The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 1: In the Beginning (2023)

Episode Date: January 1, 2023

Welcome to Day 1 of The Bible in a Year! Today we start our year-long journey by reading Genesis 1-2 and Psalm 19. Fr. Mike Schmitz breaks down these readings to discover what the story of creation means for God's plan in your life. For the complete reading plan, text CATHOLICBIBLE to 33-777 or visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear.

Hi, I'm Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story. This is day one, so let's get started. A couple of reminders is that we're using the Bible translation of the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition. That's the RSVCE. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. And if

you're interested in getting the Bible reading plan that we're using, you can download the Catholic Bible in a Year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. That's ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year, all one word. The Bible reading plan is based off of the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, and the Bible Timeline, created by Jeff Cavins, covers the 14 narrative books of the Old Testament and the New Testament, so that you get the entire story of salvation in a really creative way. We're also including these supplemental books or the non-narrative books along the way with those 14 narrative books. So while you're hearing the story unfold and being unpacked and being proclaimed to you,

you're also going to be getting like, here's where those other books, those non-narrative books fit in to the great story. You can subscribe at your podcast app, wherever you listen to podcasts. And you can also sign up for our email list by texting the word Catholic Bible, all one word, Catholic Bible, to the number 33777. Today, we will be reading from Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2, the first two chapters of Genesis, as well as Psalm 19. As we launch into Genesis 1 and 2, we're going to hear both stories of creation. This is the early world

period in the Great Adventure Bible timeline. And then Psalm 19, of course, is just this beautiful psalm of David on the creation of the world. Let's get started. Genesis chapter 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.

There was evening, and there was morning, one day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it separate waters from the waters. And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament heaven. And there was evening and there was morning a second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so.

God called the dry land earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind upon the earth. And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation,

plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth,

to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day. And God said, let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth, across the firmament

of the heavens. So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves with which the waters swarm according to their kinds and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them saying, be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. And God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the

sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea,

and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed, which moves upon the earth. And God said, behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps upon the earth, everything that has the breath of life. I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold,

it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it, because on it God day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground. But a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the

ground. Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and they were divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon. It is the one which flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good.

Delium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the one which flows around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may eat freely of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall die. Then the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper fit for him. So out of the ground, the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whenever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the cattle and to all the birds of the air and to every beast of the field. But for the man, there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. And while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman

and brought her to the man. The man said, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Psalm 19 To the Choir Master A Psalm of David The heavens are telling the glory of God,

and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words. Their voice is not heard, yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them,

he has set a tent for the sun, which comes forth like a bridegroom leaving his chamber and like a strong man runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them. And there is nothing hid from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold,

sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned. In keeping them there is great reward. But who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me, and then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Okay, so that, oh gosh, Genesis 1 and 2. I don't think I can overemphasize the importance of Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2, because if we get these two and tomorrow's chapters wrong, we're going to get the entire

rest of the story wrong. In fact, the trajectory of the entire Bible, the entire story of salvation, in fact, the trajectory of Western civilization is based off of the uniqueness of these two chapters, chapter one and chapter two. Now I say unique, but you think like, wait a second, I remember hearing that there are other creation stories in the Middle East. There are other creation stories in Mesopotamia. There's other creation stories around the world. And you are absolutely correct. But Genesis chapter one is unique when it comes to all creation stories ever known to human beings.

What do I mean by that? Well, if you read any of the ancient Mideast creation stories, they're always, it always is this. It's always creation born out of violence or born out of sexual domination or even just the sexual act. Basically, it's very much so that here's the God or the gods that destroy another God or

they destroy some other thing. And out of the husk of that thing, out of the carcass of that thing, they create the world. Or it's that one dominates, sexually dominates the other or sexually manipulates the other and they give birth to the world. And what we heard in Genesis chapter one is in the beginning, God created, and that word created is the Hebrew word bara or bara. I'm not sure, but it's B-A-R-A. And it basically is found nowhere else when it comes to it. It means simply creation out of nothing

that he simply just created. And there's something that the catechism says about this. It's actually the, it's the prologue of the catechism. Because think about this, all the other creation stories saying, how do we get to this planet? How do we get to exist rather than not exist? Well, it must have been through destruction. It was through violence. It was through the sex. And yet this creation story that God revealed to the Jewish people is no, it's because of God's sheer goodness. So the catechism says it like this. It says, God infinitely perfect and blessed in himself in a plan of sheer goodness, freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life.

And that's just one sentence. It's like virtually the first sentence in the entire catechism. The God infinitely perfect and blessed in himself. He wasn't lonely. He wasn't wondering what to do with his time. In fact, those other creation stories, those other creation myths, what happens is there's the God or the gods and they create human beings to be slaves because the gods don't want to work. Work is beneath them. And so they create human beings either to be their slaves or to toy with, to simply be entertainment for them. And what does the catechism assert?

Well, it asserts what the Bible asserts, which is God is infinitely perfect and blessed in himself. He wasn't lonely. He didn't need someone to do work for him. In a plan of sheer goodness, he freely created man, human beings, to make him share in his own blessed life. He didn't create us to be his entertainment. He didn't create us to be own blessed life. He didn't create us to be his entertainment. He didn't create us to be his pawns. He didn't create us to be his slaves.

