The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the moments in our experience of walking with God on our journey, the times of a sense of separation from God, and the joy of our reunion with the Spirit of fullness of life.
The reading from the Book of Genesis describes the First Sin and Its Punishment.
* [3:1] Cunning: there is a play on the words for “naked” (2:25) and “cunning/wise” (Heb. ‘arum). The couple seek to be “wise” but end up knowing that they are “naked.”
* [3:5] Like gods, who know: or “like God who knows.”
* [3:8] The breezy time of the day: lit., “the wind of the day.” Probably shortly before sunset. (Genesis, CHAPTER 3, n.d.)
Psalm 32 praises the Joy of Forgiveness
* [Psalm 32] An individual thanksgiving and the second of the seven Penitential Psalms (cf. Ps 6). The opening declaration—the forgiven are blessed (Ps 32:1–2)—arises from the psalmist’s own experience. At one time the psalmist was stubborn and closed, a victim of sin’s power (Ps 32:3–4), and then became open to the forgiving God (Ps 32:5–7). Sin here, as often in the Bible, is not only the personal act of rebellion against God but also the consequences of that act—frustration and waning of vitality. Having been rescued, the psalmist can teach others the joys of justice and the folly of sin (Ps 32:8–11). (Psalms, PSALM 32, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus Cures a Deaf Man.
* [7:36] The more they proclaimed it: the same verb proclaim attributed here to the crowd in relation to the miracles of Jesus is elsewhere used in Mark for the preaching of the gospel on the part of Jesus, of his disciples, and of the Christian community (Mk 1:14; 13:10; 14:9). Implied in the action of the crowd is a recognition of the salvific mission of Jesus; see note on Mt 11:5–6. (Mark, CHAPTER 7, n.d.)
Eileen Wirth has always cringed at the portrayal of Eve – and by extension women in general – as temptress because it has had horrifying consequences for women for millennia.
As a young reporter in the 1970’s, I wrote stories about rape victims whose assailants were found innocent because they were wearing the standard short skirts of the era. In effect women attired like this invited such attacks and thus men were not responsible for their behavior. Now we know that sexual assault is a crime of violence, not passion, but countless women suffered from the tradition of shame and blame that shielded men from consequences for their violence.
Ironically although women have suffered terribly from the seeming need to keep them from tempting men, men are not unscathed by this mentality. It suggests that they are too weak to resist temptation. If I were a man, I would be insulted by this.
I like to think that most men are strong enough to make moral decisions regardless of who suggests they sin – man or woman.
Both women and men are endowed with free will and the ability to either consent to sin or to refuse to do so. This is what a fair interpretation of the commission of “original sin” should tell us.
It’s time for good and strong men and women to claim their equality as moral adults and to retire forever the sick view of women as temptresses. (Wirth, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “The touch of the Lord,” by Ephrem the Syrian (306-373 AD).
"That power which may not be handled came down and clothed itself in members that may be touched, that the desperate may draw near to him, that in touching his humanity they may discern his divinity. For that speechless man the Lord healed with the fingers of his body. He put his fingers into the man's ears and touched his tongue. At that moment with fingers that may be touched, he touched the Godhead that may not be touched. Immediately this loosed the string of his tongue (Mark 7:32-37), and opened the clogged doors of his ears. For the very architect of the body itself and artificer of all flesh had come personally to him, and with his gentle voice tenderly opened up his obstructed ears. Then his mouth which had been so closed up that it could not give birth to a word, gave birth to praise him who made its barrenness fruitful. The One who immediately had given to Adam speech without teaching, gave speech to him so that he could speak easily a language that is learned only with difficulty (Genesis 1:27-28). (excerpt from HOMILY ON OUR LORD 10.3) (Schwager, 2022)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Genesis 3:1-8 comments that sometimes we are so embarrassed by our sins that, like our first parents, we don’t want to face the Lord. Perhaps, as they were, we are afraid of how he might react. Or maybe we feel too guilty. So we stop praying regularly or avoid other opportunities to spend time with him. We might even use a variety of distractions—including some unhealthy ones—to distance ourselves from the Lord.
He sent us the Holy Spirit as our comforter and advocate, not our accuser. This is the God we have—a God of mercy and compassion.
Today’s psalm is a good reminder of this truth. When we come to the Lord asking for forgiveness, we experience a beautiful sense of freedom: “I said, ‘I confess my faults to the Lord,’ and you took away the guilt of my sin. . . . With glad cries of freedom you will ring me round” (Psalm 32:5, 7). And we realize that “mercy surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord” (32:10).
We all struggle with guilt and the temptation to avoid God. Perhaps we’ve battled a certain sin over many years, or maybe we have just recently stumbled into one. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that we not draw away and hide from the very One who longs to set us free—and who has the power to do so. God’s mercy surrounds you, so trust in him. Don’t run from him. Rather, with a contrite heart, run toward him, right into his loving arms.
“Lord, your mercy surrounds me. Help me trust you even when I would rather hide from you.” (Meditation on Genesis 3:1-8, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler notes the transition from the character of the cunning serpent in Genesis to a later interpretation of the devil. The anthropomorphic image of God underlines the Love with which God created humanity. Friar Jude reminds us of the ministry of Jesus to people outside of Israel in the Gospel of Mark.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Episcopal Bishop and Choctaw citizen Steven Charleston who walks a dual path of his Native American tradition and Christian faith. He draws on his Native tradition’s practice of the vision quest to interpret God’s activity through Jesus’ Incarnation. The Incarnation is God’s vision quest.
That sentence is the most concise way to express the doctrine of the Incarnation from the Native American viewpoint.… From the perspective of Native American tradition, the idea that God would take human form to experience the vision quest makes sense. Jesus becomes one of the human family, the tribe of the human beings, in order to do the work of transformation that a quest is designed to do. For Native people, contact with God does not occur only in the abstractions of the mind, but in the everyday physical engagement of the body. The sweat lodge is physical. The vision quest is physical. The experience of God is physical. The Incarnation, therefore, is transformation made tangible…
The New Testament is a vision quest story, an invitation to us to step into the vision quest of God. This quest is transformative.… It is the earth-bound story of a flesh and blood seeker who lives in the midst of the mundane, using what is at hand to turn the common into the extraordinary. The quest is not an escape, but a rooting into reality: a celebration of the everyday, the physical, the sensual, and the experiential. (Rohr, 2023)
We pause with gratitude for the promptings of the Spirit that call us to seek reconciliation with people with whom we are separated.
References
Genesis, CHAPTER 3. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 10, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/3?1
Mark, CHAPTER 7. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 10, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/7?31
Meditation on Genesis 3:1-8. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved February 10, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/02/10/607718/
Psalms, PSALM 32. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved February 10, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/32?1
Rohr, R. (2023, February 10). God's Vision Quest — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 10, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/gods-vision-quest-2023-02-10/
Schwager, D. (2022, August 10). He Has Done All Things Well. Daily Scripture net. Retrieved February 10, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=feb10
Wirth, E. (n.d.). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved February 10, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/021023.html
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