The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to consider our role as heirs to the knowledge of good and evil in working with the Spirit to renew the face of the earth.
The reading from the Book of Genesis, introduces the Yahwist Account of Creation and the Garden of Eden.
* [2:4] This is the story: the distinctive Priestly formula introduces older traditions, belonging to the tradition called Yahwist, and gives them a new setting. In the first part of Genesis, the formula “this is the story” (or a similar phrase) occurs five times (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10), which corresponds to the five occurrences of the formula in the second part of the book (11:27; 25:12, 19; 36:1[9]; 37:2). Some interpret the formula here as retrospective (“Such is the story”), referring back to chap. 1, but all its other occurrences introduce rather than summarize. It is introductory here; the Priestly source would hardly use the formula to introduce its own material in chap. 1.
The cosmogony that begins in v. 4 is concerned with the nature of human beings, narrating the story of the essential institutions and limits of the human race through their first ancestors. This cosmogony, like 1:1–3 (see note there), uses the “when…then” construction common in ancient cosmogonies. The account is generally attributed to the Yahwist, who prefers the divine name “Yhwh” (here rendered LORD) for God. God in this story is called “the LORD God” (except in 3:1–5); “LORD” is to be expected in a Yahwist account but the additional word “God” is puzzling.
* [2:5] Man: the Hebrew word ’adam is a generic term meaning “human being.” In chaps. 2–3, however, the archetypal human being is understood to be male (Adam), so the word ’adam is translated “man” here.
* [2:6] Stream: the water wells up from the vast flood below the earth. The account seems to presuppose that only the garden of God was irrigated at this point. From this one source of all the fertilizing water on the earth, water will be channeled through the garden of God over the entire earth. It is the source of the four rivers mentioned in vv. 10–14. Later, with rain and cultivation, the fertility of the garden of God will appear in all parts of the world.
* [2:7] God is portrayed as a potter molding the human body out of earth. There is a play on words in Hebrew between ’adam (“human being,” “man”) and ’adama (“ground”). It is not enough to make the body from earth; God must also breathe into the man’s nostrils. A similar picture of divine breath imparted to human beings in order for them to live is found in Ez 37:5, 9–10; Jn 20:22. The Israelites did not think in the (Greek) categories of body and soul.
* [2:8] Eden, in the east: the place names in vv. 8–14 are mostly derived from Mesopotamian geography (see note on vv. 10–14). Eden may be the name of a region in southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), the term derived from the Sumerian word eden, “fertile plain.” A similar-sounding Hebrew word means “delight,” which may lie behind the Greek translation, “The Lord God planted a paradise [= pleasure park] in Eden.” It should be noted, however, that the garden was not intended as a paradise for the human race, but as a pleasure park for God; the man tended it for God. The story is not about “paradise lost.”
The garden in the precincts of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem seems to symbolize the garden of God (like gardens in other temples); it is apparently alluded to in Ps 1:3; 80:10; 92:14; Ez 47:7–12; Rev 22:1–2.
* [2:9] The second tree, the tree of life, is mentioned here and at the end of the story (3:22, 24). It is identified with Wisdom in Prv 3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4, where the pursuit of wisdom gives back to human beings the life that is made inaccessible to them in Gn 3:24. In the new creation described in the Book of Revelation, the tree of life is once again made available to human beings (Rev 2:7; 22:2, 14, 19). Knowledge of good and evil: the meaning is disputed. According to some, it signifies moral autonomy, control over morality (symbolized by “good and evil”), which would be inappropriate for mere human beings; the phrase would thus mean refusal to accept the human condition and finite freedom that God gives them. According to others, it is more broadly the knowledge of what is helpful and harmful to humankind, suggesting that the attainment of adult experience and responsibility inevitably means the loss of a life of simple subordination to God.
* [2:17] You shall die: since they do not die as soon as they eat from the forbidden tree, the meaning seems to be that human beings have become mortal, destined to die by virtue of being human. (Genesis, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB, n.d.)
Psalm 104 praises God the Creator and Provider
* [Psalm 104] A hymn praising God who easily and skillfully made rampaging waters and primordial night into a world vibrant with life. The psalmist describes God’s splendor in the heavens (Ps 104:1–4), how the chaotic waters were tamed to fertilize and feed the world (Ps 104:5–18), and how primordial night was made into a gentle time of refreshment (Ps 104:19–23). The picture is like Gn 1:1–2: a dark and watery chaos is made dry and lighted so that creatures might live. The psalmist reacts to the beauty of creation with awe (Ps 104:24–34). May sin not deface God’s work (Ps 104:35)! (Psalms, PSALM 104 | USCCB, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus refers to the Tradition of the Elders about Evil.
