Above:  Fishing on the Sea of Galilee

Image Source = Library of Congress

Genesis and Mark, Part II:  The Image of God

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

–The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Genesis 1:20-2:3

Psalm 38 (Morning)

Psalms 126 and 102 (Evening)

Mark 1:14-28

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A Related Post:

Prayer:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/prayer-for-thursday-after-ash-wednesday/

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Certainly Jesus knew James and John, the sons of Zebedee, for Zebedee was our Lord’s uncle.  James and John were therefore first cousins of Jesus.  There was nothing inherently wrong with fishing; it was honest and socially useful work.  Yet our Lord had a higher purpose in mind for his cousins.

The concept of the image of God unites the readings from Genesis and Mark.  But what is the image of God?  It is not physical, for God is spirit.  Perhaps the best way to identify the image of God in human beings is to notice some contrasts with the rest of the Animal Kingdom.  We are almost genetically identical to chimpanzees, but they do not compose sonnets.  Elephants are quite intelligent and mourn their dead.  Who knows (other than God and whales) what whale songs mean?  I, along with some great Christian saints, assume that our fellow creatures of certain intelligence possess souls, but they members of these species have not forged civilizations as we know them.  Likewise, I adore cats.  Their bodies are perfectly evolved for their purposes in nature.  And I have no doubt that cats I have known well have had souls.  But I, as a human, have a spark which cats lack.

We humans have potential which other mammals lack.  And we ought to live up to higher standards.  We are animals biologically; evolutionary forces have shaped us physically.  But we are more than skin, meat, blood, and bones; we are souls who bear the image of God.

Thus we ought to act accordingly.  We should pursue our highest and greatest potential. We ought to help others pursue and achieve theirs.  We ought to love each other and ourselves as bearers of the divine image.  If we do this, we will cease to hate and kill one another.  We will cease to exploit each other and condone or turn a blind eye to exploitation.  We will cease to discriminate against each other.  We will do all this because we recognize the divine spark in each other and know that we are not so different from each other as we thought once.

I propose a Lenten discipline to continue afterward:  Looking for and finding the image of God in others then treating them with the great respect due a bearer of the divine image.  That is an excellent habit, one which will banish a host of bad ones.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 28, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF THE FIRST U.S. METHODIST BOOK OF WORSHIP, 1945

THE FEAST OF SAINT GUALFARDUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT

THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER CHANEL, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/genesis-and-mark-part-ii-the-image-of-god/

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Above:  Ashen Cross

Genesis and Mark, Part I:  New Beginnings

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

–The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Genesis 1:1-19

Psalm 5 (Morning)

Psalms 27 and 51 (Evening)

Mark 1:1-13

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A Related Post:

Prayer:

http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/prayer-for-ash-wednesday/

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The first (actually second written) myth of creation in Genesis, of which we read a part today, tells of the creation of order from chaos:

When God began to create heaven and earth–the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water….

–Genesis 1:1-2, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures

Meanwhile, in the Gospel of Mark, the oldest of the canonical Gospels (written probably 67-70 CE), the narrative opens with

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

–Mark 1:1, The New Jerusalem Bible

Subsequent verses assume certain knowledge.  For example, who was John the Baptist?  And what was his background?  For more details, read parts of Matthew and Luke, Gospels drew from Mark and expanded on it.

It is appropriate to read about new beginning on Ash Wednesday.  This is the first day of Lent, a season of somberness, spiritual self-examination, and preparation for Easter.  In churches we put away flowers and the word “alleluia.”  Lent is an excellent time to strive to cease a bad habit and to learn a good one to replace it.  It is an excellent time to focus on cooperating with God in converting chaos into a proper order.  Certainly each of us needs more internal order and less internal chaos.

And may we remember that Jesus, although new from a human perspective, was actually quite old.  (Read John 1:1-18.)  The form was new; the substance was ancient.  Sometimes God approaches us in new ways.  The message is old but the medium is new or more recent.

One might not restrict these spiritual exercises to Lent alone, of course.  Yet may one not dismiss the importance of the church year.  There is great value in having certain time set apart for different emphases.

May you, O reader, have a holy Lent.  And may God’s blessings on you bless others.  We are made to live in community after all, and what one person does affects others.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 27, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF NEW JERSEY

THE FEAST OF SAINTS ANTONY AND THEODOSIUS OF KIEV, FOUNDERS OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MONASTICISM; SAINT BARLAAM OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT; AND SAINT STEPHEN OF KIEV, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ABBOT AND BISHOP

THE FEAST OF THE EARLY ABBOTS OF CLUNY

THE FEAST OF JOSEPH WARRILOW, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST

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http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/genesis-and-mark-part-i-new-beginnings/

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