Rabbi Nachman of Breslov said, \u201cGod made man because he loves stories.\u201d And what is the first story about humans? It is a story of temptation, disobedience and clothing manufacturing. Other than the talking snake, this story in Genesis always strikes me as so ordinary and mundane. When they eat the forbidden fruit, nothing happens. There is no lightning bolt from heaven. There is only the opening of their eyes to their nakedness.<\/p>\n\n
My temptations are ordinary too. I am rarely tempted with high crimes. Most of my temptations are just like Eve\u2019s and Adam\u2019s, they are my desire for physical pleasure (\u201cgood for food\u201d), beauty (\u201cdelight to the eyes\u201d) or wisdom (\u201cto make one wise\u201d). Like them, I\u2019m always looking for love in all the wrong places. From my reading of human history, and my own history, this seems to be the story of humanity. Perhaps that is why God loves us so much.<\/p>\n\n
Happiness, for the psalmist, comes after the withering of the bones, much groaning, and drying out like a raisin in the sun. By the time this psalm is written, the psalmist\u2019s sin is old news, but the effect on the body is still felt. In the darkest watch of the night, he\/she cries out to God.<\/p>\n\n
Soren Kierkegaard wrote that repentance always comes at the 11th hour. It is after we have run out of back-up plans and exhausted our limited resources that we turn to God. We run to the only place where the great waters cannot reach us, the hiding place.<\/p>\n\n
My experience as an Episcopalian leads me to conclude that pages 446-452 in the Book of Common Prayer, \u201cThe Reconciliation of a Penitent,\u201d are seldom used by most of us. Perhaps they would have more use if we connected confession and reconciliation with a chance for happiness.<\/p>\n\n
If metaphors become too complicated, they cease to be metaphors. St. Paul\u2019s metaphor of Jesus as the second Adam is simple. Just as Adam\u2019s sin brought death to all people, so Jesus\u2019 act of righteousness brings life to every person. The savvy reader will notice in the Old Testament lesson a small problem. Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. Furthermore, how did sin get passed on from generation to generation, especially when my newborn baby is so cute? Perhaps it is better to keep Paul\u2019s words simple. Perhaps it is better to put them into a Christmas carol as Charles Wesley did in 1739:<\/p>\n\n
Adam\u2019s likeness, Lord, efface,
\nStamp Thine image in its place:
\nSecond Adam from above,
\nReinstate us in Thy love.<\/p>\n\n
Every time I go near the railing on a high balcony a thought pops into my head: What would it feel like to jump? Then I get a nauseating feeling in my stomach and back away from the edge. Every time I skip breakfast because I\u2019m late for work, I long for an egg and bean breakfast taco and hope that it might magically appear on my dashboard. Every time I hear that a former high school classmate of mine won an award, I wonder what it would be like to get it instead of her.<\/p>\n\n
The devil mocks me to force God to accept my timeline for my life, rather than wait for God to show up in God\u2019s time. The devil mocks Jesus to do something spectacular to prove he is the Son of God. He tempts Jesus to force God\u2019s hand to declare him to be the Son of God \u2013 or just fall onto the hard stones of the Temple. Jesus needs no more proof of his sonship than that which is written.<\/p>\n\n
Martin Luther wrote about the devil in his words to the hymn, \u201cA mighty fortress\u201d: \u201cOne little word shall fell him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Jesus quotes the word, thus proving that he is the Word, and the devil disappears.<\/p>\n\n
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 Rabbi Nachman of Breslov said, \u201cGod made man because he loves stories.\u201d And what is the first story about humans? It is a story of temptation, disobedience and clothing manufacturing. Other than the talking snake, this story in Genesis always strikes me as so ordinary and mundane. When they eat the forbidden…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201221,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23,51,52,3],"tags":[150],"class_list":["post-767071","bible_study","type-bible_study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-studies","category-lent","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-lent-1a"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":23,"label":"Bible Studies"},{"value":51,"label":"Lent"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":150,"label":"Lent 1A"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/767071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bible_study"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/767071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":951908,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/767071\/revisions\/951908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=767071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=767071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=767071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}