A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the First Sunday in Lent, February 26, 2023. This was the second sermon in the Lenten Sermon Series, “Chronicles of God’s Amazing Grace”, inspired by the 250th Anniversary of the hymn, “Amazing Grace”.
Adam & Eve: Grace for Those Ashamed
Genesis 3:1-21
(Other Readings Appointed: Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11)
On this First Sunday in Lent, we find ourselves fairly firmly entrenched into these days set aside for us to be in penitential reflection on ourselves and our life and living. And the key word here is “penitential”—discovering and confessing the sin that is so much a part of our lives, either through temptation or through our own “litany of errors”: sins of thought, word, and deed, of things done or left undone. And to aid us in this reflection, the Church sets before us the Scriptures we have heard today which speak volumes about not only temptation and sin, but also of God’s response to it, namely grace.
As we meditate on sin, we have to ask, “Why are we sinners?” Certainly, we know that we are sinners because we are people who sin. But there is more to it than that. Today’s reading from Genesis takes us to “the beginning” of what is not only the story of our First Parents, Adam and Eve, but what is also our story. What happened on that fateful day in Eden happened not only to them; its effects have carried on down to us, and are the reason why we must always sadly confess not only our own sins but also their cause: that because of that original sin we are “by nature sinful and unclean.”
Hearing again of how through Adam and Eve all of humanity, as well as the whole of creation, was now subjected to life under the power of sin, death, and the devil, we might be moved to see this story as being only one of disobedience, failure, and judgment. To be sure, it is all of these things and we see them all clearly. Sometimes we chafe under the thought that we are guilty of sin because we are unable to keep ten commandments from God. But just think about it. Adam and Eve were found guilty for the sin of breaking the only commandment that God had given—just one: “Don’t eat from that tree!”
And it was only after it was too late that Eve and Adam realized the mistake that they had made in disobeying God’s command. Eve heard the tempter’s voice and bought the lies and the half-truths that he had told. She looked on that forbidden fruit, not as the danger that God’s warning made it clearly to be, but rather as something wonderful and good: “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 also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” And from that moment, all of their problems began: “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.”
No longer was Eden the blissful paradise that it had been before. Before this, everything was the way that God intended, everything in creation was in perfect harmony with itself and with its Creator. And interestingly enough that included Adam and Eve’s nakedness. It was only after their eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that even this simple thing became a problem for them. Instead of Adam and Eve looking upon each other with admiration and love, even in their nakedness, this nakedness now becomes something which causes them shame and makes them hide themselves from each other, clothing themselves with the only thing they could think of—grabbing some fig leaves to try to cover both their bodies and the feeling of shamefulness which was now beginning to fill them.
And the separation that their new knowledge had caused was not just between Adam and Eve, but it also began between them and God. Though it is only mentioned here in the account of the fall into sin, we can think that Adam and Eve hearing “the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” was not just a one time occurrence, but something that they had been accustomed already to hearing. But it is in this moment that the arrival of God on the scene which now causes Adam and Eve to fear the Lord’s coming to them. Not only were they naked and filled with shame over that fact, but they also knew that they had disobeyed God. And this new “wisdom” they now had made them fearful because they also knew that God had also said: “For on the day that you eat of [that tree] you shall surely die” (Gn 2:17).
This fact added to their shame. Perhaps they once looked forward to God showing up to walk and talk with them. But now, they were fearful of the Lord coming to them, because they now realized the difference between themselves and God. He was the Creator, they the creatures. He was the Judge come to pass sentence; they were the disobedient who stood under His rightful judgment. And so, Adam and Eve rightly hid themselves in hope that they would not be found. But they were found and the judgment that they feared came to pass.
As we hear of our First Parents and their fall into sin, what we rightly come away with from it all is the fearful judgment that came upon them and its dreadful cost, and how all of it is now also a part of our life and living. Now, the serpent did get one thing right in his tempting of Eve—they did not die that day. But because of their sin against God and His command, there were still many other things that did die: their innocence, their relationship with one another and with the rest of the creation, and most of all their relationship with their Creator. It was the death of these things which was even greater than if Adam and Eve had just died that day, for it was now because of their sin that life as they once knew it had fallen apart and nothing would ever again be the same.
Yes, nothing would be the same, except for one thing: God. And as we have come to know, the greatest way we know of God is through His love. While we may look on this dark day in the life of Adam and Eve, and for the world, as a day of judgment and punishment for sin, it was also very much the dawning of a day of grace. Shame made Adam and Eve run away and hide from God. But love moved God to go to them and call out, “Where are you?” Shame made Adam and Eve cower in fear as the Lord passed sentence on their sin. But love was shown as God promised the One who would come to cancel the guilt of their sin. Shame caused Adam and Eve to find any temporary means to cover their nakedness. Love caused God to clothe them with the skins of animals, who through no fault of their own had to die in order to cover their shame.
And this story has repeated itself again and again as we have seen it play out in our own lives. Sin and disobedience against our God is still very much a part of our lives. And because we are conscious of our sin, rare is the person who is not ashamed by it. Our sin breaks us and shows us to be broken. Our sin breaks our relationships with one another, especially with those to whom we are to be the closest. And our sin breaks our relationship with God, the One whose greatest desire is to be with and close to us so that He may love us. But, as we look at ourselves, our sin, our brokenness, and everything that we have broken, we too are filled with shame and we run away to hide ourselves in hopes that no one will find us.
But the One who remained unchanged in Adam and Eve’s story is still unchanged in ours: God. He is still the One who walks into the world, still calling to the children of His creating, “Where are you?” He is still out looking for us, not just to pass sentence on us, though we justly deserve it, but He is looking for us so that He might find us, embrace us with His love, and show us His amazing grace—the gift that we do not deserve, but that we so desperately need. He comes to us, shameful and afraid, so that He might give us the forgiveness which makes us new. He comes to cover our guilt and shame, not in the skins of dead animals, but with the righteousness of our living Lord Jesus who took on our sins, nailed them to His cross, and left them in His tomb so that we might rise and live with Him in newness of life.
God’s love and mercy towards us sinners lifts us from shame to restore us to the great honor that was given to each of us at our creation—that we are indeed children of God. Grace makes us into the people we are made to be: sons and daughters who live in righteousness, innocence, and blessedness all because the completed work accomplished by the One who has vanquished sin and Satan, and who has brought us into the joy of life with our loving God both now and forever. Covered by Christ, we have no shame and we can live always in God’s amazing grace. Thanks be to Christ! Amen!
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