TALKING ANIMALS
The title of my homily for this 5th Friday in
Ordinary Time is, “Talking Animals.”
As we just heard,
today’s first reading - Genesis 3: 1-8 - has a talking snake.
As we all know, snakes don’t talk - but they still sneak
and snake around in the grass and they still scare people.
And when we hear this story about the snake tempting and
talking to the woman in the garden - we don’t stop listening. We listen because
we know the truth that is told in this story.
We were taught, when we were taught the Bible, “Not every
story is true, but every story contains a truth.”
We were also taught that in the 1800’s researchers on ancient literature figured out it was often
a different kind of literature than what
people were used to. Ancient history and ancient stories like the Iliad and
Odyssey were telling us how things came to be historically - but with a
different type of history.
Well when writers jumped to the Bible, and used these same principles, upset
happened.
Church guardians said, “Uh oh, we have to take these
ancient stories about the creation of the world in 7 days - and God making
woman out of the rib of a man - and the parting of the Red Sea in 2 and the 10
Plagues literally.”
But in time the Catholic Church for one said, there are
different types of literature in the Bible. There are myths and legends like we
find in the story telling of most cultures. There are factual stories and there
are times when story tellers tell great stories - with great truths - but with
a different kind of literature.
The title of my homily is, “Talking Animals.”
Actually we still talk this way. Listen! People say things like, “You’re a
sneaky snake. You are.” “Don’t bark at me.” “You’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“Stop monkeying around.” “You’re a pig.” “What a stupid ass.” “Don’t be so catty.”
It wasn’t important that George Washington told the truth
to his father - he didn’t lie about chopping down the cherry tree. It’s
important that we don’t lie. Paul Bunyan
didn’t have to be a giant but we need big people to build big countries.
It was important to tell kids to beware of strangers - so
someone came up with the story of Little Red Riding Hood - with its story of
the Big Bad Wolf - who could talk.
Go into any local library and - go into the children’s
section and you’ll find all kinds of stories about talking dogs and cats, lions
and tigers, camels and kangaroos.
And read those stories to kids and read the Bible to kids and they will get it
when we tell them about God making us out of the mud and clay of the earth.
They’ll find out about the big flood wiping out the whole world because of sin
and saving just Noah - and yes God often wants us to start again.
Read today’s first reading about Adam and Eve and you’ll
hear the story of every couple - listening to nonsense that will destroy them
in the long run. You’ll hear that people
nibble on forbidden fruit.
People get this - but we get in trouble with science and
modern history methods when we read the Bible literally in sections that are
not literal.
The Catholic Church in its official teachings said all
this in a great encyclical, Divini Afflante Spiritu in 1943 - and resisting
these truths about the Bible having
different types of literature was criticized.
It learned: once people caught onto all this, they
appreciated the Bible all the more.
And we have.
