13 March 2011Year A 1st Sunday in Lent
Genesis 2: 15-17; 3: 1-7 Psalm 32 Romans 5: 12-19 Matthew 4: 1-11
“She’s into superstition, black cats and voodoo doll....” The song from Ricky Martin reminds me of our first reading, as we see how Eve was seduced by Satan in the form of the serpent.
Genesis 3:1-3 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’””
What we notice is that the serpent told a lie based on the truth. The truth was that God did say not to eat from the tree, but it was only one tree. In this same manner of near truth the serpent continues to explain that the tree is the knowledge of good and evil and was desirable to give Adam and Eve wisdom.
There is so much going on under the surface of this very simple story. My first point is that sin never seems to be so bad. If sin looked bad no one would sin. But instead sin is made out to be something desirable for our good and even wholesome.
The lie told by the serpent was that Adam and Eve would not certainly die, but instead they would be like God, knowing good and evil. When we read the story we see that Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden as punishment, along with some other consequences, and it appears that they didn’t die ...... but they did.... eventually.
After my experience of Joe’s cancer and dying, I’m really and truly convinced that God made us, as humans, without the ability to comprehend death. I’m convinced that death was not part of our initial DNA. One of the consequences of the fall is that the whole earth has been made subject to decay and we read this in one of the epistles.
Sin, likewise, can seem to be good, wholesome and when we realize that it isn’t so good it sometimes still appears to have very little consequence. Adam and Eve experienced some immediate consequences of their actions, but the full extent was not realized immediately. Through their actions something changed in the reality of the whole human race and each person was born with a limited mortal life span... we could say that since the fall death has reigned, and in fact this is how St. Paul explains it in his letter .
Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned”
Our Gospel reading tells us about Jesus being tempted in the desert. There are three areas where he is tempted. One is with food – a necessary and good thing. Satan tempts Jesus in a way that implies he has a lack of power.... “If you are the son of God, turn these stones into bread”. Jesus replies with scripture, ““It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”
The next was a temptation of security. Satan quotes scripture about God’s protection and prompts Jesus to put God to the test. He might have been saying, “Are you sure that God loves you? Surely you can only know by what He does for you.” When we are tempted in this area it is when things go wrong and we hear that nagging voice that says we are rejected by God.... It is a lie. Jesus didn’t rely on anything God did for him to know and be sure of God’s love.... Even to the point of being nailed to the cross.... Jesus knew that God had a plan and a greater good to achieve.
The third temptation was where Jesus was shown the kingdoms of the earth and promised these if he was to worship Satan. As with each of the other temptations Jesus replies using scripture. Scripture is the word of God and it is the “sword of the Spirit”... it is the greatest resource that we have, and probably the only resource for resisting temptation. But how much do we know of scripture? And the problem is... if we don’t know the scripture we won’t even recognise temptation.
Certainly on a surface level Jesus was being tempted by food, security and power, but Jesus wasn’t being tempted so much about food, security and power as he was about his relationship with God. The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind and strength. When the trials of life come against us do we continue steadfast in our relationship with God? Though we have no answers, understanding or reasons, do we still simply trust that God totally loves us and has our ultimate good in mind?
And the short answer is “No”.
It was the same temptation ultimately for Adam and Eve. It was about their relationship with God. Do they trust him – have faith, or Doubt? Was God telling the truth and did He have their ultimate good in mind when He told them not to eat from the tree?
The temptation extends to all areas of our lives where we fail to have faith in God and instead put our faith in other things. Anything that is not of faith is Sin. But how can we have faith and not doubt? If we look to the example of Jesus we will know that there is a need to invest in our relationship with God.
Psalm 32:1,2 “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.”
The struggle to trust in God is one that is common to all humanity and the ability to sin in big ways and small is not limited to those who have no relationship with God. We know from the Bible that King David was a man after God’s own heart and yet he sinned quite dramatically and scandalously. King David took another man’s wife and when she became pregnant and there was no way to conceal the matter he had the husband left defenceless in his army so that he was killed.... pretty much as good as committing murder. Yet this is the man who wrote, “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven.” He knew the grace of God because he knew God. The key is in the relationship and in being honest about our failing.
While we maintain our innocence we cannot be forgiven. We can justify ourselves saying that everyone does it.... like kids do.... but the consequence for our sin is death, regardless of whether we acknowledge our sin or not. Sin is not what we decide is sinful, it is what God tells us is sin. There are small and big sins, but the consequence is the same.
People often ask if those who don’t know what sin is are still held accountable and this is answered in our reading from Romans and the fact is that whether we know what sin is or not, death reigns as the consequence of sin.
Romans 5:13, 14 “To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.”
We live in difficult times because our society promotes sin as something good and compassionate. Our government does not seem to have our countries interest in mind, but is instead obsessed with euthanasia, abortion and homosexual marriage. At every turn there is someone shouting out compassionate reasons for these things. The true compassion is in the sacrifice of Jesus in which sin is covered, but sin can’t be covered until the sin is acknowledged.
The story of Adam and Eve explain how our current reality, where death reigns, came to be. Through that sin, every human born since has carried the genes of decay. We grow and we die. It all seems quite pointless unless there is something more...and there is, but how do we attain it. While Adam gave us the DNA for death, we know that Jesus died and rose from the dead.... he overcame the human DNA for death. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, and faith in him, we can inherit eternal life.
Romans 5:18,19 “Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Physically we will still fail and sin, but through our union with Christ and faith in God our sins are covered and we are made righteous.
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