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The Devil Made Me Do It!
And That's Just one of Many Excuses I Have!
From Genesis 2: 5 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 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." From Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, "You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3 but God said, "You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.' " 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; 5 for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
Here it is Day Two of Lent and I have already sinned. Have you? What's your excuse? I'm sure you have plenty! Adam sure did! This passage starts with the positive and beautiful story of God placing the man in the garden of Eden, which means paradise, and giving him a positive command: Eat wherever you want, but of that one tree, the one of knowledge of good and evil, not so much, or no for us older folks. Because if you do, God said, You will die. The man, Adam as we discover is his name later on, roamed around this paradise setting and enjoyed God, enjoyed the trees, the lush vegetation that we, I, associate with paradise and was overall, pretty, pretty, happy. Between that passage in chapter two and chapter three, Adam undergoes rib surgery and is presented with a nice fulfillment of that rib, that was named Eve. (It's funny because just last night I was listening to Kenny Chesney singing "I Want My Rib Back.") I'm sure this match was wonderful, the two enjoyed God, enjoyed the garden, enjoyed learning from each other what things were, and one day, I'm almost positive, Adam showed Eve the tree. Yes, that tree. It might have been Adam who told Eve, "We shouldn't even touch it!" And Eve learned that lesson well because now in this setting where the walking, talking snake is tempting them, she tells him about the tree in response to the tempter's negative question about God's positive command. The snake is wily, like the coyote, and says, "You will not die!" Hmm, thinks Adam. Hmm, thinks Eve. "God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Notice the two fear death without it ever being explained, at least not on the pages of the Bible thus far. And they are tempted by the thought of becoming like God. The woman, the scripture says, "saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate." Notice the name apple does not appear anywhere, yet today's picture and our human interpretation for this fruit has always been the apple. But also notice that "she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate." Yikes! Now their eyes are open, they know the difference between good and evil, or so they think and the very first judgment they make is that being naked is bad. What do they do? The sew together sand paper underwear!
This is a great story and you thought the Bible was boring. What makes it even more funny is that that's you, and that's me in this story. Oh sure, we haven't worn sand paper underwear, or at least I haven't, but we sure have tried to cover up our sins with some doozies of excuses. We have sinned against God and we seek the nearest person or thing and point at them. We're good at blaming others and not taking responsibility for our own actions. If you ever were a child, you learned that easily. And especially when you had siblings, you could blame them. And now if you're married, you can blame your spouse. But Lent is a journey toward self-discovery and reflection and the lesson to learn is that we sin on our own. It is that honesty that leads us to confess, "Lord, I am a sinner, and I have sinned against You and against others, forgive me." If nothing else Lent helps us come to terms with needing to ask forgiveness of our sins and getting right with God and with others. The Cross, after all, was the place where our sins were nailed and Christ paid for them, but we have to turn them over to Jesus.
PRAYER: LORD, I have many excuses, but none of them are true. I am a sinner and I have sinned in many ways against You and against others. I confess. I need Your forgiveness, and I need to walk away from my sinfulness. Help me journey with a clean heart these forty days. This I pray in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
