Transfiguration (upper portion), Raphael, 1516-1520, Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican.
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FIRST READING
Genesis 12: 1–4a
March 8, 2020

The book of Genesis is divided into two major sections. Genesis chapters 1–11 are legendary or mythic. They may use individual people, but their stories speak to the human condition e.g. Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah. Genesis chapters 12–50 chronicle the very specific rise of the clan of Abraham and the consequences for the Jewish people and indeed human history. Today’s reading is the very beginning of this section but before examining it we must first look at the transitional passage that precedes it.

After Noah and his family left the ark, they multiplied over the generations and feeling themselves powerful said:

“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky,
and so make a name for ourselves;
otherwise, we shall be scattered all over the earth.”
(Ge 11:4)

This is of course the city of Babel. For their presumption to “make a name for themselves,” the tribes were scattered. One of those tribes was that of Shem. We are given a very lengthy genealogy of the family which begins with Ge. 11:11 and ends with “Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran became the father of Lot. (Ge. 11:27). Continue reading “2nd Sunday of Lent – Increasing the Depth of Abraham’s Blessing” →