1st Sunday of Lent

To focus on whether the creation of human beings and their fall into sin “happened” just as the story is told in Genesis is an adventure in missing the point. The truth of this story is written in the heart of every man and woman, as it was written on the hearts of the first man and woman who were made in the image of God. The truth is that the fall from innocence to sin happens every day to every one of us. Whenever we refuse to accept the gracious limits that our Maker and Commander has placed on us, we fall into sin as surely as the first man and first woman. But in accepting the same insecurities, and the same earthly limits, Jesus Christ proved for all time that we can trust our loving and most gracious Commander.

Even as the LORD God gives to the first human being the earth to till and work, a limit is placed on human power. For the Hebrew word used here literally means "to serve." Human beings are commanded to serve the earth that God has given them. And amid the abundance that God gives us, God gives just one command. Accept the limit of your knowledge, and do not try to gain the same knowledge as God by eating from the tree of knowledge. There’s another limit, more implied in this warning. If you eat of this tree, God warns the human being, you will certainly die. But note that God doesn’t say that if they don’t eat of the tree of knowledge, they will live forever. In fact there is a tree of life in the Garden of Eden. And after their fall into sin, God chases Adam and Eve out of Eden because he is afraid that if they eat of that tree, they will become immortal and be sentenced to an eternity of toil and pain.

And of course, the man and the woman are naked, to each other, to the world around them, and to God. Their knowledge is limited. Their life is limited, and their bodies are very limited. They are helpless before God. And yet what a responsibility is laid on them. Care for the earth, and trust God. Helpless, yet responsible, the man and the woman live in a state of holy insecurity. And into this drama comes a very clever snake. You will not certainly die, the snake says to the woman; it’s not certain that you will die: a vague enough promise to divert the woman’s attention away from God’s warning. And then the snake promises that you will be like God. But “like” isn’t good enough when it comes to God. Knowledge they will have, but not the wisdom to use it.

For this man and this woman, as for every man and woman since, it is a question of limitation and trust. Can we accept the limits of our knowledge and power? Can we trust that in life and in death, we are always held in God’s hand? This man and this woman gave the wrong answer, and so have we. Our recent history is full of human beings refusing to accept their limits. Many who grew up in the 1960s and early 70s remember the personal happiness that was promised if we threw off all social restraints. What were they smoking to think that everybody could pursue their own personal happiness without anybody getting hurt in the process? More recently, how many people have been devastated by the promises of unlimited wealth through unlimited debt, so long as the music kept playing and the debt kept getting passed along with no one left holding it?

Of course, living with the knowledge of our limitations is frightening. To know the limits of our knowledge and power is to know that we live up in the air. If we think our homes, our wealth and our lives stand on a firm foundation of our making, then we have no idea we are falling until we hit the ground. So, what’s the alternative to a life of illusion, a landscape we paint for ourselves and call reality? Look around you. Look up and see the empty sky above you, Look around you and see that you have nothing to hold onto but clouds. Look down and see the ground. And then remember what the Son of God himself said when tempted by Stan to jump off the pinnacle of the Temple: “Don’t test the Lord your God.” When you are afraid of not having enough to live on, remember what the Son of God himself said when tempted by Satan to turn stones into bread: “People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.” When you feel the need to control others, remember what the Son of God himself said when tempted by Satan to gain worldly power by worshiping him: “You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”

And finally, when you are afraid of the ultimate limitation, remember what the Son of God said on the cross: “Father, into your hands I entrust my life.” Every human limitation, every human insecurity, Jesus knows first-hand, so that we might know his Resurrection first-hand.