SALVATION

- H.G. Dr. Yuhanon Mor Meletius Metropolitan

W
hat is salvation? There are people who talk
about salvation as something to do with after

death experience. Again there are people who

talk about salvation of the soul as if there are several unrelated
faculties in God's creation. Further there are people who talk

about salvation as something applicable only to human. These

interpretations do not do justice to the issue. Salvation is setting things in the
right place. Look at the creation story and read further the story of fall of human.

Before the fall of human there was perfect relationship between God and human,
human and human and human and nature. See the phrases used in that part of

the Bible. Everything in creation was related. But because of what human did,
human went away from God, one human was against another, nature was
against human. Relationships in all levels broke.

Thing created by God is primarily related to God and then to one another
including human. This relationship keeps everything in a saved mutually caring,
loving and peaceful situation which is salvation. Once this relationship is broken,

unjust dealing, rivalry, hatred, lack of mutual respect and understanding, love and
salvation becomes impossible for all elements in creation. God’s work in Jesus
Christ was to reestablish this broken relationship. So salvation is to be

understood as getting back to the original kind of relationship. Here the whole
creation is to be involved. Look at our situation now. Humans do not look for the
will of God, humans are fighting between for no serious reason, and nature is
showing its fury on us. This causes suffering and death. This has to be changed.

A change in nature can challenge our life. A tree can cause pain to our life; a fruit
can put an end to our life. Look at the change of weather patterns now. It does
not respect our dreams and wishes. We do not respect the dreams and wishes of

God. Everything in this broken world is trying to make life safe and peaceful. But
it can happen when the broken relationship is set right. This is salvation. Read
for clarification the dream of prophet Isaiah recorded in Ch. 11. No one in the

world of Isaiah harm another. Everyone including even the wildest beast live in
perfect harmony with nature and in peace with the other. Way back in history,

even before these western theologians and philosophers ever thought about
ecology and sustenance of this earth and its resources, before any organization
started it mission to save endangered species, before anyone who started

programs to speak against global warming, our Church father thought of them
and made those concerns expressed in our liturgy. That is the richness of our
liturgy. It is a pity that we do not understand and teach them.

Humans cannot be saved if weather patterns are not favorable which will affect
his agricultural crop and other livelihood activities. This is why " sarva
srishtiyudeyum mochanam" is voiced in our liturgy.