Year A. First Sunday of Lent
February 17, 2002 Gen 2: 7-9; 3: 1-7
Title: “Sin is the wrong use of free will given by God.”
There are two accounts of creation in Genesis. The first account Genesis 1: 1-2:4a, called the “priestly,” account because of the theology behind it, deals with the origin of the universe as a whole. It pretty much follows the science of its day Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Babylonian and has creation unfold in stages or “days.” In this account, humans do not appear on stage until Act Six or Day Six. Their creation is just another item in a cosmic sequence of majestic acts performed by God. In the second account Geneses 2:4b-3, called the “Yahwistic” account and has a different theology behind it than the “priestly” one, humans occupy center stage, their creation is Act One. The earth, not the universe, is the backdrop and human relationships are the focus. They have gone awry because of sin. Sin is the wrong use of free will given by God and has resulted in alienation from God, from animals, from nature, from fellow human beings, even man from woman. All human woes stem from human beings’ refusal to accept the limits God has placed upon them, limits he allows them to freely violate, but not without their ensuing consequences.
In Chapter two verse seven, the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. There is a play on words here. In Hebrew the word for man as human being is ‘adam from which the name “Adam,” comes, a noun, not really a name, and the word for clay or earth is ‘adamah. “Clay,” is clearly a symbol for mortality. “Man,” means “human,” not “male” Hebrew ‘ish. As yet, woman female “man,” has not come upon the scene and there is no differentiation of the sexes. “Formed,” describes the work of a potter fashioning clay. God and later the snake is depicted as though he were human, speaking human language, appearing humanlike, molding clay, planting trees, breathing. The technique is anthropomorphic, non-humans cast in human forms.
And blew into his nostrils the breath of life: This is equivalent to what we read in the Priestly account in 1:27 about man being created in God’s own image. Humans not only enjoy life as a gift from God, but they enjoy a share in God’s own life, the life God enjoys. This privileged life is not shared by, or true of, other life forms.
In Chapter two verse eight a garden in Eden: Hebrew `eden means “pleasure,” and connotes bliss and contentment. “Garden,” represents order and completeness. All the human being needs has been provided for him, with the exception of woman, to be given later. The author is describing God’s original intention for humans before they interrupted it by sinning. He is not describing an actual historical situation. The garden’s “order,” is ruined by the chaos human sin brings in its wake. This is no more historically factual than God’s molding clay like a potter, planting trees or the talking snake. Sin ruins everything and every relationship. For instance, God originally intended work to give humans a purpose for living, but sin turned it into drudgery, a blessing into a curse.
Today many realize, that work is the reason for life, that is doing the work God gives one to do, is the reason for being.
In Chapter two, verse nine, various trees…delightful to look at and good for food: God can create things for more than one purpose including humans. For instance, trees can be both sources of beauty to delight the human being and also sources of food to sustain the human creature. The tree as a symbol for “source,” is very common, found in the art forms of most cultures, ancient and modern. Thus the tree would represent the source or root, of a family or people, with its branches representing descendants and relatives. A tree could also represent truth, with its branches representing the various forms truth takes in the arts and sciences.
The tree of life: This particular tree is not highlighted in the story. It is mentioned to give another example of “limits,” boundaries not to be crossed. In Chapter three verse twenty-two, it is mentioned again where the eating of it would empower humans to “live forever.” The expulsion from the garden removes that as a temptation or possibility.
The tree of the knowledge of good and bad: The author does not elaborate on what he means. Surely, nearly all humans have “knowledge,” of good and bad in the sense of right and wrong. Today we call that knowledge, that is, that ability to discern, “conscience.” God did not proscribe that or limit it. The tree represents a limit, a boundary. Boundaries differ from barriers. Boundaries can be invisible, such as the boundary between one country and another. Barriers need to be climbed or removed. The tree is a limit in the sense of boundary, a line not to be crossed. As such it raises the key question posed by the story: Will humans accept God’s terms for a relationship with him or not? And what are the consequences if they do not?
In Chapter three verse one, the serpent: The snake does not represent Satan in this story though later traditions so interpreted it, e.g., Wisdom 2:24. This mischievous, cunning creature represents that aspect of human nature that can think for itself, even in opposition to God. The snake stands for cleverness, cunning, scheming, controlling, indeed, the underbelly of human nature. After reading its lines, it disappears from the scene, not to be later questioned by God, as were Adam and Eve. The snake’s question and the woman’s answer are both inaccurate interpretations of the originally simple divine command in Chapter two verses sixteen and seventeen. Such misinterpretations, half-truths, such making simple matters into complicated ones, represented by the cunning of the snake and the idle conversations of the woman, are at the root of sin.
