2022/06/27

45. Divine Knowledge and Human Knowledge Part 2

"And again, she bore his brother Abel" (Genesis 4:2). Adam and Eve became the parents of the two children. Parents are like gods to their children. In fact, Adam and Eve seemed to be as if they had become God. As we have discussed, Adam had the illusion that he had power like God, and he made up the fiction in which he had also gained authority as the "mother of all living" by naming and ruling over his wife as he did over other creatures. On the other hand, in the words of Eve, who gave birth to Cain, "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD" (Genesis 4:1), we can sense the meaning of making God a men's helper, a subordinate. Eve, who had in her body the womb, the castle of life, made up the fiction connected to the mysterious pleasure. She understood she had gained the symbol of power, a male child, and that by divine authority. Eventually, a murder was committed under the condition of these parents. Cain killed Abel out of jealousy. Murder was something God called sin for the first time because it was an explicit denial of the work of God who created man. In this way, the community of kinship based on the relationship between a man and a woman that had difficulties from the beginning was called a family and cemented by the social institution of marriage. The marriage system became the foundation of society, which always seeks power and authority with its built-in risk of sin. Eventually, society demanded kings and emperors with power and authority (cf. 1 Samuel 8:1-22). God accepted the demand but planned to establish a parent-child relationship between God and man in due time (cf. 2 Samuel 7:14). However, people sought an image of marriage rather than a parent-child relationship in their relationship with God. That was the "human knowledge." In this situation, by the Word being born human and calling God his father, God made it clear to the world that the relationship between God and man is parent and child. Joseph and Mary were also placed on Jesus' side, who called God his father, by accepting Jesus the Word as their son. Moreover, Mary conceived God's only begotten Son and had an experience of complete union with God. This experience was a foretaste of Jesus' disciples receiving the Holy Eucharist. That is suggested by the answer of the boy Jesus one day when his parents found him in the temple after they had lost him: "How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (Luke 2:49). Just as his parents found Jesus in the temple, so his disciples will find the Eucharist in "my church" (Matthew 16:18). And when they receive the Eucharist at the Mass, they will have an experience of union with God. Jesus' disciples have the daily routine of returning to the next Mass when they leave the Mass. This routine is not an easy one. So, Jesus admonishes them as follows. "If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26-27). The "divine knowledge" is here.

Maria K. M.