Skip to main content

Root of Evil - Genesis 2:4-25

Our narrative lectionary reading for this week is from Genesis 2.  It is the story of the first people.  Adam, which means earth or dust, and Eve, which means living or to give life.  It is interesting to note that each term is stereotypical of gender norms.  Adam, the man, is ruddy and earthy.  Cut from earth and stone he is tough and gritty, but like the green man he is from and for the earth.  Eve is the breath of life, wispy and mysterious.  She is the essence of life, and from her comes new life.  Starting from the names themselves you can see the fingerprints of the symbolic story this is.  Was there a literal Adam and Eve?  I don't know, but the context of the story is communicating at least the possibility that this is a story of a different kind of truth.  In that ideal we will look at this story from that lens. 

This part of the Adam and Eve story is setting the background for the fall to come, but it is not wasted detail.  Note the state of life at the beginning.  They were set in the garden of God.  Planted by God, not them.  Food was at their fingertips and they had nothing to worry about.  They were surrounded by places of interest and lands to explore.  God helped Adam to find a partner, going to the length of creating one after Adam had named all of the other creatures.  It was after this first relationship that something happened.  In a bit of foreshadowing the scriptures end this section with the conclusion that they were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Symbolically they were in a place of great peace and abundance.  In that place they lived in truth, exposed to the world and each other.  Everything was out in the open, no secrets, all exposed.  In this state they felt no shame, no guilt.  Life was different. 

Do you remember a time in your life like that?  Are we not all little Adam and Eves?  I remember a time where I wandered in the home of my father.  I was sometimes naked.  I was honest and fully exposed.  I felt no shame.  Like Adam though, something happened and shame found it's way into my heart. 

When we consider the gospel, it is important we start with this story and the way we relate to it.  The true gospel must address this first problem.  In reconciliation it must bring us back to this place of no shame.  Anything less is not good news at all.  Are you ready to return to the state of full exposure, honesty, and shameless living?  The idea will either excite you or terrify you, and which it is reveals a great deal about your heart. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Death Will Lose it's Sting

Our reading from the Narrative Lectionary this week is 1 Corinthians 15:51-57. In these verses, Paul reveals a mystery, that in the end some will be transformed, given a new body, instead of facing death.  In other words death is not one of life's two certain terms.  It seems taxes may be the only guarantee.   "...in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except  death and taxes ." - Benjamin Franklin. Ok, all jokes aside, these verses are difficult to read.  Paul looks forward to a time when death will have no victory, it will have lost its sting.  But today, we are in the middle of a pandemic, surrounded by death.  Many are scared for their lives, or their loved ones, and too many have already been lost.  Death does not seem to have lost its sting at all, it feels as if it is closing in. When I worked in wilderness therapy I remember holding a child who was desperately trying to kill himself.  We cried together as he struggled to end it, and I struggled
Post a Comment
Read more

Fool for Christ

Our reading from the Narrative Lectionary this week is 2 Corinthians 5.  Verse 13 stood out to me. If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. - 2 Corinthians 5:13a (NLT) John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard churches did a famous sermon called "I am a fool for Christ, whose fool are you?".  Reading this week's text reminded me of this wonderful sermon.  Wimber's sermon reminds us that, as christians, we are called to something truly radical.  The christian walk is strange and counter cultural.  Jesus once explained this to his disciples in John 15 "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. You don't belong to this world, I have chosen you out of it.  That is why the world hates you."   Peter, in a letter to the church, later referred to all of us as strangers just passing through this world.   Do you feel like a stranger?  Do you feel like the world hates you?  Are you a fool for Christ? Here is the thing, you are going t
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Part 2 of 4

  This is the second of four weeks the narrative lectionary is focusing on the Lord's Prayer as found in Luke 11:2-4.  This week we are focusing on the second section: "Give us this day our daily bread." At the time and place that Jesus said this, bread was the center of every meal.  To his people, it had a long history of being a symbol for God's provision.  It was often used to refer to any meal or food, and in this case Jesus expands it to represent all of our needs.   A long time ago, in a place that had been ravaged with war, orphanages were overwhelmed with children.  In one of the facilities, the relief workers noted that the children had trouble falling asleep each night.  They struggled with anxiety, wondering if they would have food for the next day.  Their lack of sleep led to more anxiety and a troubling downward spiral of their mental and physical health.  In an effort to meet their needs the workers tried something new one night.  As they tucked each chi
Post a Comment
Read more