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religioused · 3 years

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You Are Not Cursed

Pride Church Service 2021

by Gary Simpson

Hebrew Scripture Reading: (CEV)

Genesis 3:8-15 Late in the afternoon a breeze began to blow, and the man and woman heard the LORD God walking in the garden. They were frightened and hid behind some trees.

9 The LORD called out to the man and asked, "Where are you?" The man answered, "I was naked, and when I heard you walking through the garden, I was frightened and hid!"

11 "How did you know you were naked?" God asked. "Did you eat any fruit from that tree in the middle of the garden?"

"It was the woman you put here with me," the man said. "She gave me some of the fruit, and I ate it." The LORD God then asked the woman, "What have you done?" "The snake tricked me," she answered. "And I ate some of that fruit."

14 So the LORD God said to the snake: "Because of what you have done, you will be the only animal to suffer this curse— For as long as you live, you will crawl on your stomach and eat dirt. You and this woman will hate each other; your descendants and hers will always be enemies. One of hers will strike you on the head, and you will strike him on the heel."

Opening Prayer:

Companion God, today, we accept the clothes you make for us after each mistake. And we seek to wear them with pride in being the people that you created. Amen.

Reflection:

Today, I am wearing orange, because orange is the color used to Represent people who went to residential schools for indigenous children in Canada. In today’s service, we are weeding a few elements regarding the Kamloops, British Columbia residential school in with the service.

J.P. Fokkelman wrote the chapter on Genesis in The Literary Guide to the Bible. Fokkelman notes that there is a poetical form in the story of humanity’s fall.(1) I have heard theologians take the position that poetry in the Bible should not be taken literally. The Companion Bible takes the position that this passage is literal history that uses figures of speech for emphasis.(2) When I see poetry in a passage, I try to dig a little deeper than a literal interpretation, because the Biblical author might be trying to make a much deeper point, a point that will resonate even louder in the heart. Today, we can get out the excavation equipment and dig a little deeper.

There are different ways to view the story of Adam and Eve sinning. There is a Christian understanding, which most of us are familiar with, a Rabbinic Jewish understanding, and a Gnostic understanding. As Christians, we have generally seen the narrative in our Genesis reading as the fall of humanity. The fall seems to be the dominant understanding in Christianity.(3) While Rabbinic Judaism tends to see this Genesis narrative as an event that changed humanity, Rabbinic Judaism does not see this story as the fall of humanity. Sin moves from being present outside of humanity to something that is also present inside humanity. Judaism tends to see humanity as now subject to death, but not as “damned or totally separated from the divine.”(4) The Gnostics tend to see the story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit as a “coming of age" story.(5) Because Gnostic interpretations could be the topic of a lecture, I will not get into them. I tend to see this as a coming-of-age story, with multiple shades of meaning.

John Gill, the 16th Century theologian and “prolific author,” wrote commentaries covering the entire Bible.(6) In Gill's Exposition the observation is made that Adam and Eve must have known that they were naked, but now they found themselves feeling shame at their own nakedness.(7) Shame, remorse, guilt, and fear were previously “strangers” to Adam and Eve.(8) As a result of Adam and Eve's mistake, the descendants of the Eve are wounded, but have the hope that there will be a “definitive victory over evil.”(9) I believe God tries to restore the inherent worth and dignity of the couple. “God gives Adam and Eve the loincloth . . . for their dignity.”(10)

“God makes the first move to counter sin.”(11) God walks in the garden. Some Bible commentators believe that God is a spirit, so God was not literally walking through the garden. One of my Bible commentaries describes God as “walking in a visible form – not running hastily, as one impelled by the influence of angry feelings” and says God was “uttering the well-known tones of kindness.”(12) Commentator Matthew Henry sees significance in the time of day that God came walking through the garden. God did not walk during the hot part of the day, because God was not angry with Adam and Eve. God did not come at night, when Adam and Eve's fears would have been much higher. God walked through the garden during the cool part of the day.(13)

In the order of events, God’s first question is not about the mistake of eating the forbidden fruit of the tree; it is about shame. God asks, "How did you know you were naked?" That question is followed by the question, "Did you eat any fruit from that tree . . .?” I picture God asking, “How do you know you are naked?” Following a long silence, during which Adam and Eve are too afraid to respond, God asks the second question. “Did you eat from that tree?”

