tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2460256030106063126.post-78375890916078015932008-02-04T20:30:00.000-05:002008-02-04T20:32:13.280-05:00<div style="text-align: center;">LECTIONARY DISCUSSION GROUP </div><div style="text-align: center;">Week of Sunday, February 10, 2008, First Sunday in Lent, Year A </div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div>Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, `You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, `You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So 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 she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. Romans 5:12-19 As sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned-- sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man's trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. If, because of the one man's trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Therefore just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. For just as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Matthew 4:1-11 After Jesus was baptized, he was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him. DIGRESSION ON A WORD: The word “TRESPASS” is a difficult word. We hear it in church when we recite the Lord’s Prayer, and when we think of trespass, we think of getting into other people’s space, for the most part. Because the modern denotation of the word is relatively narrow, many churches translate the word as “debt.” “Debt” is probably not the best word for it. Trespass, in pre-20th century English, had the broader meaning of anything one had done wrong that should be compensated. This included both monetary debt and debt for our sins. In fact, in pre-20th century law, the form of action used to sue for torts was called “trespass.” Under this broader meaning, the word trespass is a perfect word to express the Greek participle ojfeilhJmata, roughly meaning “debts run up,” in this context. THEOLOGICAL TIDBITS: - The Lenten season is a season for internal reflection. In mimicry of Jesus, many Christians make a choice to go without something in order to remind ourselves of his fast. In this most introspective of seasons, we can look even more deeply into ourselves than we normally would. - This is the second of the two Creation stories in Genesis, but textual analysis shows that it is most likely the older of the two. It assumes that the world has been created already by God, and focuses in on Adam—which meant “man” in most ancient Semitic languages. Adam, the Everyman, and Eve, Everywoman, get themselves into trouble. - What is the knowledge of good and evil? Of course we’ve all seen the apple imagery in so many movies, books and poems that we are almost immune to it, and it hardly has the impact on us that it should. Knowledge of good and evil means being able to make knowing choices. - An interesting little tidbit is that the fruit is never actually called an “apple.” The misunderstanding likely arises from St. Jerome’s use of the Latin word “poma” to express it. “Poma,” in classical usage, meant any kind of fruit, and often especially referred to apricots. However, apricots were unknown in early modern England, and so the King James Version took the secondary meaning of “poma,” which is apple, and used it instead. - It is interesting to note what the very first thing Adam and Eve try to do is. They try to make themselves loincloths, which implies that the very first thing they notice is their boy- and girl-parts. I think this implies that the first thing they become conscious of after gaining knowledge of good and evil is the possibility of misusing the one thing that God has given them full control of: their bodies. - Note that here Adam and Eve sin, and become subject to death. This is what we mean when we talk in Church of the “sickness unto death.” - The Epistle to the Romans is probably Paul’s most profound and developed letter. In it, he develops his theology of Grace. - Paul makes a significant digression in the middle of this passage, to emphasize that it is not only the law that brings us to sin, but our human nature. The law, he says in other places, brings us to sin, implying that God in some way had set up the law in order that we might break it, and thus sin. But Paul here takes some pains to emphasize that this is not the case—even before the law, there was sin. Sin is a fundamental point of human nature and the ability to choose good and evil. - The other main point of Paul’s discussion is clear. One awful act of rebellion by Adam and Eve led directly to the downfall and sickness unto death for all. Similarly, one act of true charity and obedience to God by the new Adam—Christ!—brings us all salvation, simply through our willing obedience, even when we fail to do it. - Karl Barth wrote his great commentary The Epistle to the Romans during World War I, to illustrate the point that although we are in the world, we are not of the world; that grace allows us to break apart and live as free agents, as it were, not beholden to the institutions of the earth, if only we will ask and receive it! - One final point is the fundamental unfairness of the Gospel that Paul is pointing to. Free grace—grace which we do not merit, and for which we have no claim on God to give, but which he gives us anyway out of his infinite love—is given to anyone who asks. Put another way, however generous, giving and open you are, you’re less generous than God is. However much you love, you love less than he does. Never, ever underestimate God. - The Lectionary makes a fascinating choice this week. We might expect to hear of the resurrection, because of the basic symmetry in Adam’s fall and Christ’s ascension. However, the Lectionary instead chooses, on the first Sunday of Lent, to focus on Jesus’s ability to make the right choices, in another type of symmetry with Adam’s and Eve’s inability to make the right choices. - Two fundamental points appear in this passage. First is, as just mentioned, Jesus is able to make the correct choices that Adam and Eve were unable to make. In Paul’s view, this unmade the bed that Adam had made, and set free the Good News of free grace that the Christian church represents and shouts to the world. - Second is that our greatest temptation is to do something good. Everything that Satan tempts Jesus to do in this passage is a good thing. Satan offers him choices: Making stones into bread, to end his fast, and perhaps to feed others; flying through the air, like an angel, to show that he truly is the Messiah; and bringing true peace on earth through his divine kingship. The hardest choices in life are between two good things, or to choose not to do something good in obedience to God. - Finally, two things that T.S. Eliot wrote come to my mind. He said that the greatest treason is to do the right thing for the wrong reason, and he said that it is the dream of many to create a world in which there will be no need to be good. These are, at the underlying level, the two choices that Jesus is offered. By resisting them, he truly began his ministry and showed the way to our salvation. QUESTIONS: 1. I want to reput a question from last week that I think will be fruitful to address again: Think of a choice that you made where you made a hard choice between two good things, or where you chose not to do a good thing because you knew, at some level, either from your conscience or from scripture, that it was bad although it seemed good. What is the experience of grace like? 2. What is your opinion of what the knowledge of good and evil means? FURTHER READING: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall; Temptation.Lectionary Bible Studyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17707771987937857835noreply@blogger.com