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Beloveds, we have a problem. And our and our problem is biblical interpretation from 1600 years ago. Our problem is Augustine. And many people have problems with Paul and most of those people also have a problem with a fourth and 5th century theologian Augustine of Hippo.
We don’t need a whole history, he was clearly a big deal, because things that he said and wrote continue to be taught as accepted fact today. Augustine, saint, was reading a Latin translation of Paul’s Greek letter to the Romans. It gets real wonky. in the Greek, and in our typical NRSV,
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned—“
In the Vulgate the Latin Bible that Augustine was reading said therefore just as Sin came into the world through one man and death came through sin so death spread to all in him all have sinned.
Look if you are like me you probably don’t understand the difference but I have watched people argue over the difference between can “may,” “shall,” and “must” for hours. So I can see how one little difference can change everything.
Augustine had two other issues. One: he was in a fight with another old theologian who argued that people were born good with the desire to do good. Second: Augustine really liked sex and women, and felt guilty about it, and thought everyone should feel guilty about it. His concept of original sin is passed down, with you from the moment of conception. Jesus was born without original sin, not conceived through “normal” means, so… I’ll let you draw the conclusions.
Augustine takes this idea then of course sends it all the way back through time and text and applies it to the story we read today.
I’m starting here because Augustine’s concept of original sin is so ubiquitous, it is so well known, that it is considered the standard interpretation and understanding of Genesis 3. And Eve and the Apple (which was probably not an apple) and the snake (who, as it turns out, is definitely not Satan) and the fall are all part of the cultural understanding.
So if we ignore our 5th Century theologian and Paul, just take our story as it is, as it has been passed down to us, and translated; if we look at the story as a myth about what it is to be human, to interact with God, to live in this world, to see it as a story that is still happening, and not a single moment that changed everything, maybe it will offer us something new.
In the garden there were trees, many, many trees and their purpose was to be beautiful and full of delicious fruit. But there were two in particular that get mentioned: the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden, maybe not in the exact center but not on the edges alone; and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil–which doesn’t seem to be given a location.
The ancient rabbis wondered where the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was, since it was the Tree of Life that had a description of a place. Were they near each other? next to each other? far from each other? Was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil marked so they knew which one it was?
Some have assumed that the first humans were made immortal. But it could be that the Tree of Life functioned like a fountain of youth, a way to refresh, rejuvenate the body, and essentially live forever.
One way to think about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil might be it would bestow the knowledge to think morally, the contemplate to make decisions; another might be that it gave access, made reality, all of the experiences between life and death, from A to Z, and, thus recognizing the reality and inevitability of death.
Now, one might wonder why God put the tree in the garden and then told them not to eat from it. But did you ever put something on the counter certain the small child in your life or dog could never reach it only to find out that they can? There was a video that came out in the last couple of weeks of actress Alicia Silverstone walking down the sidewalk asking what this fruit she picked from someone’s yard was because it looked like a tomato when you bit into it, but it didn’t taste like a tomato. The internet decided she was the problem and that it was Jerusalem Cherry, of the nightshade family and is poisonous. And I’m sure whoever planted this shrub in their yard didn’t put it there as a temptation for random people who were walking, but just thought it looked nice, this would be the right place for it. Because everything was perfect and there was no way they would eat it. She’s ok, by the way.
I think we bring to this story the assumption that these are grown adults who know things. It’s the way all the pictures are painted. But they might just be hours, or days, maybe a week or 2 old? They know nothing. They are brand new humans who haven’t experienced loss, gotten in a fight, celebrated anything, have they even told the first joke yet? They are like children in grown bodies, like squirrels, care-freely moving through the garden picking fruit from trees and meeting the animals.
So it is no surprise that when the snake shows up, they had no context for how he would manipulate them. Now, Snake is not evil, not Satan, Snake is a rabble rouser and a trickster. Most religious myths have a trickster: a person or animal who has intellect, plays tricks, and defies the normal rules–Loki (Norse), Anansi (West Africa), Coyote (Western & Southwest Native American). They are made clever, they just are. Snake seems to know how careful Eve has been around that one tree.
Snake: Did God really say you couldn’t eat from any of the trees?
Woman: No, just the one, and don’t touch it, or we’ll die.
Snake: That’s not true. Go touch it, see? You’re not dead. Just pick the fruit. You might as well try it. God won’t let you die.
