The text this morning is from the Book of Genesis, the third chapter:
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
This passage today is often called the protoeuangelion by Christians all over the world. Protoeuangelion. That’s two words, proto, meaning first, like prototype, and euangelion, which is the basis of the word evangel, like evangelism. This evangel means the Good News, the Gospel. So, this passage of Genesis is widely regarded as the protoeuangelion, or the first Gospel. In fact, we could even call this chapter in Genesis, the Gospel according to Moses, since he is the author.
But, we’re not focusing on Moses this morning, but instead the message which he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write down, to share, and to show we who continue to struggle with our sin. And that’s really why this is here. So often, we think of the creation account as just a narrative. We think of it in terms of being the refutation of evolutionary theory, of the big bang, of the idea that we are descended from the apes. And since this account is in the Scriptures, we certainly know that none of that is true. Sometimes, we think about this passage as a mere footnote in history. That’s how sin entered into the world. But we leave it there and we don’t see what Moses, really, what our Lord Jesus is showing us that we need here.
And what Jesus is asking us to focus on, what He sent His Spirit to inspire in Moses, is indeed the first Gospel. But the Gospel doesn’t make sense unless there is a reason for the Gospel. Good News doesn’t matter unless there’s a reason that the Good News is actually good.
Imagine it like this: a man is walking down the street, and suddenly hears someone screaming behind him. As he turns, he sees a stranger trying to flag him down from a car. The stranger yells at the man that his family is alive, they didn’t get burned, they’re all okay. The stranger says that he’ll take him at the hospital. Would that have made any sense to the man? Probably not. He would have written off the stranger as just another kook.
But imagine now, the man walking down the street, just got off the phone with the fire department. They had called to tell him his house was burning down and he better get there right away because there were signs that someone was home, but when they entered the house, they could find no one. What would that man be assuming? That the fire was so hot it burned his family? That all was lost? What was he going to do now that his wife and children were all dead? Then a stranger comes down the street, yelling out of his car. As the man turns, this stranger tells him that his family is alive, they didn’t get burned, they’re all okay, and he’ll take the man at the hospital.
You see, this stranger knew the good news that the man’s family was alive. But, in the first scenario, the man had no idea that there was bad news. He didn’t know that his house was gone, his wife and children were in danger. He had no idea that there was any kind of bad news in his life.
But, think of what the man felt in the second scenario. He just received the worst news in his life: everything he loved was gone. Then someone comes to tell him that it’s okay. The wife and children are fine. Imagine the relief in that man, imagine his face when he walks into the ER and sees his family who once was lost to him.
This is the picture of what is going on in the book of Genesis today. Saint Peter in his first epistle tells us that we were ransomed from the sin of our parents with the precious blood of Christ, who was foreknown before the world was created. That means that the crucifixion of Christ, which is the redemption of the sins of the entire world, was the first plan of God. God had always and only ever intended to send His Son into the world to redeem us of our sins.
But, this, which is most assuredly Good News for us, for indeed, we are great sinners, would not have been Good News for Adam and Eve. It only would have been news. Imagine the Lord coming to Adam and Eve before the fall and telling them that there would be a God-Man, Jesus Christ, who would come and save them from their sins by dying upon a tree. I wonder if they would have thought, “What’s sin? I don’t know what that means. That just sounds weird.”
But, after their sin, hiding in the bushes from the God who created them, to hear that this sin would be atoned for through the bruising of the head of the serpent, how would they then have felt? Relieved? Saved? Rescued?
You see, the Gospel is Good News, but it is only Good News for those who need it, those who need the forgiveness offered freely in the blood of Christ. The Good News of Jesus Christ, that He has died to forgive your sins, your lust, your adultery, your thieving ways, your gossip, your hatred, and that He has been raised to give you eternal life, even eternal life with those whom you sin against, that is Good News only after you have been crushed by the Law.
If there is anything that you feel is good about you that you give to God, perhaps you are not yet crushed by the Law as you know you should be. You know that all that we do with our hands, all that we speak with our mouths, all that we think with our minds, all of it is tainted with sin, even the good that we would desire to do. But if you don’t know that, the Gospel will taste like nothing to you; it wouldn’t matter.
Jesus doesn’t matter if you’re not a sinner. He tells us that He only came for the sick. He didn’t come to call the righteous people, He says. He came only for those who need the Great Physician, the one who will cure you from all your ills of sin. You see, you need Jesus because you’re a sinner. And I need Jesus because I’m the worst sinner I know. And Adam and Eve needed Jesus because they were the first people ever to sin, taking them away from God, stripping them of all their righteousness.
And you know what? They got Jesus. They got a lot of Jesus. Not only were they speaking to the Son of God in the garden, and we know this because the Son of God is the only person of the Trinity that any of humanity has seen, not only were they talking with Him, they got His personal promise that He would defeat the serpent, Satan, for what has now occurred.
Notice, Jesus doesn’t promise to defeat Adam and Eve for their sin. He promises to defeat Satan. For the Son of God has not come into the world to condemn them world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He didn’t come to condemn Adam and Eve, but that Adam and Eve would be saved through Him. And so they would be. Christ didn’t come into the world to condemn you, but that you would be saved through Him.
But this is only important if you are a sinner and you know it. That is why God asks Adam and Eve what they have done. And they know they did wrong. So, see what they do. Even though we sometimes read their responses as if Adam passes the buck to Eve who passes it to Satan, look at what is said. Have you eaten of the tree? I ate. What have you done? That’s the Law, showing their sin. I ate. That’s their confession.
And what follows confession? God’s absolution. God destroys Satan, cursing him into the ground, and promises that even as he is forced to eat dust, soon his head would be crushed, ground into the dust. And this would be done by the Son, Jesus Christ. This is God’s pattern. We are unrighteous people, wandering around in our sin. Then God’s Law comes, convicting us of our sin. Then, of course, His Gospel, forcing us to look at Jesus Christ as our true and only hope.
We are the man whose house burned down, and Jesus is the one who has saved all that you care for, even the one who will rebuild your house and bring it to completion. Jesus is the one who died to take upon Himself all of our sin and give to you the righteousness that was lost by our first parents in the Fall into sin. Christ redeems you, buying you back from that sin, and brings you into eternal life with Him. And we see that today, especially through what He wants us to find in this passage. He shows us His Law because He needs to convict us. And He shows us His Gospel because He just can’t help Himself. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was always God’s plan for salvation, for eternal life. And the Gospel comes to you, even today. It comes in the words of Holy Absolution, it comes as you are and have been Baptized, and it comes to you at this Altar, where we eat the fruit of the Gospel, the fruit that comes from the tree of life, the cross, the body and blood of Christ.
Christ has undone all of Adam and Eve’s sin, and He has undone yours. You are free in the Gospel, forgiven and set free to love the Lord once again. This is our Lord’s work that He has done from the beginning of the world, and He shall always do it. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment