Not Haste but Rhythm
Leviticus 25:1-7
V.4- “But in the
seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land, a Sabbath for
the Lord: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.”
Humanity stepped into
the 20th century with hubristic pride in the human capabilities to
control and appropriate the environment for their advantage. The “advances” in
science and technology propelled the human activities to manipulate the nature
for the maximum comfort and pleasure. The dignity and right to life of all
other beings over the face of the earth was undermined at the pretext of human
progress. Agriculture had turned out to be a profiteering activity rather than
a life sustaining enterprise depending on the providence of the Almighty. The
century ended in a very sad and remorseful mood, because the humankind realized
the folly of overexploiting the resources of mother earth. The human haste to
success and profit had left them unmindful of the rhythmic natural processes
that replenished the decreasing resources. The serious irreparable depletion of
resources had not only questioned the triumphal scientific and technological
march of the humankind but threatens the very existence of life on God’s earth.
The selected text for today’s meditation reflects the wisdom of an ancient
people who were led out of slavery to build up a community based on the vision
of justice, peace and integrity of creation provided by YHWH through the
commandments at Sinai.
In ch. 25 we see the
Lord continue to speak to Moses on ‘sabbatical cycles’ mentioned in ch. 23.
There are weekly and corresponding yearly cycles of activities and rest
prescribed by the Lord. The rest is a holistic concept that includes not only
human subjects, but servants, animals, birds and even the land that produces
the fruits of labour. Sabbath was a cyclical cure prescribed for the sinful
profit-motives in cultivating and over-exploiting the land. In the sabbatical
year the land was left fallow. The land is not aggressively dealt with for
profits, but is left to its own to allow the entire natural replenishing to
happen. The Kandha tribe of Western Orissa never uses a metal hoe to
plough the land, but only a wooden one. They believe that a metal hoe may hurt
the mother earth. We need to take lessons from the wisdom of such primal people
to find a way out of the tragedy in which we find us today. Sanctity of life is
a very broad and integral network, the land, rivers, mountains, marshy places,
forests and rocks share in it. To deal with land in haste to make profit is a
sin and to engage them respecting the rhythm of the nature that God sets is the
just and right way of life on God’s earth.
Prayer
God of lands and
rivers, help us to be mindful of the rhythms of the nature and engage with it
respecting the sanctity of life. Amen
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