Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now have you ever had a difficult time identifying what is good and what is bad?
I know diet experts seem to keep changing their mind in what a good diet is.
People seem to have different ideas in how to be good stewards with what you are responsible for.
And with watching the news, it can be confusing to identify who are the good guys and the bad guys.
But it seems that this determining of good and bad
has always been a struggle since the beginning of time.
You’ll find that the content in our Gospel lesson and our Old Testament lesson
seem to complement each other.
In some ways,
they are the opposite,
and in some ways,
they are the same.
In our Old Testament lesson,
Adam and Eve are being questioned by God
In our Gospel lesson,
the son of God, Jesus, is being questioned by the people.
God asks Adam and Eve why are they hiding.
And the people around Jesus accuse him of being evil.
The people around Jesus ask if he is out of his mind.
And Adam and Eve play stupid as if they didn’t do anything wrong.
Adam and Eve blame everyone else for their actions
though they knew very well what they did wrong.
While Jesus says he’s not evil
as he has been getting rid of evil the whole time during his ministry.
How can they claim Jesus to be Satan?
And I find that’s the question that is to be asked today for the next generation of people.
How is it that God is painted as the bad guy by popular culture
while popular culture itself has shown time after time
to enjoy things that are of Satan?
Why do many people not want to go near Jesus today?
Is it because of the poor things others say about him?
Is it because of how others live out their Christian faith?
Is it because they can’t do the things they want
knowing that Jesus wouldn’t approve?
Is it because of their ignorance about him?
Perhaps the issues
are to blame
on living in our corrupt world
--the same corrupt world from Adam and Eve.
Adam and Eve had free will in a perfect world
and still they chose sin.
Now, it wasn’t like they jumped on it when they first had the chance.
It took a little encouragement for them.
Just a lie from Satan, himself.
In Genesis 3:4-5, the serpent says to the woman,
“You will not surely die.
For God knows that when you eat of it
your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil.”
After this discussion,
Eve found the forbidden fruit
to be pictured as something good for her
not something that God would punish.
Much like how sin works today.
Often the thought process is something like,
“Who are we to tell others what is right or wrong
as long as others do whatever they want.
We are letting them be
who they were created to be.”
And sin continues to happen
from generation to generation.
But if Adam and Eve couldn’t have the strength to live well in a perfect world
how is anyone supposed to figure it out in a broken world?
But in the midst of all the blame and the brokenness we live in
how does God interact with his people?
Does he just punish them and abandon them?
No.
God does warn of the consequences
and there will be punishment for breaking the consequences
but in the midst of all the blaming and tearing each other down
God’s grace and promise for deliverance
is all the greater.
Again,
yes, God punishes sin
but his plan of salvation is even greater.
How did God handle the situation with Adam and Eve’s first sin?
We might be quick to think of the punishment God had given to them
that they would live and struggle in a cursed world,
but first
God punished the serpent
the animal Satan used to speak with Eve.
God did not let Satan and Eve continue in their relationship on a good note.
Rather,
he put enmity between them.
God brought Eve back
to have a relationship with her creator.
Jesus would have Eve to live for God’s purpose
not Satan’s purpose
not because she deserved it
but because God was gracious and merciful toward her.
And God has this same attitude toward us
that as we struggle understanding right and wrong
while we may point blame to the wrong places
God leads us to have a strong relationship with him
--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And God promised there would be an offspring of Eve
a child of hers
that would work against Satan
though Satan would bruise the child’s heel.
After thousands of years,
this child finally came.
Jesus overcame Satan and his demons
time and time again.
Evil had nothing on Jesus
no matter how much Satan tried to work God’s own people against him.
And though Jesus’ heal was bruised as Jesus was nailed to the cross through his heel and his hands
Jesus rose from his death three days later
showing that Jesus never bowed down to Satan.
Jesus is victorious over Satan.
As people fell into Satan’s trap at the beginning of creation
and in the time of Jesus
and in our times today,
we wait for that day when Jesus comes again
to deliver his own people from Satan forever.
To be done with all the lies
the blame
the hiding
and even all the power trips.
We look forward
to living in God’s amazing kingdom forever
where we’ll live in a world of joy and truth
that is far beyond what we could ever imagine.
But until that time comes
let us trust in God and his good and loving Word.
Let the Holy Spirit lead us to do his will
the good things God has created us to do
while our broken sinful nature may not understand.
In Jesus’s name,
amen.
