Betrayal

When God showed up they had already hidden from one another and now they hid from the Lord. Their new knowledge had seemingly only brought the knowledge of "evil", that which was not good.  The Lord had already told them that what "is" was good so what benefit was there in the knowledge of that which was evil?  Evil was their disobedience and the opening of their eyes, not their nakedness.  As the southern comedian Lewis Grizzard once said, "Southerners can use the same word and create new meanings by pronunciation.  There is "naked" which means you ain't got no clothes on and then there is "nekkid" which means you ain't got no clothes on and you are up to something."  They were now nekkid so they knew shame and hid themselves from God, a futile activity.

When God questions Adam where he got the knowledge that he was naked, responds, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”  He threw her under the bus, blamed her even though it was he who was given the commandment by God.  In fact, he also blames God who had given him the woman.  The woman gave him the fruit and God gave him the woman.  Sure, he ate the fruit, but surely it was okay since the woman gave it to him and God had given her to him, perhaps there had been a misunderstanding, but if not it really wasn't his fault.  After Adam blamed Eve for his sin it is amazing that they ever got together to be fruitful and multiply.  Now he needed forgiveness from her as well.

Eve's excuse was that the serpent tricked her but he hadn't deceived her at all had he?  We are told she saw it was good for food, a delight to the eyes and desirable to make one wise, all on her own, not because of the serpent.  At least she didn't blame Adam but that would be an outright lie, not a little fudging of truth because there is a difference between the two isn't there?  No.  

Now, sin has entered the world and has to be dealt with but they do not in fact surely die, but they will, and now an animal loses its life to cover their sin, a pattern for what will come in the covenant sacrificial system.  God gives grace to them both but now things will be more difficult for them, there is a price to pay for sin.

We don't hear the conversation between the humans so we don't know how they sorted out their issues, but the fulfillment of the command to be fruitful and multiply is now a part of the curse, the pain of childbirth is multiplied and also, their relationship is different, her desire will be for her husband but he will rule over her, their partnership is more alienated, the man will seek to have dominion over her as he does the rest of creation.  She will be less in his eyes than originally, no longer an equal.   

Eden and disaster

So it started out wonderfully, Adam was appropriately joyous and thankful for God's provision of a companion and helper.  He recognized immediately that this was God's gift to him and rejoiced over her.  Eve surely received this song of joy with gladness and she knew her mate's pleasure in her over all else in creation.

Then, we get to chapter 3, that fateful day in the garden where everything was ruined forever.  She spoke with the serpent, over whom humans were to have dominion, and she trusted it.  Apparently she was not surprised that the serpent could talk and believed it might have some wisdom, it might know something about the fruit and about God.  He was, after all, here before she was, so perhaps he knew things she didn't.  Adam had been told not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and if he did they would surely die.  The serpent seems to have other information.

We don't know if Eve had experience of God but the serpent questions whether God is truly good and whether He is truly great.  If He were truly good He wouldn't be so insecure about Himself, He wouldn't prohibit something that was so good as this knowledge, knowledge the serpent says will make them like God.  Is all that separates us from God this knowledge?  Surely there is more between us and the one who created all things that a bit of knowledge.  Second, the serpent questions God's greatness, "you will not surely die."  God either lacks the power to bring about their demise or He lacks the will to do so. 

Eve's temptations are creaturely temptations, the fruit was good for food, a delight to the eyes and desirable to make one wise.  She has been created in the image of God, unlike the serpent, she has the power to rise above creaturely temptations and say no but she chooses to live below her birthright.  Adam, seeing she didn't die from eating the fruit, takes and eats.  He, who was given the command directly by God, who has spent time with the Lord, has no excuse for his actions other than, she didn't die so what the heck, I will eat also, I don't want to be left out. 

The only evidence that they gained knowledge of good and evil is their reaction to God's presence.  They had decided that naked wasn't good now that they had eaten of the fruit, so they hid from themselves.  They knew evil because they had been disobedient so they hid from him.  Estrangement was the new rule of the day.

Marriage and Eden

As the king said in Alice in Wonderland, "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end, then stop."  Marriage in the Bible begins at the beginning of creation and ends at the wedding feast of the Lamb in eternity in Revelation, so let us begin at the beginning and see where it goes.

