Word to the Wise
Tuesday, June 23, 2015 - Tuesday in the 12th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 13:2, 5-18 and Matt 7:6, 12-14]"Look about you, and from where you are, gaze to the north and south, east and west; all the land that you see I will give you and your descendants forever." [Genesis]
If one wishes to understand the battle over what we call "the Holy Land," it is a good idea to start with the story of Abraham! As I said yesterday, this is not just an ancient piece of history or tribal story-telling. It is because God made this promise to Abraham, that we have today's conflicts! Who was there first? Hmmmm....Genesis says the Canaanites and Perizzites were! We Christians, reading the Old Testament through the prism of Jesus might say that this was all part of a bigger plan since Jesus told his adversaries, "Before Abraham came to be, I AM!" [John 6]. That would not be very consoling to Palestinians or Jews!
The roots of our faith go back to the promises made to Abraham. We are his spiritual descendants. Some of our country's settlers from abroad (not the original folks here as well) came to this country thinking like Abraham. God said there would more of us than the grains of sand in the desert. We're getting there! AMEN