Perhaps, there is importance of the order of the questions God asked Adam and Eve how they knew they were naked, how they knew they were shameful and deserved to feel shame, debilitating shame. Then God asks, “Did you eat from that tree?” God’s first concern seems to me to be more related to who told Adam and Eve that they were naked, who told them that they should be ashamed than it is to the fact that they disobeyed God.

Adam’s defense for disobeying God is blaming Eve. And Eve blames the snake. Contributors to The Abingdon Bible Commentary observe, “The snake is not even allowed to make a defense, for his guilt is too obvious.”(14)

Contributors to the Christian Community Bible make this point. “God curses the serpent but not humankind.”(15) Other animals are not cursed. Only the snake is cursed.(16) The ground is cursed by God, but humans are not cursed.(17) This is an important point. Humanity is not cursed. Those going through a coming-of-age experience are not cursed. LGBT+ people are not cursed. Emphasizing this point: You are not cursed.

There is a cool story of a crow and a fox. The fox was hungry and was hoping that the crow would come down from a tree, so the fox could dine on crow. The crow would not come down from the top of the tree. Using a religious appeal, the fox tried to convince the crow. He points out that in the Talmud, an ancient Jewish commentary, the lion and the lamb lie down together, and that the fox and the lamb will lie together.(18)

Then the sounds of hunting dogs could be heard. The fox got scared. The crow pointed out that the fox had no reason to be afraid, because the fox is a Talmud scholar and knows what Isaiah said. The fox replies that he knows what Isaiah said, but the dogs don’t, as he slinks into the bushes to hide.

Those foxes who cite the Bible, book, chapter, and verse, to condemn those who are coming of age and to especially condemn LGBT+ people find the hunting dogs of guilt and shame come after them, because they have not tasted much of the love of God.

Thousands of years later, God still “seeks out those were hiding among the trees in shame, who have patched together clothing of their own making, who are afraid of God.” God is the garden of our lives wanting to “restore relationship.” God is not in the distant heavenly, “arms folded.” God is present, asking, ‘Where are you?’(19) And the voice is a quiet, calm, concerned voice, not a voice of anger.

Lama Rod Owens is a Buddhist teacher, a lama. Owens wrote the book Love and Rage: the Path of Liberation Through Anger. He gave the April 2021 Boswell Lecture at Pacific School of Religion. He said, "Conditional love is an act of psychological and spiritual terrorism."(20) I agree with him. God is not a psychological terrorist and God is not a spiritual terrorist. God’s love is unconditional and eternal. You can never outrun, outlive, outlast, or out hide God’s love by living in the closet. Gods' love cannot be shamed away or scared away by fig leaves.

I want to speak directly to people of Indigenous heritage and then I will conclude. Saying the last week to ten days was painful is an understatement. Words cannot begin to describe the news regarding the Kamloops residential school. Those who shamed, degraded, and dehumanized you are in the wrong. You are not in the wrong, and you were never in the wrong.

In the midst of pain, degradation, and shame felt First Nation, Inuit, and Métis people, God walks through the garden and asks, “who told you you were naked?“ And God restores dignity and worth.

God surveys your coming of age mistakes, moves to help you feel shameless and then God speaks words of condemnation to those who made you feel shame, to those who made you feel defective and worthless. But God does not curse you. You are not cursed. The Kingdom of God is a shame-free place. You are not cursed. You are loved, not cursed. Hallelujah! Amen. Now go. Live in Pride.

Prayers of the People:

At the end of each prayer, we say together: God of shameless faith, we thank You for burying our shame.

One: For those who found coming of age frightening and shameful, we ask that godly pride replace shame.