Nagoya Mission

A Statement of Faith is not Enough - 9/20/2009

   For a nation like Japan, the beginning of a new government is a rather simple affair.  Just compare the installation of Hatoyama Ichiro as Prime Minister to the beginning of the US presidency of Barack Obama.
  Since the Diet election where the Democratic Party (民主党Minshuto) and it’s allies won the majority seats in the lower house Japanese parliament, we have watched Hatoyama getting in and out of cars as he went from meeting to meeting to set up the next government.  Then on September 15th, the members of the Diet walked past a box where they inserted their ballot and guess what --- Hatoyama is elected the prime minister.  Later that day, Hatoyama dressed in a black morning coat, has a short, formal event with the Emperor.  It’s all over and Hatoyama is off to more meetings to set up the new cabinet and government.
    Compare that to the US.  On inauguration day, for example there is a long parade up to the steps of the capitol.  There are universal prayers, music and then of course there is the oath of office.  After the oath is a speech by the new president and then after all of that, there are various parties that go on late into the night and in to the early morning of the next day.
   It could be for that reason; a simple affair compared to a more complex event, but in the US the inaugural of a new government does not always go smoothly.  Take from example, this past Inauguration Day in the US on January 20, 2009.
    There were 2 million people at the occasion and millions more watching on TV.  Finally, we have the moment where Sen. Barack Obama raised his right hand to take the oath of office.  John Roberts, Chief Supreme Court Justice of the United States, laid out the oath: “I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of President faithfully.”  Oops!
    Problem was, the oath was supposed to read: “I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President.”  The word faithfully had somehow flipped out of place, landing at the end of the phrase.  Chief Justice Roberts gave it another shot.  They tried together to get back on track, and then the ceremony continued with the inaugural speech and everyone rushed off to parties.
    Of course as Americans are fond of political theater, conspiracy thinking immediately erupted over the oath.  Because Sen. Obama had voted against John Roberts’ Supreme Court appointment, some people said the mix-up was intentional.  Others claimed that Obama would not and could not become president until he said the oath of office correctly.
    Well, just to be safe, Obama and Roberts repeated the oath the next day.  But here’s the bigger issue: What does it matter because the phrase “execute the office of President faithfully” has the same meaning as “faithfully execute the office of President.”  It’s a distinction without a difference.  And because we are here half way around the world a somewhat safe distance from US media, I can tell you that the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution states that the terms of the outgoing president and vice president shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of their successors shall then begin.   In other words the oath is an exercise more for show.
  What does all that have to do with us?  Think about it with me for today were we hear how Jesus asks his disciples who he is, and Peter answers, “You are the Christ.”1  Peter is exactly right in what he says and he does not mess up any of the words of this particular pledge.  And yet, getting the words right is not all there is to being a faithful disciple.  Peter does not fully comprehend the import of what he is saying --- for instance, Peter is quick to confront Jesus just a few verses later, when Jesus begins to teach his followers that he “--- must suffer many things --- must be killed.”2
  Peter nails the statement, but not the office.  Peter does a great job with his statement of faith about Jesus, but he has yet to grasp what the job of following the Messiah is all about.
  I wonder how we become obsessed with pledges and getting the words right --- perhaps concerned about the exact words of faith or perhaps concerned depending on the particular people we are with --- and miss the focus of this lesson; the specifics of two particular offices: Messiah and Follower.  Only when we understand these roles will we be able to faithfully execute the office of disciple of Jesus Christ.
  Jesus is on the road with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asks his followers, “Who do people say that I am?”  What are people “Twittering” about?3  The disciples answer, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”4
 Jesus makes the question personal, and asks, “Who do you say I am?”5 Peter answers him, “You are the Christ,” the term Christ or Messiah means anointed one: a term which has profound historical meaning as the divinely chosen leader of the people for Jews.
 This answer is perfect, and Peter is to be commended for this these words.  But Jesus is keenly aware that many people are looking for a practical, military Messiah ? God’s Commander in Chief ? to drive the Romans out of Jerusalem and restore the kingdom to Israel.  So Jesus sternly orders the disciples not to tell anyone about him.6
 But a pledge --- a statement of faith --- is not enough.  More important is the nature of the office, not the office of President or Prime Minister, but Messiah.  And that is why Jesus begins to teach them that the Son of Man “must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”7  To be the Messiah, Jesus has to undergo suffering, death and resurrection --- there is just no way around it.
 This is hard for Jesus’ disciples, which is why we also need to look at the office of Follower.  When Jesus talks openly about his suffering and death, Peter takes him aside and begins to rebuke him.  It’s inconceivable to Peter that God’s anointed leader would have to suffer a humiliating death.  But Jesus quickly turns the tables and rebukes Peter, saying, “Get behind me, Satan!  You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”8
 Most of us focus on the first part of this statement, “Get behind me, Satan!”  Or we focus on this slam on Peter who had just given the pldge.  But in doing that we may miss the most important message for us as followers: the primary task of faithfully executing the office of disciple of Jesus Christ is this: set your mind on divine things, not human things.
 Jesus explains what the office of disciple means.  Jesus calls together the crowd with his disciples and says to them, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”9  That is the beginning of the key to executing the office of disciple: to set our minds on divine things, not human things.  To do so means to deny our selves, take up our cross and follow Jesus.
 Think about that.  How well do we do that: deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus?  How much do we focus on getting the words right for ourselves or getting others to say it our way “Jesus is the Christ” than on the office: deny, take up, and follow?
 Peter’s oath and then denial both come from the same tongue, the same heart, the same man.  This means that the particular challenges as office holders, as followers are going to be different, unique as each one of us is uniquely created by God, but no matter what language one uses, no matter how we may stumble over the words, we have each been called: deny, take up and follow.  It is not that there is one way to deny our selves, one way to take up the cross and one way to follow Jesus rather it is in only in Christ that we find the strength to do so and it is only in Christ will our statement of faith be honored.  Amen.
 
