The book tells the story of man and God

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/021119.cfm
Genesis 1:1-19
Mark 6:53-56

The Mediterranean basin has an inspired geographical configuration. In classical and pre-classical years it allowed for the development of a variety of cultures which were close enough to each other to interact and distant enough from one another to discourage warfare. The most prominent ones were the Egyptian, the Greek and the Roman. Each made significant contributions to the heritage of Western Civilization.

We normally associate the Egyptians with their monumental structures. However, it’s also true that the Egyptian city of Alexandria became a major cultural and intellectual center during the decades of the Roman Empire.

The Greeks we have come to know as the founders of a culture which inspired democracy and encouraged philosophy, intellectual endeavors and the arts. They even turned sports into an art form; and their culture inspired some of the greatest sculptures in the centuries before the Renaissance.

From a later — much later— point of view, the Roman culture was far more practical in its building of memorable structures. Their legacy includes aqueducts, stadiums, water management, roads, temples and circuses. But from them we have also inherited a system of laws and civic organization.

In the midst of these mighty and prestigious nations with their enduring influence on Western civilization, one tiny nation proffered a legacy that was richer, more substantive and more consequential than all the others. Their monuments never towered to the heights of clouds; and what notable architecture they may have built is now mere rubble. They developed no enduring philosophies as did the Greeks. If their artistic abilities were memorable we have no evidence to show it.

Their gifts to mankind were simply a book and a man; and neither one was simple.

The first reading for today is the beginning of that book (which is really a collection of books that together are considered the Sacred Writings); and the book tells a story. The text for the day is from the opening chapter, and it presents the main character: God. But not just any god. This is the God who made everything that is, seen and unseen, visible and invisible; and he made it all when there was nothing to make it with. As the story in the Book unfolds, it becomes clear, almost immediately, that this God seeks an intimate relationship with his creation, especially mankind. By the second section we know even more: "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy and faithfulness, keeping merciful love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." (Exodus 34:6-7) For several hundred page and several hundred centuries the story continued until, in eager longing, all creation groaned in waiting for the Lord to fulfill his promise.

The second reading presents the culmination of the book’s story. “But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman.” (Galatians 4:4) What wondrous love is this? In the simplicity of Mark’s gospel we read about all the sick who were gathered into his presence so that they might be healed. In the astonishment of John’s gospel we read the same and even more: “We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son from the Father.” (John 1:14)

These, then, are the legacy of a tiny nation whose people, like so many others, should long ago have disappeared as a distinct people. But they didn’t disappear; they were chosen by God from all others. Their status as a nation derives from events that are difficult for many to admit.

"The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples but it is because the LORD loves you, and is keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)

With hundreds of years supporting our religious beliefs, it’s easy for us to take for granted the atypical character of the God of Israel. Both the book and the man are unique in their class. Both are known as the ’Word’ of God. Both come from a people whose very existence today is an anomaly in the history of mankind. I guess we should expect no less from a Creator who is eternal.