Genesis: Like One Of Us

“Like One Of Us”

When a new little one is born, families often play the game, “Who does this beloved child look like?” Maybe he has his daddy’s nose or his mommy’s eyes. One cousin sees the great grandmother in the furrowing of the brow and another claims to be sure that uncle is the source. What fun it is to find resemble and connection between a new little one and the family. Did you know God has a similar moment with humanity in the Garden of Eden? They are just like us, God says to God’s self. They are like one of us!

Welcome to the third chapter of Genesis. In this story that many have placed at the center of their faith understanding, it is important to identify what is in the text and what has been layered on. Traditionally, this portion of scripture has been labeled as the Fall; however, nowhere in the biblical text do we get the concept or the word. People have also used this text to explain how evil came into the world; however, there is no explanation given here. The writers are not interested and do not spend time in a back story about origin.1

Let’s instead see what the actual biblical witness shared with us. In the previous chapter, as we hear of the rivers and the garden, the Lord speaks and gives a command to the man and the woman: “‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’” Everything else was available to them.

Rev. Marjorie Thompson writes in her book on spiritual practices: “In Eden, God gave Adam and Eve every fruit of the garden but one. That one fruit, out of a world of variety, indicated a limit to human freedom. Accepting that limit was the single abstinence required by God. It was a way of recognizing that human beings are dependent on God for life. …In refusing to accept the natural bounds of their creaturehood, they reached for the very place of God. They wanted it all.2 ”

We might raise the question of why include something in the garden that they were commanded not to eat. We might wish that were no sharp edges or concerns of any kind in the place. We are told of two trees by name, in the previous chapter: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The tree of life has survived as a motif of relationship with God. We find the tree of life in the biblical witness in Proverbs and also in Revelation 2. If you have been in my office, you might recognize this image. In art history, the earliest images of crosses were not bloody, but rather redemptive. They included images of flowers and flowering trees after this tree of life and the power of Christ to redeem all things.3 Even our own cross here in the sanctuary is a flowering cross. Please take a look after the service. This is the tree of life – that which draws us nearer to God.

Let us look for the moment at the other tree – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is found nowhere else in scripture, and it is none particularly for the command not to eat of it. Previously, everything else mentioned is available to humanity. This tree is the one thing off limits. Man and woman are not able to resist or follow the clear instructions. Something within humanity leads us to do the very thing we are asked not to do.

And we then when we do what we are not to do, we make excuses. In his book Teacher Man, Frank McCourt, the Irish author of several wonderful memoirs, recounts teaching English on Staten Island. The forged excuse notes he received were full of the kind of writing he wanted to see from his kids in the classroom:
“The stove caught fire and the wallpaper went up and the fire department kept us out of the house all night.”
“Arnold doesn’t have his work today because he was getting off the train yesterday and the door closed on his school bag and the train took it away. He yelled to the conductor who said very vulgar things as the train drove away. Something should be done.”
“A man died in the bathtub upstairs and it overflowed and messed up all Roberta’s homework on the table.4”
Seeking to capitalize on this, McCourt gave an assignment to write Adam’s excuse note to God out of this third chapter from Genesis. He writes, “The heads went down. Pens raced across paper. They could do this with one hand tied behind their backs…. The bell rang, and for the first time in my three and a half years of teaching, I saw high school students so immersed they had to be urged out of the room by friends hungry for lunch5 .” Creativity and imagination flowed. Excuses are easy – it is the responsibility that challenges us.

It is a subtle and sly movement that changes humanity from trusting God as a first source to seeking or accepting intermediaries. From crafting excuses to leaning on them. The role of the serpent highlights how quickly we turn to others to process and understand God. How prolific our excuses become. Instead of turning to excuses, let us consider this:
Reinhold Niebuhr, writing on the nature of the human, explains that we have been given the gift of freedom within limits, and because we recognize this paradox: we are anxious. We are tempted to maintain the illusion that we are in control. “Anxiety,” Niebuhr says, “is the internal description of the state of temptation. Anxiety is not sin…it is the precondition of sin, but (and here is the incredible paradox of human existence) it is also the basis of all human creativity.6 ”
Think about the gospel lesson with Jesus’ temptation. From the high of the baptismal moment, Jesus goes to the wilderness, considering his call. How would he do it? What would he do in sustenance? Would anyone believe him? Jesus was anxious. The precondition for temptation was there. However, anxiety is not in itself sin as Niebuhr says, there is always the possibility that the anxiety can be addressed by faith.

