Word to the Wise
Wednesday, February 10, 2021 - Wednesday in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 2:4b-9, 15-17 and Mark 7:14-23]The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being. Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and he placed there the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it. the Lord God gave man this order: "You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die." [Genesis]
FEBRUARY 10 ST. SCHOLASTICA, osb
Today the second story of creation is presented from the Book of Genesis. This story has a different purpose than the one we have heard over the last couple of days. The origin of humankind is found in clay!! There is no mention of the "image and likeness" of God. And there is initially only one human person. This one human person is placed in an idyllic garden and given a command in regard to what may NOT be eaten from one particular tree. I like to think that this is the moment when God created psychology! (The story will unfold further tomorrow with the creation of the animals and birds and lastly with the creation of woman - the beginning of human relationships!)
Any parent knows that the best way to make something attractive to a child is to tell the child to stay away from it. The character of the first human seems very child-like, and this does not change with the creation of woman. The command to NOT eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a challenge to human psychological makeup, since God clearly gave the first humans curiosity! Curiosity will meet Temptation in the next part of this story, but at least for now, we are faced with something we encounter every day in life, a command based on our faith and an object or an action that runs counter to that command. At least we can be grateful that on Ash Wednesday next week, when we are reminded of our origins, it won't be clay that is put on our heads! AMEN