1 Mark 8:29
2 Vs. 31
3 Vs. 27
4 Vs. 28
5 Vs. 29
6 Vs. 30
7 Vs. 31
8 Vv: 32-35
9 Vs. 34

There is nothing more I can offer - 9/13/2009

  In a recent New York Times opinion piece, a doctor in pain management described the difficulty in saying these words: “There is nothing more I can offer you.”1
 I can’t tell you how many times, I have wanted to hear those words as I have sat with families in numerous hospital rooms.  I remember in particular one time when these similar important words finally came out of a doctor.  In that situation, after hearing those words, the family made the decision to remove all life support.  As we prayed, all those life sustaining tubes were removed and together we comforted each other as we watched this family’s father, husband, and grandfather die.
 Why are those words “There is nothing more I can offer you” so difficult but also so freeing?  I know that we have confidence in science and its companion, technology.  I know that we place a great deal of trust and therefore authority in medical practitioners but yet, why is it that those very words --- “there is nothing more…” seem irrational, and difficult to say, yet for all practical purposes are only honest.
 Healing --- particularly the healing miracles of Jesus, from my experience as a pastor --- draw the greatest number of questions and interest of Christians --- even more interest than (sadly) Jesus death on the cross and his resurrection.
 Therefore, let us take some time to explore some aspects of healing from one of the more unusual healing stories of the public ministry of Jesus Christ to see what we can learn.  This lesson is unusual for many of us, not only because it is an instance where the faith of the person healed is not mentioned, but even more interesting because it involves the healing gestures of Jesus: thrusting fingers into ears, touching tongue with saliva, casting eyes heavenward, and sighing and the mysterious healing word in Aramaic --- “ephphatha.” 
 When we think of Jesus healing, we generally think of Jesus speaking words of healing --- sometimes from a great distance away.  “Then Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.’ And his servant was healed at that very hour.”2  Or if Jesus is in close proximity, we think of him laying hands on the person who’s seeking healing.  “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.”3  We might even think of him forgiving sin in the context of healing, “Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?”4  So, we generally for example, don’t think of Jesus putting fingers in ears and saliva on a tongue.
 I do not know about you but I was brought up --- prior to my travels in Asia --- saliva, and spitting in particular was a rather unpleasant act.  I was brought up that saliva is associated with chewing tobacco and one’s action after brushing teeth.  Saliva is a bodily fluid so when someone spits, do it in the bathroom.  And when someone else spits, you really ought to look away and get out the latex gloves to protect yourself.  However, both the early Jews and Greeks believed that spittle was an important curative force, part of the science and art of curing a person.  So is that why Jesus applied his saliva to this man’s tongue?  
 It could be something more.  Remember, this man was deaf.  Had Jesus spoken a word of healing to this man, he would not have heard a word, nor could this man by the same token express his faith because the Greek word (mogilalon) to describe the man means he spoke indistinctly, not that he could not speak at all.
 Possibly Jesus chose this method of healing for this man that was consistent with his needs.  According to Professor David L. McKenna in the Communicator’s Commentary on Mark, “Fingers in the unhearing ears and spit on the uncoordinated tongue tell the man that Jesus understands his problem and intends to do something about it.”5  The point made by McKenna is that Jesus touched the deaf man in his place and point of need similar to a therapist massaging the very muscle that is pain or stress --- meaning Jesus sometimes heals with words; sometimes with a touch or laying of hands and as we see today with saliva at the point of need.
 What is also intriguing about this healing is one of the most fascinating details in that Jesus looks upward and sighs.  Why did Jesus look up and sigh?  And why was Mark so careful as to include that seemingly insignificant detail in this event?
 The obvious point is that the sigh is included precisely because it was not insignificant.  This sigh could have been another non-verbal way of communicating with a person who could not hear his words --- for this deaf man may have seen, felt or understood this non-verbal cue from Jesus.  Or the sigh was an expression of the humanity of Jesus --- a sigh of compassion.  Or the sigh was to God, based on general frustration or compassion at a person who had long suffered.
