Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

With today’s first reading selection from Genesis, we continue to hear the familiar stories from the very beginning of the Bible. This day, the man created by God comes to an important realization, namely, none of God’s creatures are suitable for him as a partner. God, of course, knows that none of the animals will satisfy the man’s need for companionship, but nevertheless God presents the man with these animals in order to help him understand the value of her who God will create for him. And indeed, the man seems to appreciate the utter uniqueness of the woman. He recognizes in her a similarity, that they are the two variations of the one humanity. The passage for today ends with what the author sees as the implication or message of this story, namely, that this is why a man clings to his wife. In other words, the appreciation of the opposite sex in a unique person is the reason for marriage. The very last line of the excerpt notes that the man and woman felt no shame at their nakedness. This Genesis passage is a foundational text for Christianity. We see the original peace and harmony in humanity as created by God. The man’s words represent an utter joy at the other who is at once the same as him and different from him. How then, we might wonder, do we get from this passage in Genesis to the gospel selection from Mark?

Here Jesus’ attitude seems to reflect the stereotypes common at the time, and we see that the original unity of humanity has been divided such that there now exist ethnic conflicts. Jesus even implies that Syrophoenicians are equivalent to dogs. But, as in Genesis, this seems to be somewhat of a rhetorical strategy. Jesus says this in order to make his healing of her daughter more profound. The woman knows the enmity between the Jews and Greeks, and she does not demand that Jesus respect her rights and dignity as a human person. Rather she seems to acknowledge the fallenness of humankind, the utter divisions that exist among people. But while she does not seem surprised at his response, she still has hope that he will act mercifully toward her and her daughter. We might say that she has hope in the reunification of humankind; she is willing to put her faith in a Jew such as Jesus. She believes that this person Jesus might reach out to a desperate Syrophoenician woman such as herself. And when Jesus does heal her daughter, that act is all the more meaningful because of the divisions that ought to have been between them.

In Jesus, then, we see the healing of ruptures of humankind; this is the man who can and will redeem the disunity of all peoples. By his merciful acts such as those described in today’s passage, by his suffering, by his death on the cross, and by his resurrection, Jesus heals the wounds that exist. While there is no going back to the original unity of man and woman in Genesis, there is the possibility of redemption and reconciliation in Jesus. By letting his grace work in our lives, we can learn to get along again.

Today, let us take a moment to reflect on a particular conflict in our lives; perhaps there we have a troubled relationship or continue to have a particular prejudice against a person or particular group of people. This rupture is not what God wanted when he made man and woman. Let us mourn this division and repent of our role in furthering it. And most importantly, let us pray that through Jesus and the grace of God, we may come to know true reconciliation.

- Maria Morrow