God's Wisdom versus human wisdom
Today's readings are from Gen 2:7-9;3:1-7, Ps 51:3-6,12-13,17, Rom 5:12-19, Matt 4:1-11.
In the debates among Christians about how to read the story of the Fall in Genesis, literally versus allegorically, we often miss the elemental truths which are presented to us. The first truth is this: when God created man, He "blew into His nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being." Just after doing this, God then planted a garden where man would live, filled with trees "that were delightful to look at and good for food." God didn't only want man to have life, and so He didn't merely provide man with food. He wanted man to have abundant life, and so He gave him trees that were delightful to look at. In other words, God wanted to ensure that man was able to also fully appreciate beauty in God's creation, as this would bring great joy to the soul.
The second truth to recognize in this story is that while God desired true beatitude, happiness for man and woman, this did not translate into total permissiveness. There were many great delights provided for Adam and Eve, but there was also prohibition. This prohibition was not to make things more difficult, but rather it was this prohibition which was necessary to ensure the beatitude which God desired for humanity. So what is really signified by the proscription against eating from the tree which would grant man the knowledge of good and evil? I think what this is telling us is something we will see is still very relevant today. The problem was not that Adam and Eve would know what is right and what is wrong. The sin in eating from that tree is that they would be seeking a knowledge of morality on their own, apart from what God reveals as ultimately true. Morality is not a subjective pursuit in which men decide what is right and wrong; rather, it is something which is objectively revealed to us by God. Recognizing this then puts into greater perspective the necessity of the Law, since it is by giving the Law to us that God would make available to us the means to follow God's morality, and not man's.
Ultimately it is this sin of setting man before God which necessitated the reconciliation which could only come from Christ. This first sin of man brought death into the world, a reality that we could not escape thereafter. And so where the first sin turned humanity away from God, our very source of life, and by this turning away it brought us death, it was only by God vouchsafing to meet us in our humanity that we might be justified once again and reconciled back towards God. As St. Paul writes in our second reading from Romans, "For if, by the transgression of the one, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ."
We come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. This is so important to remember, because it is by Jesus first encountering our own daily sufferings and temptations that through our faith in Jesus Christ are we granted the grace and the power to overcome them. So we read in the Gospel today from Matthew that Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert, preparing Himself to encounter that ultimate temptation. The very same who tempted the first man and woman in the Garden would now tempt the new Man in the desert. The garden and the desert are important references here, because the garden represents the abundant life granted us by God, which was then dried up and killed through sin; the desert represents what has become of that garden through the transgressions of man, and yet through Christ our desert will be transformed back into the garden of abundant life made alive once again by the stream of living waters which comes from Christ.
So now, on this first Sunday of Lent, let us keep in mind that while we are willingly encountering the desert with Christ Jesus, through Christ this desert is transformed into abundant life. So as we continue our fast, let us not fast with gloom in our hearts, but rather let this be a period of hopeful anticipation as we prepare for a fresh encounter with the Risen Christ.
Peace in Christ,
Michael
In the debates among Christians about how to read the story of the Fall in Genesis, literally versus allegorically, we often miss the elemental truths which are presented to us. The first truth is this: when God created man, He "blew into His nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being." Just after doing this, God then planted a garden where man would live, filled with trees "that were delightful to look at and good for food." God didn't only want man to have life, and so He didn't merely provide man with food. He wanted man to have abundant life, and so He gave him trees that were delightful to look at. In other words, God wanted to ensure that man was able to also fully appreciate beauty in God's creation, as this would bring great joy to the soul.
The second truth to recognize in this story is that while God desired true beatitude, happiness for man and woman, this did not translate into total permissiveness. There were many great delights provided for Adam and Eve, but there was also prohibition. This prohibition was not to make things more difficult, but rather it was this prohibition which was necessary to ensure the beatitude which God desired for humanity. So what is really signified by the proscription against eating from the tree which would grant man the knowledge of good and evil? I think what this is telling us is something we will see is still very relevant today. The problem was not that Adam and Eve would know what is right and what is wrong. The sin in eating from that tree is that they would be seeking a knowledge of morality on their own, apart from what God reveals as ultimately true. Morality is not a subjective pursuit in which men decide what is right and wrong; rather, it is something which is objectively revealed to us by God. Recognizing this then puts into greater perspective the necessity of the Law, since it is by giving the Law to us that God would make available to us the means to follow God's morality, and not man's.
Ultimately it is this sin of setting man before God which necessitated the reconciliation which could only come from Christ. This first sin of man brought death into the world, a reality that we could not escape thereafter. And so where the first sin turned humanity away from God, our very source of life, and by this turning away it brought us death, it was only by God vouchsafing to meet us in our humanity that we might be justified once again and reconciled back towards God. As St. Paul writes in our second reading from Romans, "For if, by the transgression of the one, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ."
We come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. This is so important to remember, because it is by Jesus first encountering our own daily sufferings and temptations that through our faith in Jesus Christ are we granted the grace and the power to overcome them. So we read in the Gospel today from Matthew that Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert, preparing Himself to encounter that ultimate temptation. The very same who tempted the first man and woman in the Garden would now tempt the new Man in the desert. The garden and the desert are important references here, because the garden represents the abundant life granted us by God, which was then dried up and killed through sin; the desert represents what has become of that garden through the transgressions of man, and yet through Christ our desert will be transformed back into the garden of abundant life made alive once again by the stream of living waters which comes from Christ.
So now, on this first Sunday of Lent, let us keep in mind that while we are willingly encountering the desert with Christ Jesus, through Christ this desert is transformed into abundant life. So as we continue our fast, let us not fast with gloom in our hearts, but rather let this be a period of hopeful anticipation as we prepare for a fresh encounter with the Risen Christ.
Peace in Christ,
Michael