“Adam and Eve”
A Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Jean Niven
Lenk
Sunday, September 16,
2012
First Congregational
Church of Stoughton, United Church of Christ
Text: Selected verses
from Genesis 2 and 3
Well, last
week it was a tomato, and this week it is alluring, enticing, appealing,
inviting, mouthwatering, tantalizing, irresistible, seductive and tempting
fruit. Hard to believe that the fall of
humanity was ushered in by something as insignificant as one of these. Ask your average person on the street, and
they’ll tell you the fruit that tempted Adam and Eve was an apple, but Genesis
doesn’t say exactly what kind of fruit it was, and the experts say it could
have been anything from figs to pomegranates.
But it is interesting to note that in Latin, the word for “sin” is malum – the same word as apple. And that’s why this is the fruit that we most
associate with Adam and Eve.
But alas,
I’m getting ahead of myself….
Last week,
we heard the Creation Story from the first chapter of Genesis. “In the beginning, God created the heavens
and the earth…” And today, we hear yet
another account of the Creation – the story of Adam and Eve. You are probably at least somewhat
familiar with it, for the story is embedded in our deepest cultural DNA. From “the Garden of Eden,” to “forbidden
fruit,” to “snake in the grass,” to “paradise lost,” our language is peppered
with allusions to this story.
But today
let’s take a closer look to see how Adam and Eve’s story is really our own.
In the second chapter of Genesis, God creates man from the
dust of the earth, and puts him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep
it. Please note – the world’s oldest
profession is … gardener! Then, noting
that it is not good for man to be alone, God creates woman from the man’s rib
as a helper and partner. I could do a
whole sermon on those few verses alone, but we’ll save that for another time.
Adam and Eve enjoy perfect freedom in this garden paradise,
with only one exception. To test their
obedience, God warns them, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die.”
So, the world is as God intends it; in Paradise, Adam and
Eve have everything they could want – God’s love, God’s beautiful creation, and
each other. And it lasts for just one
brief, shining moment, because into this idyllic setting slithers the serpent
who lures Adam and Eve away from God by messing with their heads and planting
seeds of doubt in their minds.
Ignore what God has told you, says the serpent. It’s OK if you eat from that tree. And when you do, you will be like God. And suddenly, Adam and Eve forget that they
have been made in the image of God, and having been made in the image of God, they
are already like God.
And the serpent’s words start them wondering… Is God keeping something from them? Are they are missing out on something that
can be attained by eating from the tree?
Might there be something more, something better which will make them
happier?
So having been diverted from God, this seed of doubt planted
by the serpent takes root in Adam and Eve.
No longer do they see the tree as something to which God has said,
“No.” Instead, they see that it has
fruit, pleasing to the eye, delicious to the taste. God’s “no” has become their own, “Why
not?” God has set the rules and labeled
one tree, just one, off-limits. And that is the one that Adam and Eve want; that is the one that becomes the object
of their desire. Those of us who have
ever been on a diet know exactly how this works.
And rather than turning their backs on the forbidden tree
and turning back toward God, Adam and Eve rebel and turn toward themselves
instead – saying “why not?” -- and choose for themselves that which has been
forbidden by God. And when they eat the
fruit, their eyes are indeed opened, just as the serpent had said. But they are opened to their own nakedness,
laying bare their faults, failings, and flaws.
Adam and Eve then hear God walking
in the garden, and they hide themselves among the trees. God calls to Adam, “Where are you?” God knows where he is, but wants Adam to answer
for himself. But Adam is ashamed, and with
his response says, “I heard you in the garden and I felt afraid and vulnerable
because I was naked and you would be able to see all my weaknesses and
shortcoming and transgressions. And so I
hid.”
It’s the first prayer whispered after The Fall: “I’m hiding from you, God, because I’m
afraid and I don’t want you to see me as I really am, which is so different
than the way you want me to be. Don’t
look at me, God.”
Adam’s experience is universal; we’ve all been there. Any time we choose to do wrong, or to
withhold doing right, we choose hiddenness as well. It may be that, out of all the prayers that
are ever spoken, the most common one, the quietest one, the one that we least
acknowledge making is simply this: I
don’t want you to see me, God. Don’t
look at me.
Adam and Eve’s story is our story, too, because – let’s be
honest -- we all sin. A common
understanding of sin is to break a rule, like one of the Ten Commandments, or
in Adam and Eve’s case, eating from the forbidden tree. But the
understanding of sin that I find more helpful comes from Paul Tillich, one of
the pre-eminent theologians of the 20th century. Tillich defines sin as estrangement or
separation – separation from God, from God’s creation, from God’s
people, and from God’s purpose for one’s life.
We can even separate from ourselves.
How often we separate like that, too easily believing the
enticements of modern-day serpents. We
worship all kinds of things that we think will bring our lives meaning,
purpose, and joy and we separate from the one true God who will. We separate from each other because of anger,
jealousy, hurt; and then when we fail to forgive or seek forgiveness, and the
gulf between us expands. We separate
from God’s creation, failing to remember that man was first created to till and
keep the garden. We separate from God’s
purpose for our lives, lured by some kind of “fruit” and unable to resist the
temptation to reach out for what lies beyond us.
And in the midst of separating, we are also trying to hide. We hide by rationalizing, by deceiving
ourselves, by making excuses, by blaming others. We hide by avoiding other people. And we hide by staying away from God – by not
worshipping or not praying, by not having a relationship with God. We turn away from God so God won’t see us,
stripped bare to reveal the truth about ourselves. From cheating on an exam, to betraying a
trust, to breaking a vow, every choice to sin – no matter how small –
diminishes our capacity to experience the Divine. And in the same moment, the heart says, Don’t
look at me, God.
But the central promise in all of
scripture is that God is with us. God
surrounds us, lives with us, and is never far away. We can’t hide, even when we want to; God is
always with us, even when we don’t want God to be. As Scripture reminds us, “Nothing in all
creation is hidden from God’s sight.
Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we
must give account” [Hebrew 4:13].
And we have yet another promise
from God: that if we go to God, and are honest about ourselves; if we confess
our sins, and repent – turning back to God – God will say, “I forgive
you.” Indeed, the whole rest of the
bible after The Fall details God’s intricate and loving plan to redeem,
restore, and reconcile creation back to Godself. The story of God and God’s people is the
story of God’s love for us from the darkness before Eden to eternity with God
in heaven.
“I was afraid, so I hid.” Don’t look at me God. When we are doing something wrong, the human
soul wishes to remain unobserved – it is a truth as old as humanity itself. But even more eternal are God’s words “I
forgive you.” There are no more powerful
words in scripture, in life, than those.
They offer freedom, reunion, reconciliation, joy and abundant life. They offer us the opportunity to live as God
intends – as whole, free people – free of shame, free from guilt, free to lay
ourselves bare-naked before God, revealing ourselves fully, confident in God’s
promise of grace.
Today and every day, the God who
already knows us completely invites us to come out of our hiding places to live
in full relationship with God, in the light of God’s gracious and loving
forgiveness. Thanks be to God! Amen.
