Biblical stories are meant to open us to the underlying reasons for sin

Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

A reflection on the daily readings by Father Perry for the Memorial of St. Scholastica, virgin.

+ Have you ever heard two people tell the same story but with completely different or even opposite details?

One says: “Yeah, I remember when I met my best friend in New York on my first trip ever to Europe.”

And that friend says: “Yes, meeting for the first time in New Orleans at the Mardi Gras made that not only the best pre-Lenten celebration, but also the nicest first time meeting of anyone!”

They cannot both be true: New York or New Orleans! Which one?!

+ We we have been listening to the “creation story” as told in Genesis Chapter 1, having heard that God created everything: dry land, wet basins, light, stars, moon, sun, fish, birds, trees, flowers, animals of every sort, and finally — ta dah! — man and woman.

Man and woman were the best; they were like God, they were very good, and they were the last!

+ Then we turn to Genesis Chapter 2, and discover before there was rain, before there were any plants because there was no rain, and before we hear of birds, animals, etc., God made man.

Then God made a garden and trees. God, according to Genesis Chapter 2, did not yet even make woman. He had to gather more clay. That is yet to be told.

+ So, as my seminary scripture professor asked so clearly, boldly and surprisingly: “Which version is true?”

Did God make man and woman last, or did God make man first and then plants the garden?

+ That, my professor said, is the proof that scripture is not literal and must be understood with great care and some learning. The non-literalness of scripture was made manifest in the very first two chapters.

The point of the two stories might be (actually is) not the order of creation, but might be the beauty and power and love of the creator and the result of such love.

+ And as we are about to hear another non-literal story about the introduction of sin in that beautiful garden, we are reminded it is a story meant to tell us not literally how it happened, but to open us to the underlying reason for sin: sin flowing from disobedience and pride; they are the true roots of sin.

And how else or how best to tell it except in a fantastical story of evil itself?

+ Now read the Gospel. See for yourself the results of pride and disobedience. See what happens when we stop listening to God — in creation, and in the very center of our souls and lives.

And it will be true that it is not what goes into a man or woman that makes for sin, but rather, what comes out of the very center of their souls and lives.

Father Perry D. Leiker is the 14th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.