Whenever we think of ecological concerns this is one of the
portions that often come to our mind. Through this passage, Apostle Paul
invites us to broaden our understanding of God’s salvific mission in our midst
which includes the entire community of creation. The passage that we just
read serves as a summary statement and the important message we get from it is
that the saving purpose of God is not only for human beings but also for the
entire creation. Creation and salvation are not contradictory terms. Most of
the sermons that I have heard on “Groaning of creation” gave me the message
that “the earth is going to die and the creation is groaning”. But, the
re-reading of today’s text will help us to understand this Groaning of Creation
in a different way taking the positive side of the groaning or the cry of
creation.
The 2004 Nobel Prize winner for peace Wangari Maathai,
founder of the green belt movement in Kenya, took the initiative to respond to
the groaning of earth and women. She said, “It is the little things citizens
do. That’s what will make a difference. My little thing is planting trees.”
By re-reading today’s text under the theme “Groaning of
Creation: Celebrating Life in the Midst of Death.” We are led to ponder on
three points.
1) The Groaning God:
The Immanuel in Solidarity with the Groaning Creation:
As we know, the root word for the Spirit is ‘pneuma’ in
Greek and the Hebrew equivalent for this term is ‘Ruah’ which is feminine in
gender. So, when the Holy Spirit groans it is the groaning of the Divine
feminine. When we take it in this sense, we can see an embodied God, who on her
body, experiences the pain of the creation. In the groaning of the Spirit, we
meet God in the midst of the sufferings and struggles of the creation. For
Paul, the groaning of the whole creation is for the freedom from the bondage to
decay. We can see the pain of God in the cry of the Spirit. Here, God’s pain is
described as silent cries that words have limitation to express, and the
ineffable cry of the Spirit reveals the depth of God’s pain. (V: 26) The Greek
term used here is ‘Stenagmois’ which means sighing or lamenting. The cry of the
creation reveals the crucified God in our times. God gets wounded by the human
sinfulness which causes death and destruction,
and the Spirit groans because of the human sin towards the creation and the
creator. This cry of the Spirit is not to judge or curse the creation but for
the redemption and the promise of ‘new-life’ or the ‘new earth’.
The groaning of the Spirit indicates that the divine is
ready to give the creation, both humans and non-human beings the vocation of
co-creators. Therefore, the Spirit groans because there is the possibility of
transformation. In spite of our sinfulness, God allows us to participate in the
divine’s creative work. We can see many references from the Bible which tell
that the groaning of the creation is seen as the groaning of God. In the exodus
event, God sees and hears the cry of the enslaved people. God groans for them
and God prepares Moses to liberate them. Here, God is a co-sufferer in the
midst of their struggles. God becomes Immanuel. I understand this term as
‘In-Manual’ that is God is in human form and with humans, participating in the
suffering and struggles of the creation. Thus, Groaning of Creation
enables us to have an alternative understanding of God as the ‘Groaning God’.
The groaning of the Spirit empowers us with the alternative that is not of
defeat and death but, of the resistance and the assurance of new life. So, this
passage gives us an image of the groaning God who takes up the pain of the
creation and is always in solidarity with the groaning of nature and women. In
the present scenario, the image of God as divine feminine has a greater
significance where the atrocities against nature and women are increasing day
by day.
2) Groaning of
Creation: A Testimony of Resistance and Resilience:
In Verse 22, it is clearly mentioned that the creation is
groaning like a woman in labour pain. The Greek words used to denote the
groaning of creation is ‘Sustanase’ which means groan and the pain or suffering
as of a woman in child birth is ‘Sunodenei’. The Greek word for creation is
‘ketasis’ which encompasses the whole world, human and non-human beings. These
two groanings are connected with ‘khai’ in Greek which means ‘and’; thus we can
see that the pain of nature and women are seen equally, leading to the
ecofeminist view in the Bible. When there is any change, there is the factor of
pain but the groaning is a symbol of resistance. Resistance overthrows the
prevailing dispensation and leads to transformation. The whole world is crying
for the release from pain as a woman cries during child birth. The groaning of
the nature is seen as the sorrow of the nature i.e. suffering of the animals,
destruction of the plant life, natural catastrophes and also the crying of the
wind and sea. But the nature stands striving against the atrocities that human
beings do against her and I would like to see it as the protest against the
injustice, using the tool of resistance.