* [7:17] Away from the crowd…the parable: in this context of privacy the term parable refers to something hidden, about to be revealed to the disciples; cf. Mk 4:10–11, 34. Jesus sets the Mosaic food laws in the context of the kingdom of God where they are abrogated, and he declares moral defilement the only cause of uncleanness.
* [7:19] (Thus he declared all foods clean): if this bold declaration goes back to Jesus, its force was not realized among Jewish Christians in the early church; cf. Acts 10:1–11:18. (Mark, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB, n.d.)
Maureen McCann Waldron (2015) asks: “What do I need to change about myself to free myself and open my heart more to God?
How often am I selfish or jealous? How often do I judge others harshly? Can I be more patient with my children and less abrupt to my co-workers? I suspect I would be better off eating chocolate (something that goes into my mouth) and focusing this Lent on holding off on my arrogance and judgments of others (something from deep in my heart). (McCann Waldron, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “The cycle of bitterness broken by forbearance,” by Tertullian, 160-225 A.D.
"Let us, then, his servants, follow our Lord and patiently submit to denunciations that we may be blessed! If, with slight forbearance, I hear some bitter or evil remark directed against me, I may return it, and then I shall inevitably become bitter myself. Either that, or I shall be tormented by unexpressed resentment. If I retaliate when cursed, how shall I be found to have followed the teaching of our Lord? For his saying has been handed down that one is defiled not by unclean dishes but by the words which proceed from his mouth ( Mark 7:15)."(excerpt from ON PATIENCE 8)
[Tertullian (160-225 AD) was an early Christian writer and theologian from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was a noted early Christian apologist who defended Christianity and the practice of Christians against the reproaches of the pagans. He promoted the principle of freedom of religion as an inalienable human right and demanded a fair trial for Christians before they were condemned to death.] (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 7:14-23 clarifies “concupiscence”. It’s a word we don’t hear very often in our world today, but it remains an important reality for us to understand. The Catechism defines it as “an inclination to evil” that stems from the first sin of Adam and Eve—a sin that wounded our human nature (405). Jesus acknowledges our inclination to sin in today’s Gospel when he lists the many kinds of evil that can dwell in the human heart.
Jesus came to give us a new heart and a new spirit. Every day we have the opportunity to ask the Lord to cleanse whatever has defiled us and protect us from the temptations that arise from concupiscence. This is the reason Jesus came to earth. This is the reason he offered himself up on the cross for us. So let’s allow the Great Physician to do his healing work in us!
“Lord Jesus, I need your healing touch on my heart! With David I pray, ‘Wash away my guilt; and from my sin cleanse me’ (Psalm 51:4).” (Meditation on Mark 7:14-23, 2025)
Friar Jude Winkler compares the Yahwist (950 BCE) and the Priestly (550 BCE) creation passages in Genesis. The Yahwist passage is anthropomorphic and God breathes life into “adama” the clay of the earth. Jesus declares the need to look into the human heart for the source of evil in contrast to observance of dietary laws.
James Finley introduces mystic theologian Howard Thurman (1899–1981) who describes the freedom each of us possess to experience the divine. The claim of the mystic is, at last, that you don’t need anything to bring you to God. You don’t need a mediator. You don’t need an institution. You don’t need a ceremony or a ritual. God is in me, and the ladder from the earth to sky is available. So, I can ascend my own altar stairs wherever I am, under any circumstances, and the key to the understanding of the experience, and to the experience itself, is never in the hands of any other human being.
Mystics are men and women, who, through mystical experiences are touched by the realization that down in the deep-down depths of things, God is welling up and giving Herself away in and as every breath and heartbeat. They taste that oneness, and in moments, when we taste that oneness, we’re like a momentary mystic. The mystics are teachers, because they bear witness that it’s possible to be habitually established in that oneness, instead of merely experiencing a little, momentary flash of it—God resting in us resting in God. (Finley, n.d.)
We ponder the extent of our knowledge of good and evil and invoke the Spirit to guide our self examination and example to the people we encounter on our journey.
References
Finley, J. (n.d.). God in You. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 12, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/god-in-you/
Genesis, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 12, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/2?4
Mark, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 12, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/7?14
McCann Waldron, M. (n.d.). Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries. Creighton University's Online Ministries. Retrieved February 12, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/021225.html
Meditation on Mark 7:14-23. (2025, February 12). The Word Among Us. Retrieved February 12, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/02/12/1202519/
Psalms, PSALM 104 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved February 12, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/104?1
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Out of the Heart Come Evil Thoughts. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 12, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=feb12
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