St. Andrew’s Pictou, February 13^th 2005 LENT I

 

A Clash of Wills

 

Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7

Matthew 4:1-11

 

Since the particulars of this one day in the Garden of Eden was recorded, Eve and subsequently all women have been given a bad rap for what happened that day: serpent seduces woman, woman seduces man, and it has been a mess ever since. At least that is the traditional Christian view.

 

The theological spin that so many male theologians have given over the course of history is that a woman caused “the fall of man.” The woman listened to the serpent and enticed Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

 

Traditionally men have blamed women for their own failure to exercise free will.

 

God tells the man, Adam “You may freely eat of every tree in the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die.”

 

Evil, or the devil in the form of a serpent frames what God said positively in a negative way. Where God said to Adam, “You may freely eat of every tree in the garden; but…” the devil substitutes negativity for his own purposes and frames the question in a negative way: “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

 

To her credit, Eve goes back to the positive and says, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;” and then goes on to say that they were not to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden or they would die.

 

The devil, being a crafty psychologist appeals to the human desire to do whatever we want, when we want, to have no limits or boundaries and says, “You will not die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

 

There was a clash of wills here: God on one side and Adam, Eve, and he devil on the other side. The fruit was pleasing to the eye and good to eat, and so they ate of the fruit, and their eyes were opened to the wisdom of the knowledge of good and evil.

 

What was the first thing that happened? “…they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.”

 

So what died that day when they ate of the forbidden fruit?

-innocence,

-childhood,

-freedom to languish in the garden where all needs were met,

-blind following and perpetual care,

-the death of God’s dictatorial will and control over humanity. (Still has his Sovereignty over creation, but now doesn’t rule as a dictator.)

 

What was born when they ate of the forbidden fruit?

-choice,

-responsibility,

-adulthood,

-sin, and the acknowledgement of the presence of evil as a power in human life,

-maturity,

-the blame game between men and women,

-personal, individual shame, (the fig leaves)

-the birth of human free will.

 

Now there are different ways of interpreting this passage. Many have talked about “Adam’s Fall” as humanity’s birth into sin; “original sin” it is called. I don’t prefer this theology because it has evolved to be understood that even without our knowing participation, you and I were tarnished, flawed, and basically unacceptable scum from day one.

 

This theology seems contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who never seemed to treat anyone, no matter who they were as sum (accept some religious types!) In fact, Jesus seemed to treat those considered the very lowest in society like they were his equals. Their encounters with Jesus were a blessing. He even served them and was served by them!

 

I also find this theology impossible to accept when I look into the eyes of a baby. They look so beautiful and about as perfect as we can ever be. I simply find it impossible to think of them as tarnished, flawed, and basically unacceptable sinners in any way shape or form.

 

There was a clash of wills here in Genesis, but it seems to me that the result was the affirmation for whatever God’s reason, for whatever God’s purpose, that we human beings have free will.

 

We Christians say that God’s solidarity with us is shown by sending his son Jesus to live in this world as a human being. Like Adam and Eve, and true to his solidarity with us, Jesus also faced the evils of temptation, just like all of us face temptation.

 

Matthew positions this Temptation of Jesus between his baptism by John in The Jordan and the beginning of his ministry with his call to the disciples.

 

The text seems to say that this temptation was very intentional; the temptation was orchestrated: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be temped by the devil.”

 

Temptation: that most human of experiences; the clash of wills where we are enticed, seduced, provoked, induced, incited, or decoyed to do something wrong in exchange for pleasure or gain. We might even describe temptation as a clash of wills between right and wrong.

 

In this passage we meet Jesus after he had fasted for forty days and forty nights. Like us he was tempted when he was feeling drained, feeling low.

 

The “humanity” of Jesus was tempted in three “political” ways:

Bribery: “If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

The devil was showing contempt for people, the theory is that if you give them what they want, they will cooperate.

 

Image; the temptation to impress people: “The devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple saying to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you…’”

 

(You might like to remember here for future reference if someone is trying to shame and humiliate you by quoting the Bible, that according to the Bible even the devil can quote scripture!)

 

The politics of power: Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

 

Jesus was looking to the future, to his calling and he knew that his faith and integrity had to be in order for him to respond to his calling.

 

The same is true for us in our calling to be parents, grandparents, citizens, parishioners, minister, sales clerk, friend, or whatever or wherever we find ourselves, we will be tempted to turn the stones turn into bread, to impress people, to take inappropriate power for our own benefit.

 

I remember a number of years ago money was disappearing from a kiosk at one the downtown hotels in Toronto. They thought that they knew who was going it, but he wasn’t on duty when some of the money was missing. Then they found out he used to stop by on his time off and offer to cover for the staff on duty allowing them to take a break. He used to steal twenty dollar bills, so they wrote down the serial numbers and put pin hopes through the Queen’s eyes of the bills and they caught their thief.

 

Some policemen in Edmonton thought they could silence their critics by using police power to catch their critics in a compromising position. They found that the view from the mountain top of police power and control was misleading and false.

 

The baptism Jesus received from John is offered for every single one of us.

God is there for everyone.

Free will is there for everyone.

But temptation is also there for everyone.

 

The clash of wills between what is true and what is false will always be there, but God’s will for you is in your best interests so there really isn’t a clash if you are working in partnership with the Creator: to create love and happiness for yourself and others in your life with the various personal gifts that you have to share.

 

After he had dismissed the devil and angels attended him, Jesus went on to build loving community based on the notion of servant leadership and with relationships of trust and care that brought healing to those in need.

 

In our lives, we will always face those clash of wills, between pleasure and gain, and what is right, but we just have to remember what the goal and purpose is as Jesus taught us: to serve others, to be alive and a free in loving relationships in the context of welcoming community/church.

 

We have lives to live; things to do, places to go, and people to see. We have our annual meeting following this service: to review last year, to plan for this year. Any clash of wills is resolved when temptations are averted and our choices are guided by the kind of loving service it takes to build and strengthen all that brings us together.

 

AMEN                  Rev. Alan Stewart