 What can these few details of this unique healing event tell us about healing in our life as disciples of Jesus Christ?
 First of all, we are told that Jesus has a compassionate public ministry, one that was focused on a man who was in need of healing regardless of faith and that Jesus addresses needs, not necessarily wants.  Furthermore, not only did Jesus heal in a caring way that was consistent with his needs, but Jesus also took the man aside and dealt with him privately, away from the crowd.
 Taking the man aside to address a need, is not only a reminder to us readers that Jesus is at this point still the hidden revelation, meaning that we will need further unfolding of the Gospel, but also that Jesus was not using healing as a means to attract followers or money.  Jesus did not strive to make a spectacle of the sick and the needy in order to boost his book sales, income or popularity.  Something all Christians are to emulate.
 Second, this man was not just healed; he was made whole.  His healing enabled him to enter society as an active participant of it.  As a deaf person in that society without a true sign language, this person was a true social outsider.  Now, as a hearing, verbal person, this person would be able to be socially integrated into society in a way he had never before experienced.
 In scripture, healing is not limited to curing physical ailments.  Rather, healing is connected to becoming a whole person --- not just physically, emotionally, spiritually but also socially.  For this person, a critical part of his healing was that it gave him an opportunity to become what God truly intends all of us to be --- social beings.  Healing for Christians then is to be similar in goal --- helping others become a whole person.
 What else might we learn about the healing ministry of Jesus and thus our practice of Christian healing from this event?  For that we need to return to a detail in verse 31: “Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.”
 Most of us forget to read scripture without a Bible atlas by our side, so the significance of that verse may be lost on us.  This short verse suggests that Jesus’ sojourn in Tyre and Sidon appears to be brief, but it is an actuality a lengthy way home by circling north, turning southeast on the far side of the Sea of Galilee and passing through the region of the Decapolis before entering Galilee on the south side of the lake.  This journey on foot would have taken Jesus months to complete.
 Jesus began this journey in Tyre with a healing of a woman’s child, and now we have a healing close to the end, with no record of Jesus healing anyone else.  Imagine that!  A journey of months with only two healings!
 We Christians think that the healing ministry of Jesus Christ was one where everyone everywhere was healed.  That’s not the case.  Just as there was a pool in Jerusalem called Bethesda where a “great multitude” of blind, deaf and invalid lay, waiting for an angel from heaven to come down and trouble the waters and provide healing.  We are told that Jesus came along and singled out only one and healed that person.6
 Why didn’t Jesus heal the others?  Indeed!  At that question, I go back to those wise words, “There is nothing more I can offer you.”  Those are our important words whether from the mouth of a doctor or from our own lips at the bed side of a dying parent or child for we are not God.
 Our gospel ends with these words, “People were overwhelmed with amazement. ‘He has done everything well,’ they said. ‘He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’7  This “punch line” in a sense is to help us understand and remember that all the miracles of Jesus whenever and to whomever they happen simply point to the extraordinary power at work in Jesus Christ and evidence that the Kingdom of God is at hand.  That is the most important lesson to learn about healing.  Rejoice because God’s ultimate, glorious purpose is that all are to be healed.  God is not at our dying bedside saying “There is nothing more I can offer,” because not only did God offer, but God gave us the healing that comes with the death of his own on the cross.  That holistic healing comes all the time including at our death.  As Christians --- then followers of Jesus Christ --- we may have gifts and talents in the healing arts that include laying on of hands, but whether we heal or not, whether we are healed or not, ultimately we are to remember “there is nothing more that we can offer” except point to the important gift of all, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

