Scripture:
Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17
Mark 7:14-23
Reflection:
Today’s first reading from the Book of Genesis is a wonderful reminder of how good God has been to mankind from the beginning of creation and how abundantly he has blessed all generations. God created the earth. Then he created mankind and gave him the “various trees 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 knowledge of good and evil”. “God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.”
In the Gospel, Jesus said to the crowd, “Hear me all of you and understand. Nothing that enters one from the outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” There was nothing in God’s awesome creation that compelled Adam or Eve to disobey God’s first command. Adam did not cause Eve to sin, nor did Eve cause Adam to sin. The apple tree did not cause either of them to sin. The apple did not cause them to sin. Even the serpent did not cause them to sin. Each of these “good” things that God had created were placed in the garden for their pleasure and enjoyment.
So, what happened? Genesis also informs us that “God created man in his own image, in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.” Included in that divine image was God’s gift of free will. Obviously, God, by definition, has his own free will. How generous and loving was our God to share that special treasure with mankind? Every person, ever born or to be born, has been blessed with free will out of the infinite goodness of the creator. It was Adam’s and Eve’s own pride and greed that caused the sin. They had used their God-given free will to disobey God’s mandate not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This act of disobedience obviously came from “within”. Mankind has fallen in and out of a sinful state by abuse of the wonderful gift of free will ever since the first sin in the Garden of Eden.
Could Jesus’ gospel message be any clearer? Let us not blame our husbands, our wives, our brothers, our mothers, our fathers, our best friends, our neighbors, our dogs, the ads on TV, the internet, the government, or even the Church, etc., for our sinful ways. These are all good things that God has given us to aid us through our journey of life. It is the bad behaviors that we have acquired through our human weakness that cause us to sin. Those behaviors come from within. Keep in mind that no one has ever been born with a predisposition toward hatred, prejudice, greed, pride, impatience, maliciousness, etc. These are all behaviors that are learned as we grow into our lives and begin to be influenced by the society in which we live. This is why Jesus reminds us that nothing that enters one from the outside can defile a person. It is our own lack of good judgment and learned bad behaviors that “come out from within that defile.”
Let us pray that we continue to appreciate, cherish and relish the abundant “good” gifts that God has placed at our disposal throughout our lives and that we become more attentive to the learned attitudes and behaviors that, if not carefully controlled, escape via our actions and words to defile some piece of God’s “good” creation resulting in our own sin. We have been blessed with free will to make those decisions.
Bill Berger has had a lifelong relationship with the Passionist Family. Bill and his wife, Linda, are currently leaders of the Community of Passionist Partners (CPPs) in Houston, Texas.