இயேசு தன்னைப் பற்றிய உருவகமாக யோனாவைக் கொண்டிருந்தார்.யோனாவுக்கும், இயேசுவுக்கும் சில ஒற்றுமைகள் இருக்கின்றன:
அ. இருவரும் புயலடிக்கும்போது கப்பலின் அடித்தட்டில் தூங்குகின்றனர்.
ஆ. இருவரும் 'மனமாற்றம்' பற்றி போதிக்கின்றனர்.
இ. இருவரும் மூன்று நாட்கள் பூமியின் அடியில் இருக்கின்றார்கள் - யோனா மீனின் வயிற்றில், இயேசு பூமியின் வயிற்றில்.
ஈ. யோனா மூன்று நாட்கள் போதிக்கின்றார். இயேசு மூன்று ஆண்டுகள் போதிக்கின்றார்.
உ. யோனாவின் பெயர் 'புறா'. இயேசு 'அன்பார்ந்த மகன்' என பெயர் பெறும் திருமுழுக்கு நிகழ்விலும் இறங்கி வந்தது புறா.
யோனா நூல் நிறைவுபெற்றது.
இயேசுவுக்கும்,யோனாவிற்குமான ஒற்றுமைகளைப் பட்டியலிட்டுள்ளார் தந்தை.இந்தப் பட்டியலில் உள்ளவை நம் வாழ்வில் இடம் பிடிப்பது கடினம்.ஆயினும் வாழ்க்கைப்புயலின் அடித்தட்டில் சிக்கித்தவிக்கும் நாம் நமக்குக் கிடைக்கும் போதனைகளைப் பின்பற்றி நடப்பின் ஒரு ' புறா'விற்கு உண்டான அமைதியுடன் முப்பது ஆண்டுகள் கழித்தும் கூட இந்தக் கண்ணீர்க்கணவாயினின்று வெளியேறலாம்.யோசிக்கவைத்த தந்தைக்கு நன்றிகள்.ஒரு அவசரக் குடுக்கையாக இந்த யோனாவின் நூல் முடிவதற்கு மூன்று தினங்கள் முன்பே ' நிறைவு' என்று நானே ஒரு யூகம் எடுத்ததற்குத் தந்தை என்னை மன்னிப்பாராக!!!
ReplyDeleteGITANJALI A BERNARD,
ReplyDeleteNew York
The biography of Mr. JONAH fascinates – and irritates me.
The Lord says to the Prophet, “Set out for the great city of Nineveh” [Jonah 1:2]
He instead makes ready to flee to the opposite direction, to another destination.
During the furious tempest that follows, the mariners diagnose the situation.
It is Jonah himself who prescribes the precise solution: “I know it is because of me that this violent storm has come upon you. Pick me up and throw me into the sea.” [Jonah 1:12]
Despite the chaotic behavior of Jonah, God’s bounteous compassion accompanies him; God’s large fish becomes a safe ship to guard him for three days and three nights.
My sense of disobedience to God’s commandments wants to mete out cruel punishments to Jonah; A few smaller fishes should have eaten him up in the sea…
The word of the Lord comes to Jonah a second time. Even Prophets of God receive second chances!
As Jonah’s mission is becoming a mighty success, he personally exhibits his narrow and vindictive mentality.
How often he rants…
“greatly displeasing to Jonah, and he becomes angry”’ [Jonah 4:1]
“I know you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish” [Jonah 4:2]
“Lord, take away my life from me”. [Jonah 4:3]
“It is better for me to die than to live”. [Jonah 4:3]
“I have reason enough to be angry and die” [Jonah 4:9]
A ‘crazy’ Prophet that he is, Jonah builds a hut and waits under it in the shade, “TO SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE CITY” [Jonah 4:6]
What exactly he wishes to “SEE?”
The total destruction of God’s great City of Nineveh.
Its annihilation at which he wants to “rejoice”.
The Pope and the over 2000 Bishops of the Church convene the General Council for two years with over 25 years of prayer and preparation.
The stated agenda are:
- To renew the liturgy of the church, increase congregational participation, ensure much better understanding of the Word and the Sacraments.
- To expand a greater understanding of what it means to be “CHURCH”, not simply to belong to the Church, with its concept of Church as People of God.
- To recognize that every baptized Christian, lay, cleric, and religious alike shares directly in the mission Christ gave to the Church: to teach, to worship, and to transform the world.
- To acknowledge the bonds of faith, hope, and charity the Catholics share with all other Christians, as well as our common brotherhood and sisterhood under God with the other religious bodies of the world.
- To summon to assume, with renewed vigor and dedication, our duty to evangelize the world, not only through preaching and catechesis but also through the struggle for social justice, human rights, and peace,
- To remind that the Church itself is always in need of repentance and purification and that the strongest argument for the truth of the gospel is the Church’s own living of it.
- To reaffirm the importance of the local church, and therefore, the right and duty of each local church to incarnate the gospel in ways that are consistent with local cultures.
- To declare the radical equality of all human beings before God and their right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences.
Now the Church at large is being inspired by the Spirit of the Lord towards a new renaissance.
The new Nineveh, the GREAT CITY, the Church, is heading toward the renewal, envisaged by God.
Imagine the contemporary Jonahs, the Pope and his colleagues, abdicate their assigned responsibilities, build huts, and wait under their shade, to see what would happen to the CHURCH
Busy worrying about the gourd plant [what might that be?] without manifesting any sense of care about the one hundred and twenty thousand persons…and much more in the CITY?