O Lord, may my soul rise up to meet you like the day rises to meet the sun.
Genesis 3:1-24 (read this!)
If all we had were the first three chapters of Genesis what would we know about God and ourselves and our world?
A serpent shows up - with legs - no idea of where it came from. We've connected the snake with the devil and it's hard not to knowing what we know, but if all we knew was Genesis 1-3, well, the tempter would be mysterious - a talking snake with legs that remains an enemy of humans - striking at our heels. Just something to reflect on. How often do we read our culture, our experiences, our already conceived theology into the Bible?
The good news in this is that we don't have to read this Book in a vacuum. We have other scripture to inform and bring clarity, We have tradition (ancient commentaries and rabbis who weighed in on this). We have reason to help us wrestle with the possibilities of this new deceptive character. And we have experiences of our own temptations.
That last sentence, lets me know this story is more than fairy tale. I experience temptation the same way as Eve and Adam . . . a subtle little voice that questions truth and authority (Did God really say. . . ?) . . . a whisper that promises that I can be like God . . . a nudge that recognizes that while God has given me so many good things that one thing I'm not supposed to claim is "better" (good and pleasing to the eye) . . . a nonchalant stroll that inches ever closer to the precipice of temptation rather than keep my distance . . . an invitation to disobedience by someone (not my wife!) I trust or want to impress or can't say no to (she also gave some to her husband).
And the results of that disobedience are evident.
Adam and Eve recognize their differences - their innocence and intimacy vanish as the juice trickles down their chins. As much as I want to be one with my wife, sin still robs me of intimacy. And if so with my wife, so much more with everyone else I know. I wear the fig leaves. You wear the fig leaves, the masks.
Adam and Eve hide from God - and so do I. Sin alienates me from God. I want to run from God his love and his holiness when I disobey Him - even when He calls out to me and wants to restore me. And in order to restore me life must be sacrificed - for Adam and Eve animals were killed so that they could wear leather rather than fig leaves. Something had to die for Adam and Eve's disobedience. Someone had to die for me.
Adam and Eve made excuses, played the blame game. So do I. I think - if everybody else would get their act together, life would be so much better. I'm looking at the splinter in my neighbor's eye while ignoring the log in mine. How about you?
The snake was right. I've become like God playing judge with my limited knowledge of good and evil, declaring some sins worse than others, and patting my own back for being more righteous (using the parameters I pick) than those around me.
And I see the affects of the curse - affects that extend to all of creation (cursed is the ground . . .). So I have a sense of how something "good" and "very good" ended up with cancer and earthquakes and war and famine and . . .
God gave humans a choice - obedience (EVERYTHING except one thing) or disobedience (fruit from ONE tree). Why? Why the one opportunity for sin to enter the world? Without the choice - to love freely to obey freely (you do know love and obedience are connected?), we are less than human. Without the choice - free will - we'd be mere automatons - like all the other animals running on instincts rather than reason.
It was sad day, a day when the symphony of heaven turned into a train wreck - not just humanity but ALL of creation. And if all we had were Genesis 1-3, we'd understand how we can still have a good and loving God while living in a world filled with pain and suffering. We could reconcile the good of God with the evil of our world, but one thing we would not have is hope.
Kicked out of the garden so they (the first couple) couldn't keep munching on the fruit of the tree of life and thus live forever in their sin, death is now a reality. Here's the definition of health - the slowest rate of dying. So our best hope is to die slowly?
But we do know how the story, God's story ends (want to skip to the end and read Revelation 21-22?). From the moment Adam and Eve marched out of the garden, God set in motion a plan - the plan - THE STORY - the ONE message of this book we are studying. Everything points to Jesus.
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