"Therefore just as one man's trespass led to codemnation for all , so one man's act of rightosness leads to justification and life for all." Rm:5:18
The
ancient Season of Lent, which has come down through the ages and covers several
weeks, teaches us powerful lessons.
The
Season of Lent began during the Post Apostolic period of the Early Church. In
the early years, the Christian Church generally began to hold the Sacrament of Baptism
once a year on Easter Sunday. All those who had come to believe in Jesus would
be instructed to take a 40 day period of time and consider, through prayer and
reading what Scriptures were available to them, how their lives were to changes
in light of who Jesus Christ is and all that he had accomplished on their
behalf. This 40 day period became what
we now call the Season of Lent.
One
of those lessons which Lent points us to and speaks to us about is the answer
to the dilemma of human sin and our misperceptions about our God.
From
the very dawn of creation, there in the Garden of Eden the great dilemma of sin
was introduced and passed on to humanity through our first parents Adam and Eve
who gave ear to Satan in the guise of a serpent. Satan twisted the words of
Lord God and his motivations in an attempt to distort the view of Adam and Eve
toward the Creator. Gen: 3:1-7
Adam
and Eve should have resisted Satan’s words and trusted the Lord God and in what
he had spoken to them but rather they had a mindset which saw God very different
than the truth.
Satan
used their understanding that their Creator God is Holy,
and suggested to them that Holiness could be obtained by them through disobedience
to what the Lord God had spoken to them though the fruit of the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”
that all they need do is take it.
“your eyes will be opened, and you will be
like God, knowing good from evil”(5)
Adam
and Eve then act on the deception and chose to eat of fruit from the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”, but
instead of rising to the place of God, they now come to grasp the truth about
themselves, they now see the truth, that they are “naked”, and in the process, their minds and thoughts about the
Lord God are now transformed negatively, a misperception is now in place regarding
God and his love and grace toward them.
Satan
created a distorted view of the creator God and his motivation in the minds of
Adam and Eve. God's view of humanity was not altered, but rather, humanities’ view
of God.
Their view of God is now distorted and seeing
themselves for what they truly were, as it is recorded in the Genesis
narrative.
“the eyes of both of them were open and
they knew that they were naked;” Gen:3:7a
They,
now seeing themselves for what they were, that is that “they knew that they were naked” led them both to conclude that, what
they truly were would matter to God and that the Lord’s reaction toward them
would be one of anger and rejection a latent hostility toward God has now crept
into their minds.
They
attempt to find their own solution to being “naked” by covering their self-realization of their true state of
being “naked”.
“and they sewed fig leaves together to
make coverings for themselves” (7b)
Hiding from God
This
distorted mind set, regarding the Lord, which they now had toward God manifest
itself when Adam and Eve heard the voice of God calling out them as he walked
in the garden, out of fear they withdraw from God.
This
altered view and perception of God, that is, that, he would reject them and be
angry with them, is why they “when they
heard the voice of God as he walked in the garden they hid themselves among the
trees of the garden”, even when they heard the voice God calling out to
them.
God
knew what had happen and that they both had taken and eaten the fruit, God knew
that they were both “naked”, that is,
he knew and understood exactly who and what they were, yet, he came to them,
calling to them, lovingly seek them out.
The
Lord God did not charge into the garden in an angry pursuit of them, instead he
strolled in at the eventide of day, when
all things begins to quiet down and turn to resting, that is , “in the cool of the day” .
This
timing of the Lord’s approach and calling out to them should have put them at
ease and signaled to them that God was at peace with them and was drawing near
to bring them the understanding of his love and grace, rather than impending harsh judgment.
The
Lord God did not withdraw from them even in spite of them being “naked”, rather,
God came and sought them out. They being “naked”, that is, what they truly were
did not matter to God, he still wanted them and wanted to fellowship with them.
When
God finds them hiding among the trees and when the truth is then made known.
God asked.
“who
told you that you were naked?”(11a)
It
is, as if, that God is asking “who told
you that your state of being, that of being naked, mattered to me?”
The Hope Revealed
God
then allows them to live with the consequences, but first he offers hope
and the solution to the human condition
that Adam and Eve had chosen for themselves and their children and a way to
regain a proper view of our God.
This
promised hope is in itself and revelation of the Grace of God which seemed to
beyond the grasp of Adam and Eve, had they understood that God was truly loving
and gracious toward them they would not have hid among the trees of the garden.
God
gives them hope in a form of a promised “seed”
who’s heal would be “bruised”. (vrs.15)
This
“seed” would be the hope of not just
Adam and Eve, he would be the one to deal with the estrangement between God and
humanity and correct humanities distorted view of the Lord God.
Problem Started in a Garden
The story of our first parents Adam and Eve is the story of all
humanity.