1 “Coming to Know the Limits of Healing,” Colin N. Fernandes, M.D., The New York Times, September 8, 2009.

2 Matthew 8: 13
3 Mark 6: 5
4 Luke 5: 23
5 David McKenna, Communicator’s Commentary on Mark, Word, pg. 160. Compassionate Spit Mark 7:31-37, pg. 2

6 John 5:1-9
7 Mark 7: 37

Below is a recent letter/email that was sent to all of the friends of the English worship service where I am pastor.  Please add your prayers to all of ours for the smooth transition of this English speaking ministry and congregation in Nagoya, Japan.  I will be sending a letter to all of our misisonary sponsors that will update you on our Lutheran Church missionary work with the Japanese Lutheran Church.  Thank you.

 

 

Dear Friends of Meito Christ International Church,

 

In August 2006 my family and I came to Nagoya, Japan on a 4-year term as Missionaries.  Part of my ministry was to be the pastor for the English worship service that had grown to be called Meito Christ International Church (MCIC) - a ministry of hospitality to English speakers in Nagoya.  It was a ministry that began years ago under former Lutheran missionaries  Rev. Steenburg and continued under Rev. Mason.

 

I also came with the message from my church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and its partner in ministry, the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church (JELC) that MCIC could not expect Lutheran missionaries to continue to be pastors after my term expired in 2010.

 

In the spring of 2009 MCIC filed an application for a new missionary in conjunction with the application of our Japanese Lutheran host the Tokai district of the JELC to begin in 2010.  Recently, we received the news that the Japanese church (JELC) has decided to end the ELCA Lutheran missionary presence with my term. 

 

This means that after my term ends in July 2010, there will no longer be an English speaking Lutheran missionary from the US in the Nagoya area for the foreseeable future.

 

In preparation for the possibility of this time, in 2006 MCIC renewed it's partnership with Nagoya-Kibo Lutheran Church, a merger of three Japanese congregations including the former host of the MCIC - Meito Christ Lutheran Church.  MCIC began to have its own budget and responsibility for some expenses and began to save some money with the goal of financially supporting its own pastor.  MCIC formed a church council with two elected positions, a president and co-treasures and includes two volunteer representatives who attend MCIC faithfully as well as myself.  Although we took those steps, MCIC is not an official congregation or legal entity.  MCIC continues to be a ministry of hospitality to English speakers who want to worship in a Christian inter-denominational congregation.

 

However, now with the recent decision by the JELC the time has come for MCIC to continue to evolve.  The council of MCIC met on Sunday and discussed MCIC's various options.  The will meet again shortly to continue that discussion.  The council will share their suggestion and the next step at a general congregational meeting on November 1st immediately after worship.  This meeting is an important one and on behalf of the council I encourage all to attend.  On the agenda will be to discuss the recommendation of the council.

 

Please continue to pray for MCIC in this time of transition and for God's Holy Spirit to continue to direct and guide our path.

