The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to recall, with the support of the Spirit, passing through events that were chaotic and fearful on our journey with the care of Love.
The reading from the Book of Genesis is a warning of the Great Flood.
* [6:5–8:22] The story of the great flood is commonly regarded as a composite narrative based on separate sources woven together. To the Yahwist source, with some later editorial additions, are usually assigned 6:5–8; 7:1–5, 7–10, 12, 16b, 17b, 22–23; 8:2b–3a, 6–12, 13b, 20–22. The other sections are usually attributed to the Priestly writer. There are differences between the two sources: the Priestly source has two pairs of every animal, whereas the Yahwist source has seven pairs of clean animals and two pairs of unclean; the floodwater in the Priestly source is the waters under and over the earth that burst forth, whereas in the Yahwist source the floodwater is the rain lasting forty days and nights. In spite of many obvious discrepancies in these two sources, one should read the story as a coherent narrative. The biblical story ultimately draws upon an ancient Mesopotamian tradition of a great flood, preserved in the Sumerian flood story, the eleventh tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic, and (embedded in a longer creation story) the Atrahasis Epic. (Genesis, CHAPTER 6, n.d.)
Psalm 29 praises the Voice of God in a Great Storm.
* [Psalm 29] The hymn invites the members of the heavenly court to acknowledge God’s supremacy by ascribing glory and might to God alone (Ps 29:1–2a, 9b). Divine glory and might are dramatically visible in the storm (Ps 29:3–9a). The storm apparently comes from the Mediterranean onto the coast of Syria-Palestine and then moves inland. In Ps 29:10 the divine beings acclaim God’s eternal kingship. The Psalm concludes with a prayer that God will impart the power just displayed to the Israelite king and through the king to Israel.
* [29:1] Sons of God: members of the heavenly court who served Israel’s God in a variety of capacities.
* [29:3] The voice of the LORD: the sevenfold repetition of the phrase imitates the sound of crashing thunder and may allude to God’s primordial slaying of Leviathan, the seven-headed sea monster of Canaanite mythology.
* [29:6] Sirion: the Phoenician name for Mount Hermon, cf. Dt 3:9.
* [29:9b–10] Having witnessed God’s supreme power (Ps 29:3–9a), the gods acknowledge the glory that befits the king of the divine and human world.
* [29:10] The flood: God defeated the primordial waters and made them part of the universe, cf. Ps 89:10–13; 93:3–4. (Psalms, PSALM 29, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus warns about the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.
* [8:15] The leaven of the Pharisees…of Herod: the corruptive action of leaven (1 Cor 5:6–8; Gal 5:9) was an apt symbol of the evil dispositions both of the Pharisees (Mk 8:11–13; 7:5–13) and of Herod (Mk 6:14–29) toward Jesus. The disciples of Jesus are warned against sharing such rebellious attitudes toward Jesus; cf. Mk 8:17, 21. (Mark, CHAPTER 8, n.d.)
Cindy Murphy McMahon comments that when we are weary and burdened by the messiness of our own sinfulness, mistakes and lack of concern for others, we can have faith that God gives second chances.
The conversation in the boat in the Gospel greatly amuses me. Again, the messiness of life. The disciples relished in that mess – worrying about where their next meal is coming from, who forgot to bring bread, why did they forget to bring bread – and Jesus lived there in the messiness right along with them.
But he encouraged them to rise above it, to see the bigger picture, the true meaning and value in their (our) lives and in the people we meet. Even though the disciples were constantly bickering and trying to one-up each other, Jesus still loved them, still taught them, still died for them, just as he does for each of us. (Murphy, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “Heed the truth of the Gospel,” by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD).
"The apostles are ordered to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They are warned not to be involved in the disputes of the Jews. The works of the law are now to be viewed in the light of faith. They are forewarned that they, into whose time and age the truth had appeared incarnate, should judge nothing except which lies within the position of hope in likeness of the truth that is revealed. They are warned against allowing the doctrine of the Pharisees, who are unaware of Christ, to corrupt the effectiveness of the truth of the gospel." (excerpt from commentary ON MATTHEW 16.3) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 8:14-21 comments that Christ showed them that even when they couldn’t solve the problem themselves, He was able to take care of everyone.
“Lord, please speak to me. I am trying to listen so that this can be a two-way conversation. As you did for the disciples, please bring to my mind the times when you have provided for me and provided for other people through me. I’m open to anything you want to use to speak to me: a mental picture, a familiar hymn, a Scripture passage. I want to be quick to follow your lead, but that means I need to grow in listening and understanding.
“So when I’m confused, help me turn to you first. I know that you love me and want the very best for me. Help me to trust that you are at work right now, even though there is so much I don’t understand.”
“Jesus, I long to understand your ways better and better. Help me to keep listening!” (Meditation on Mark 8:14-21, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler notes the anthropomorphic God who has made a mistake in assessing the sinfulness of the world in Genesis. The Balylonian account of a great flood in Gilgamesh may be based on the flooding of the Black Sea lake by salt water from the Mediterranean after a great earthquake. Friar Jude reminds us that the leaven of cultural practice has made some unthinkable things normal so that we are influenced by values that are not our own.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, in his 1980 talks on the Hebrew prophets, identified the passion of the prophets, which is also the passion of God.
Let’s come at it the other way around. We know and we feel; if we are children of God, then somehow what characterizes our heart and humanity must be reflected in who God is. Maybe the only way to get a handle on who God is, is to speak of desire, to speak of anger, to speak of longing, to speak of love. And so we dare to do it, and the prophet dares to do it. (Rohr, 2023)
Scholar and activist Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) describes the shared experience of feeling between God and a prophet.
The fundamental experience of the prophet is a fellowship with the feelings of God, a sympathy with the divine pathos, a communion with the divine consciousness…. The typical prophetic state of mind is one of being taken up into the heart of the divine pathos. [1] (Rohr, 2023)
We trust that our relationship with Jesus, through Love, will bring us to the high ground of trust after our experience of the flood of darkness and despair.
References
Genesis, CHAPTER 6. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/6?5
Mark, CHAPTER 8. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/8?14
Meditation on Mark 8:14-21. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/02/14/610272/
Murphy, C. (n.d.). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/021423.html
Psalms, PSALM 29. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/29?1
Rohr, R. (2023, February 14). The Feelings of God — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-feeling-of-god-2023-02-14/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture ... Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=feb14
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