Health Spirituality Part 1:
Taking Responsibility
Text: Genesis 2:14-17; 3:1-13
Lent is one of those seasons where perhaps people are bit a more aware that at least something happens in those days leading up to Easter. The trouble is, we’re never quite sure of what that something actually is. The visible signs, at least in churches like ours, are a bit more obvious: the colours have changed. We have the seasonal banners up, a different pulpit hanging, a tablecloth… even the colour on the screens is different… and it’s all purple.
Okay… big deal! So what?
Unlike the climate seasons that we all love to talk about, the seasons of the church calendar are ones that we choose to participate in. We have some deal of control as to whether or not we buy into the idea. By contrast, we don’t really have that much control as to whether we want to participate in winter… it’s there, and we either deal with it or become snowbirds and head south. The seasons of the church year are ones that we can be intentional about… that we can choose to participate in. For the forty days leading up to Easter, the church invites Christians of all walks of life to participate in a time of special reflection.
How we take part in that can vary quite a bit. Some Christians take the opportunity to fast at key times during those forty days. Others give up something, while still others try to take on something new. The end result is still the same: trying to take a bit of time to concentrate one one’s Spiritual life, to work on our relationship with God.
As such, I thought it might be helpful to do a series of sermons between now and Palm Sunday based around the overall theme of “Healthy Spirituality.” It’s still based on some of the traditional stories and themes that we hear during Lent, but with the special bent of how it can help us with developing a healthy sense of Spirituality.
This week, we go right back to basics… to a story that we know well… or rather to a story we think we know well. The Garden of Eden… Adam and Eve… the forbidden fruit… a serpent… and original sin.
But what exactly is “original sin” anyway? The way that we have been taught is perhaps a bit over-simplified. God said “don’t eat that” they did anyway, and then they get booted out of the garden for disobeying God. Yet with any good story, there are some elements that we’ve missed.
It’s really worthwhile to come back and have a second look.
This morning’s reading is broken into two parts… the first is simply the set-up. The man and the woman are placed in the garden to tend it… God says to them, “you can eat anything in the garden for food, except for that one over there… the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
The real story begins at Chapter 3…
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made.”
The first line is also most critical line in the entire story, and we tend to skip over it. Pay attention to this one, because we’re coming back to it a bit later…
Following the opening line, as the story goes,
[The Serpent] said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’
We know this end of the story quite well. The Serpent’s reply is predictable:
“ 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; 5for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
There’s a couple of things at play here. Up until this point in time, the Man and the Woman don’t know good and evil. They’re naïve… they don’t know right from wrong… not yet anyway. So really, from their perspective, there is no moral dilemma as to whether or not what happens next is right or wrong. They don’t know any better!
6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.
The actual “act” of disobedience is very simple, and happens very quickly. There is no “should I? Shouldn’t I?” She sees it, she takes it, she eats… and then gives to the man who, as we learn, is also there. He does the same…
7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
It’s only at this point that their eyes are opened. It is only at this point do they now know the difference between right and wrong. Prior to them taking the fruit, they didn’t understand disobedience. Now they do… but like the story of Pandora’s box… once their eyes are open, they can’t close them again. Their naivety is gone… the innocent creatures that they once were are now dead.
We have for so long taken this story to mean that original sin came from Adam and Eve simply obeying God. God said “don’t…” they did… end of story… but that’s not it. We’ve missed the point. Remember that as the story is told, they didn’t understand disobedience before. It’s what happens next that really is the key.
As the story goes, they hear God in the garden in the evening breeze. Yet now, they hide. These new feelings of guilt and shame, and they are afraid of being found out. God calls out to them, where are you?
They step out and fess up. The Man says “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” They obviously haven’t learned the lessons on how not to be seen.
“Waitaminute…” God says, “who told you that you were naked?” God pauses for a moment, “What have you been eating? Did you eat from the tree of knowledge?”
Immediately the blame game starts. Adam says, “It’s not my fault…” and points to Eve… “the woman that you gave to me gave me the fruit and I ate it.” In the same way, Eve points to the Serpent and says “It’s not my fault! The serpent tricked me.”
