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First Reading: Genesis 1:20--2:4
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Gospel: Mark 7:1-13

First Reading: Genesis 1:20--2:4

20

Then God said, "Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky." And so it happened:

21

God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water teems, and all kinds of winged birds. God saw how good it was,

22

and God blessed them, saying, "Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas; and let the birds multiply on the earth."

23

Evening came, and morning followed--the fifth day.

24

Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds." And so it happened:

25

God made all kinds of wild animals, all kinds of cattle, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. God saw how good it was.

26

¹ Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."

27

God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.

28

God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth."

29

God also said: "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food;

30

and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food." And so it happened.

31

God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed--the sixth day.

1

Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed.

2

Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.

3

So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.

4

² Such is the story of the heavens and the earth at their creation. At the time when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens--

Table of Contents Genesis 1 Genesis 2

Footnotes

¹ [26] Man is here presented as the climax of God's creative activity; he resembles God primarily because of the dominion God gives him over the rest of creation.

² [4b-25] This section is chiefly concerned with the creation of man. It is much older than the narrative of Genesis 1:1-2:4a. Here God is depicted as creating man before the rest of his creatures, which are made for man's sake.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

3

¹ Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have drawn a defense against your foes, to silence enemy and avenger.

4

When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place--

5

² What are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them?

6

³ Yet you have made them little less than a god, crowned them with glory and honor.

7

You have given them rule over the works of your hands, put all things at their feet:

8

All sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field,

Table of Contents Psalms 8

Footnotes

¹ [3] Babes and infants: the text is obscure. Some join this line to the last line of Psalm 8:2 (itself obscure) to read: "(you) whose majesty is exalted above the heavens / by the mouths of babes and infants." Drawn a defense: some prefer the Septuagint's "fashioned praise," which is quoted in Matthew 21:16. Enemy and avenger: probably cosmic enemies. The primeval powers of watery chaos are often personified in poetic texts (Psalm 74:13-14; 89:11; Job 9:13; 26:12-13; Isaiah 51,9).

² [5] Humans . . . mere mortals: literally, "(mortal) person". . . "son of man (in sense of a human being, Hebrew 'adam)." The emphasis is on the fragility and mortality of human beings to whom God has given great dignity.

³ [6] Little less than a god: Hebrew 'elohim, the ordinary word for "God" or "the gods" or members of the heavenly court. The Greek version translated 'elohim by "angel, messenger"; several ancient and modern versions so translate. The meaning seems to be that God created human beings almost at the level of the beings in the heavenly world. Hebrews 2:9 finds the eminent fulfillment of this verse in Jesus Christ, who was humbled before being glorified. Cf also 1 Cor 15:27 where St. Paul applies to Christ the closing words of Psalm 8:7.

Gospel: Mark 7:1-13

1

¹ Now when the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,

2

they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.

3

(For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, ² keeping the tradition of the elders.

4

And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles (and beds).)

5

So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, "Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders ³ but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?"

6

He responded, "Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me;

7

In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.'

8

You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition."

9

He went on to say, "How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition!

10

For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'Whoever curses father or mother shall die.'

11

Yet you say, 'If a person says to father or mother, "Any support you might have had from me is qorban"' ⁴ (meaning, dedicated to God),

12

you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother.

13

You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things."

Table of Contents Mark 7

Footnotes

¹ [1-23] See the note on Matthew 15:1-20. Against the Pharisees' narrow, legalistic, and external practices of piety in matters of purification (Mark 7:2-5), external worship (Mark 7:6-7), and observance of commandments, Jesus sets in opposition the true moral intent of the divine law (Mark 7:8-13). But he goes beyond contrasting the law and Pharisaic interpretation of it. The parable of Mark 7:14-15 in effect sets aside the law itself in respect to clean and unclean food. He thereby opens the way for unity between Jew and Gentile in the kingdom of God, intimated by Jesus' departure for pagan territory beyond Galilee. For similar contrast see Mark 2:1-3:6; 3:20-35; 6:1-6.

² [3] Carefully washing their hands: refers to ritual purification.

³ [5] Tradition of the elders: the body of detailed, unwritten, human laws regarded by the scribes and Pharisees to have the same binding force as that of the Mosaic law; cf Gal 1:14.

⁴ [11] Qorban: a formula for a gift to God, dedicating the offering to the temple, so that the giver might continue to use it for himself but not give it to others, even needy parents.