Transfiguration (upper portion), Raphael, 1516-1520, Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican.
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FIRST READING
Genesis 12: 1–4a
March 8, 2020

The book of Genesis is divided into two major sections. Genesis chapters 1–11 are legendary or mythic. They may use individual people, but their stories speak to the human condition e.g. Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah. Genesis chapters 12–50 chronicle the very specific rise of the clan of Abraham and the consequences for the Jewish people and indeed human history. Today’s reading is the very beginning of this section but before examining it we must first look at the transitional passage that precedes it.

After Noah and his family left the ark, they multiplied over the generations and feeling themselves powerful said:

“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky,
and so make a name for ourselves;
otherwise, we shall be scattered all over the earth.”
(Ge 11:4)

This is of course the city of Babel. For their presumption to “make a name for themselves,” the tribes were scattered. One of those tribes was that of Shem. We are given a very lengthy genealogy of the family which begins with Ge. 11:11 and ends with “Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran became the father of Lot. (Ge. 11:27). Continue reading “2nd Sunday of Lent – Increasing the Depth of Abraham’s Blessing” →

The Rebuke of Adam and Eve, Domenichino, 1626, National Gallery of Art (Washington)
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FIRST READING
Genesis 2:7–9; 3:1–7
March 1, 2020

Our first reading today is from the book of Genesis. It is often called the story of the creation of Adam but is more accurately depicts the formation and then dissolution of the perfect community.

This creation story is one of two in Genesis and, although placed second, was written earlier. The narrative we read first was written by priests and is concerned with how the Jewish people were to connect to the Cosmos. (Ge. 1) Today’s passage however describes the relationship that God wishes to establish with us and assures us that it was forged at the very beginning of time. The first version of this text was most likely written at the beginning of the Davidic Dynasty. (c. 1,000 BC) and is a call to the king to restore the God-given order. It then became part of the expectation of the Messiah.

This section begins with a desolate world while “as yet there was no field shrub on earth and no grass of the field had sprouted.” (Ge. 2:5a) To be fruitful, it needed rain and someone to care for the land. First came the water “but a stream was welling up out of the earth and was watering all the surface of the ground” (Ge. 5:6) then, the point where we begin today: Continue reading “First Sunday of Lent – What Follows from Obedience to the Will of God” →

Elderly Couple in an Interior, Frans van Mieris, c. 1650-1655 (Leiden Collection Catalogue)

FIRST READING
Leviticus 19:1–2, 17–18
February 23, 2020

This week we read from the Book of Leviticus for the first time. It is one of the books of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, and literally means the book of the tribe of Levi. This tribe was given the responsibility of maintaining the Temple and its worship, and not unsurprisingly, most of the book pertains to cultic matters. It will however show us that, for the Jews, worship and justice are both needed for holiness and the road to holiness may seem a detour from what we find truly important.

Leviticus begins where the book of Exodus ends. There is little action in the book, and it is mostly composed of the LORD speaking to Moses. More importantly is the time of its composition and final edition. We have seen many times before that the historical books of the Old Testament were competed after the return of significant numbers of the Jewish leaders to Jerusalem from Babylon. The first group went between 538 and 515 BC and another about 450 BC. Their concerns may be found in prophets such as (Third) Isaiah, Zechariah, and Haggai and in the historical writings of Ezra and Nehemiah. Through them, we have examined the nature of God’s reign in history, the relationship of the Jews to other peoples, and the developing notion of the Messiah.

They were recreating their society, and this was reflected in rebuilding their temple. Leviticus was written after the work of Ezra and Nehemiah. These were officials sent by the Assyrian king when it had become obvious that the colony was failing. They recognized that this was more than a management issue but required a return to tradition. Leviticus is composed of basically two parts: “The Priestly Book” (Chapters 1-16) and the “Holiness Codes” (Chapters 17-26). The priestly book defines sacred space and what is needed for worship. The holiness code shows how the sacred can be integrated into life.

It is in the holiness code that the Jewish calendar is formalized, literally making the sacred a part of daily life and the rhythm of the seasons. This is done in mind-numbing detail which is one reason why it not often read in church. Yet in the opening section we read today, the author is careful to give us the full and beautiful picture of holiness and its consequences. Continue reading “7th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Wasting Time with the Lord” →

Diogenes Searching for an Honest Man, attr. to J.H.W. Tischbein, c. 1780, Nagel Auktionen

FIRST READING
Sirach 15:15–20
February 18, 2020

Sirach is not considered a major figure in the Old Testament. His book is in neither the official Jewish Canon nor most Protestant Bibles, yet we often read him at Mass. We heard him most recently on Dec. 29, 2019. (The most detailed look at his thought and background may be found with the commentary on March 3, 2019.

Very briefly Sirach was a teacher of the Jewish elite in Jerusalem around 200 BC. The Jews were a small and relatively unimportant group in the wider Seleucid Kingdom. The elites were immersed in Greek culture, usually called Hellenism, and were tempted to dilute or even eliminate their Judaism to conform. Sirach confronted this not by putting Jewish clothes on Greek ideas or by simply dismissing everything the Greeks taught but by learning their ideas, adapting what seemed worthy, but contrasting the wisdom of Judaism with Greek thought and showing the superiority of the latter. He has much to teach us. Continue reading “6th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Being Formed in Our Tradition” →