Breaking the Word

GOSPEL READING: MATTHEW 8:23-27

The Jews were not seafaring people. They were originally shepherds and later they concentrated on the land. The sea remained a place and power of evil and darkness. It was a symbol of wild and untameable power. The disobedient prophet Jonah was made to retrace his path by the wild power of the sea.

God created the beautiful world by subduing the wild sea (And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters Gen 1:2). Yahweh tamed the sea at Exodus. He let the people of Israel through the Red Sea (another creation of a new people). Here Jesus has power over the wind and sea. Jesus is creating a new Israel.

இஸ்ராயேல் மக்கள் மனதில் கடல் தீமையின் ஒரு அடையாளமாக இருந்து வந்தது. கடலிலிருந்து அழகான உலகை கடவுள் படைத்தார். செங்கடலை அடக்கி இஸ்ராயேலை படைத்தார். இயேசு இங்கு புது இஸ்ராயேலை படைக்கிறார்: கடல்மீது (தீமைமீது) தான் கொண்ட அதிகாரத்தால்.

GOSPEL READING: MATTHEW 8:18-22

Jesus belongs to the road, to the countryside, to the lanes, to the streets in fact he belongs to wherever the people of God are. He has no personal place for rest like the foxes and birds. His place is where the people are particularly the poor people of God. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus has to throw himself to the open, to emptiness, to nothingness.

At the time of Jesus and even now for a devout Jew, the first thing that he would do in the morning is to recite the “Hear O Israel…”. This is the most important thing for a Jew and there is nothing more important than this. But the Rabbis would say that even before reciting this prayer burying one’s father come first. What Jesus was doing takes precedence even before this.

இயேசு ஓய்வு எடுக்க பதுங்கு குழியோ> கூடோ கிடையாது. அவருக்கு தெருக்களும் திறந்த வெளிகளுமே இருந்தது. அங்குதான் ஏழைகள் இருந்தார்கள். அவரை பின் செல்ல விரும்புபவன் ஏழையாக இருக்க வேண்டும் மேலும் இதையே முதன்மை படுத்தவேண்டும்.