Lent 1A
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
Whenever the economy crashes, we go looking for what went wrong. It isn’t long before we discover that some individuals, some people of leadership and power, wanted MORE, wanted it NOW, and did risky things without regard for ethics or who might get hurt. Pretty soon these behaviors became the thing to do, because everybody was doing them, and to hold oneself as the “Goody Two-Shoes” who wasn’t going along would be labeled as naïve idealism indeed. It would not have persuaded your stockholders.
On the cosmic level, when we look around and see how beautiful the world is; as we watch a baby learn to smile, and look for the first shoots of crocus that have been growing under the snow, it is only natural to ask how all this beauty got here and what went wrong with this beautiful world so that there is so much pain and war and death in it now.
We do not have to look long before we find what went wrong. There are lots of creation stories in the lore of the ancient cultures and religions of the world. But none is so elegant and masterful as this one from Genesis. It explains what happened.
The One who created it all and called it Good—this beautiful mess of trees and mountains and butterflies and dolphins and ostriches—seemed to make a huge mistake. He put a measure of freedom into everything. So even molecules and subatomic particles have a waywardness about them and can mutate and do quite unexpected things…Not to mention humans, who were free to eat of the fruit of that one tree even though instructed not to.
This waywardness, this freedom to follow bad advice, is the start of our downhill path according to Genesis. We are NOT good at obedience, especially when our passions and emotions are excited. We get arrogant. We think we can do whatever we want to get whatever we want. Look way back in Isaiah 14:13 for this expression of human pride: “You said in your heart: ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zabulon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”
And so in Genesis, the Creator God, spells out for his humans what the consequences of this arrogance are. There is a fratricide in the very next chapter. Notice that neither Adam nor Eve confesses their sin, except to blame someone else and finally the serpent. In Psalm 32, the person is called “blessed” or “happy” whose sin is forgiven. In verse 5, the person acknowledges his sin and advises everyone to pray (for forgiveness?) at a time when God “may be found.”
Note also that the Genesis story offers an image of God as a tailor, making clothes for the naked couple to cover their embarrassment. Then consider the words of Paul, who offers Jesus as a second Adam, one who gets it right, and knows how to use freedom and how to “walk humbly before God.” This is the Jesus who does NOT succumb to the temptations to want more, want it now, and do whatever it takes to get comfort, wealth and power.
His forty days of prayer and fasting in the desert are forever after our paradigm for Lent, for redirecting our steps towards true freedom and enlightenment. As the Psalm implies, the first step might be to acknowledge our need to be in that desert, reflecting on our utter dependence on our wonderful, benevolent, Creator God. It’s a place where He may be found.
No comments:
Post a Comment