In fact, no other place, I mean, think about how amazing this is in Genesis chapter one, that it says that in God's image and likeness, he created us. Male and female, he created us in his image and likeness. Do you know that there is literally no other religion, no other worldview that believes that all human beings are created in God's image and likeness. Do you know that there is literally no other religion, no other worldview that believes that all human beings are created in God's image and likeness, except for the Judeo-Christian worldview? Like this is where that comes from. This is where the idea of human beings having dignity, this is where its source is. And that's why you cannot overemphasize the importance of Genesis 1 and Genesis chapter 2, because it establishes where do human beings get their dignity? They don't get it from their strength. They don't get it from their own power

or beauty or wisdom. We don't get it from government. We don't get it from any other source other than the fact that every human being is made in God's image and likeness, that both male and female are made in God's image and likeness. It is remarkable, and that we're created not to be his servants, but to participate, as it says in the catechism, to share in his own blessed life. In fact, as I mentioned in the other creation stories, the other creation myths, the gods create human beings, again, for entertainment, for sport, or for work, to be their slaves. And yet, what do we see in this first creation story? We see God working.

God is a creator. And so when he puts man and woman in the garden, what does he have them do? He creates them for three purposes, at least three purposes. One is labor. Actually, work is he puts man, before the fall, he puts man in the garden and says,

go to work, till the soil, like have dominion over the animals. He says, part of what makes you like me is the fact that you can labor like me. Now, obviously we're going to hear this later on is that work gets distorted, work gets fallen because of the sin that's come into the world. But our original, God's original intention for us, he made us for labor. He also made us for leisure. On the seventh day, God rested, and he commands us ultimately to rest like that for labor, for leisure, and for love, as God makes it very clear in Genesis chapter 2 after creating Adam. Again, one of the things we know is that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are two different accounts of the

same event, right? The gods creating the universe and human beings. Genesis chapter 1 is like this macro event, and Genesis chapter 2 is this micro event, like zooming in on the first man and the first woman. One of the things we recognize also, the macro event in Genesis chapter 1, is that it doesn't have to be taken literally or historically and literally. It did happen, but it is created and told in such a way that it is so deeply and profoundly poetic and revealing. So for example, we have what? We have the days of creation, six days of creation. And we are not meant to take it literally. And we know

this. Why? Because on day one, God says, let there be light. And he separated the light from the darkness and the light he called day, the darkness he called night. But on day four, God finally makes the sun and the stars and the moon. And so we realized that, wait a second, there wouldn't be day and night unless there was sun and stars and moon, unless there was a purpose for how the sacred author laid this out. So the first three days, there's light and darkness. Second days, there's water and sky. The third day, there is the separation between the water and the land. Well, then on day four, you have the lights of the dome of the sky. You have the sun and stars and moon. On day five, you have the flying things and things in the sea. And day six, you have all the things on the land, including human beings. What the author is pointing out is, okay, day one is light and day three is what rules the light and darkness. Day two is the water and the sky. And

day five is what rules the water and the sky, the flying things and the swimming things. Day three is what's on land, is the lands made. And day six is what rules the land. It's not only the wild beasts, but the men, the humanity, male and female, that has dominion, has been given dominion over all that's on the land. And so you see that this is not meant to be taken literally, but meant to be taken truthfully and poetically. As I said, the macro perspective of Genesis 1 also meets the micro perspective of Genesis 2. That God made human beings for labor, for leisure. And then in Genesis 2, we see for love. As God says, it's not good for the man to be alone.

I'll make a suitable helpmate for him. And just recognizing how deeply profound this is. The term helpmate that God uses is the term ezer k'negdo. And it does not mean that the woman is lower, just a helpmate, you know, that sense of give me a sandwich, kind of that joke that's floating around there. But it means something more profound. In fact, I believe something like this, that the term ezer, or the helper, is used 21 times in the Old Testament, and 19 of those times it's used in reference to God, that God is my helper. And so when God creates Eve, he's not creating someone who's substandard or beneath

Adam. In fact, I've shared this poem before many, many times, but at one point when I was growing up, we had an Atari, you know, the gaming system, and I had older siblings, so I never got to play the Atari. I just got to watch them play the Atari. But next to the TV that they had the Atari hooked up to was a plaque that my mom had just put there. And the plaque had these words. It said, when God took Eve from Adam, he did not take her from his head to lord it over him, nor from his foot to be walked upon by him. He took her from his side to walk with him, from beneath his arm to

be guarded by him, and from near his heart to be loved by him. And it's just so powerful, right? When God took Eve from Adam, he did not take her from his head to lord it over him, nor from his foot to be walked upon by him, but from his side to walk with him, from beneath his arm to be guarded by him, from near his heart to be loved by him. And so that's what we see in Genesis 2, is he looks at Eve and says, this one at last is bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. This one is the reason why men leave their father and mother and cling to their bride. And then those key words that John Paul II said is the mystery, the key description we can't even begin to understand. And the man and woman were naked and yet they felt no shame. Why?

Because God, when he made this world, he made it absolutely good. And that's what I want to leave you with today. That here's the story of creation. Here's the story of God's goodness. Every day of creation is good, good, good. Day six is very good. The world that God made because he's creation is good, good, good. Day six is very good. The world that God made, because he's good, is good. Tomorrow, we're going to find out what happened to this world.

Because we live in a good world still. But we're going to discover that we live in a good world that has gone wrong. A good world that has been broken. But until then, I want to let you know that I'm praying for you. And I will see you back here tomorrow. God bless.