I have two big questions for you. The answer I’m looking for is both geographical and theological. You don’t need to respond right away but think about them for a moment. The first one is: Where would you find the “Big Apple?” The second question: Where would you find the “Big Easy?” How many of you would say New York City is the answer to the first question? It’s known, of course, as “The Big Apple.” For many folks, especially in this part of the country, “The Big Easy” is New Orleans. However, the geographical and theological answer I was looking for is “Eden” or “The Garden of Paradise.” Because, you see, I really want to reflect, today, on the topic of “sin” and not on New York City and New Orleans, although some might believe these two cities would also fit in with either the “Garden of Paradise” or the topic of sin.
However, I really was thinking about the original “Garden in Eden,” the one we heard about in our First Reading. Although the actual kind of fruit found in today’s reading is never mentioned, most Christians have turned it into an apple. And if I had to imagine how it looked, I suppose I would conjure up the image of the apple the wicked stepmother gave to Snow White in the Disney version of the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. You do remember how red and shiny it looked? A perfect apple. But didn’t it also turn into a death’s head? On the outside perfect, on the inside a deadly poison. Is this not what “sin” usually looks like: perfect on the outside and deadly underneath?
And just what is a sin? No, I’m not going to list them. Instead, there’s a general answer you might consider. A sin is either: knowing what should NOT be done and doing it, anyway, or knowing what SHOULD be done and NOT doing it. Some would summarize this by saying there are “sins of Commission” and “sins of Omission.” They both involve knowing; they involve knowledge.
Some of us were taught long ago the answer to the Baltimore Catechism question: “What three things are necessary to make a sin mortal?” The answer in my 1941 edition says, “To make a sin mortal these three things are necessary. First, the thought, desire, word, action, or omission must be seriously wrong or considered seriously wrong. Second, the sinner must know it is seriously wrong. Third, the sinner must fully consent to it.” So, it appears knowledge is a key requirement for sinning. I suppose it goes back to that “original” sin of Adam and Eve.
We heard in today’s reading from Genesis that Adam and Eve must not eat of the fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” However, the serpent encouraged Eve by saying, “No, [you certainly will not die if you eat this fruit. The reason why God does not want you to eat it is because he] knows that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.”
The Serpent, as usual, spoke a partial truth. The result, as it often is with the matter of sin, was not the expected result. A he said, they did not die right then and there, but now they, indeed, did know the difference between what is good and what is evil, just as they had been told they would. On the other hand, the true result was not what they had expected. They now knew the experience of “shame.” They knew what they should not have done, and they were now ashamed of having done it.
With this shame, they went into hiding. They hid their bodies from one another under the covering of clothing. They hid their bodies from God by trying to conceal themselves in the bushes when God went looking for their companionship. They had been promised by the Serpent not only the delights of the “Big Apple” but also the results of the “Big Easy.” They thought they were getting the “Easy Way” of knowing what is good and what is evil. Yes, one way of looking at the “original” sin of our ancestors is to say that they sought the knowledge which is reserved only for God. As a result we, their descendants, have tried to follow the “easy way out” ever since. We continue to want the “Big Apple” and the “Big Easy,” until we were shown another way, another path.
Saint Paul in his Letter to the Romans, reminded them, and us: “Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death …” He goes on to say, “For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so, through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.” For Saint Paul, Jesus the Christ is the “New Adam, the New Man” who takes away the original sin of the first Adam, the first man.
In our Gospel reading for today, we, once again, heard how this “New Adam” did not fall victim to the promises of the “Big Easy,” of the easy way out. When he was hungry, he did not take the easy way out by turning the surrounding stones into bread. When he was offered a form of physical protection from death, itself, he did not take the easy way out by calling upon legions of angels to lift him up from destruction. When he was offered all of the kingdoms and people of the world, he did not take the easy way out by falling down and worshiping the devil. Instead, he chose the difficult path, the journey through Galilee and on to Jerusalem, where he walked the Way of the Cross for our Salvation.
Some two thousand years later, we are offered similar temptations to be part of the “Big Easy,” to take the easy way out rather than to follow “His Way.” Instead of being tempted to turn stones into bread, we are tempted to take the easy way to obtain our physical and emotional comforts. Through the ads we read and the commercials we watch, we’re offered every imaginable comfort for body and mind. We are tempted to consume bread, but in reality we would be consumers of stones.
Instead of being tempted to protect ourselves with angels, we are tempted to take the easy way to protect our physical and emotional comforts. We’re encouraged to engage in risk-taking behavior, yet still be protected. We take drugs to promote our highs and eliminate our lows. We view sexuality in terms of self-seeking pleasure, even when we recognize the potential harm to ourselves and to others.
Instead of being tempted by an offer of all of the kingdoms of the earth, we are tempted to take the easy way to gain power over others. We are encouraged to manipulate and control our co-workers, our classmate, our acquaintances, and even members of our own family in order to promote our self-interests. We are urged to exploit the economy and resources of the planet for our own benefits.
However, during Lent, during this time of preparation for the celebration of Easter and the Salvation brought to us through the Cross of Christ, we are offered three opportunities to resist the three forms of the temptations presented to Jesus in the desert. During this Lent, we are once again encouraged to practice the ancient arts of fasting, prayer and almsgiving.
Fasting. We are encouraged to fast – to give up those actions or materials which slow us down on our own journey to Jerusalem and Easter Sunday. We’re encouraged to strengthen our resolve by reducing our consumerism, by reducing our drive toward obtaining unneeded physical comforts which detract us from our spiritual well-being.
Prayer. We are encouraged to pray – to replace risk-taking behavior in which we attempt to gain physical or emotional pleasure. We’re encouraged to increase our communication with God on a daily basis. We are reminded the presence of true highs, and the elimination of true lows depend not upon drugs and risk-taking behavior but upon the presence or absence of God in our daily lives.
Almsgiving. We are encouraged to give of ourselves to others – to eliminate our manipulation and control of others. We’re encouraged to give ourselves to others rather than to take from others, our co-workers, our friends, and our own family members. We are urged to conserve and replenish the resources of our world.
Lent is a time to learn not to seek the “Big Easy,” the easy way out of life. Yes, it is tempting to desire a life on “Easy Street.” However, as followers of Christ we are called to a different place, along a different path. We are called not to the “Big Apple,” not to a false “Garden of Eden.” Instead, we are called to accompany Jesus on his Journey to Jerusalem and beyond.
1st Sunday of Lent; February 13, 2005
Gen 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Rom 5:12-19; Mt 4:1-11