She is referred to as the illiterate heroine, her bold
actions and expressions inspired the community. She led the protest which was
the conflict between ecology and development, a quarrel between the rich and
the poor, a clash between rural and urban, a conflict between the state and its
people. She cried for the people and listened to the cry of the earth; and thus
she started the campaign against Coca-Cola, in Plachimada. She is none other
than Mylamma, the founder of the Coca-Cola Virudha Samara Samiti (Anti
Coca-Cola Struggle Committee) who spearheaded the campaign. Her efforts
succeeded in shutting down the multinational giant Coca- Cola. The shutdown of
the Coca Cola bottling plant at Plachimada has made international news and is
often characterised as a David vs. Goliath Story. The Coca Cola plant remains
shut down since March 9, 2004.
Mylamma’s agitation illustrates the fact that women have
brought a different perspective to the environment debate. Mylamma groaned for
the life of Adivasis and for the life of other creations. She stood as
resistance against the multi-national giant in renewing the life of the people
and the earth which was destroyed. Thus, the cries of creation and of
women are not in vain but in gain. Therefore, we can understand this cry as cry
of resistance and not surrender.
3) Groaning of
Creation: A Labour Pain Giving Birth to Alternatives:
In verse 23, we can see that the new world comes through the
glorification of God’s children. The redemption of the children of God in
Romans also signals the redemption of the entire creation. We can see this also
in Isaiah chapters 24-27. It clearly says that groaning is for the
redemption. In line with v. 22 a woman in the process of labour, sheds tears
which results in a redemption - a new life. Women themselves also undergo
certain changes with the pain. The groaning of women during the process of
child birth is between life and death. There are opposing forces which prevent
the new life from coming out the womb but women labour by resisting those
forces and bring out the new life. The fulfilment of hope of the new life is
accomplished through resistance. According to Barrett, the present labour pain
is giving promise of the cosmic birth of the new age. This groaning results in
victory and joy. So also, the cry we hear from the earth is not a cry that
heralds death but a cry which leads to new life for the community of creation.
This gives us the courage of hope to believe that “a new earth is possible.”
The Nilppu Samaram (Standing Strike) by the Adivasis
demanding their land rights started on July 9 under the leadership of Adivasi
Gothra Maha Sabha (AGMS). The protesters stood for 162 days in front of the
Secretariat, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The success of this agitation marks
the channelization of the society’s demand for rightful living conditions for
the minorities through peaceful persuasion. C. K. Janu, who led this
standing strike, was born in a tribal village in Kerala. She took up the cry of
her people for their rights. Her cry was the cry of hope that the government
would do the needful for their rights.
This example shows that the cry is not of defeat and death,
but of hope. C.K. Janu demonstrated to the world that women take pain not for
death or defeat but as a mark of hope and redemption. The pain of the standing
protesters was with hope of a new life which will come into realization, when
the clauses in their petition are implemented. Creation is a continuing process
and that is the greatest mark of hope. Even the new heaven and the new earth
vision in the Bible in Revelation 21 assures us of the element of hope and not
the death of earth.
Dear Friends, groaning is commonly seen as result of
failure, defeat and often despair. But this text says that groaning signifies
the power of resistance and deep hope. The text also shows us a God, who groans
along with the creation. The cry of the creation is an insignia of resistance.
It obliges us to perceive it as a life-affirming process, to sustain the
cosmos. Our cry becomes the emblem of hope when we regain our courage and faith
in considering it as the cry for hope.
This alternative thinking helps us to join the creation in
the process of resistance by standing against the unjust structures, with the
hope of the new life.
It is our encounter with the Spirit that helps and inspires
us to respond to the groaning of creation. Bishop Paulos Mar Gregorios
considers human beings as the “priests of creation” with the role of
interceding, sacrificing and enabling the creation in the process of liberation
from groaning and death. Jesus’ main concern was life; here the life providers
(women and nature) are discriminated and oppressed by the patriarchal society.
When the life givers are liberated from the clutches of patriarchy, the life in
abundance which Jesus envisages comes true. Churches are also part of this
social system. As future leaders and ministers of the church, Friends, it is
our ‘response’ and our ‘ability’ to make the church aware of the present
scenario, and to liberate the life givers, the victims of patriarchy from their
bondage. It is also our responsibility to be interceders, listeners and voice
givers so that we can empower the creation in the process of resistance and
fulfil the hope for a new life.
We can participate in this process by taking the groaning of
creation as our own cry. We are called to be an advent community. It is
challenging to be part of resistance because our unhappiness results in
happiness.
We can make this practical, when we are ready to listen to
the voice or cry of the creation for resistance and hope. Are we ready to
discern the cry of the Divine feminine? Are we ready to voice out the groaning
of the creation, which is celebration of life in the midst of death?
May the triune God help us to open our ears and minds to be
partakers in this challenge to create a new world. Amen.
BD IV
