(Twenty-seventh Sunday of the Year (B): This homily was given on October 5, 1997 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Genesis 1-2; Mark 10: 2-16.)

"How smart are today’s ‘experts’? Are they as smart as the writer of the Book of Genesis?"

We like to think of ourselves as living in the most enlightened age of human history. But how smart are we, really? Here I’m speaking, primarily, of those liberal thinkers who direct and dominate our culture at the present time: people who think that man is the measure of all things; people who believe in human wisdom (their own wisdom) apart from God’s law; people who are often considered to be the "experts" on the pressing questions of the day. How smart are they--really? How much wisdom do they actually possess? Are they as smart as the writer of the Book of Genesis? Are they as smart as the writer of the very first book of the Bible?

Now, let’s be honest about it: most people today would probably scoff at that question. They’d say, "Fr. Ray, you’ve got to be kidding!!! How much vino did you drink last week in Rome? The book of Genesis was written by an unenlightened, unsophisticated individual who had a primitive view of reality. How could a guy like that compare with all the scientific, technological geniuses we have in the world right now? It’s like trying to compare Fred Flintstone with Albert Einstein!!! No way!!!"

Well, I would say that this would be a rather premature judgment on the inspired writer of the first book of the Bible. In fact, when it comes to true brilliance, wisdom and insight, the author of Genesis was, without question, an Einstein.

Let me explain why I say this:

Today’s first reading is from Genesis, chapter 2. This is part of what’s often called the "second story of creation." The first creation story is contained in chapter 1. There God is portrayed as making "the heavens and the earth and all their array" in six days. Then, in this second story, we hear how the Lord fashioned Adam from the clay of the ground, how he fashioned Eve from Adam’s rib, and how he placed both of them in the Garden of Eden.

Now when most modern readers examine these chapters of Scripture they make a fatal mistake. They make the mistake of thinking that these chapters are answering two questions: How? and When? They think that the Holy Spirit, through the inspired author, is telling us exactly how and exactly when God made man and the universe. WRONG, WRONG AND WRONG AGAIN!!! How and when God made the universe is for the scientists to try to figure out; and God bless them in their efforts. The book of Genesis is not telling us the how and when of creation; the book of Genesis is telling us the who and the why of creation. The Holy Spirit, through the human author of this book, is telling us WHO is responsible for making it all and holding it in existence (namely God); and he’s telling us WHY: why the world was made and why we’re here. In other words he’s telling us the meaning and purpose of human existence. How many useless arguments could be avoided today if more people simply understood this basic truth! Of course, for the adults in our Wednesday night Bible study on Genesis this is old hat--they learned about this in lesson 1 a couple of weeks ago.

So what are some of the insights that the author of Genesis gives us about the meaning and purpose of human existence? I’m so glad you asked. We see a few of them in today’s passage. For example, we’re told in this story that Adam "named" the animals. Now, why did God have Adam do that? Was it because God couldn’t think of enough names himself? Not at all! The Hebrews believed that when you named something you had authority and dominion over it. This, by the way, is why the Jews never said the name of God that was revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. We think the name should be pronounced "Yahweh," but we’re really not sure because it was never publicly spoken. Why didn’t the Jews say God’s name? Because they realized that God had authority over them; they did not have authority over God. In other words, they understood that God writes the rules of life, not us. So when Adam names the animals he’s showing that he has a greater dignity than they do; he’s showing that he has dominion over them. That same message, by the way, is given in the first story of creation when it says that man was created on the 6th day "in the image and likeness" of God, and that after man was created God found it "very good." Before that moment in the story, everything was only "good." So obviously the writer of Genesis knew that human life is much more important and sacred than animal life. Try telling that to some of the liberal Ph.D.’s in today’s universities who will say to you, "Abortion is okay, euthanasia is fine, physician assisted suicide is wonderful--but save the whales--save the piping plovers!" Unlike these individuals, the writer of Genesis had his priorities in order. He knew the surpassing value of human life. And that makes him much smarter that those men and women today who treat animals with love and innocent human beings with contempt.

The writer of Genesis also believed that man and woman were equal in dignity and stature before God. That’s clear from what Adam says to Eve in today’s first reading. When he sees his wife he says, "This one at last is bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh." What he’s saying there is: "This is someone who is like I am; she’s not an animal or an inferior creation." How nice it would be if more intellectuals today recognized this simple truth: that men and women are equal in dignity but complementary to one another.

And finally notice how the author of Genesis viewed marriage. For him, marriage was not simply a contract--it was a sacred bond, a holy union. And so it’s not surprising that many centuries later, Jesus directed people right back to the book of Genesis when he was defending the sanctity of matrimony . Jesus said, "At the beginning of creation God made them male and female; for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and the two shall become as one. They are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore let no man separate what God has joined." How many people today consider marriage a sacred reality? From the sad statistics on marital infidelity, I would say, "Not enough do." The author of Genesis knew better.

The author of Genesis even understood why artificial contraception is wrong. The Church has always taught that there are two purposes of sex within marriage: to have children and to establish a loving union between the spouses. And when these two purposes are separated, the Church has said, it harms the relationship between a husband and his wife. Always. Now Pope Paul VI warned the world about this 30 years ago in his encyclical Humanae Vitae, and most of the geniuses on this planet laughed in his face. They said, "Holy Father, you’ve got to be kidding. Artificial birth control is great blessing. It will make for stronger marriages. Couples won’t have to worry about unwanted pregnancies anymore. It will lessen marital anxiety. It will make for happier relationships and stronger families." The pope said, "Don’t be fooled!" He warned that if artificial contraception ever became accepted and widespread, there would be many negative consequences: he said that there would be more infidelity in marriages; he said that women would be treated more and more like objects by men; he said that morals would be lowered in society as a whole; and he predicted that some governments would try to push birth control on poor countries. My dear friends, Paul VI was right on every count. That’s exactly what’s happened. The Holy Father was a prophet. Of course, in upholding the two meanings of sex in marriage, he was really only following the writer of Genesis. You see, the author of Genesis wrote about these two purposes of sex hundreds of years before Christ. First, the procreative purpose: Genesis 1: 28, "Be fruitful and multiply." Then the unitive purpose: Genesis 2: 24, "The two shall become as one."

By now I guess it’s pretty clear what my answer is to the question I posed at the beginning of the homily: Who really is smarter--the modern liberal "experts" of today with all their degrees and all their fame, or the humble, holy writer of the book of Genesis, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit? As far as I’m concerned, my brothers and sisters, it’s no contest. In fact, it’s not even close.