Word to the Wise
Friday, February 10, 2017 - Friday in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 3:1-8 and Mark 7:31-37]"Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" [Genesis]
FEBRUARY 10 ST. SCHOLASTICA, osb [Twin sister of St. Benedict]
It's not in the text, but in reading it again and again, I can hear in my own imagination God saying at this moment, "Uh oh!" It's not in the text also that the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is an apple! Poor apple! It became the unintended instrument of human imagination and "original sin." As we read this account of the "Fall," it is worthwhile listening to the characters in our minds and following the drift of the argument. That argument should be familiar. Human beings "fall" for it all the time. Did God REALLY say that such and such is wrong? And who is God anyway to be telling us what we can and can't do? Was Eve any more "guilty" than Adam? How many "serpents" a day do we meet? What are the promises they offer with "forbidden fruit?"
The story of the "Fall" abounds in lessons. What do we mean by "free will?" Did Adam and Eve really show free will? Weren't they seduced and therefore less "guilty?" Why are we in our time told that we are born with their sin? Was the knowedge of good and evil worth the fruit? Why does Eve come in for most of the blame in this? Was Adam such a "wimp?" Are any of us? Oh, the human mind is a wonderful gift from God but we surely use and misuse it and abuse it over and over again. Review the "serpent's" argument. When did the serpent last speak to you? Was it from a store shelf or from a computer monitor or a substance container or an unwitting (or not) attractive human figure? Did God REALLY say we shouldn't listen or partake? History shows that we still have many lessons to learn from this one passage from Genesis. AMEN
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