Mk 6:53-56 Back to the Beginning

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After making the crossing to the other side of the sea, Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennersaret and tied up there.  As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him…They began to bring in the sick on mats…and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.

Wherever the Lord went, He fixed what was broken. 

Most people, religious and not too few non-religious, will say that our world and humanity are broken and that humans are the cause of both problems.  The mere fact of this agreement among people of little faith is surprising to me.  After all, how can we consider our world “broken” if there is nothing to compare it to? 

To what shall I compare the earth to?  Venus?  Mars?  To what shall I compare humanity to?  Animals?

If we do, indeed, compare our planet to other planets, then it is safe to say that it is either far better than any other or out of control like no other, for an emergence of life is something alarming, especially if there is no finality to life.

Now if I compare humanity to animals, then there’s definitely something wrong with us:  we are fighting way too hard to stop fighting!  We are fighting way too hard for others and not for ourselves.  We are fighting way too hard for world peace and not world domination.  We are fighting way too hard for the sick, the crippled and the dying and not allowing for nature to take its course.  Hey, it’s a jungle out there!  It’s dog-eat-dog!  It’s survival-of-the-fittest.  Get used to it.  You don’t see the great apes of Africa writing peace treaties with their counterparts.  You don’t see them respecting the natural resources of their rivals.  They are constantly fighting to get the best fruit trees and the best nuts regardless of where they are.  So?  Why are we fighting against our fighting nature?  If we can take it all, then why not? 

Why is it that we are only allowed to be like animals when it comes to dating and mating and not like animals when it comes to bullying, taking, fighting and killing?

Why is it that we are working so hard against our “natural” tendencies?  Could it possibly be because we feel like there is something wrong with it?  That it may have fallen out of place? 

So, if we have come to discover that we do have a real (and not an imagined) problem with our nature, then the important question is:  How do we fix it?

In the beginning.  Many people are working very hard today to get us back to our roots.  But how far back do they go?  Unfortunately, not far enough.  Take, for example, last’s nights Grammy awards ceremony.  As you could “clearly” see, a lot of people, especially the women, were advocating a return to our very beginnings; that is, when people wore absolutely nothing.  As noble as this attempt may be, I don’t think skimpy clothing will get us back to the innocence we long for and Garden we belong in, for our minds are still too full of lustful thoughts and far too many people dress this way for depressing reasons (because they have a poor image of themselves and have forgotten in whose image they were created in).  Too many men and women look at each other as flesh to eat and objects to use, and not as flowers to admire and persons to respect. 

What we need to do is not go back so much to nudity, but to go back to God; when we used to walk with Him and speak (pray) to Him.  This is what it will take to bring man back to the "herbivore" he once was and eliminate the "carnivore" he has become.