Breaking the Word

6^th Week in Ord. Time, Thursday – 16^th February 2023 – Genesis 9,1-13; Mark 8,27-33

Second Adam

The first reading presents the conclusion of the flood account. The flood is presented as a new start, a new creation for humanity and all life on earth. Thus, when Noah came out of the ark, became a “second Adam”. Many of the same commands God gave Adam are repeated to Noah. God had told Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (1,28), and He repeated this mandate twice to Noah and his family (9,1&7). Noah, like Adam before him, is entrusted with the care of the rest of creation. When God established Adam and Eve in their garden home, He gave them fruit and plants to eat, but after the flood, He expanded the human diet from vegetarianism to a carnivorous lifestyle. Finally, with flood a new covenant relationship is made between God and the human race. He sealed this covenant with a sign of the rainbow. With this human race is reminded of God’s unconditional promise that He would not curse the ground again or destroy the entire earth with a flood. As though to make it emphatic, three times God said, “never again.”

Week 6 of Ordinary Time, Tuesday – 14^th February 2023 — Gospel: Mark 8,14-21

Disciples’ constant Misunderstanding

The dialogue between Jesus and his disciples takes place here when they journey in the boat. This is the third of the three incidents at sea in which the disciples fail to discover the real identity of Jesus. The first was in Mk 4,35-42 when Jesus calms the storm. There the disciples were astonished and raised a question, “Who then is this?” The second was in Mk 6,45-52 when Jesus came walking towards the disciples on the water. Here the disciples were utterly astounded and their hearts were hardened, “for they did not understand about the loaves”. In this third incident they failed to understand Jesus once again (Mk 8,21).  They misunderstood Jesus’ instruction and think Jesus is chiding them for not bringing along more food during their journey across the water. Through a series of questions referring to the two feeding accounts, Jesus rebukes their hardness of heart. Like the Pharisees, they have closed their eyes and ears to who Jesus is and what he is able to do. They also failed to recall Jesus’ personal experiences in the sea and their involvement in the distribution of loaves and gathering them after feeding. Every time they were taken up by His stupendous power. But they always fail to perceive that He is able to provide anything for their need or that he is a prophetic sign of future bread for their nourishment.