Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings for Monday of the 6th Week in Ordinary Time[1]
Commentary:
Reading 1 Gn 4:1-15, 25
The story of Cain and Abel gives us the rational for some of the peoples being nomadic. It also establishes the rights of these peoples to subsist on the land. At a deeper level, however, we see that when Cain first became envious, the Lord warned him about sin. God explains that it is always reading to take the unwary, a “demon barking at the door”.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 50:1 and 8, 16bc-17, 20-21
R. Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
Placed as it is next to the story of Cain and Abel, this part of Psalm 50 bears witness to Cain’s folly in being envious of Abel’s sacrifice. God looks beyond sacrifice to a sincere and righteous heart.
Gospel Mk 8:11-13
Ironically, this passage follows the story of the “Multiplication of the Loaves”. The footnote form the NAP says it best: “The objection of the Pharisees that Jesus' miracles are unsatisfactory for proving the arrival of God's kingdom is comparable to the request of the crowd for a sign in John 6:30-31. Jesus' response shows that a sign originating in human demand will not be provided; cf Numbers 14:11, 22.”
Reflection:
We continue to trace the evolution of sin in the readings from Genesis. It began with mankind violating God’s commandment that they not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It continues today with three more in rapid fire succession.
First we have Cain and Abel bringing to God sacrifices from their respective areas of toil. Recall that their toil was one of the punishments placed upon Adam’s descendants as a consequence of the fall. God looks with pleasure on Abel’s offering but not on Cain’s there by setting up the first sin – envy.
God warns Cain about sin, telling him that it is always crouching by the door like a demon. Cain either ignores or disregards that warning and kills his brother and then, when confronted by God, lies about the crime. The response “Am I my Brother’s Keeper?” is a phrase we have heard quoted frequently. Do you think the person using that quote knew the original context?
Just as the creation stories were attempts by the sacred authors to explain God’s power and the beginnings of all things, so too do they explain how human nature and the influence of evil operate to place distance between God and his creation.
While the personification of evil in the serpent was probably not a real serpent and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil not a real tree, good and evil are certainly real concepts and man’s fall from grace is a natural phenomena as a consequence of free will.
We can see in the analysis above the danger that lurks in breaking the scripture too finely. Demythologizing scripture to some degree also builds the logic trap that takes faith and places it into a box. It is this trap that we must fight against every day. We are called to be Disciples of Christ and Christ himself gave us an answer to that lack of faith today. St. Mark tells us “He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.’”
What the Lord is saying is that our experience of God must come from within and that our acceptance of the Holy Scripture must be as a child but with the heart of an adult when it comes to acting on its precepts. We can examine it and understand its historical context, but recognize that God’s message is not in the literal words used but in the spirit of God’s Law.
Today we pray we never ask to see the bones of Abel or the remains of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Something is destroyed in that question. We ask instead that God lead us with his spirit and that we can avoid sin this day and all the days ahead.
Pax
Readings for Monday of the 6th Week in Ordinary Time[1]
Commentary:
Reading 1 Gn 4:1-15, 25
The story of Cain and Abel gives us the rational for some of the peoples being nomadic. It also establishes the rights of these peoples to subsist on the land. At a deeper level, however, we see that when Cain first became envious, the Lord warned him about sin. God explains that it is always reading to take the unwary, a “demon barking at the door”.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 50:1 and 8, 16bc-17, 20-21
R. Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
Placed as it is next to the story of Cain and Abel, this part of Psalm 50 bears witness to Cain’s folly in being envious of Abel’s sacrifice. God looks beyond sacrifice to a sincere and righteous heart.
Gospel Mk 8:11-13
Ironically, this passage follows the story of the “Multiplication of the Loaves”. The footnote form the NAP says it best: “The objection of the Pharisees that Jesus' miracles are unsatisfactory for proving the arrival of God's kingdom is comparable to the request of the crowd for a sign in John 6:30-31. Jesus' response shows that a sign originating in human demand will not be provided; cf Numbers 14:11, 22.”
Reflection:
We continue to trace the evolution of sin in the readings from Genesis. It began with mankind violating God’s commandment that they not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It continues today with three more in rapid fire succession.
First we have Cain and Abel bringing to God sacrifices from their respective areas of toil. Recall that their toil was one of the punishments placed upon Adam’s descendants as a consequence of the fall. God looks with pleasure on Abel’s offering but not on Cain’s there by setting up the first sin – envy.
God warns Cain about sin, telling him that it is always crouching by the door like a demon. Cain either ignores or disregards that warning and kills his brother and then, when confronted by God, lies about the crime. The response “Am I my Brother’s Keeper?” is a phrase we have heard quoted frequently. Do you think the person using that quote knew the original context?
Just as the creation stories were attempts by the sacred authors to explain God’s power and the beginnings of all things, so too do they explain how human nature and the influence of evil operate to place distance between God and his creation.
While the personification of evil in the serpent was probably not a real serpent and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil not a real tree, good and evil are certainly real concepts and man’s fall from grace is a natural phenomena as a consequence of free will.
We can see in the analysis above the danger that lurks in breaking the scripture too finely. Demythologizing scripture to some degree also builds the logic trap that takes faith and places it into a box. It is this trap that we must fight against every day. We are called to be Disciples of Christ and Christ himself gave us an answer to that lack of faith today. St. Mark tells us “He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.’”
What the Lord is saying is that our experience of God must come from within and that our acceptance of the Holy Scripture must be as a child but with the heart of an adult when it comes to acting on its precepts. We can examine it and understand its historical context, but recognize that God’s message is not in the literal words used but in the spirit of God’s Law.
Today we pray we never ask to see the bones of Abel or the remains of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Something is destroyed in that question. We ask instead that God lead us with his spirit and that we can avoid sin this day and all the days ahead.
Pax
No comments:
Post a Comment