The problem of sin which has plagued humanity ever since, to
varies degrees, with the net effect being that humanities estranged toward
their God and sufferings innumerable throughout human history.
This enslavement to and of sin
and death and the estrangement which resulted was begun in an idyllic garden
setting, here, our first parents, and each of us, in their persons sin and each
and all of us, their human children have followed suit.
Not even the garden setting with all of Adam and Eve’s needs met ,
with no undue pressure or difficult demands placed upon them could they chose
rightly. All the demands which were upon them was to “dress and keep the garden”.
Not one us, even the most pious of humanity even in ideal
conditions has proven immured to resist sin, as St. Paul intoned.
“All have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God” Rm:
2:23
St. Paul address this collective culpability of all humanity in
his Epistle to the Christian Church in the city of Rome around 57 AD.
"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world,
and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all have
sinned" Rm:5:12
Through the sin of Adam, that is, taking the taking of
“Tree of Good and Evil”, the “one man” sin and death passed to all. We
all have made the same choice as Adam and death has followed along with a
distorted view of God which has perpetuated a latent hostility toward God.
The
Solution Revealed in the Wilderness
The problem of sin and death and humanities
misperceptions about God which began for humanity in the Garden of Eden find’s
it’s solution revealed in the Wildness of Judah, one of the most inhospitable
places in all the Holy Land.
“Then Jesus was
led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” Matt: 4:1
It is here, in this dry and wind swept desolate place
that Jesus Christ is led by the Spirit to openly demonstrate that he is the
promised “seed”, the one who would bring
humanity and God together and give us an undistorted view of who the Lord God
is and what he is like.
It is important to understand the setting of the
Wilderness, this area of Judah was in Hebrew Cosmology, which is how they saw
and thought about the world, thought to be the inhabitation of evil spirits. It
is as if Jesus was invading Satan’s own territory and declaring himself the
Messiah and the rightful ruler of all.
Jesus enters the Wilderness, and confronts Satan. But
Jesus, unlike Adam accepts the words of God and yields himself to trust them in
spite of what Satan says, as he attempts to twist and distort God’s word and
cast doubt into the mind of Jesus.
Each temptation that Satan brings forth against Jesus
is met with a Scriptural response.
“the tempter came
to Jesus and said to him “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones
become bread”(3)
“but Jesus answered
and said “it is written” man will not live by bread alone, but by every word
which proceeds out of the mouth of God” (4)
Whatever the temptation was Jesus always responded to
the temptations by truing to the word of God showing his complete trust in what
God has spoken.
Where
Adam failed by disobeying in the Garden setting of God, which was the very best
of conditions; conversely Jesus succeed in the Wilderness setting of Satan. Jesus did what Adam or any of us could not do,
he perfectly obeyed God even in the worst of conditions.
Jesus is not the Messiah because he defeated but rather
Jesus defeated Satan because he is the Messiah.
Healing
the Misperceptions
Jesus came not to fulfill some judicial demand of a
law, no, rather, Jesus came as God did in the Garden seeking out his naked
Children who were hiding among the trees of the Garden due to the distorted view
of God which they held and their misunderstanding of the Creator.
Jesus came bringing grace and calls out to all humanity through the Gospel to
show us the father loves to and for us in spite of us all being “naked”.
In Jesus, God shows us all that in spite who and what
were are he loves us and wants us. Jesus comes to us and calls out to us
through the Gospel showing us the depth of God’ divine love.
Jesus is healing our distorted view and bringing the forgiveness
of sin that our God has always had for us. Jesus’ obedience, like Adams’ sin,
has been passed onto each and all. As Adam chose for all, so Jesus chose for
all.
God looks to Jesus and in his Holy Son, the Father sees
us, each and all dressed in the robe of his divine Son. What we are, that “ naked” does not in any way challenge
God’s grace toward and for us nor his love. The Cross of our Lord is the ultimate
expression of God’s love toward us.
“ while we were
yet sinners Christ died for us” Rom:5:8
The Cross is not directed toward God, but toward us , to show us what he is like, a loving God who would die for us inspite of us.
He did not wait for us to “sew fig leaves” together to cover our “nakedness” that is to reach some morally high level so that we
might be acceptable to merit his grace. God through the Person of Jesus comes
to us, and calls out to us so that we might know that he loves us in spite of
we all being “naked”.
This is a lesson of the Season of Lent.
Benediction:
May we each and all have our misconception and views of God healed knowing that
he loves us in spite of ourselves, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen
Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor
The Fountain of life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion
2101 Old National Pike, Washington, Pennsylvania, 15301 www.gcfountainoflife.org
2101 Old National Pike, Washington, Pennsylvania, 15301 www.gcfountainoflife.org
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