“IT IS NOT GOOD THAT MAN SHOULD BE ALONE” (Gen 2:18)

⏰Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time 1 (11 Feb 2021)

📖Gen 2:18-25; Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5 (R.v.1a); Mark 7:24-30

“IT IS NOT GOOD THAT MAN SHOULD BE ALONE” (Gen 2:18)

A modern consideration of Gen 2:18-25 might see it as strictly referring to the institution of marriage. But taking it back to the time like 10th Century B.C. and placing it in the context that the Jew of that time would understand might not yield the same result. And I think that that kind of venture is important for us to undertake.

At that time, a woman’s position in the family is that of support for her husband. In fact, we can get that picture from the solution God offered to the problem he raised, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I WILL GIVE HIM A HELPER FIT FOR HIM” (Gen 2:18). A helper is one who renders support or strength to another to accomplish a mission. So even in the context of marriage, the wife would be one in whom the husband finds support.

By the way, the accounts do not picture man in terms of gender but as nature. Hence, our attention must be more on our relationship as human beings. We are meant to be helpers to one another.

Note also, the removal of the rib from the man for the creation of the woman. In our context above, it would mean that we are created from one source, one rib. Hence, no matter our state in life or the colour of our skin or the tone of our tongue, we are one and must shun any form of discrimination. That is a message which Jesus passes on to us in Mark 7:24-30.

May God give us the grace to really be helpers to one another so that we may build up a world where peace and unity triumph. Amen.

Have a lovely day ahead. Peace be with you.