 

Be assured that worship will continue at 5:00 pm with Sunday school and Adult Bible Study at 4:00 pm.  As always, MCIC welcomes all to worship to God's glory.

 

In Christ,

 

Pastor C.

At First Glance ... - September 6, 2009

 At first glance it is a seemingly common encounter in the life of Jesus --- a woman comes to Jesus to have her daughter healed.
 But with a careful reading, there many unique and yes, troubling elements and questions with out clear answers that emerge.  First is the location.  We are told that Jesus journeyed to Tyre and Sidon -- two coastal communities in Phoenicia which at that time were a part of Syria.  In the ministry of Jesus it was the only time he ventured beyond traditional Jewish land into clear Gentile territory.
 Besides this change in geography comes something else for vs. 24 we are told that “he entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there.”  So, was Jesus on a holiday, spiritual retreat, a rest?  We know that there was a sizable Jewish population in those cities.  Was it a relative’s house?  Yet at this seemingly random location, he later casts out demons, heals the sick, and causes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.  It’s a really peculiar way to stay out of the public eye, isn’t it?  Jesus seems to be avoiding the public attraction that his healings might create.  But then that is exactly what happens.  
Then of course we have this first healing in this area that begins with this Canaanite woman throwing herself at Jesus’ feet.1  Which is curious not only because of the words said later but is not a normal cross cultural encounter.  Canaanite women at that time if they were married or had male relatives did not approach and speak to men unilaterally.2  Does this then mean she was a widowed or divorced single mother?
 And then of course there is the response of Jesus to this woman at her plea, the opposite of what we had come to expect of Jesus.  In all other respects, this little girl is precisely the sort of person that Jesus delights in healing.  This girl is suffering and her mother seeks Jesus out.
 Nonetheless, Jesus responds not with “Your faith has healed your daughter,” but with "First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."3  It is as harsh then as it is now.  Dogs were the scavengers of the streets --- seemingly diseased and dirty --- which in many ways Gentiles were to Jews because Gentiles did not follow clean and unclean rules; it was and is --- an insult.
 Yet, in review, we find out that Jesus does not use the common, normal insult word for stray dogs.  Rather in Greek he used the diminutive term for little puppies or household pets, still insulting but with a twist, meaning that Jesus could have been saying this insult with a matter of fact face, in essence, that she's a dog --- and her sick daughter as well.  Or it could mean that his expression is a poker face, because he is in fact merely testing her.  He wants to know what she believes, beyond her desperate need to have her daughter healed.  Or it could mean the face of Jesus was one of teasing, with a knowing half-smile.4
 If all this was not enough, we have the response from the woman who seemingly is non-pulsed by these words, quickly turning those words into an opportunity.  To which Jesus, either stunned or ready for it, answers in effect -- "touch?" woman; “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”5
 In the end, Jesus does heal the girl in this episode and everything turns out well.  Nevertheless, we are left not simply with a miracle happy ending, but also with many questions and with a sense of unease that lingers long after the Gospel has moved on to other matters.
 So, what are we to make of all of this?  I have read this gospel many times and have always come out of the experience with something to think about.  This time, I was struck not with those various questions but with something else.  I was struck with the similarities of the woman in this episode has with others miracle healings performed by Jesus.
 There are at least three similarities.  First is the honesty.  Jesus always attracted messy people.  These messy people that look to Jesus are not people in denial.  These are not people, who think that they are not sick, or they are not possessed, or they are not needy.  They need help, and they need it right away.  The people, who come to Jesus no matter the culture, place or need, have genuine and honest clarity about their condition and situation.
 This Syro-Phoenician woman is as honest as they come.  She seems to be brutally honest to herself and the people around her.  As I mentioned she has three strikes against her, she is a woman, she is a Gentile, and is possibly a single mother who has a demon-possessed daughter.  None of these things won first-century popularity contests.  Nevertheless this woman has heard about Jesus and what ever she thought about him, what we can say, she is brutally honest and it is that need that drives her to Jesus. 
 That second aspect of this episode that resembles many of the other healing events is humility.  This woman had a humble spirit.  This Gentile woman comes and throws herself at Jesus feet, begging him to cast the demon out of her daughter.6  Jesus’ response is interesting as we have said before.  Yet, the woman responds with a humble spirit, and instead of being defensive, which she had every right to be, she is contrite.  She might be a cultural “puppy” but she will accept that position if it means being fed what she seeks.
 Bernard of Clairvaux, the French abbot who wrote a great deal about humility, says that it is only when humility warrants it that great graces can be obtained, and so when we perceive that we are being humiliated, look on that humiliation as a sign of a sure guarantee that grace is on the way.  “Just as the heart is puffed up with pride before its destruction, so it is humiliated before being honored.”7  (My emphasis - Why is that we may remember the first part of the quote but not the second?)  This Gentile mother both bows down and cries out on behalf of her daughter.  Her approach to Jesus is humble and broken.
 The third resemblance of this episode to others in the life of Jesus is faith.  This Gentile woman responds in faith.  The boldness of the woman to Jesus proves that she is somehow dimly aware of whom she is encountering.  Jesus heals, and nothing will stop her from being faithful to that knowledge.  In the same story in Matthew 15, Jesus responds to her by saying, "Woman, you have great faith!  Your request is granted."8  
 So as interesting as this episode in Jesus public ministry may be because of it’s location, the fact that it is a woman, her life situation and need and the language used, we may possibly ignore the most fundamental aspect, the crucial teaching it has for us; honesty, humility and faith.
 For many of us our values are to have faith in ourselves or in aspects of our culture and world from technological advances to money and its security.  For many of us our values are that humility is a sign of submission and assume it is weakness or a sign of domination.  For many of us honesty is determined by the situation and the people with whom we associate.  For the woman in our gospel her need was honest, her spirit was humble, and her response was faith.
 The final unknown answer in this gospel is that we do not know if this woman followed Jesus, but the fact that Jesus met her needs and so revealed his own glory is absolutely clear.
 While the circumstances of this woman’s story are different from ours, Jesus operates the same today as then and calls us to do the same with the same spirit.  We are pushed to go in faithful proclamation and compassionate service in every place and to all people, regardless of results.  Let us not ignore the model of this gospel and the many others --- honesty, humility and faith in ourselves and in others.  Let us model honesty, humility and faith, go in mission wherever Jesus Christ takes us and respond in healing love wherever it is needed.  Amen.

