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Take 1: Genesis 2 and 3


 Do you ever have a conversation then immediately think, "I wish I would've said that?" I feel that way almost every Sunday. So this blog will be a place where I share things that I wish I would have said or things that were cut from the sermon because of timing or flow. *Note: I type out a sermon manuscript and I keep my word count to 1500 words.

We call Genesis 3:1-8 the fall, but the word "sin" is not in the biblical text. Certainly this story influences what theologians call "original sin," but we cannot base that concept on this story alone.

When I was a kid, I used to think Eden was a paradise and Adam and Eve were lounging about in hammocks and eating grapes. Eden is more like a farm. Adam's role is a servant, to serve and keep the garden. In Genesis 2, we see there's a community of people, animals, and the earth. That sounds like a farm to me.

As God comes near to create Adam, this feels like foreshadowing of the Incarnation--when God would choose to become the baby Jesus.

My favorite theologian is N.T. Wright and he says, "The opening chapter (of the Bible) begins with God making a world in order that he might come and live in this world." The final scene of the Bible is God's New Jerusalem coming down from heaven to earth. The story is about God coming to dwell with his people.

 One day this week, I asked Rachel to read the text aloud and to tell me what stood out to her. Some of the profound things she said were, "Just because it's bad or ugly doesn't mean it's without God. God has a purpose for ugly. Eve is entertaining the temptation. This is an issue of trust."

The old Abingdon commentary set I have has this great line: "Sin may be more deadly than it seems."

For a moment last week, I thought about trying to dramatize the interaction between Eve and the serpent: How do you think the serpent persuaded Eve? How do you think the line of questioning went? In my mind, I imagine it's something like, "Why not have everything? Why not do this and know more about real life? How bad can a little taste be? And did God really say that? Why? Why not enjoy this?"

One of my commentaries tells the story of Niebur beginning a lecture like this, "Our question is, Does the state belong to God or to the devil? And the answer is that the state belongs to God, but it is in danger of becoming the devil by imaging that it is God"

What does Niebur mean? He's saying that every nation, in its pride and lust for power, is prone to make its own definitions of good and evil that have nothing to do with God.

For us, as a nation and as individuals, we face the same temptation as Adam and Eve, of letting our enlarged egos be God--instead of trusting and worshiping the Creator God.

As as community of faith, we should strive to become a place where we center grace and compassion over judgment and self-righteousness.

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