|
On
this first Sunday in Lent we are confronted head-on with
our sin. We are uncomfortable with the notion of sin,
especially our own sin. It is always easier to think of
other people as sinners and not us fine church goers.
We point to the sin of others but frequently fail to
recognize the sin in our own lives. The Apostle Paul
reminds us that all have sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God. Each one of us in the right or wrong
circumstance is capable of sin. Like Jesus we are
tempted to take short cuts to get what we want, often
doing what we know deep down is wrong. Whenever we are
tempted we must recognize that it is always the devil
and never God who lures us into wrong doing. Jesus
gives us the strength to withstand any and all
temptations.
In
trying to better understand sin we are transported back
to the beginning, the Garden of Eden. Imagine for a
moment being in the Garden of Eden with lush green
grass, trees all covered with green leaves. On the one
side is a stream with crystal clear water, there might
even have been a water fall within sight. You look up
and see a deep blue sky. The air is crisp and clean.
As you breathe in the air it reminds you of a summer day
immediately following a rain storm. There are also
animals living in the garden. The animals never attack
each other or human beings. The Garden of Eden is so
beautiful that is it hard to describe. It was part of
God’s good creation.
In
this idyllic place God had a direct relationship with
Adam and Eve, the first couple. The Lord God was very
clear, “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.” The first couple was free to eat anything
in the garden except for the fruit of one tree. They
could have their fill on any plant or fruit, except for
one. This certainly does not seem unreasonable does it?
Everything changed one day when Eve engaged in a
conversation with a serpent. While conversing with an
animal seems out of the ordinary to us, apparently in
God’s perfect world it was not. We are told that the
serpent was “more crafty” than any other animal in God’s
good creation. The serpent asked Eve a question, “Did
God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the
garden’?” Eve replies that God told them they could eat
from any tree with the exception of the one in the
middle of the garden. According to Eve they were not
allowed to even touch the tree.
The serpent pushed the issue, telling Eve that she would
not die by simply touching the tree. Instead, she would
become “like God.” The devil was speaking through the
serpent. It was Satan who was questioning God’s
instructions to Eve and Adam. We might not always
recognize the voice of Satan coming from other people
who challenge our beliefs, or push us to do wrong. We
call this “peer pressure,” when someone pressures us to
do what we know is wrong. “Just this once,” the person
will say, besides “no one will ever know.” It is
important to realize that it is the devil, sometimes
speaking through people we know luring us to sin. As I
mentioned, each one of us at certain moments are capable
of great sin. We may try to rationalize our wrong doing
claiming, “Everyone does it,” or explain away our
misdeed, “I was having a bad day.” But it remains sin
nonetheless.
Eve looked at the tree and discovered that it was
pleasing to the sight. Perhaps she thought that
anything that looked so good must be delicious. It was
more than the desire of eating something that tasted
good, her eyes would be open, in effect she would become
like God. The temptation was too great for her so she
picked the apple and took a bite out of it. She then
gave some to Adam who also freely ate. With that act
sin entered our world. It is time we quit blaming Eve
for the fall of humanity. Both Adam and Eve freely ate
of the fruit. At least Eve thought about the possible
consequences while her husband simply eats without any
hesitation or reservation.
Adam and Eve succumbed to sin. The first sin was the
sin of disobedience, of not following God’s
instruction. Suddenly the Garden of Eden did not seem
quite as beautiful as it did before they ate the
forbidden fruit. The first thing they notice was that
they were naked, and felt ashamed, so they quickly found
fig leaves to cover themselves. Have you ever
felt a fig leaf? A fig leaf feels like medium-grade
sandpaper. Wearing a fig leaf is a long way from the
comfort of cotton undergarments that we are accustomed
to. Obviously they were not as smart as they thought.
There would also be consequences to Adam and Eve’s
action. When we fall to temptation and sin we might not
realize that there are always consequences to our
actions. Sin has that effect on us. Adam and Eve would
leave the Garden of Eden never to return. Even the
serpent would be punished.
I’ve heard the question many times, “Why did God create
the tree of good and evil in the first place?”
Certainly God must have known that Adam and Eve would
fall to sin. That is a good question. God created us
with the ability to choose for ourselves. We have the
gift of free will, at any moment we can choose to do
good or evil. We can run that red light because no one
is watching or we can stop. We can purchase the item we
want or we can take it, hiding it under our coat when no
one is looking. We can cheat on exams or we can
actually study and read our assignments. God desires for
us to respond freely out of love rather than be puppets
on a string without choice. God desires that we freely
respond to God’s love to us.
Jackie Spinner spent almost a year coving the war in
Iraq for the Washington Post. During that time she had
several close calls. Once when she was interviewing
detainees behind the Abu Ghraib prison fence she felt a
tug on her wrist. Strange men began pulling her toward
a car all the while she was shouting “La la rajan” (no,
no, please). Jackie says, “Not until a helicopter
flashed overhead and a curious contingent of Marines
approached did my kidnappers scatter.” The ensuing
months brought more danger.
When Jackie returned home she, like many, had a
difficult time readjusting. “I tried to reconnect to my
old life,” she says but admits, “nothing about me worked
like it once did.” Her editor at the newspaper
suggested that she take some time off. She had a fight
with her twin sister. And she was having difficulty
sleeping, afraid, “I knew the nightmares would come…”
she acknowledges.
Several weeks later Jackie and her sister traveled back
to their home town in Illinois. She felt comfort among
the familiar neighborhood, driving past her old high
school. That Sunday she attended the church she had
grown up in. Suddenly she realized that the way to make
peace with what she had experienced was to trust God.
“God will be present for me—just as God was in Iraq”
Jackie claims. It was at that moment that she realized
that God had not deserted her and that in time she would
be all right. (1.)
Lent is a time when we come clean, acknowledging and
confessing our sin. Lent is the time when we trust God
for all of our tomorrows. Trust is the closest word in
the English language to a verb form of faith. We trust
in God, knowing that God will not fail us. God loves
each and every one of us and will go to any length to
win us back, even if it means sending his Son to the
cross. God will go to any extreme, even the extreme of
the cross, to bring us to goodness and grace. Lent is
when we journey with Jesus as he heads to the cross. It's
at the cross that we find life!
Amen.
1. “Back from
Baghdad” Jackie Spinner as told to Jim Hinch,
Guideposts, June 2006, pp. 53-57
|