1 Mark 7: 24-25
2 Still searching for the reference.
3 Vs. 27
4 Got this idea from http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/ficca_4326.htm
5 Mark 7: 29
6 vv. 25-26
7 Bernard of Clairvaux, True Humiliy Sermon # 34 On the Song of Songs.
8 Matthew 15: 28

Nagasaki, Japan

This is a short article that I wrote for Nagoya-Kibo Lutheran Church newsletter that will be published shortly.  A Japanese version of this article follows.  The picture is of the epicenter (where the Atomic bomb exploded 500 meters in the air) Nagsaki, Japan.  I am on the left and Mr. Murabara from Nagoya-Kibo Lutheran Church is on the right.

 

 

On August 25-27^th, I went to Nagasaki.  The trip brought back many fond memories of my brief time in Nagasaki as a lay missionary in 1986-1989.  In those years I served Nagasaki Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church, taught English at the church and in the community as part of the church’s evangelism program. 

 

This visit to Nagasaki with members of Nagoya-Kibo reminded me of some important experiences.  Once, I remember vividly being asked by Pastor Oka, the pastor of Nagasaki Lutheran at that time, about my feelings about the atomic bomb and its use on the civilian population in 1945.  For a Christian coming from the US, it is quite a difficult question.

 

On one hand, if I were to use the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to defend nuclear weapons as essential to end World War II, particular after the US experience in the Battle of Okinawa, I would be like many Americans forced to adopt a sort of “celebratory triumphalism” about the massive, indiscriminate killing of civilians.  For me, this contravenes every principle of being a Christian.

 

On the other hand, if I were to use the experiences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to decry nuclear weapons, I could find my self in a position that seems to impose a false moral equivalency, meaning that the immorality of the atomic bombs could seemingly excuse the immoral conduct of World War II-era Japan not just in the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii for example, but the rape and massacre of hundreds of thousands of civilian Chinese by Japanese troops in Nanking, China.

