Assalamu
alaikum and Eid Mubarak. “Ramadaan” or “Ramazaan” a festival
celebrated by our Muslim brothers and sisters across the globe has a
special impression on me. I fondly remember celebrating this festival
with my friends of Islamic faith along with friends from the Hindu
and other faiths. A time of great joy, celebration, embracing each
other with love and respect, the aroma of “Athar”, a special
perfume, and not the least, the food, Biriyaani, haleem, sheer khurma
and all the best Hyderabadi delicacies one can imagine, and we all
friends, irrespective of religion, class and caste, used to eat all
varieties of dishes. And now I miss all of those celebrations.
At
this time of celebration of Ramzaan, it would be apt for us to
reflect in the light of the read passage, on the theme “The
Comforting God amidst Difficult Times”. Zech 8:18-19, gives the
same festive mood, as we usually see during Ramzaan. The end of a
long fast and a festive mood of celebration and joy. These verses are
the closing words of Zechariah’s prophesy, as scholars rightly
believe that chapters 1-8 are the words of prophet Zechariah and 9-14
are works of redactors. This is because it is a common phenomenon of
a prophecy to end on a note of hope, as these verses do. These words
appear as a response to what the people ask the priests and prophets
about mourning and abstinence in Zech7:3, and the following verses in
chapters 7 and 8 are the response of God. The different months of
mourning mentioned could refer to different destructive events like
the enemies of Israel laying siege over Jerusalem, the captivity and
destruction of the temple and so on.
The
prophet’s motive here was to encourage the disheartened and
disturbed Jews, and to revive “the impulse of building the temple”;
this we could understand from the fact that the time Zechariah
prophesied was from 520-518 BCE and the temple was built in 516 BCE.
The prophet was successful in encouraging and lifting up the spirits
of his people, by proclaiming the prophecy and promise of God about
the restoration of Jerusalem, “a dramatic metamorphosis from
fasting to feasting”. Taking this into account, as the situation
demands, let us for a moment consider the following:
- Is Zechariah’s prophecy, the promise of God, only to the Israelites of sixth century BCE? Here I mean, does it not have any relevance to the present context?
- Or is it applicable only to the present day Israel, as a nation?
- Or does it have messianic elements of hope concerning the whole creation?
Some
scholars would critically say that the book complacently assumes that
the promises made in classical prophecy were completely fulfilled in
the restoration of Jerusalem in sixth century leaving nothing further
to be hoped for. And some would resolutely argue that it speaks about
the present Israel’s occupying the promised land. There could be
different opinions and arguments. However, the Lord’s declaration
far exceeds mere restoration. According to Zech 8:16-17, Israel would
become a place of blessing, security and spirituality.
We
know what the present situation is. Israel’s attack on the
Palestinians, who are forcefully evacuated from their land and made
to live as refugees in their own country, limited to a tiny piece of
most densely populous land, deprived of most of amenities and even
food supplies, would rather be deemed not to be what God would have
intended. We see an adamant attitude of Israel to seize the whole
land from the Palestinians and form a complete Israel Nation, which
they say, is “the promise of God”.
The fulfillment of God’s promise is appended with certain “things to
remember” and of course, “ought to be followed”. And certainly,
forcefully occupying others land is not what God should have really
intended. It is mentioned in Zech 8:16-17 and in the last part of v19
about the qualities the nation should have. We also often see as in
Exodus 22:21; 23:9; Lev 19:33, God admonishing the Israelites to be
kind to aliens or strangers, reminding them of their disastrous state
in Egypt. If at all the Palestinians are to be considered as the
“aliens or strangers”, is what Israel doing, right? In this
context God surely would have reminded them of the holocaust by
Hitler in the place of slavery in Egypt. In any case, it is obvious
that Israel is defying God’s command regarding the actual qualities
of the promised land or the resident aliens.
If
God’s Promise of turning the fasting into feasting seeks a context
for its right application and reinterpretation, it is the fasting and
mourning of the children, women and men who lost their dear ones, who
are amputated by shelling of sophisticated weapons, who lost
everything, even the least, what they have. This message has to be
proclaimed to those, our fellow brothers and sisters, who longingly
wish to celebrate the end of their holy month of fasting and for a
decent and peaceful living.
The
cease fire proposed by the Hamas, in order to have at least a
temporary time of tranquillity during the “Eid” is declined by
Israel saying that the Hamas keep shooting rockets at Israel.
Despite
worldwide protests and solidarity to the Palestinians, Israel
continues its inhumane war under the strong support of the diplomatic
silence of many nations and religions. What could be the Christian
response for such a time as this? It is good to know that there are
some Jewish organizations which oppose this war. A Greek orthodox
church has sheltered about a 1,000 Palestinian Muslims who fled from
Israeli shells devastating their Gaza neighbourhood. And they have
found shelter in this building, the city's 12th-century Greek
Orthodox Church, which they otherwise would rarely or never enter.
If we continue to
debate on our theological stands and propositions and ignore the
cries of the suffering, may be, God shall not be pleased with such
attitude.
Ameen.
Paul
Karunakar Nalla,
BD
IV.
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