is a harvest time for barley, wheat, rice, and soybeans. But Jesus says, “Lift up the eyes of your faith, the eyes of your spirit, and look at the people. People are looking for God’s love and waiting for someone to walk up to them and share God’s love with them. They are waiting for you.”
To reap a great harvest, it takes many people to sow and many people to reap. We met Jesus and came to know God’s love because of those who sowed the seeds of the gospel, those who encouraged and guided us with love, prayer, and patience, and those who shared the joys and sufferings of life. Each of us has a different role to serve. One sows the seed and another reaps the harvest. You don’t have to do everything by yourself. That is His will.
I sincerely hope and pray that those who believe in Jesus as their Savior will do every things together, such as rejoicing, giving thanks, serving God, worshipping, and showing God’s glory, believing that this is doing God’s will and that God will smile on us. Let us make Jesus’ food our food and His joy our joy.