The tree does not cause death, in the sense of life and death. But rather, the fruit of the tree results in the death of faith and full dependence of God. Now, we work with both of those. Faith is a gift, and yet doubt lives in equal parts in our lives. Dependence on God requires that we have learned the edges of our boundaries. We are not completed without God.

On Friday, we showed the movie the Shack, based on a book many of you have shared that you read when it came out about 10 years ago. One of the most powerful scenes in the book and the movie is an opportunity for the main character, Mack to sit in judgment of those who have caused him pain. He sees his father who he blames deeply as well as the man who abducted his daughter. He is offered the chance to judge them and choose who should be condemned and who forgiven. His journey is one of forgiveness and redemption. Mack seeks with bumps and bruises, fits and starts to model a life without the judgement seat.

If we seek to live like God, we find ourselves in the center of making decisions that we are not equipped to make. Determining what the future holds and how to judge one another are beyond our humanity. Every time we are ready to hear a news story and determine who is in the right and who is in the wrong, we have placed ourselves in the judgement seat. “God creates a world in which alternatives to the will of God are available. The humans live in a world where choices count and the relationship with God is not a programmed affair; no response is coerced or inevitable. ” You and I seek to have choices and determinations.

What does it look like, if we keep handing the work of judgement back to God? And instead focus on our work of following God’s will and living within God’s way -asking forgiveness when we lose track of our role and pick it right back up where we left it?
This is my prayer for us – even though we might have the eyes of God, the feet of Jesus, creativity of the Spirit, l pray we cultivate the dependence of the very trinity itself.

This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thanks be to God, Amen.

1Genesis, Walter Bruggemann, 1982, p. 41-43.

2Soul Feast. Marjorie Thompson, 1995, 72-73

3 Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire. Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker. (Beacon Press, 2008)

4Frank McCourt, Teacher Man, 2005, 85.
5Ibid., 87.

6Niebuhr, Reinhold. An Christian Interpretation of Ethics, 1935.

Old Testament Lesson: Genesis 3
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” ’ 4But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not 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.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ He said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.’ He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.’ Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent tricked me, and I ate.’ The LORD God said to the serpent,
‘Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals
and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
1I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.’
To the woman he said,
‘I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.’
And to the man he said,
‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
and have eaten of the tree
about which I commanded you,
“You shall not eat of it”,
cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.’ The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all who live. And the LORD God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them.
Then the LORD God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever’—therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 4: 1-11
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he answered, ‘It is written,
“One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” ’Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
“He will command his angels concerning you”,
and “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’
Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
“Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.” ’
Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Meditations For Your Week
Sunday, June 25 ~ Saturday, July 1

Sunday: “but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.” Genesis 3:3. God gives us everything we need and all of the guidance we need.  Rest content in the knowledge that God will provide everything you need.
Monday: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.”  Genesis 3: 6.  Sin is catching.  We sometimes encourage each other to try the thing that pulls us from God.  Consider the inverse.  How are you encouraging others to draw nearer to God?
Tuesday: “God said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’” Genesis 3:11. God knows when we have gone astray.  Prayerfully confess to God who forgives.
Wednesday: “Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’— therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.” Genesis 3: 22-23.  We as a people know good and evil like God.  How do we use our knowledge for God’s glory?
Thursday: “Jesus left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria.” John 4: 3-4.  Samaria was to be avoided at all costs.  But Jesus goes through all areas, loves all people, engages all.  How is Jesus calling you to widen your connection to God’s people?
Friday: “Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’” John 4:10. Jesus teaches people where they are.  Jesus taught the Samaritan woman.  Where does Jesus find you?
Saturday:  “The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?” John 4:11. Every time, we turn to God, we are not left dry.  God will provide.