In Chapter three verse three, “You shall not eat it, or even touch it, lest you die.”: Crossing God’s limits damages and or destroys the relationship. Without limits, there are no choices. Thus, limits also establish freedom. Otherwise, all would have been pre-determined. The free choice to disregard God’s preferences has consequences: death, the death of the relationship, not physical death. After all, Adam sinned but did not physically die until 930 years later! God must mean a different kind of death than physical, a deeper, a “deadlier,” death. The man and woman were expelled from God’s presence, not killed. So, the serpent, representing human cleverness, was half-right. They did not physically die as a result of refusing to accept limits imposed by God. Later tradition will hold that originally humans were made incorruptible Wisdom 2:23; Romans 5:12 and that physical death is a result of sin. This idea is not found in this text.
In verse five, you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad: Hebrew ‘elohim is plural in form. It can be translated as “gods,” “divine beings, “heavenly beings,” all plural, or it can be translated as “God,” singular, when referring to Yahweh. “What is good” must represent something that is not really “good,” for humans. It cannot mean knowledge of right and wrong. Perhaps it means the right to determine what is right and wrong. In any case, humans want to have divine prerogatives that are not really “good,” for them in God’s estimation. They are tempted to want more than even God is prepared to give them. And they are prepared to try to grab it, steal it, obtain it by illegitimate means, if necessary. God knows what is good and bad for humans. Humans cannot handle such knowledge.
In verse six, the woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom: All the trees were good for food and pleasing to the eyes Chapter two verse nine. What made this tree enticing was that it offered more, “wisdom,” something God had and she did not. She would cross the line in an attempt to snatch it, gain it, have it, never questioning whether or not she could deal with the consequences if she did, in fact, attain it. God knew beforehand that humans are not equipped for certain knowledge, at least not all at once. In his wisdom he would dole it out to humans in doses they could swallow, digest and still live. The humans, like children wanted it right away, did not want to work for it or towards it or to gradually adapt to it by taking it in small doses. According to Eve and Adam and many modern young people the problem with instant gratification is that it takes to long. Ironically, they did the worst thing they could have done in the misguided conceit that it would make them closer to God by making them equal to him, gods themselves.
In verse seven, they realized they were naked: Crossing the line had the opposite effect than their clever reasoning concocted. The consequences dawned on them “opened their eyes”. They experienced something new, namely, shame. They were naked before the sin. Outwardly, all was the same. Now they were embarrassed by themselves, feeling self-conscious, ill at ease with self and before others. Not only had they shattered their relationship with God, they had put an end to death their former relationship of trust and harmony with each other. They were now potential enemies. Modern nudist have overcome this shame and find family nudism to be relaxing and trust building, breaking down the enemy stance of the sexes. It also promotes body acceptance, which our society has done its best to destroy.
Sermon
This is a very ancient story giving God’s interpretation of what happened to cause the world and the people in it to go haywire. While it is clearly not an historical account of the actual facts, not a verbatim recitation of what occurred in the first days of humanity, it is nonetheless an accurate interpretation of what did occur and more. It is what essentially occurs in every human being’s life when humans sin. Thus, this is an account of the original sin of humanity, the sin of Adam, the man and Eve, the woman, but also an account, God’s version, God’s interpretation, of what happens when everyman sins. The original sin of Adam repeats itself in every sin of Adam’s and Eve’s sons and daughters. This story tells us not only what went wrong way back when; it tells us what goes wrong whenever we sin. Original sin is also the fundamental sin.
There are two parameters in this story. One is represented by the tree and the other by the serpent. The tree represents the limits or boundaries God has set in order for human beings to develop fully, to develop their potential. Boundaries are not barriers. Boundaries are indeed permeable; barriers are hard. It is clear that God wants his human creatures to overcome barriers, by climbing over them, going around them or tearing them down. It is also clear that God wants us to stay within the boundaries, the borders, the limits he imposes upon his human creatures. With God’s eternal vision he is able to see what would destroy humans and he lovingly warns us about those excesses. Just as humans will train their pet dogs not to go beyond certain limits lest they end up in the street and get hit by a car, so God teaches us the same truth. Boundaries provide safety to live and to grow and to enjoy life as God intends. However, we know that all the teaching, training and discipline in the world will not insure that a dog chasing a rabbit or squirrel will not temporarily forget or ignore its training and blindly run out into the street and possibly get killed. In such cases instinct trumps obedience.
