Genesis 3:1-7
Ever had the whole enchilada and then
wanted more. I remember September 26th,
1980 like it was yesterday. That day I
celebrated my 30th birthday.
It was also the day Martina was born.
Deb and I rushed to the hospital early in the morning, expecting a long
day in delivery only to discover Martina had no designs on waiting. A couple of hours later I watched as the
doctor delivered our first child. Deb
blurted out, “All I want is for her to have ten fingers and ten toes.” Deb got her wish, but it turns out good health
was just the beginning of what we desired.
We wanted Martina to be happy, socially adaptable, and do well in
school. We wanted her to go to college,
find a career, a husband, and have babies of her own. We wanted all the things any parent wants for
a child. Who could argue with our
desires? But notice how quickly our wish
list grew as soon as our first request was met.
Most folks are never completely
satisfied? I watch Wheel of Fortune and calculate how much the winner will have to pay
in taxes. Once I add the travel and expenses of going to Los Angeles I wonder
why they even bothered. Can you think of a time you were completely satisfied? Maybe it started when we were children. I remember once being asked, “What do you want for Christmas?” My response was, “All I really want is a
bicycle.” Once the bike arrived I
immediately wished I had asked for a different color and a few more gears.
Oscar Wilde wrote, “I can resist anything
but temptation.” In this day and age of
mass communication and commercialism we are constantly tempted to acquire the
next best thing. Remember when all telephones did was make phone calls? I
bought a phone last month that collects e-mails, links me to anywhere I want to
go, informs me of the weather, takes pictures, invades my privacy, and does a thousand things I will never need
or desire. There is no reason I need a device this complicated. But you know
why I bought it? I can resist anything
but temptation.
Every
Sunday, along with the rest of you, I faithfully pray, “Lead me not into
temptation”. Good luck with that. The
only commercials on TV I don’t find tantalizing are the ones trying to sell me
a phone. I gave into that temptation
last month.
How appropriate it is that we begin the
season of Lent with the great temptation story that opens the Old
Testament. I suspect most of you are familiar
with the Genesis version of the origin of sin.
I am not concerned if you see this story as a metaphor, as I do, or if
you believe it to be factual. My real desire is you view the story as a vehicle
imparting a basic truth of human nature. This morning I ask you to observe the
situation, acknowledge the temptation, and then contemplate on the outcome of
the choices that were made.
The first two chapters of Genesis offer the
story of creation. New life was celebrated and all that was created was decreed
to be good. The later part of chapter two introduces human beings as the
central characters in God’s new world. What is their destiny? What is their
connection with God’s creation, with each other, with God? We are told by the
writer of Genesis that Adam and Eve were created to live in God’s world, not in
a world of his or her own making. Adam
and Eve were expected to live in harmony with all the rest of God’s
creation. They were given the power to
both rule and care of the world God created.
Eden was destined to be the perfect community. And there in lies the problem. I think we are all aware the word “community”
comes with a lot of baggage. Community implies
good or bad, we are in this together.
Community calls for egos to be put in check and temptations to be
ignored. No matter how often human
beings talk about the peace and purity of our community, there is always that
snake in the grass asking questions such as:
“Aren’t
you really entitled to have just a little bit more?”
“Didn’t
you work a little harder than everyone else?”
“Is
this what God really wants for you?”
“Don’t
you deserve a little bit more?”
Why is it that we are always tempted by
the one thing we do not have? God
presented Adam and Eve with an incredible gift.
They were given the world. Can
you imagine a more magnificent endowment?
They were given permission to be caretakers of God’s creation. According to the Psalmist, “this earth, which
was the Lord’s”, was entrusted to them.
But there were boundaries. There
were Godly expectations. God said they
could eat from every tree in the garden, except one. Why would God do
this? Why would God place this thought,
this temptation into this marvelous plan?
I think the answer is pretty basic.
God needed to know the loyalty of his sub-contractors.
