Sermon “What Did God Say” - Genesis 2 and 3

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Presbyterian Churches
Sermon “What Did God Say” - Genesis 2 and 3
March 13, 2011

We have arrived at the first Sunday of Lent. “The season of Lent is a time of prayer, fasting and self-examination in preparation for the celebration of the resurrection of the Lord at Easter. It is a period of 40 days — like the flood of Genesis, Moses’ sojourn at Mount Sinai, Elijah’s journey to Mount Horeb, Jonah’s call to Ninevah to repent and Jesus’ time of testing in the wilderness. (The Sundays in Lent are not counted in this reckoning of the time between Ash Wednesday and Easter, as every Lord’s Day is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.) In the early church, Lent was a time of preparation for the celebration of baptism at the Easter Vigil. In many communities of faith it remains a time to equip and nurture candidates for baptism and confirmation and to reflect deeply on the theme of baptismal discipleship.” (http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/theologyandworship/worship-resources-lent/) Let us pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Our scripture this morning is the familiar text from Genesis chapters two and three which I will be reading from a new translation by Robert Alter.

The story you just heard is a parable. It is similar to the parables that Jesus told. It is a simple story that is very easy to remember, but also has a powerful point. This story was originally meant to be humorous. There are literary elements in it that the original audience would have found quite funny. There are a couple of puns in it. A pun is a wordplay where two words sound alike but have different meanings are put together to make a rhetorical point or to make people laugh. In Genesis 2 there is a pun on the words for soil and man. Soil is the adamah. Man is the adam. So the adam is made from the adamah. You get it. There is another pun in Genesis 3. The serpent is called crafty, arum. Adam and Eve are naked, arumim. The the arum (crafty) is trying to trick the arumim (naked). A Hebrew speaker would pick up on the puns immediately, but they are lost in our English translations.

Another literary device that the author uses to make this humorous is satire. Satire is a literary genre that is used to ridicule vises, bad practices, or abuse. The biblical author uses satire to poke fun at a group of people. These people had it made. They were blessed with everything you could ever want. They lived is a garden with plenty of delicious food to eat. And their vocation was to care for that garden so that the fruit and vegetables would grow in abundance. But these people wanted more. They weren't satisfied with what they had. They lusted for things that had been prohibited. And so they threw away all the blessings they had in order have what they thought they wanted. And in doing so lost everything they had. How stupid can you get? Ha Ha Ha

This story would be really funny to us except that we realize that we are the butt of the joke. We are the stupid ones who are never satisfied with the blessings we have received from God. We want more and more. We lust after what is prohibited, and find that we lose all the treasures we had whenever we reach for more. We are the ones the angels and all of heaven are laughing at.

When we read Genesis 2 and 3 we hear not a joke but a tragedy. We are the tragic figures. Rather than thanking God for all the blessings we have received we complain and complain about what we don't have. We lust after that which is not permitted. We desire that which is not beneficial. And this leads us to lose the blessings we already had. We lust after a new relationship and find ourselves divorced and no happier than before. We lust after more money, or power or prestige so we get a new academic degree, or change jobs, or move to a new location and find that the golden ring is still elusive. No matter what we do, and we try over and over again, we can never satisfy our lusts and we lose the treasures we once had. The more we try the worse it gets. We fall into a vicious cycle with no way out. This is what we call depravity. We are so consumed by sin that we are unable to stop sinning and return to God.

Recently, I saw a story on television about a man who had been walking on a seashore in New England. It was wintertime after a heavy snow. The beach was covered with a large mound of snow and ice. As he walked he began to realize the danger he was in. He could fall through the ice. So he turned around to head home. But suddenly the ice broke and he fell through a hole into a large ice cavern. He realized that he had to get out of the icy water immediately or he would quickly die. So he pulled himself up on a ledge of ice. As he look around he realized that there was no way out. There was no way he could crawl back to safety. He would die in this icy tomb unless someone came to save him. So he started to scream as loud as he could hoping that someone would hear him and come to save him.

This is the situation in which we find ourselves. Because of our sin, our disobedience to God, we have fallen into a hole and cannot get out. We try to save ourselves. We go to church. We read our Bibles. We pray every day. But no matter how hard we try save ourselves from sin we just fall deeper and deeper into the hole. The harder we try the more we fall. And we are drowning in a sea of sin.

Our only hope is that someone will hear our cries and save us. Someone heard the cries of the man who had fallen through the ice and came to rescue him. We too need a savior who will rescue us from the hole of sin that we have fallen into.

Adam and Eve tried their best. They sewed together some fig leaves and hid in the bushes. But it wasn't enough to deal with the downward spiral they had started. They were ashamed and fearful of God. They needed someone to come and restore the relationship they had with their creator. They needed a savior.

Eventually God arrived and looked for his creatures. He realized that the man and woman he had created had chosen to satisfy their own lusts rather than obey his commands. He knew that they were ashamed and fearful So what did God do? Did he open a hole in the ground to swallow up his evil creation? No. Did a flood cover the face of the earth? No. Did fire destroy the garden? No. What God did was to get out the sewing machine and make his beloved creatures new clothes to wear. You see, no matter how far we have fallen, no matter how deep a hole of sin we're in, no matter how much we are separated from God, God still loves us, cares for us and wants the best for us.

So when we find ourselves lusting for the things we are not suppose to have and when we have acted on those lusts, you will lose many of the blessings you had received from God. That's just the way it is. But you will never lose God's love.

Heavenly Father, on this first Sunday in Lent we have gather to confess our sins to you. We have been following our own way for far too long. We desire to have a better relationship with you. So help us to amend our lives and faithfully trust in your love. Amen.