In Genesis 2 we are told of the creation of man and the Lord placing him in the garden the Lord had planted to work and keep it.  In verse 18 of that chapter we see some surprising words, "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone...'"  In Genesis 1 there is a pattern of creation and God seeing that what He had done was good so now God sees Adam alone and determines that is not good.  (Good is an incredibly important concept in those first three chapters and then right through to the end, including what we know as Good Friday but which certainly wasn't good to anyone other than God the Father at the time.)  


The Lord's plan for remedying that "not good" is to "make him a helper fit for him.” What happens next though isn't the creation of woman, but rather the parade of animals whom Adam is to name.  The naming of a thing was considered to be an act of dominion.  In the same way, we name our domestic animals and therefore have dominion over them, they won't respond the same way to being called something other than their names and our children are also under our dominion in the same way.


At the end of the day, there was no helper among the animals "fit" for man.  Adam now saw too that it was not good for him to be alone in the world without a helper, a companion or complement.  The word is used of God in the Old Testament, for instance, in Psalm 46.1 the Psalmist wrote, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble."  If God is our helper then the word certainly doesn't mean an inferior or subordinate.  Adam simply had no one like him to share his life and his labor.  The animals most certainly were breeding pairs, just as Noah took breeding pairs into the ark so that the new creation, after the flood, would be self-sustaining and renewed in full.


Adam sleeps and the Lord takes a rib from him to form Eve.  Adam is formed of the dust of the ground but Eve is not, she is like Adam in every way and Adam's song of joy and celebration expresses that reality, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”  


Right there in Genesis 2 we get the first reference to marriage, " Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."  The idea of one flesh is that in the sex act and in life together they are in perfect union.  Adam and Eve were literally one flesh from the beginning, she was formed from his flesh.


Joy is found in God's seeing that the situation of "alone" was not good even when Adam could have had no concept of companionship other than seeing the animals together.  He couldn't possibly have imagined woman.  The Lord, however, provided Adam with a delight beyond his imagination and his song proves that he agreed wholeheartedly that things were now very good indeed. 

Marriage - Part Deux

After my son's wedding this year a retired Baptist minister told me that I had tied a very tight knot.  I believe that is the point of the wedding these days, to make sure that everyone, including but not limited to the bride and groom, know that this is a lifelong commitment.  If we are going to reclaim marriage as important we will do so not at the ballot box but in the church.  I believe that is possible but only if we recover the Christian understanding of marriage, only if we tie tight knots. 

In our tradition we speak of the covenant of marriage and I believe it is indeed a covenant.  The ceremony itself has all the earmarks of a covenant, vows, symbols (rings), terms of agreement, third party witnesses and an official who ratifies the covenant, and finally a meal at the conclusion of the covenant ceremony. 

Covenants in the Bible are everlasting, they have no expiration date and they are irrevocable, they depend on God's faithfulness not man's.  The Israelites broke covenant immediately and then constantly thereafter by transgressing against the terms of the covenant and failing to perform the required sacrifices to re-instate the covenant but that didn't end the covenant relationship.

Through multiple prophets the Lord accused Israel of prostitution and infidelity.  The covenant relationship between God and His people was likened to a marriage between a man and a woman.  The intimacy of the relationship is similar to a marriage and the sense of betrayal of the marriage bed is God's chosen way of expressing His side of things.  What emotions are embedded in that idea of a spouse who has been betrayed in a most intimate way?  That is how God feels about His people breaking covenant with Him.

The prophet Hosea had to act out the relationship between God and His people by first marrying a prostitute, then having her stray from the marriage via sexual infidelity.  His life became a sign to Israel concerning their relationship with God.  Hosea was to love and forgive all the sins of his wife and to be willing to reconcile and restore the marriage relationship no matter how hurt and angry he might be, no matter how horribly she treated him.  He was to be faithful to her and his love was not to wane.  All because Godly covenants are everlasting and only dependent on the faithfulness and love of one party.

We are to be like Him in every way.  Marriage is an incredibly important covenant because it is the only intra-human covenant God instituted and it is to be a sign and symbol of the covenant between God and His people.  Our understanding of marriage and our keeping of that covenant is to show the world what it means to be in covenant with God.  If the church fails to uphold the covenant of marriage, we lose a significant witness to the relationship with Him. 

