The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to explore the experience of moving from dark days of the desert to restoration of our lives in a transformed state.
The reading from the Book of Genesis describes the consequences of the Fall.
* [3:15] They will strike…at their heel: the antecedent for “they” and “their” is the collective noun “offspring,” i.e., all the descendants of the woman. Christian tradition has seen in this passage, however, more than unending hostility between snakes and human beings. The snake was identified with the devil (Wis 2:24; Jn 8:44; Rev 12:9; 20:2), whose eventual defeat seemed implied in the verse. Because “the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8), the passage was understood as the first promise of a redeemer for fallen humankind, the protoevangelium. Irenaeus of Lyons (ca. A.D. 130–200), in his Against Heresies 5.21.1, followed by several other Fathers of the Church, interpreted the verse as referring to Christ, and cited Gal 3:19 and 4:4 to support the reference. Another interpretive translation is ipsa, “she,” and is reflected in Jerome’s Vulgate. “She” was thought to refer to Mary, the mother of the messiah. In Christian art Mary is sometimes depicted with her foot on the head of the serpent. (Genesis, CHAPTER 3, n.d.)
Psalm 90 praises God’s Eternity and Human Frailty.
* [Psalm 90] A communal lament that describes only in general terms the cause of the community’s distress. After confidently invoking God (Ps 90:1), the Psalm turns to a complaint contrasting God’s eternity with the brevity of human life (Ps 90:2–6) and sees in human suffering the punishment for sin (Ps 90:7–12). The Psalm concludes with a plea for God’s intervention (Ps 90:13–17). (Psalms, PSALM 90, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is feeding the Four Thousand.
* [8:1–10] The two accounts of the multiplication of loaves and fishes (Mk 8:1–10; 6:31–44) have eucharistic significance. Their similarity of structure and themes but dissimilarity of detail are considered by many to refer to a single event that, however, developed in two distinct traditions, one Jewish Christian and the other Gentile Christian, since Jesus in Mark’s presentation (Mk 7:24–37) has extended his saving mission to the Gentiles. (Mark, CHAPTER 8, n.d.)
Scott McClure can’t help but think that beyond the crowd’s obvious physical hunger, Jesus knew how starving they were for true food, the sort of which had been guarded by the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword since the Fall.
This story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes that is all too common, and yet no less extraordinary because of it, answers the question Of what shall we eat? when we see it with its eucharistic significance (as we’re told in the note on this passage) and in light of salvation history. In so doing, we realize that the story points to the Eucharist and that the tree, itself, again takes center stage. In God’s mercy, he gives humanity another chance to make the right choice; to choose not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as our forebears did, but to choose the tree of life – the tree on which Jesus was crucified. Whereas everything was lost to Adam and Eve upon eating from the forbidden tree, by eating the fruit of the new tree of life – the body and blood of Jesus crucified – everything is given.
This new tree of life, just like the trees at Creighton’s retreat center, makes the invisible visible and draws our gaze upward. It takes the invisible love of God and shows this love visibly in the body of Christ. The source of our faith at the summit of Calvary. The summit of our faith in the source of all creation. God, himself; our true food; our refuge. (McClure, 2023)
Don Schwager quotes “Breaking the bread of God's Word,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"In expounding to you the Holy Scriptures, I, as it were, break bread for you. If you hunger to receive it, your heart will sing out with the fullness of praise (Psalm 138:1). If you are thus made rich in your banquet, be not meager in good works and deeds. What I am distributing to you is not my own. What you eat, I eat; what you live upon, I live upon. We have in heaven a common store-house - from it comes the Word of God." (excerpt from SERMONS ON NEW TESTAMENT LESSONS 45.1) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Genesis 3:9-24 comments that today’s first reading is often identified as the very first promise of a redeemer. The Church Fathers called it the protoevangelium, or the “first gospel.” It describes “enmity” (Genesis 3:15) between the serpent, which Christian tradition associates with the devil, and the offspring of woman, understood as Jesus himself. Even more, it prefigures the final defeat of evil—the crushing of its head, as it were—which Jesus himself would accomplish through his death and resurrection.
We all have experienced being brought up short by our sins or realizing the unintended consequences of our actions. But let the Lord’s words to Adam and Eve give you hope. After the Fall, God immediately unveiled his loving response to their sin. And he has fulfilled his promise in Christ. Now he renews that same promise to you every day. There’s not a moment between your sin and God’s promise to redeem you.
“Almighty God, thank you for rescuing me from sin!” (Meditation on Genesis 3:9-24, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the rifts between God and people, Adam and Eve, and people and nature presented in the passage from Genesis. The etiology of snake behaviour and childbirth pain are not to be understood as science truth. Friar Jude shares comments on the baroque images of creatures like those on Syrian temples, the Immaculate Conception, and Jesus' miracle to satisfy the deep hunger in our hearts.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, outlines a prayerful practice of interpreting Scripture the way Jesus did.
Offer a prayer for guidance from the Holy Spirit before interpreting an important text. This begins to decenter our egoic need to make the text say what we want or need it to say. Pray as long as it takes to get to this inner intellectual freedom and detachment.
Once we have attained some honest degree of intellectual and emotional freedom, we must try to move to a position of detachment from our own will and its goals, needs, and desires.
Then listen for a deeper voice that isn’t our own. We will know that it isn’t the ego because it will never shame or frighten us, but rather strengthen us, even when it is challenging us. If it is God’s voice, it will take away our illusions and our violence so completely and naturally that we can barely identify with such previous feelings! I call this God’s replacement therapy.
If the interpretation leads our True Self to experience any or several of the fruits of the Spirit, as they are listed in Galatians 5:22–23—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, and self-control—I think we can trust this interpretation is from the Spirit, from the deeper stream of wisdom.
If any negative or punitive emotions—such as morose delight, feelings of superiority, self-satisfaction, arrogant dualistic certitude, desire for revenge, need for victory, or any spirit of dismissal or exclusion—arise from the interpretation, this is not the Jesus hermeneutic at work, but our own ego still steering the ship.
Finally, remember the temptation of Jesus in the desert (see Matthew 4:1–11). Three temptations to the misuse of power are listed—economic, religious, and political. Even Jesus must face these subtle disguises before he begins any public ministry; this is a warning to all of us. (Rohr, 2023)
We live with the consequences of our choices and the invitation of the Spirit to accept the care of Jesus to respond to our spiritual and emotional hunger.
References
Genesis, CHAPTER 3. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/3?9
Mark, CHAPTER 8. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/8?1
McClure, S. (2023, February 11). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/021123.html
Meditation on Genesis 3:9-24. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/02/11/608423/
Psalms, PSALM 90. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/90?2
Rohr, R. (2023, February 11). Experience, Scripture, Tradition: Weekly Summary — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/experience-scripture-tradition-weekly-summary-2023-02-11/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture ... Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=feb11
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