Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
The first chapter of the Book of Genesis details the seven days of creation, one of many rather different accounts of creation in the Old Testament. The late Pope Benedict XVI (1927 – 2022) made it clear that we need not take this text literally. On the other hand, he is also clear that science alone cannot explain everything.
God has made himself know in creation. The Book of Wisdom notes: “For from the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen” (13:5). Paul makes the same point: “Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made” (Romans 1:20).
So, from this text of Genesis let us continue to reflect on the truths which God wants us to grasp regarding Himself and the world around us and within us.
Job, in responding to Bildad’s point that no human is worthy to seek redress from God, notes that God indeed is all-powerful, that “He stretches out Zaphon [the firmament] over the void…. He binds up the waters in his clouds…. He has marked out a circle [the horizon] on the surface of the deep as the boundary of light and darkness” (Job 26:7,8,10). Still, Job will then go on to profess his innocence.
On the second day of creation, God separated the waters below from the waters above, thus giving an initial order to creation. God is always seeking to overcome the disorder of chaos. Psalm 104 puts it this way: “You spread out the heavens like a tent; setting the beams of your chambers upon the waters” (104:2-3). It seems that separation and division, putting things in their proper place is God’s way.
It was the chaos of water which led to the flood due to the great sinfulness of humanity. Yet, an ark floating on the waters was the means of salvation not only for those few who heeded God’s word but, in fact, for all of humanity. Water would not run rampant forever but would become a means of life and sustenance. The Father of goodness was able to provide water in the desert: “When they thirsted, they called upon you, and water was given them from the sheer rock, a quenching of their thirst from the hard stone” (Wisdom 11:4).
Yes, separation is not the end-game. It is for something else. It is so that a fitting place for unity and communion can take place. Thus, limits and boundaries are divine. It is just as Jesus called himself the sheep gate in order to keep raiders out and the sheep safe within (John 10:7). So, too, was it the separation of the waters that led the people of Israel to freedom and the separation at the Jordan that led the people into the Holy Land.
Sisters and brothers, the waters of our own Baptism have separated us off from our past and brought us into the fold of Christ’s Church. By God’s grace the waters have gently fallen upon us and brought us the freedom of his sons and daughters.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
+ Earl Boyea
Bishop of Lansing
