Genesis 3: Adam and Eve's disobedience and exile from Eden
hands up all who have never sinned or done wrong...
Hands up if you have (remember 1 time) felt ashamed and or embarrassed....
hands up if you can remember an occasion when you blamed someone (something) else when it was your fault.
It seems to be a universal part of the human condition....to fail, stray, sin (if you want that word) do wrong (think/say?)
Adam and Eve are us. --they did wrong, they were embarrassed and ashamed and they blamed someone/something else, so we are Adam and Eve.
The story tells us of the three divine and perfect relationships that God created (which is entirely appropriate in this season of Trinity!)....between God and persons; between persons one and another; and between us and the rest of God's created world.
Actions have consequences and the habit of blaming others is a way of trying to avoid any unpleasant consequence - or punishment. Failing to admit our wrong, confession if you like, is to avoid what we think will happen, but so often we actually don't know what that consequence will be. If Adam and Eve had known or believed that they would lose Eden, the perfect life, do you thing they would have eaten the fruit?
They might have done so, believing that they might just get suspended for a year.... so the consequence would be worth the bite! or that they wouldn't get caught (Sociology research shows that criminals plan not to get caught/ or think that they won't e.g. Drink driving!)
So the first Act comes to an end...the characters have played their part - the scenes have unfolded < a promising beginning < then envy and arrogance < then doubt and disobedience < then the curtain falls as exile begins.
The tragedy unfolds through the scenes of the second Act...Cain kills his brother Abel; > The whole world becomes evil except for Noah and his family and a purge starts life again; > Then in flight from famine, refugees become slaves in Egypt and God's salvation is cancelled by the people's abandonment of true worship as they turn to an idol and ignore God's commandments; >Again and again the merry-go-round repeats; a pattern of prophetic warnings ignored and exile or occupation by an enemy follows. The curtain falls on the second Act.
The third Act begins as the land God gave His people - Canaan is occupied by an enemy force again - this time the Roman Empire has taken control. The temple still stands but the Roman occupying force found it so difficult to keep the peace within its walls that an agreement was negotiated with the Sanhedrin (the government of Jewish leaders - mainly Sadducees with some Pharisees and teachers of the law) that the temple police would be allowed to maintain order but the garrison in the Fortress of Antonia built at one corner, and overlooking the temple site, would intervene as soon as there was any significant unrest; for example, riotous crowds on the appearance of a claimed messianic figure. The action moves on swiftly > A baby is born and inspires a massacre of infants in nearby Bethlehem; > a 12 year old boy astounds the religious leaders with his acute questions: > a new prophet, known as John the Baptiser is proclaiming the dawn of a new salvation - he's executed by Herod Antipas; > then a man called Yeshua (Jesus) appears - he teaches and preaches - simple but powerful words, he calls God his Father; > he heals the sick, miraculously, and feeds crowds, and casts out demons, and stills raging waters and raises the dead. Then the sky darkens and powerful forces move against him:- betrayal, false accusations, an illegal trial and execution. The curtain falls and it seems as if the drama has ended - a three act tragedy. But there is an epilogue...for this is God's drama. [[ there was a -prologue in Genesis1 ]]
In the beginning God established the three perfect, loving relationships; with Him, with each other and with the created world but sin fractured them, they broke apart and in the end, there was only one way back. We could not reach God, He had to reach us, and through the incarnation, through taking on the flesh of humanity and becoming human He led the way back to Himself through death on the cross which could not hold Him for He is life and love which overcomes even death. And that is why we call it atonement AT ONE MENT. for God meant us to live for him and love as he loves...to be one with Him.
and this is what Jesus spoke of in John 14.....
John 14 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” and 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; and 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
We are human and we sin we separate ourselves from God in thought and word and deed but there is a way back, through Jesus whose death on the cross restored us and brings us back into a perfect loving relationship with the God who created us, and all people, and all of the world as we know it...and beyond...... AMEN
