God's First Act of Mercy?

Mercy is a special kind of love.  It is compassionate love for one who does not deserve it, or for one who desperately needs it but can do nothing on his or her own to get it.  A man who has been bested in a duel, who lies on the ground looking up at the sword point of the victor, has but one request – “Mercy!”  The man who has been robbed and beaten, who lies bleeding on the side of the road, needs but one thing from all the passers-by – mercy. 

A beautiful hidden gem of a verse in the third chapter of Genesis may just be a description of God’s first act of mercy.  Of course we should qualify this by acknowledging that the stories of creation and the fall of humanity are not to be read literally in the sense of historical narratives.  But they are stories of fundamental, essential spiritual truth, and for that reason, we can and should mine them again and again, drawing out of them all the sparkle and richness and value that we possibly can.

The verse I am referring to immediately follows the account of the first sin of Adam and Eve, the self-centered choice that begins a downward spiral of escalating violence and ultimately leads to the destruction of all but a small remnant of humanity (and all of this by Genesis 7!).  The choice made by Adam and Eve to oppose God justly leads to their punishment, including banishment from the Garden of Eden.  But it is this expulsion that prompts God’s mercy.  It is as though he is thinking of the difficulties that await his children (for though they have sinned they are still and always will be his children) beyond the garden.  Although he knows that Adam and Eve must leave the place of their sin, he wants to protect them.  And so, “[f]or the man and his wife, the Lord God made leather garments, with which he clothed them” (Gen. 3:21).

True, you may say God was only covering the newfound shame of Adam and Eve (3:10-11).  But he could have left this task to their own toil.  Instead, he takes it upon himself to clothe them.  He covers their nakedness, and in doing so, he protects them from the brutal sun and the harsher conditions they are likely to find outside the paradisal Eden.

In this verse, we read and imagine an unforgettable scene, an admittedly anthropomorphic image that conveys a very accurate truth about our God.  Even when we bring suffering upon ourselves, he does not abandon us.  He is moved with compassion.  He himself takes up needle and thread and sews up protective garments, handcrafted from the bounty of his own creation, to clothe us in his mercy. 

Memory of the Garden of Eden by Vincent Van Gogh

He's Got a Point

“The word of Scripture is truly the body of Christ and his blood; it is divine doctrine. If at any time we approach the Sacrament — the faithful know what I mean — and a tiny crumb should fall, we are appalled. Even so, if at any time we hear the word of God, through which the body and blood of Christ is being poured into our ears, and we yield carelessly to distraction, how are we not responsible for our failing?”

-- St. Jerome, Reflections on Psalm 147:12-20

Deep Like the Rivers

For the last two weeks, we’ve been acknowledging the cold hard truth that sometimes we turn our back on Scripture, failing to pay attention to it, or not letting its message take root and transform us.  I shared with you an example from Luke’s Gospel – how I realized I was habitually skimming over certain verses because on some subconscious level I had classified them as “unimportant.”  I have had several such experiences with Scripture, and even though it is always a little bit embarrassing (shameful would be a better word!), it is also exciting.  I like discovering things I should have noticed before.  It makes me wonder what other shiny new treasures are waiting for me in familiar places!

I’d like to share another experience, even though it will reveal the extent of my bad habit.  Several years ago I was both appalled and delighted to discover that there were a few verses in the creation stories that I had basically overlooked for my entire life.  When studying theology, it doesn’t get any more basic than the two accounts of creation found in Genesis 1-3.  They lay the groundwork for pretty much everything else.  And when teaching theology and Scripture, I have turned back to these stories again and again.  How could I have missed something here, of all places?

Granted, the passage I am referring to is not necessarily fundamental to understanding the creation stories and their meaning.  This is why I had always read these verses without paying any attention to them.  I was always looking to the “juicy” parts like “in his image he created them” (1:27) and “the eyes of both were opened” (3:7).  It seems that when I came to the passage below, my brain said, “Here’s the part about the rivers.  Skip it.” 

But several years ago, when I read this passage carefully (I think I was reading it out loud), I realized what I had been missing.  First of all, the words are beautiful.  They create in your mind an unforgettable image of what we now call the Fertile Crescent – a land of lush vegetation and gorgeous river views.  You can easily picture a pristine land full of precious minerals and rich resources – gold, onyx, and bdellium (a fragrant resin similar to myrrh).  Second, the passage describes a geographical place on earth, communicating to us a simple truth that the rest of Scripture corroborates and develops:  our God is inextricably intertwined with the lives of human beings, in their times and places.  Although he is mighty – he creates worlds simply by speaking! – he is not removed.  Our ancient stories about God don’t begin “long ago and far away.”  They begin with places like “Assyria” and “the Euphrates” and situate their truths in the “mountains of Ararat” (8:4) and “Ur of the Chaldeans” (11:31).  And finally, I love this passage because now that I have rediscovered its worth, it sounds like a poem to me.  It makes me think of what Langston Hughes wrote:  My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

This passage may not mean as much to you as it does to me.  One reason I like it so much is because of my history with it.  But I share this story and these verses with you because I’m sure you understand my experience and may have had similar moments with Scripture.  It is a reminder for me that Scripture will never be fully known and certainly can never be “mastered.”  It always has something new to divulge.  It is a dynamic phenomenon.  You might say it flows like a river.

