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From All Humanity to the Story of One
Violence and Corruption Reign
Genesis 4:1-16, Genesis 8:15-22
Sin Attacks – Family and Religion; Ignorance and Anger
Gen 1-11: Parabolic stories. Twists to make us think. How did we get in alienation and exile?. 1: Creation of Cosmos. 2: Creation of Human. 3: Knowing good and evil and exile from life.
Gen 4: Sin emerges: Family/brothers. Religion. Cain and Abel bring offerings. God’s two views! Most striking is what we don’t know! Why does God favor Abel? Justified? Arbitrary? No explanation given. Humans, like Job, want to know “Why?” We must deal with not knowing.
Cain burns in anger. Unfair to me. God comes but doesn’t explain. “Go forward. Do the good you can do.” Anger at God/Abel is the opening for sin to attack. You must rule over it. But rage empowers sin, breaks relationship of brothers. Murder. Uncaring. The ground exiles Cain, people threaten him, but God is still gracious and protects him even in wandering.
Paul also personifies sin using a good command to kill. Jesus: don’t react to evil and be drawn in.
Floods Don’t Work to Turn Hearts from Evil
How does God deal with sin? 10 long generations ... evil and violence. God regrets creation! Wipe sin off the earth. Start new with Noah. The Flood is an interim story (like making animals), not the great narrative (Abraham...). Fascinating details about ark, flood, birds.
But what God sees after the flood is that it didn’t work. We learn a Human heart universally inclines to evil. Weakness, meanness show even in Noah. The earth is good but suffers under human rule. The failure points to why God chooses such a long road to deal with sin: Abram, Israel, Moses, David ... Messiah, all the world. God stays with broken people.
Gaining and Losing Ourselves
Let’s Talk About God ...
Jesus tells his disciples about saving their life or losing it (Mk 8:35). The issue goes back to the beginning. We’ve heard the story. Strange, amazing. No mention in Gn 3 of a “Fall,” of sin, Satan. The Snake: clever: Different reality. The woman and man seem still united: Before they eat, they act as one. Yahweh, creator, is absent as creatures discuss him.
Snake asks an innocent, knowing, probing question. Woman defends God. Only one tree. “God said not to eat or touch it.” Warned us of death. Woman shows humans have reflected on God’s command. Good intent, cautious. They’ve expanded the forbidden sphere. They attribute that to God. They’ve learned good and evil, and control how to obey. Snake shows he knows more: Responds to lie. Suggests alternate reason for God’s command, not so benevolent, blocking something wonderful God has: insight, wisdom.
The woman sees, eyes open! They don’t seek to be God. She sees food, beauty, wisdom, all good things. God may not intend warning but hindrance. They’ve already chosen to control their obedience. They take and eat. The snake was right. They see more: that they are naked and vulnerable. They cover themselves – from each other, from God? Now they both know and experience good and evil. Fear, hiding, avoiding God. Lost self.
Brokenness Begins: Life that Mixes the Worst with the Best.
The fruit doesn’t poison. God doesn’t kill. But human life becomes mixed – our present. Snake: mystery symbol. Woman, bearer of life, in pain. In conflict with Human, oppressed. Human, producer of food, with thorns, pain. Clarity about their limit, made of dust: death.
But life continues. “Human” (Adam) and “Life” (Eve) wear skins (?). She’ll begin all life.
Exile Begins: The Real Death and Finding the Way to Life.
Humans have fallen and risen – “like us,” God says. They share fully in moral choice. Also in vulnerability, fear, deception. God exiles them from the garden of delight into our world.
How much will fear and delusion grip them? How can humans learn the way to true life?
Humans in the Garden of God
The beginning: Yahweh god first makes the human-formed from Dust and Gdos' breath. Yeahweh plants a great garden of delight and in the middle trees of life and knowledge. Four rivers from one source flow from the garden, marking out vast portions of the earth. God assigns responsibility to the human with freedom to eat all except one deadly fruit. The human is alone. God makes animal life, and the human names them. But is still alone. Looking at the creation again humans and relationships. The human in God's garden of wonder, work, and worry. Finding an ally for the journey, responsibility, and delight.
"In the Beginning God Created..."
