Homily for Lent 1
March 5, 2017
In The Beginning
Geneologies
are fascinating, and they can help us understand who we are today. I’ve been
able to trace my family back to the 1600s to an ancestor named Jacob Gull, who
was from northern Germany. Knowing that I come from Germany helps me to
understand why I need things neat and orderly in my life, and why I’m not a big
hugger (seriously, when my family gets together, we never kiss and only rarely
hug, even with my mom!). Looking back to the beginning reveals how we got to
where we are.
Today’s
first reading goes all the way back to the beginning – to creation and the
Fall. Let’s take a look at this story in a deeper way, to help reveal a lot
about the human race.
The Lord God formed man from dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. This past
Wednesday, as ashes donned your foreheads, you heard those words, “Remember you
are dust, and unto dust you shall return.” We are not immortal – we are weak,
frail, “earthen vessels” (as St. Paul puts it). Although we have a soul and are
created in His image and likeness, we are also weak, made from dust, and
corruptible. We must remember our frailty – and use that remembrance to rely
more fully upon the Lord.
The serpent said to the woman…The word
in Hebrew is “nahash” – dragon. This was a fearful creature! The devil is
absolutely real – he is a fallen angel, of much greater intelligence and
strength than us human beings. He hates God, and because God loves us, the
devil hates us too. He wants to lead us into rebellion against our Father, as
he himself has already rebelled.
…”Did God really tell you not to eat of any
tree of the garden?” Look what the devil is doing here – he is sowing
doubt. The Evil One wants us to think that God is not truly good, that our
happiness is not found in following God but in doing our own will. Eve is beginning
to be swayed; she responds, “God said,
You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” But wait – God never said not to
touch it, just not to eat it. Why did Eve go one step further? Because she was starting
to believe that God’s laws were unreasonable, ridiculous, too harsh. How many
times have we thought that?
But the serpent said, “You shall not die!”
Yes, technically true, when we sin we do not die physically, but do we not die
spiritually? Doesn’t sin take away the peace, the grace, the life of God within
us? We must remember that the devil tells us lies in temptations – saying, “Oh,
it doesn’t really matter…oh, everything will be fine…” when in reality, sin does kill us, from the inside out.
The serpent said, “For God knows that when
you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.” Wait a
second! Weren’t we already created in
God’s image and likeness? Yes, we were! The devil attacks our identity – he says
things like, “If you want to be popular…if you want to be a real man…if you
want to be cool, then commit this sin.” But our deepest identity is that we
belong to Jesus Christ, ransomed by His blood, forgiven and made a new
creation. Stand on that identity!
“You will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
In the ancient Jewish world, “knowledge” was so much more than just
intelligence. Knowledge meant “experience” – like when the Archangel Gabriel
said to Mary that she was going to be the mother of the Savior and she
responded, “I do not know man”, she meant that she had never had the physical
experience of being with a man. Obviously she knew men – she had met them
before – but she had never experienced one. In the same way, Eve didn’t just
want to know about evil – she wanted to experience it, from the inside out. We
ourselves should keep ourselves free from experiencing evil. Innocence is a
beautiful, if underused, virtue – we should protect ourselves from experiencing
evil, and we will be much happier!
The woman saw that the tree was good for
food, a delight to the eyes, and was to be desired to make one wise. Tasty,
beautiful, and sophisticated – the exact three temptations that Jesus faced.
Jesus was challenged to make stones into bread, satisfying physical pleasure.
The devil tried to offer Jesus the glory and gold of the world – tempting Him
with riches and worldly beauty. Finally, the devil tried to get Him to
arrogantly jump off the temple, defying God – making Him so filled with the pride
of the world that He could tell God what to do. We are also faced with these
same temptations – pleasure, riches, and pride – and we have to be cautious!
The eyes of both were open, and they realized
they were naked. Before sin, their innocence protected them. They never
even considered sinning against each other. But now that innocence is gone,
they began to use and abuse each other – most notably here using each other for
physical pleasure. Loss of innocence means division, conflict, hatred, and
separation!
Now,
with all of this, one is likely to say – “Wow, the human race sure is in a
sorry state!” But St. Paul puts it best in the second reading when he says, “Although
death entered the world through one man (Adam), life was purchased through one
man (Jesus).” We can have hope because Jesus has conquered temptation, sin, and
death! We read about the original sin because it helps reveal a lot about human
nature – how we are made from dust, how easily we doubt God and doubt our own
identity as His beloved children, how we are tempted by the devil to sin and
division. But ultimately temptation and sin is not the final word. If we are in
Christ – through faith, Sacraments, living in His Word and following His commands,
we can overcome these temptations through Christ living in us.
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