"A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates" (Gen. 2:10-14).

Two Last Tips for Keeping Scripture Living and Active

In the last several posts, we have looked at ways to keep Scripture "living and active."  Here are a few last ideas.  Please feel free to share your own tips in the "Comments" section below!

Tip #3:  Pick out a word or phrase. 

A classic technique, used in some methods of Lectio Divina, is to read or listen to Scripture with your heart open to a particular sacred word or phrase.  The idea is that in a given reading, there may be one thing that really stands out and has a special meaning for you.  For example, in Psalm 23, perhaps the word “restores” catches your attention, or the phrase “darkest valley.”  Then ask yourself why this phrase means something to you in the context of the passage as a whole and in the context of your life.  Hopefully, this reflection will ignite a conversation between you and God.  This technique helps you pay attention to the scriptures you are reading or hearing because you are looking for or listening for that special word or phrase.  This is a nice technique to use when listening to the Scriptures at Mass when, let’s face it, our minds sometimes wander. 

Tip #4:  Take the time and energy to apply it to your life. 

We always listen to or read Scripture with the intention of applying it to our lives.  We know that if the message just sits on the pages of the Bible, or just rattles around in our brains, it doesn’t do us (or anyone else) much good.  But sometimes we don’t follow through – we don’t really give ourselves the time and the quiet to process what we’ve read or heard.  We don’t do the mental and spiritual exercise of making it real and meaningful.  This is the hard work that allows God’s Word to bear fruit.

In the parish where I used to work, we had a summer prayer series exploring different prayer methods.  One week we discussed praying with Scripture, and I encouraged the participants to try it at home during the week.  The next time we met, I asked how it went.  One parishioner shared a challenging experience.  She had decided to pray over the Mass readings of the day – an excellent idea.  The problem was that as she eagerly read the first reading, ready to ponder and pray, she quickly became discouraged.  The reading was about Moses killing the Egyptian (Ex. 2:11-15).  What to do with a Bible hero committing murder?  How to apply it to one’s life?  All I could say is that sometimes we have to get creative.  God’s Word is living and active all right – it is full of darkness and sin as well as light and love.  We talked about looking below the surface to consider the motivation behind Moses’ act – his love for his people that mirrored God’s own love.  While this did not necessarily justify what Moses did, it did provide a lot to pray about. There is also the fruitful notion that even Moses – arguably the greatest prophet of the Old Testament – could be a hot-head.  Some Scriptures are difficult to apply to our lives.  Doing so requires practice, patience, and sometimes, spiritual creativity!

I’m sure you all have your own ideas about how to keep Scripture living and active.  Please feel free to share them with others by leaving a comment below!

Another Tip for Keeping Scripture Living and Active

Continuing our mini-series on Scripture as a living encounter with God, here is another idea for keeping Scripture fresh as you read it:

Tip #2:  Translate it or paraphrase it.

If you speak another language, try translating a Scripture passage into that language (or from that language into English).  Write it down so you are carefully choosing each word.  As a grad student, I had to do my share of Latin translations.  My first Scripture translation was from Luke 1 – it was a short section introducing the birth of John the Baptist.  When I saw “Zechariah” and “Elizabeth”, I wondered why the professor had chosen this passage.  Why not something more exciting?  But it actually turned out to be very interesting – I learned things about Elizabeth and Zechariah that I never knew before, even though I had read Luke 1 many times.  Did you know Zechariah was of the priestly order of Abijah?  Did you know Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron?  Of course we know they were righteous, but did you ever notice how Luke clearly states that they “lived blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord”?  I had never really noticed those things before.  I guess I had already decided that all I needed to know about Zechariah and Elizabeth was that they were righteous and barren.  That was pretty arrogant (and lazy) of me! 

If you don’t speak another language, try paraphrasing the passage into your own words.  Moving from “Bible-speak” to your own way of speaking is a type of translation that still requires you to slow down and think about each word or phrase.  Don’t worry about a “perfectly accurate” translation – the point is to think about the words and their meaning.

Speaking of John the Baptist, why not try it with Luke 3:7-14?