Lenten Message - Open Our Eyes

I am not calling this a Lenten Moment!    It is more than a “moment”.

   

You can read it now if you have the time and the inclination…  or come back to it later if you’re interested…   or opt out of it altogether.   

No harm done.  I’m pretty much writing this for myself primarily.    

So let’s jump in!   Genesis 3 – Here’s a re-telling: 

VERSION1:  Want the edited / “Reader’s Digest” Version?                          “Open your eyes and grow up!”

VERSION 2:  The unedited version continues…

The Garden of Eden was made for them!   It was their playground…  it was their living room…    it was their dining room…   it was their sleeping quarters.   In fact, Eden was their everything.   

So long as they followed the rules, they could                                                 do anything                                                                                               go anywhere                                                                                           play with anything.              

And the rules where:                                                                                       

Rule # 1 – “See that tree right in the middle of the Garden…   You CAN’T eat from its fruit!”    That tree was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil…  the knowledge of “Right” and “Wrong”.                                               

Rule #2 – “Rule number 2 is like unto rule # 1.”   In fact it is SO like unto rule # 1… it IS rule #1.   DO NOT EAT FROM THE FRUT OF THIS TREE!     

If this were ANY other story… we’d probably read this portion as coming from some fairy tale with magical trees whose fruit convey magical powers.  But how magical does a tree granting powers of knowing the difference between right from wrong sound?    Doesn’t this sound pretty… well, NORMAL?     Aren’t people supposed to know the difference between right and wrong?

So, along comes the serpent    (at this point, still a serpent–not the devil)    (I wonder… when did the “serpent” become the “devil”)    to entice Eve into partaking of the… well… literal “forbidden fruit”.  She eats… her eyes are opened, and she convinces Adam to eat of the very same fruit.  Adam’s eyes are opened too.

But the question is… to what exactly did their eyes open?   

Next scene in the book… God comes into the Garden and finds neither Adam nor Eve.  

And in the text, the dialog goes like this:

“Where are you?”

“We’re hiding!”

“Why are you hiding?”

“We’re naked!”

“Who told you you were naked?”

Who told you you were naked?   –– How did you become aware you had no clothes?   

And not just… “you had no clothes”  but “naked”!   What’s the difference between being “naked” and being “nude”?  I think naked implies a certain degree of vulnerability that nude does not imply. 

So both Adam and Eve, the first humans, got to the point of learning of their vulnerability.  

I remember when my daughter was very little, after she would bathe, she’d have no problem just walking out of the bathroom with nothing on.  To her, at that time, it was really no big deal.   But the older she got, the less and less likely it became for her to come out sans clothing – or some covering.

This is normal behavior in children as they grow.   It is appropriate to their age and development.   As they grow, as they mature, they become more and more self-aware… more and more “self-conscious”.     They become conscious of who they are, and that they’re different than others.

They’re supposed to grow, self-differentiate, and become more and more self-aware… become more and more self-conscious.

And part of that growing up necessarily means learning the difference between right and wrong.    Wouldn’t all of us parents want our kids to learn this difference?    Wouldn’t all of us parents want our kids to learn and master the differences between good and evil… especially as we learn as we grow that there can exist a terrible subtle line that sometimes between light and dark?        

So basically we would want our kids to eat from the fruit of this magical tree!     But it’s not magical in the “fairy tale” sense… it’s magical in the human sense!   That this is indeed inside us is somehow wonderfully magical!   It is absolutely astounding that within us we have the capacity to grow in this knowledge.     

And along with this knowledge comes responsibility.   The more we master this whole “right and wrong” thing, the more we are to be held to account.  

A kid steals a candy bar… not very good.   That’s not how your mommy and daddy have been trying to raise you.

A lawyer embezzles millions for his firm… soooo illegal.   And the lawyer would deserve to be imprisoned.   

The lawyer is held much more to account than the little boy.  Why?  Because the lawyer is more responsible for their actions!   Because as an adult, the lawyer is older and should indeed know better!   Much better!      

The closer we get to that magical “age of maturity”, the more responsible for our actions we become.   I can’t tell you when that age is… it’s different for everyone, depending on maturity and development, but I can say that by the time a person is a lawyer they should indeed know that stealing is wrong!

So Adam and Eve did what we humans are supposed to do…   grow up!   And learn the difference between right and wrong… and be held to account for their actions.   They (we) were (are) supposed to become self-aware, self-conscious… and learn that our actions do indeed have consequences.

In this case, Adam and Eve are kicked out of the Garden… their “safe” place.   Safe so long as they remained as children, as immature, as a-responsible.   They really were children – in that they could not be held responsible because they weren’t able to be held to account.  They literally did not know the difference between what was right and what was wrong.  They had not incorporated into themselves the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.       

But once they did eat… they learned… and they grew.  And they matured… and they became self-aware… self-conscious.   And they became self-responsible.   

And the story continues…

Adam and Eve are escorted out of Eden… their home, their safe-harbor…  and into “the world”.  

“Welcome to the world”

When my son was born, the nurse said… “Welcome to the world!”  

Welcome to the world!   

“Adam – you shall work and live by the sweat of your brow!                         Eve – for you child birth shall be painful.”

Welcome to the world!  

You – each as individuals – shall grow and mature…  you shall become more self-aware and self-conscious…  you shall be responsible for your own actions.  

“And I will place an angel with a flaming sword to guard against your return to Eden!”     …to guard against your return to Eden.

But sometimes wouldn’t it be great to return to Eden?!!  To not have to be responsible for something… anything?!   Wouldn’t it be great to just be a kid again?   To live in a place that is totally safe…  where your parents take care of everything…    and all you have to do is play and eat, and sleep and just be… all within the protective enclosure called “Eden”?

But truth be told, we go back to Eden at our peril!   Eden is a place for children… and we are not children!   We are called to grow up… our eyes are opened!   And the challenge is for us to keep them open! 

Lord, help us remain adult.   Help us live into the challenges of adulthood, and responsibility, and self-awareness, and growth.