In both cases, they’re passing the buck. Adam points to Eve, Eve points to the Serpent… Neither of them takes responsibility for their own actions… and worse yet, by passing things off as someone else’s fault, they ultimately say to God, “this is all your fault.” They put the blame squarely on God.
It is really, really, really important that we remember the first line of this part of the story. “Now the Serpent was more crafty than any of the creatures that the Lord God had made.” The most important line: the Serpent was a creature that God had made. There is absolutely nothing in the story that identifies the Serpent as being the devil or Satan. Nothing at all. That is a later interpretation that unfortunately perpetuates our temptation to blame someone else for our problems. They are pointing their fingers at one of God’s creatures, and saying that in fact, it is God’s fault. They don’t take any responsibility for their own actions.
That is the original sin. It is not breaking the rules by taking the forbidden fruit, it is denying their own responsibility for having done so. Original sin is not the disobedience as we’ve traditionally understood it… but the unwillingness to accept the responsibility that God gives us. Here’s an even further irony: it is all too easy to blame our relationship with God on Adam and Eve, but in so doing, we fall into the same trap.
I think it’s part of human nature to want to try to absolve ourselves of guilt by putting it onto someone or something else. In some ways, we have the knowledge of good and evil, but we aren’t yet wise enough to truly accept the responsibility that comes with that. When we see Jesus resisting temptation in the desert, and ultimately, in taking the road to the cross, taking responsibility is exactly what he does… even to the point of taking on the responsibility for something that is not his fault.
A key part of healthy Spirituality is to take responsibility for ourselves, for our actions, and for our relationship with God. If anything, as we learn from the story of the Garden of Eden, it’s the first and most important lesson. Don’t pass the buck, don’t fall into the temptation of blaming someone else. take responsibility for your own actions! It’s a lesson that we’re still learning, and it is very hard to do, to be genuinely honest… but at the moment that we try to be consciously aware of taking that responsibility for our relationships with one another and with God, we start to see things in a new and much healthier light.
Amen.
Lent is one of those seasons where perhaps people are bit a more aware that at least something happens in those days leading up to Easter. The trouble is, we’re never quite sure of what that something actually is. The visible signs, at least in churches like ours, are a bit more obvious: the colours have changed. We have the seasonal banners up, a different pulpit hanging, a tablecloth… even the colour on the screens is different… and it’s all purple.
Okay… big deal! So what?
Unlike the climate seasons that we all love to talk about, the seasons of the church calendar are ones that we choose to participate in. We have some deal of control as to whether or not we buy into the idea. By contrast, we don’t really have that much control as to whether we want to participate in winter… it’s there, and we either deal with it or become snowbirds and head south. The seasons of the church year are ones that we can be intentional about… that we can choose to participate in. For the forty days leading up to Easter, the church invites Christians of all walks of life to participate in a time of special reflection.
How we take part in that can vary quite a bit. Some Christians take the opportunity to fast at key times during those forty days. Others give up something, while still others try to take on something new. The end result is still the same: trying to take a bit of time to concentrate one one’s Spiritual life, to work on our relationship with God.
As such, I thought it might be helpful to do a series of sermons between now and Palm Sunday based around the overall theme of “Healthy Spirituality.” It’s still based on some of the traditional stories and themes that we hear during Lent, but with the special bent of how it can help us with developing a healthy sense of Spirituality.
This week, we go right back to basics… to a story that we know well… or rather to a story we think we know well. The Garden of Eden… Adam and Eve… the forbidden fruit… a serpent… and original sin.
But what exactly is “original sin” anyway? The way that we have been taught is perhaps a bit over-simplified. God said “don’t eat that” they did anyway, and then they get booted out of the garden for disobeying God. Yet with any good story, there are some elements that we’ve missed.
It’s really worthwhile to come back and have a second look.
This morning’s reading is broken into two parts… the first is simply the set-up. The man and the woman are placed in the garden to tend it… God says to them, “you can eat anything in the garden for food, except for that one over there… the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
The real story begins at Chapter 3…
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made.”