If the man and woman are like children, Snake is the neighbor kid who triple-dog dares you and is nowhere to be found when the ball is through the window, your tongue is stuck to the light pole, or you did, in fact, shoot your eye out.
If this story were all about sin, it seems the first sin would be Snake’s–manipulating and taking advantage of these two naive fools.
When the man and the woman ate the fruit they broke their world. They broke the relationship they had with each other, they had to hide themselves and then they passed the blame down the line, which also broke the relationship with the natural world too.
They broke the relationship with themselves. When they ate the fruit they did not die but their eyes were open to the inevitability of death–the world became fragile and temporal. When they ate the fruit they realized what they had done wrong and could not trust themselves.
They broke their relationship with God and in shame, they hid.
If you know children, you know, there will come a point where something you were certain they couldn’t get to becomes the means of making art on the walls. As you know that such actions start as joyfully living in the world, it’s mostly your fault for leaving the markers accessible. But one day, their actions become… intentionally hurtful. Pushing a sibling, telling a lie, missing curfew. But to be fair, in either case, they break your world, break your trust, and nothing can be the same. It doesn’t mean there’s any less love, but it might mean you organizing your house or you ask more questions or the rules change.
When God found Adam and Eve in the garden later, there were consequences, but God also became a seamstress, made them clothes, and made a new home for them. There was still love. God always chooses to preserve the relationship.
As children grow, they learn about the world outside of themselves. That they can impact the world and the world will impact them. You become aware of your limitations, you realize you can get hurt, and one day you realize you, and everyone around you, are finite creatures, you realize death. That is the Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
And the knowledge of Good and Evil and the knowledge of death and the recognition of yourself Consciousness your place in the world and your place with other people and your place with creation not just the recognition and knowledge of death but the reality of pain and hurt and grief and anger. And Reconciliation and Hope and relief and joy and celebration.
And with all of that you see that this life is finite and fragile, broken and going to break again, and precious and beautiful. The feeling of loving another person and the grief of losing them, the bittersweet feeling that is watching your children grow up and grow independent, and have heartbreaks of their own. The joy of dreams fulfilled and the wrench of what will never be. The wonder of a sunset and the rage over the death of children in war and in schools. Would you give that all up, every fragile and precious bit, would you give it up, go back, be the angel in those two humans’ ears?
But we can’t. And maybe where there were once trees next to each other, they have grown into one. Or maybe it was always one tree that split and grew two types of fruit. Because whatever it looked like for Adam and Eve and Snake; for us, life and death, good and evil, shame and vulnerability, joy and pain–they are all wrapped up in each other. It is life in these human bodies, made of dust and water and breath. Whatever perfection we might have been made for, we are going to break.
We’re going to hurt and hurt each other, and lose trust, and be disappointed, and feel shame, and hide, we’re going to break our relationships with each other, with ourselves, with creation, with God.
But what if they had eaten the fruit, and what if they had stood before God, naked and vulnerable and just said, “yup, that’s what happened. I did that.” What if they had taken some responsibility? What if they had tried to keep their relationship? What if they centered their relationships instead of… trying to get away with it? trying to save themselves? Instead of blaming each other; and pretending and hiding, as if they could hide.
What if this isn’t a story about what happened one time but what happens over and over again? What if it’s a warning and a lesson, telling us nothing is saved when we run and hid, when we pretend, when we build barriers between us and creation, when we lose our vulnerability, when we pass the blame? What if it’s a warning check ourselves when we respond in fear or shame or anger? What if it’s a story reminding us that we can choose relationships? We are going to break things: hearts, trust, earth, relationships. It’s what we do next. Do we run and hide? Do we build barriers, walls, and masks? Do we blame others? Maybe it’s telling us nothing has to stay broken. It is hard and painful to heal. But in the breaking and healing we can see the beauty, the preciousness of this world.
In growing we discover again and again that life and knowledge of ourselves and the world, of our place in the world are so bound up together they now make one fruit that we all eat a little at a time over our whole lives. But the tree and the fruit aren’t the point. The breaking isn’t the point. The point is the healing, it’s the being vulnerable. The point is the relationships, woven together, broken and healing.
So may we be people of relationships. May we have the courage to stand vulnerable before each other to heal what is broken. Amen.