Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
February 8, 2023
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17
Genesis now gives us another version of the creation narrative. This second version expresses some of the implications of man being created in God’s likeness.
Man is in charge of God’s creation, but there are limits. God has provided an orchard for man and all the trees in it are at his disposal, except for the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. These two are not for man’s use.
Eating of the tree of life would have given humans autonomous life–that is, it would have made them independent of the creator. Eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil would have given humans a degree of power inappropriate for creatures. Still further features remain for comment.