Word to the Wise
Friday, February 20, 2009 - Friday in the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
[Genesis 11:1-9 and Mark 8:34 - 9:1]Thus, the Lord scattered them from there all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the speech of all the world. It was from that place that he scattered them all over the earth.
Every once in awhile a feature in National Geographic Magazine will point out a very tall building. Apparently some of the Asian capitals are trying to outdo one another in building the tallest building in the world! It appears that they are trying to "make a name for themselves" but at least it does not appear that they are trying to outdo God, as the crowd at Babel did. In any case, the story in Genesis seems to be based on an attempt once more by humans to become something greater than they are. This time God does not call a flood but simply changes the languages! The story takes the position that the diversity of languages and cultures is a result of a sin of pride! How do we feel when we encounter diversity? Do we find ourselves wishing, "Why don't they just all learn English?" If we sit and think about that for a moment, we may realize just how big an act of pride that statement is. As it is, we Americans tend to think that OUR English is better than THEIR English! The Tower of Babel may represent for us a challenge to the thought that only we American English speakers are the best and all others should fall in line! The growing use of Spanish in our country may just be God's response to our pride! AMEN
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