By Sr. Mary Thadavanal msmhc –
Talking about the Bible, I would like to quote here the most beautiful discovery of Fr. Daniel Poovannathil of Thiruvananthapuram archdiocese has made about the Bible. He says, “Bible means, ‘the BOOK’, the most important book”. The uniqueness of the Bible is that it is a collection of 73 books written by 47 writers taking 1500 years. Ordinarily, people take a few months or a year or more to write a book. Not so in the case of the Bible. Among the writers of the Bible, there were people from different walks of life such as kings, soldiers, farmers, philosophers, fishermen, tax collectors, musicians, poets, politicians, doctors, prophets, shepherds, and sages.
Originally it was written in 3 languages, viz., Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, sitting in 3 different continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe preserving amazing internal consistency and unity which no book in the world can claim to possess. No single book of the bible contradicts what another book of the Bible communicates. The question asked in Genesis gets its response in Revelation; the paradise lost in Genesis is regained in Revelation; if the way to the tree of life is closed in Genesis, the fruit of the tree of life is plucked and given in Revelation. The unanswered questions of the First Book are answered in the last book because this extraordinary book was written by the Holy Spirit, not man. They have only written down what the Holy Spirit inspired them to write.
That is why Jesus Christ called this book the ‘Holy Scripture’ which he says is eternal life. Some books were written in the desert while others were in the prison, in the palace, during the journey, and in exile. Moses would have been in some part of the desert when he wrote the books referred to him. Some of Paul’s writings were done while he was in the prison. Daniel wrote from the palace and John from the Island of Patmos. Written from multiple contexts there is literature, poetry, romance, exhortations, songs, letters, memoirs, satires, autobiography, biography, prophecy, and parables. The first book ever printed is the Bible. The best seller of all time, the Bible is the only book translated into more than 2200 languages.
Another interesting factor about the Bible is that Voltaire, an atheist, who was one of the forces behind the French revolution, prophesied that within 100 years the Bible will cease to exist and its memory will be erased from human minds. After 50 years of making this prophecy, Voltaire died but the Bible didn’t. Ironically, in course of time the Geneva Bible Society bought up Voltaire’s house and his printing press and they are now the warehouse of the society for storing copies of the Bible for distribution around the world.
Again, if you give a copy of the Bible to a person and ask him/her to read from Genesis to Revelation, if he/she has done a serious reading, he/she will land up not in a few concepts but a person, the person of Jesus Christ. The Bible is Christocentric.
The reading of the 73 books of the Bible is a journey toward Jesus Christ and discovering that prophecies were made about him even 1500 years before his birth. The single chord running through every book of the Bible is Salvation; the salvation of man from the slavery of sin to eternal life obtained by the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. The Old Testament is a narration of the promise made of the Saviour who would redeem humanity from sin, the chosen people waiting expectantly for the coming of the Saviour, and how the Lord prepared his people for his coming.
The New Testament speaks about how God made salvation possible by giving to humanity a Saviour, and of his life, teachings, and the way he won salvation for the world. Bible is realistic. It records not only the heroic deeds of individuals who were chosen by the Lord to lead his people but also their failures and drawbacks as well. The God of the Bible is holy and a righteous God who does not tolerate sin, no matter who commits it. His chosen people whom he loved as the apple of his eye were repeatedly made the subject of attacks by their enemies and sent into exile because of their sins. Bible also points out the incapability of man to combat sin and the need for a Saviour who would liberate them from the enticement and clutches of sin.
In the Bible, you meet the Saviour of your life, who can take away your sins completely and ‘do for you more than you can ask or imagine’ (Eph 3:20). What a precious gift God has given to his children which opens to them the door that lands them in the arms of the Saviour, who is Love, Mercy, and Forgiveness beyond description!!!
Why waste the one-time opportunity of life mesmerised by the sparkling glories of the world that last but a moment???
Sr. Mary Thadavanal MSMHC is former Mother General of MSMHC Congregation