FEBRUARY 7, 2017
7:00 AM, 8:45 AM ORDINARY FORM MASSES
In today's and yesterday's First Readings, we heard the creation account from the first chapter of Genesis. In considering the creation story, it is important to consider the pagan creation stories. The mythologies of Rome, Greece, and even Europe saw creation as a conflict – often times with a lot of war, drama, and intrigue. A certain mountain was the head of a dead titan, a ridge was the spine of a defeated god. Gods and goddesses lived lives that were as tumultuous as the people who worshipped them, and often the Temple theaters presented plays that portrayed the conflict-laden gods whose behavior was the same as those who worshipped them.
In the Hebrew biblical account, creation is peaceful, ordered, and thought out.
God first distinguishes and separates opposites:
Light and darkness, Waters above and below, Dry land and oceans.And then these opposites are arranged in harmony according to a plan:
Sun, moon, and stars; Birds in the sky, fish in the rivers and seas; Animals and reptiles.And the pinnacle of creation is humanity – made in God's image and likeness.
But the fall of humanity came when our first parents sought to elevate their own wills ahead of God's will. And in today's Gospel, Our Lord points out that the Pharisees and Scribes have gone so far as to create their own human rules that sometimes conflicted with God's plan, and did not necessarily reflect God's will for His people.
It can be up for theological debate as to what it means that humanity is created in God's "image and likeness."
The creation account can help us to reflect on our own lives.
God created by distinguishing opposites, but then used both, and filled the opposites with life and motion.
When we distinguish opposites, and then seek to eliminate or destroy one – we're operating out of God's order, and doing our own thing. Or when we create, but instead of creating openness and fecundity, we seek to box in someone or something, or look to destroy life – we are going against God's plan.
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