Proper 5 / Year B
With the easing of Covid
restrictions we are learning again what it is like to live in a world with
options… plenty of options. Will I eat
out or stay in? Go to the movies or read
a book? Take in a baseball game or go
for a walk? The truth is we had plenty
of options during the height of the restrictions, but with so many things being
taken off the table at times it felt as if we had no choices at all.
I grew up in a faith
tradition that flirted with the doctrine of Predestination: the notion God
foreordains those who will receive the saving work of Christ and those who will
reject it. Taken to its extreme, this
teaching implies free choice is merely an illusion. God’s plan, set in motion from the beginning
of time, is unalterable. How
unalterable? I had a college professor
who told the story of the time he tripped and fell down a flight of stairs in
his home. Bruised and dazed, he
collected himself, stood up, and said, “Well, I am glad that is behind
me!”
The Creation stories in
Genesis hint at something different.
They suggest God has woven options into the very fabric of all that has
been made; options which are open and free possibilities which actually alter
the course of history on micro and macro levels. Recall how God entrusts Adam with the task of
naming each animal. The choices are
completely out of God’s control and entirely Adam’s to make. By including the Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil and the serpent as elements of creation, God opens the world to
be a place where God’s will is honored or ignored or misunderstood. The Genesis stories tell us we live in a world
where we have choices and that our choices have consequences. We have some ability (but not complete
ability) to determine how we will impact the world for good or for ill.
This past week I read a
commentary on the creation story of Adam and Eve whose author encourages
readers to step back from a strictly literal interpretation of the text in
order to see something more sweeping at work.
So rather than focusing on the Tree as a tree, the apple as an apple,
and the serpent as a snake, let’s consider the bigger picture being portrayed
by this story. The commenter suggests we
see in it a metaphor for the pattern of every person’s life.
We are born into a world
marked hopefully by nurture, safety, and care.
Childhood, for the most part for most of us, is an Eden-like experience
– innocent, carefree, and cared for. It
does not last. Our experience of the
world changes with the onset of puberty and adolescence. We become self-aware, which often is
associated with a sense of shame and hiddenness (as we see in this morning’s
first reading). We rebel (sometimes in
relatively inconsequential ways, other times in significant ways). We gain new knowledge about good and evil,
which, while positive and necessary, has the effect of shattering the innocence
of childhood. Like the curses meted out
by God in today’s reading, we come to know limitations, frustrations, and
humiliations. The world becomes a more
demanding place and our place in it becomes uncertain. In adulthood we accept our responsibilities
and the embrace the consequences of our decisions and our actions. We experience the world as a place of both
opportunity and challenge. We learn no
one gets through life unscathed. Still,
most of us manage to find happiness and purpose and a measure of peace. This is the path walked by Adam and Eve. In general terms, it is the path each of us
is walking on.
As with the doctrine of
Predestination, most church teachings refer to this morning’s Old Testament
reading as story of “the Fall” – how the first humans lived in paradise, but
lost it all through the act of tasting the fruit of a single, forbidden
tree. “The Fall” implies we are living
in a world where all God intended is crashed and gone. Adam’s sin is our sin. Adam’s curse is our curse. Adam’s loss is our reality. Deal with it… unless you have been
preordained to accept Jesus’ saving death on your behalf.
One of the things I love
about the Anglican tradition is how it understands the meaning of these first
chapters of the bible. Yes, we say, the
world is not as God dreams it would be.
But no, we are not so completely depraved as to not be able to respond
to God’s will and to follow God’s way.
We have the possibility, the ability, and the opportunity to make
choices for better or for worse, for right or for wrong, for faithfulness or
for falling into something less.
At the completion of every
stage of creation God looks at what has been accomplished and calls it
“good.” And when God speaks of the newly
created humans, God calls them “very good.”
While it says something significant about our elevated place in the
created order, recognize being created as “very good” is no where near as
demanding as being created to be “perfect.”
If God had created us “perfect” than even the smallest slip would
destroy our identity (just as a lone walk changes in baseball a perfect game to
a no-hitter). The calling to be “very
good” implies striving and intentionality, while making room for coming up
short now and again.
Which brings us back to our
world of options and the choices we make.
And it brings us to Jesus. In
today’s reading we find him making a choice to conceive in a new way the notion
of “family.” He expands it from the old
standards of kindred and clan to include anyone who strives to do the will of
God. Notice he does not restrict it only
to those who are perfect. Jesus welcomes
into deep relationship everyone who is oriented toward God’s dream for this
world.
Jesus uses this vision to
incorporate an incredibly diverse group of men and woman into his
fellowship. They have different
backgrounds, come from different communities, hold to a variety of religious
traditions, agree not on the politics of the day. Jesus does not disown his biological family,
just the opposite. His brother James
becomes the leader of the Church in Jerusalem after Jesus ascends to the Father
and it is from here a missionary zeal emerges to invite every person in the
known world into the Jesus movement.
Jesus makes the consequential choice to embrace every person, not on the
basis of perfection, but rather on each person’s stated intent to do God’s
will. “Very good” is his standard, not
gender, nationality, or race. It is not
your political affiliation which determines if you are Jesus’ brother or
sister. It certainly is not your
socio-economic level. It definitely does
not matter if you are a Hokie or a Hoo.
And whatever your position on the doctrine of Predestination, ultimately
what matters to Jesus is how you attempt to do God’s will, to live into your
“very goodness.”
“Very Goodness”, goodness
gracious, this can be a challenge, can’t it.
Unlike Adam and Eve, who received the initial commandment – “Don’t eat
of that fruit” – yet receive little guidance and only sketchy commentary from
the serpent, we are blessed to possess the Scriptures: the stories of God’s
interaction with God’s people, the insights of the Psalmists, the words of the
prophets, Jesus’s own teachings and example, and the wisdom of the early
Church. And we are blessed with the gift
of God’s Holy Spirit who abides deep within us and directs us when we are open
to hearing this Voice.
