"I heard you in the garden but I was afraid . . ."
The Word for Sunday: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/061018.cfm
Genesis 3: 9-15
Mark 3: 20 - 35
It’s good to be back in the green of things. By that I mean in the long liturgical season of “Ordinary Time.” Now that Easter, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, the Confirmations, First Communions, etc of our busy lives has taken place, we offer a collective sigh that these high powered liturgies are once again a personal part of our spiritual Catholic life.
So, we priests at least, are grateful that we can now settle down to some less dramatic routine reflections during this time on the meaning of Christian discipleship. For these long months ahead in which the color green is so plentiful in our common liturgies, we hear about the healings, teachings, and parables which Jesus offers to us. And this Sunday’s Gospel, though seemingly somewhat disjointed, basically reminds us of what it means to live in the kingdom where human relationships will be seen differently beyond our own family blood lines. Jesus who speaks the message of God’s love is in league with God whose life we follow. In that family all are welcome and all are united with Christ as we collectively “do the will of God” in mutual love as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Yet, it is the first reading from Genesis that may more draw our attention this Sunday. Here we see the origin of sin through humankind’s free choice illustrated in the story of Adam and Eve who now must confront God after their act of eating the fruit God forbade them to eat. Of course, it isn’t their fault is it – Adam hides, then blames Eve, Eve blames the snake when confronted by God, and the snake is cursed by God: “. . . on your belly shall you crawl and dirt shall you eat . . . I will put enmity between you and the woman.” You can just hear the Adam and Eve duet: “The Devil made me do it!”
Yet it is the old blame game or passing the buck by the guilty formerly perfect humans which is telling for us. So sin enters the world of humanity not because God chose it but because we exercised our God-given free will in opposition to God’s desire for us – the “original sin.” Sin separates us from God so Adam no longer felt friends with God - now he was ashamed and hiding. He suddenly realized he was vulnerable - naked.
I once had a parishioner who always in response to some human foible, some annoying person, some shocking bad choice which challenged human goodness, would say to me: “Father, we’re all children of Adam and Eve.” How true. Yet the story of our first parents also indicates what sin may do to us – we blame someone else rather than take responsibility for our choices.
But the tie in with our Gospel and this reading about sin may be the words of Jesus about the unforgiveable sin: “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness.” That’s been a confusing line for a long time. What is Jesus saying here? I thought that God forgave all sin for the truly repentant sinner. Even Adam and Eve, though banished from the Garden, were offered ultimate hope in the future coming of a Savior. God wasn’t done with humanity.
The Gospel offers a scene of accusation of Jesus by the Scribes. A previous Sunday it was the Pharisees, then the Sadducees and now the Scribes. He’s surrounded by opposition and as always handles it masterfully. They now accuse him, as strange as it may sound, of being in league with Satan. That his power comes really not from God but from the very demons he is casting out! In some weird sort of scenario maybe they felt Jesus was a sort of demonic deceiver appearing to be good but really secretly plotting something more sinister.
This kind of self-righteous stubbornness on the part of religious leaders toward our Lord brought about Jesus comment on their “blasphemy.” In other words to label the work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus as the work of Satan is a sin so dark that it cannot be forgiven; they seek no forgiveness because they feel they are so justified in their viewpoint so how can God forgive? In that way they have sinned against the Holy Spirit. It is that obstinate resistance to the grace of salvation offered though God’s mercy and fleshed out in the person of Christ Jesus. In short they outright rejected the person and mission of Christ in the world.
Well, where do we go with this? I would venture to say that none of us are so blind that we would name the work of Jesus as not coming from God. Yet, it is more the attitude of the Scribes that may be a good indicator. It is that attitude which basically says: “I refuse to ask for forgiveness because I don’t need to be forgiven.” Although God offers to all of us a share in his Spirit and goodness through his mercy, I need to recognize my need to be forgiven – I need to see the sin I have caused or that I hold on to.
Frankly, its hard to imagine someone so arrogant that they refuse to accept the fact they are not without flaw. If someone so fully believes that about themselves then a psychological illness labeled as sociopath or narcissism may be in play.
But for the vast majority of us isn’t our sin, our wayward choices for which we can only blame ourselves for the most part, not the snake in the grass, rooted in our desire to look good? I want to appear like God – perfect in every way.
Yet, maybe our complacency about our spiritual life has left us more open to weakness and sin and we are more likely to make wrong choices and become so blind that we don’t recognize our need for healing. Maybe some unforgiveness or even some addictive behavior is not only harming me but more my family and friends. Yet, I’m so caught in it that I refuse to change. Or maybe I’m constantly trying to win every argument or disagreement never acknowledging my own ignorance but puffing myself up to pretend I’m someone I am not. I talk over others in order to be sure my opinion is heard. Or maybe I'm so caught in feeling unloved and shameful that I refuse to seek healing and God's mercy. I'm so horrible and sinful and shameful that I feel I'm beyond forgiveness - a form of pride. Such things can limit the grace God freely offers us when we know we are in need of his mercy.
So, I think the door should always be open to God’s desire to forgive us. Not to be overly scrupulous but to pray for a healthy humility. God is God and I am not! Therefore, as God desired with Adam and Eve, to walk in the garden with them in a relationship of Creator with the created, his mercy invites us to walk again with him.
No blame game only God’s mercy and grace offered in Christ to heal us from our brokenness. But we have to ask for it.
May your healing work, O Lord,
free us, we pray, from doing evil
and lead us to what is right.
Through Christ our Lord.
(Prayer after Communion)