Most people who work are tied to a
clock. There is a certain time that an employer
anticipates the staff will begin work and a minimum number of hours in which they
are expected to fulfill their duties. If
one is self-employed, the presence of the clock looms even greater. The clock becomes the prohibition. The clock becomes the initial means by which
the employer ascertains loyalty. Did we
arrive on time? Did we take extra time
at lunch? Did we leave early? I have heard that many businesses have found
punctuality such a problem that they have had to create consequences for tardiness. But workers still clock in at the last
second. Are they temping fate? Are they declaring their independence? Are they making a statement that personal
independence is far more important than vocation? I don’t know?
But I do know that some businesses have given a grace period of five
minutes before the worker is late. I
suspect soon it will be extended to ten minutes. We humans are a strange
lot. The more we are given the more we
take.
Adam and Eve were not bound by a clock. They were bound by a promise that was
symbolized by a tree that grew in the middle of the garden. Remember the agreement? They could eat of any tree except the Tree of
Knowledge. The more I read this parable
the more I realize that it is a parable for our times. What is more tempting than knowledge? Descartes would have eaten the fruit and
never given it a second thought. Of course the tree represented a lot more than
just knowledge. It symbolized a walk on
the wild side. It was the temptation to live just outside God’s boundaries.
This forbidden fruit was tantalizing. Adam and Eve didn’t need the snake to
introduce the idea of taking a bite. I
imagine the thought of tasting the tree’s fruit was already firmly fixed in
their minds. They just needed a nudge in
the wrong direction. Ultimate knowledge
was the one thing they didn’t control.
With one taste from the fruit of the tree, Adam and Eve could become gods.
Why
we are even surprised Adam and Eve yielded to temptation? They ate the fruit. They placed their appetites before the desire
of God. And what great knowledge did
they receive? They were no longer
innocent. They witnessed what the world
looks like outside of God’s covenant.
For the first time but certainly not the last, they saw chaos,
loneliness, disease, hunger, and fear.
They were vulnerable, uncovered or as it has been so wonderfully
expressed in a little ditty by Terry Allen, “They were buck-naked in the eyes
of the Lord.” They were naked in their
heart, they were naked in their soul, and they were completely exposed to all
of life’s imperfections. Once Pandora’s
Box, has been opened, the consequences are more than one might imagine. Adam and Eve had lost their innocence.
They
no longer trusted each other. They became
suspicious, fearful, and resentful. When paradise is lost, what replaces it
would hardly be mistaken for heaven.
Adam and Eve had it all. But they
wanted more. But then don’t we all. When
have I not given into the temptation of a smarter phone, a better golf club, a faster
car or a fancier house?
Don’t
we all complain that God’s expectations are too high? Face it, who can meet
God’s holy standard? God’s moral
paradigm of the greater good for all rather than the convenient desires of a
few seems neither fair nor possible in this complicated world. Isn’t it a lot
more realistic to ask, “What is good for me” rather than “What would God have
me do?”
I
suppose all of us can tell stories of being exposed to the light of God’s
higher expectations. I suppose we have
all had our Garden of Eden experience. You know how difficult it is to yield to
temptation. We rationalize, we claim we
are compromising, but in reality all we are doing is jeopardizing our
relationship with God’s community.
Eventually, when we see the end results of our misguided desires, like
the first Adam, don’t we run to cover ourselves? But it is too late. When we yield to temptation, we set ourselves
up to be buck-naked in the eyes of the Lord. Trust me, at our age it is not a
pretty sight.
So
what do we do? Do we give up chocolate for Lent? Do we beg forgiveness offering
a liturgy laden with excuses? Do we by-pass the forgiveness part and rationalize
our transgressions? Do we lament with such loud cries of self pity that even
the injured parties beg we fall silent? Even in our confessional state isn’t it
amazing we remain legends in our own minds. In this season of Lent, might I be
bold enough to suggest a daily prayer:
God of grace and compassion, we confess
that we have failed to love you with our whole heart, soul, and mind.
God of mercy and forgiveness, we
confess that we have failed to love others as we have loved ourselves.
Living, Loving God, forgive our foolish
ways.
Amen.
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