The first line is also most critical line in the entire story, and we tend to skip over it. Pay attention to this one, because we’re coming back to it a bit later…
Following the opening line, as the story goes,
[The Serpent] said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’
We know this end of the story quite well. The Serpent’s reply is predictable:
“ 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; 5for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
There’s a couple of things at play here. Up until this point in time, the Man and the Woman don’t know good and evil. They’re naïve… they don’t know right from wrong… not yet anyway. So really, from their perspective, there is no moral dilemma as to whether or not what happens next is right or wrong. They don’t know any better!
6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.
The actual “act” of disobedience is very simple, and happens very quickly. There is no “should I? Shouldn’t I?” She sees it, she takes it, she eats… and then gives to the man who, as we learn, is also there. He does the same…
7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
It’s only at this point that their eyes are opened. It is only at this point do they now know the difference between right and wrong. Prior to them taking the fruit, they didn’t understand disobedience. Now they do… but like the story of Pandora’s box… once their eyes are open, they can’t close them again. Their naivety is gone… the innocent creatures that they once were are now dead.
We have for so long taken this story to mean that original sin came from Adam and Eve simply obeying God. God said “don’t…” they did… end of story… but that’s not it. We’ve missed the point. Remember that as the story is told, they didn’t understand disobedience before. It’s what happens next that really is the key.
As the story goes, they hear God in the garden in the evening breeze. Yet now, they hide. These new feelings of guilt and shame, and they are afraid of being found out. God calls out to them, where are you?
They step out and fess up. The Man says “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” They obviously haven’t learned the lessons on how not to be seen.
“Waitaminute…” God says, “who told you that you were naked?” God pauses for a moment, “What have you been eating? Did you eat from the tree of knowledge?”
Immediately the blame game starts. Adam says, “It’s not my fault…” and points to Eve… “the woman that you gave to me gave me the fruit and I ate it.” In the same way, Eve points to the Serpent and says “It’s not my fault! The serpent tricked me.”
In both cases, they’re passing the buck. Adam points to Eve, Eve points to the Serpent… Neither of them takes responsibility for their own actions… and worse yet, by passing things off as someone else’s fault, they ultimately say to God, “this is all your fault.” They put the blame squarely on God.
It is really, really, really important that we remember the first line of this part of the story. “Now the Serpent was more crafty than any of the creatures that the Lord God had made.” The most important line: the Serpent was a creature that God had made. There is absolutely nothing in the story that identifies the Serpent as being the devil or Satan. Nothing at all. That is a later interpretation that unfortunately perpetuates our temptation to blame someone else for our problems. They are pointing their fingers at one of God’s creatures, and saying that in fact, it is God’s fault. They don’t take any responsibility for their own actions.
That is the original sin. It is not breaking the rules by taking the forbidden fruit, it is denying their own responsibility for having done so. Original sin is not the disobedience as we’ve traditionally understood it… but the unwillingness to accept the responsibility that God gives us. Here’s an even further irony: it is all too easy to blame our relationship with God on Adam and Eve, but in so doing, we fall into the same trap.
I think it’s part of human nature to want to try to absolve ourselves of guilt by putting it onto someone or something else. In some ways, we have the knowledge of good and evil, but we aren’t yet wise enough to truly accept the responsibility that comes with that. When we see Jesus resisting temptation in the desert, and ultimately, in taking the road to the cross, taking responsibility is exactly what he does… even to the point of taking on the responsibility for something that is not his fault.
A key part of healthy Spirituality is to take responsibility for ourselves, for our actions, and for our relationship with God. If anything, as we learn from the story of the Garden of Eden, it’s the first and most important lesson. Don’t pass the buck, don’t fall into the temptation of blaming someone else. take responsibility for your own actions! It’s a lesson that we’re still learning, and it is very hard to do, to be genuinely honest… but at the moment that we try to be consciously aware of taking that responsibility for our relationships with one another and with God, we start to see things in a new and much healthier light.
Amen.
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