That is what the story is telling us about ourselves. While we do not have instincts, strictly speaking, but we do have an older brain very similar to the animal brain. We also have a newer brain that has grown over the older brain, our cerebral cortex, which accounts for our ability to reason, to think thing through, to decide and to trump the reactive mechanisms of our older brain. People in the past were unaware of these two brains, so they did not explain sin or anything else in these terms. Yet, the serpent represents the older brain in this story. Later on, the serpent will be identified as Evil or the devil or Satan, and that is appropriate. However, the serpent is not so identified in this story. It stands for a human characteristic, not a demonic one as such. The serpent’s conversation shows us what happens when our lower brain charms our higher reasoning powers and entices it to do its bidding. Of course, it should be the other way around. The higher brain should trump the lower brain. The higher brain can consider all the facts before making a decision. The lower brain can refuse to do that and consider only the facts it fancies and even those can be twisted to suit its purpose, which is pleasure and self-preservation. The lower brain is ruled by feelings and cannot do a reality check before reacting. The reality check comes after instead of before the action. Often, the lower brain has reacted before all the facts are in and is often wrong. Bringing the devil into the picture too soon would exonerate human begins from their responsibility for their actions, something the lower brain would love. In fact, that’s just what happened. Adam, on being held accountable, blamed Eve and Eve blamed the snake! The devil made me do it, is not acceptable as an excuse for sin, according to God. Sin then is regression, regression to a pre-human state, where the lower brain ruled and now rules again. However, the difference now, now that humans are human and have free will, thanks to the higher brain, is that humans are responsible for their decision to let the lower brain run their lives and make the final decisions. God does not stop loving humans who sin but he does stop talking to them, since as pre-humans once again, they cannot really talk to him. It is not that humans thereby stop using their higher brains, just that their lower brains are in charge of their lives. They can only decide things in terms of personal pleasure or gain and self-preservation. This spells death to the human person, not physical death, but a deeper death, death to one’s own humanity, a humanity that is necessary if one is to communicate with divinity. Only divinity can re-instate the sinner to his or her own humanity. Only Christ, God and hu-man, can do that.
The story of the fall of Adam, the “man,” is really the story of the fall of everyman and woman.
God imposes limits on human behavior but does not enforce them, though there are consequences, sometimes “deadly,” to their violation.
The human psyche, represented by the snake, can twist the truth at will.
The original sin is idolatry, worshiping someone or something other than God.
The original sin of Adam is also the fundamental sin of all other human beings, namely, idolatry.
Boundaries vs. Barriers: Oddly enough, Adam’s sin, namely to be like God, is God’s goal for humans. Only, he knows better, being the creator, designer and sustainer, of human beings, how to arrive at that goal. Adam and Eve wanted to do it their way and failed miserably. In violating the limits of human knowledge and power they believed they could know as much as or even more than God. Whenever anyone deliberately sins, that is, after self-deliberation, they act as if they know better than God what is good for them. They frequently confuse what is “delightful,” with what is “good” or “godly.” Thus, God has placed within the human consciousness a power we now call “conscience” in order to alert us to the limits beyond which we cannot go without dire consequences. Such dire consequences need not be immediate or immediately obvious, but they are inevitable. Boundaries are not necessarily visible. They are much like the boundaries of “air space” or countries or even neighborhood. They need not have visible markers, yet they are real. Barriers are different. They are obstacles to growth, movement or progress. God wants his human beings to overcome barriers to growth, but always within the confines of human nature. Even in heaven, the eternal Eden, we will not become angels, not cease being human. To strive to exceed humanity usually result in becoming less human, not more-than-human. Ignoring God’s prerogatives or violating them is tantamount to putting ourselves in God’s place and ultimately ends up with our being out of God’s place, God’s presence, where God resides. God prefers to reside within the human person, but sin cause him to move out, for God abhors evil, though not the evildoer.
Consequences: Covers and Cover-ups: Those consequences are represented by the shame Adam and Eve felt about being naked after they sinned, even though they were blissfully unaware and unaffected by it before. The first line of defense is to cover up. This they did. This we all do. And the cover-up is worse than the original act. After the sin man and woman became uncomfortable with each other as they truly are. Enter cleverness once again. Enter pretense, posturing, pomposity, deceit, self-defense. The second defense will be to go under-cover and hide. They try to hide from God, who represents accepting personal responsibility, after clothing themselves to hide from each other. They blame others as they try to shed their shame by donning disguises and offering deceits in place of truth. Yes, Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened, but it brought a vision of reality which was not Godly, but human. God did not create or intend shame, self-consciousness, alienation, fear. He created the possibility for these when he created humans, and they would not be human his images if they did not have the freedom to do so. They would be puppets in a play whose script could never be changed. The after-effects of sin rippled from enmity between God and humans to enmity between humans and humans starting with male vs. female, then brother vs., brother, Cain and Abel, humans and animals starting with the snake and humans and nature starting with the flood. It has been rippling ever since. And it all is rooted in human insistence on being something humans can never be, God. They can pretend to be gods, but never God. Until humans can be content with their creaturely status, a highly exalted one at that, they cannot live in relationship to God. Overrating human power and underrating divine power has caused things to go radically wrong. Only a Savior who understands both the human and divine can save us from the mess we got ourselves into. Amen.
