As I continue
to read the very beginnings of our common scripture, I would invite you to read
Genesis Chapters 3-4. We begin the narratives that form a continuity with what
happens with the tribes of Israel and also leading us to our understandings as
Christians.
When we
last read of the creations stories, it the first God declared everything was
very good. In the second story, we have a pastoral scene of great peace and
serenity. But, what started good quickly turns to tragedy. The first man (Adam)
and the first woman (Eve) were given everything in the garden except one thing.
That was to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree
that was in the very center of the garden. It is in the third chapter, that we
encounter temptation. What strikes me about this temptation, is remembering the
number of times as a parent you would instruct your children after you bake
cookies and place them into the cookie jar to not eat the cookies. Sometimes the
temptation is too much (even for those grown adult children.) One can almost
predict what is going to happen. And it is that choice one loses paradise.
I often
wonder whether it was eating the forbidden fruit that was the “sin”, or for
both not willing to take responsibility for having done so. Rather than asking
for forgiveness, both blame one another and the snake. Would this have made a
difference? The narrative does not even offer that as a possibility. There was
no remorse, no saying I’m sorry, no asking for forgiveness. It is easy for us
to judge them, but this continues today. Think of all the times we read about
tragedies and everyone is quick to blame someone else rather than admit to their
choice and mistakes. We can blame our parents, our schools, our society, fake
news and media, etc. It would seem that seeking amends has become a thing of
the past. And our willingness to not take responsibility for our choices has devastating
consequences. Think about the world and even our communities as we look at the societal
abuses of today. The number of mass murders, all the “isms”, and the way we
discount ourselves and our leaders from the consequences of our and their
behaviors.
So, in
scripture what are the consequences of Adam and Eve’s choice? They are exiled
from the paradise of Eden. They are to toil the earth and the pain of
childbirth. No longer is everything given to them. And there is even greater
consequences that we see in chapter 4. We have the narrative of Cain and Abel. Cain
being the oldest of the siblings. This story of the oldest not being the one
chosen by God is a common theme throughout the Hebrew scriptures. I will
address this more in the story of Jacob. We don’t know if Adam and Eve told
their children, why they had to move or why they had to work so hard. I imagine
that they did not either out of shame or just wanting to forget. Regardless,
Cain was the one that was traditionally the privileged one. So it most of have
been quite a shock to him that his sacrifice was not acceptable to God and his
kid brother’s was. We don’t have a clear idea as to why though it is assumed
from what God tells him that it was not the sacrifice but instead the attitude
of the giver.
So,
Cain begins to pout much like all of us when things don’t go the way we think
they should. He allows his anger to consume him rather than looking at ways that
he could change his attitude and grow more mature. His anger not towards God
but towards his brother grows until he murders his brother. I would ask, is he
a child of his parents? Is this the consequences of a narcissistic person who
believes just because he is the privileged one that whatever happens to hold
them accountable, they either blame something else or attempt to destroy others
who would take away their perceived power.
Like his
parents, when God confronts him, he first denies having done anything. When the
truth comes out, he shows little remorse about this act of fratricide. It is
only his concern about someone taking revenge that he shows any concern and it
is about him. So, he too faces exile. (A side note or rabbit trail, I have
often wondered about where he found someone to be in a relationship and have
children. That is until one re-reads Gen. 1.27-28. It was there that it would
appear that God created a number of humans not just one.)
So the
moral of the narrative seems to suggest that there are consequences to our
choices that have adverse effects on our lives and the lives of others. We have
the idea that what was perfect is lost. This has given the rise of the doctrine
of original sin. That as descendants of Adam and Eve, we are born as sinners. When
I was in seminary, I took a class on the Torah that one of the teachers was a
Rabbi. He explained that in his understanding and throughout Judaism the
concept of original sin was a more Christian belief. He felt that this was a
narrative to try to explain how evil came into the world but not that there is
some inherent genetic defect that is passed from parents in the act of
procreation. I have also struggled with this particular doctrine. Do we suffer
sin and are we all sinners? Yes, I believe that. But it is not because I was
born that way, but it is because of the choices that I make. Otherwise, we
could misuse the choice and blame it on “I was born this way.” What I believe
is that we are born with the capability to make choices. This changes as we
grow older. The sin of Adam and Eve was disobeying God and not taking responsibility
for that. Today, we choose whether to follow God or our own desires regardless
of how this affects others.
Another
alternative explanation of the “Fall”
that was proposed by the Rabbi, was it God’s intention that Adam and Eve
needed to leave Eden so that they could mature and being able to choose God,
not for what was provided but instead for loving God. Without knowing the
difference between good and evil, they could not be fully human. I think about
raising my children. There is a point where our children need to make choices
on their own. We can guide them as they grow to make better choices but we can’t
make choices for them all their life. We can teach them that there are consequences
to what they choose. We can show them better ways of living that do not harm themselves,
others, and the world. We can also teach them responsibility and forgiveness.
So, we
have these chapters. One thought I have about Adam and Eve. Was this just a way
of understanding how perfection and maturity can be lost and that it does not
mean that there were actual people named Adam and Eve? Aren’t we all adams and
eves? What we can learn is that we too have choices to obey God’s desire or to
seek our own desires.
So,
what? What is God’s desire? We find that answer in both the Hebrew and
Christian scriptures. We are to love God with all of that we are and to love
one another. Just as God loves us. It is important to see God’s mercy even in the
exile, as it is God who makes their clothes to wear. God’s mercy extends to all
of us no matter what or where in our exile we are.
Eldon
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