 

I told Pastor Oka that the sinful dropping of atomic bombs sends me to Jesus Christ.  In Luke 7, at a dinner table Jesus responds to criticism that is leveled at him when he allows a sinful woman to clean his feet with tears and dry them with her hair, with these words in particular: “But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

 

After those words, Jesus concludes his teaching as he often does, with: “Your faith has saved you go in peace.”  I believe that Jesus is pointing out in this episode that measuring and comparing sins is fruitless and wrong because in doing so, we become like those around that table that day, people who “forgive little” and thus “love little.”  Rather, I recognize that I am like the woman, full of the sin of the world, full of tears, silently pleading for forgiveness.

 

The use of atomic weapons is sinful, just as were the Japanese atrocities during the war.  But the point is not to compare sins in order to avoid sinning in the future; rather Jesus reminds us the final word is forgiveness and then peace, the peace that come on the cross in Jesus Christ.

Japanese version:

８月25日から27日まで長崎に行ってきました。旅行をしながら、1986年から89年にかけて信徒宣教者として長崎に住んでいた頃のなつかしい思い出がよみがえってきました。当時私は、日本福音ルーテル長崎教会の奉仕者として教会で英語を教えていました。また、教会の地域伝道の一貫として近隣の方々にも教えていました。

 

今回、なごや希望教会のみなさんと一緒に長崎を再び訪ね、あの頃の貴重な体験の数々を思い出したのです。なかでも強く印象に残っているのは、ある日、当時の長崎教会の牧師だった岡先生に、原爆が民間人の上に落とされたことについてどう思いますか、と訊かれたことです。アメリカから来日したクリスチャンにとって、とても答えにくい質問でした。

 

仮に私が、沖縄戦を経た米国にとってヒロシマとナガサキへの原爆投下は第二次世界大戦を終結するために不可欠だった、と核兵器の使用を擁護するようなことを言えば、「勝利をもたらしたのだから良かったのだ」という、いわゆる勝者の論理を刷り込まれているその他大勢のアメリカ人とたいして変わらないことになってしまいます。でも、原爆が民間人を無差別に大量に殺戮した事実は厳然とあり、私が勝者の論理を使うことは、あらゆる点でキリストの教えに反することになります。

 

その反面、もしも私が被爆したヒロシマとナガサキを根拠に、核兵器廃絶をことさら声高に主張したとすると、ある意味で偽善的な「道徳の等価」を課しているような立場に陥りかねません。つまり、原子爆弾の非道徳性を非難することによって、真珠湾の奇襲のみならず南京におけるレイプや大虐殺など、大戦中日本軍が犯した非道徳的な残虐行為への非難に対抗するようなことになりかねません。

 

岡先生の質問に対して私は、「原爆投下の罪深さを思い、私はイエス・キリストへ導かれます」とお答えしました。ルカ7章で、食事の席に着いておられたイエスに、一人の罪深い女性が近寄り、イエスの足を涙でぬらし、自分の髪の毛でぬぐいます。その行為をなすがままにされたイエスを非難した者に対して主は「赦されることの少ない者は、愛することも少ない」と応じられました。

 

イエスはそう言われたのちに「あなたの信仰があなたを救った。安心して〔英語で in peace平和のうちに〕行きなさい」と、お話の最後によく使われた言葉をこの時も言われました。この出来事でイエスは、罪を比較することがいかに無益で間違ったことかを示されたのだ、と私は信じます。そのような比較をすれば、私たちはその食事の席についていた他の者たちと同じような「赦すことの少ない」者、すなわち「愛することが少ない」者になってしまいます。そうではなく、私はむしろその女性のごとく、この世の多くの罪に満ち、涙に満ちて、声もなく赦しを願います。

 

核兵器の使用は罪深いことです。大戦中の日本軍の残虐行為もまた罪深いことです。しかし、将来罪を犯さないようにするためには、これらの罪を比較することは意味がありません。イエスがお話の結びで言われた通り、最終的には「赦し」があって「平和」があると気付かされます。それはイエス・キリストの十字架における安心と平和にほかなりません。