Adam and Eve, stained glass, provenance unknown.

Then [God] asked [Adam], “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!” The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me— she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.”  Genesis 3:11-12.

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The opening chapters of the Book of Genesis have been subject to furious differences of opinion and even philosophy. Many fundamentalist Christians believe them to reveal the actual, physical, beginnings of the world, made in six days, with God resting on the seventh day, and so on. Many Christians do not accept that, and instead look to alternative explanations, including this author. In my opinion, these opening chapters of Genesis reveal not the physical start of the world, but to its philosophical beginnings, and are a profound source of wisdom and understanding of the human experience. Allow me to explain.

God created all of us, all the world, all the universe. How God did this is the domain of the scientists, the “Big Bang”, dark matter, evolution and all the other attempts to understand everything. On the other hand Genesis is a source of understanding the human condition and what can be done about it. Everything begins in perfect harmony, into which humanity is placed. It is a vision of heaven. As far as we can tell, humans are the only creatures who can reason and decide which of many ways we can take in life, many of us with at least a vague hope of arriving in heaven at the end of life. But there are many obstacles in between, not the least of which is humanity itself. Here’s where Genesis (a word which means beginning) can be of assistance. Adam and Eve were given heaven to live in, to enjoy, to have children and to be happy. But one single restriction was given – not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So at once you know what is going to happen! It is the opening of many stories. In “The Secret Garden” for example, our heroin, being shown about her new home, is forbidden by the housekeeper EVER to go through THAT DOOR. So you know at once what is going to happen! Well in Eden of course the forbidden fruit is eaten (not named, by the way. The poor apple which is a very healthy food, is traditionally considered to be the means of our downfall). And at once things go wrong.

Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, John August Swanson 2016.

After the sin was committed, Adam heard God walking in the garden and hid. Why? Because he had broken the one instruction God had given, and hence alienated himself from God, and hid. Consider that for a moment, hiding from God, the source of life and hope. Push that to its extreme and you have despair, the conviction that one is utterly alone with no source of redemption anywhere, total alienation from God and everything else, the source of all hope, a state we call despair. Clearly not a part of paradise. “Why did you hide?” God asked. “Because I was naked” Adam answered (and lied). Now just think of that. It had not been a problem before; now it is. Why? It reveals a second element of the downfall: Adam is now ashamed of his body… Even alienated from it. Draw that element to its absolute extreme and the result is suicide, fatal hatred of self. Clearly not part of paradise. God made each one of us and was pleased, as Genesis says. In God’s eyes each one of us, without exception, is beautiful. Who are we to deny this? Adam does just that. Then Adam admits the woman gave him the fruit and he ate it. He blames her. He is now alienated from his partner, his neighbor, his companion. Draw that to its extreme conclusion, fatal hatred of neighbor, and you have murder. Clearly not a part of paradise. God gave us neighbors to support and help each other; that should be our image of neighbor. Eve then blames the snake for the temptation, thereby alienating nature itself from us, we who should be the guardians and caretakers of our world, something which has come to haunt us in the last 50 years. We are destroying paradise not saving it! 

Looked at in this way, the first three chapters of Genesis are a profound source of wisdom and insight. Reversing all that has just been said, namely trusting and hoping in God, who made me and each of us as God’s children, relying on and helping our neighbors within a careful and respectful use of our world is, truly, paradise. Open tomorrow’s paper and see what the grim reality is. Now place all this against today’s gospel and see its call to obey God’s will no matter what, because the opposite is of the devil, which can be so easily seen all around us. Today’s readings tell us strongly and clearly what we should avoid, and what we should be doing. And Jesus came to us to point it all out, to tell us what should be done, and he is our best and strongest neighbor, treating us the same way he treated his own family as seen in today’s gospel, as obedient children of God. In this way he helps us through all the challenges listed above to a better future and our ultimate happy union with God forever.

Christ Taking Leave of his Mother, Altdorfer c. 1520, The National Gallery, London, UK.

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