Let's spend some time looking at our marriage ceremony together and see how tight the knot is to be tied and how to maintain it.

Marriage

This year, it seems, is the year I have to think a lot about marriage.  My oldest son got married in January and I performed the wedding.  His wife's brother got married in April and I did the wedding.  Our state, North Carolina, just voted on a marriage amendment to the state constitution that caused much consternation locally and across the nation.  Suzanne and I just attended a wedding of the son of some of our best friends last weekend.  I have friends who are struggling with divorce, either their own recent divorces or their friends and family. 

I didn't spend much time thinking about the marriage amendment, I believe that the word marriage is the problem.  If they want to have civil unions recognized by the state that allows for all legal protection and rights then anyone should be able to enter such an arrangement with another human being.  The line can be drawn there because the "state" recognizes something different and important about personhood that doesn't extend to non-humans.  Human beings are the only animals who can write and can therefore enter legally binding contractual arrangements or be sued for a breach of such a contract or who pay taxes for instance.  The governmental authorities have made no move to extend such rights or responsibilities to other animals.  A dog or other kept animal is the responsibility of its owner, if the dog commits a crime the owner is held liable for the damages.

Marriage, however, is something that greatly interests me and concerns me.  I have done weddings in several states and only one, Virginia, has required me to register with the state in order to perform the wedding.  I am clear with potential brides and grooms that when I perform the wedding I am not acting as an agent of the state, I perform such ceremonies under the authority vested in me by God and that means also under the responsibility to explain marriage under God and to only agree to perform such a service when we have a common understanding of marriage.  Virginia troubles me a bit because I am acting also as a licensed representative of the state and what the state gives, the state can also take away if it can determine the confines and definitions of marriage.

Marriage is between a man and a woman in my world.  I get to control the definition under the guidance of the Word of God and nowhere there do we see any other definition of marriage.  I don't have the authority or license to change the definition of marriage and perform such ceremonies or declare God's blessing on a union of anything other than a union of a man and a woman.

Now that the definition, its basis and my thoughts on civil unions are on the table, I have some other things to say in reflecting on marriage and what it means and signifies and our responsibility as Christian leaders and Christians generally.  Sit back and reflect with me, this is going to take a while.

What are we seeking?

As I wrote my other blog this morning I was dealing with three passages, Ecclesiastes 2.1-15, Matthew 13.44-52 and Galatians 1.1-17.  In the first passage we hear Solomon reflecting on his life, essentially saying to whoever will listen, I had it all, I sought all manner of pleasure, and in the end I found it to be nothing more than a chasing after the wind.  My soul was never satisfied with stuff or relationships or anything else.  There was something missing in having everything, so nothing is worth setting up as ultimate.  In the Gospel passage Jesus tells parables of the kingdom of heaven, likening it to a treasure found in a field that the finder then sells everything they own to buy, or the pearl of great price that elicits the same response.  Finally, Paul writes to a church in Galatia he founded but now another group has come and preached a different Gospel.

Paul says that he was "extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers."  His one desire was to persecute and destroy "the church of God."  He had religion but he lacked relationship.  His efforts were to please God, he was on a jihad against the mission of the church that proclaimed Jesus as Messiah.  Unfortunately we can do the same, we can wage jihad in the name of the church and we can do so in two ways.


In our denomination we have some who, like Paul, are extremely zealous for the traditions of our fathers.  We can become traditionalists.  Jaroslav Pelikan defined the difference between tradition and traditionalism this way, ""Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Tradition lives in conversation with the past, while remembering where we are and when we are and that it is we who have to decide. Traditionalism supposes that nothing should ever be done for the first time, so all that is needed to solve any problem is to arrive at the supposedly unanimous testimony of this homogenized tradition."  Traditionalism clings to the past either from superstition, if you change something you will lose the mojo it produces, or from some misguided sense of honoring your ancestors.  Tradition respects what has gone before but seeks to make it intelligible today.  Some traditionalists in our denomination set the traditional liturgy above all else and will dismiss those who do not perform according to the tradition.

The opposite problem is posed by those who will have nothing of the tradition, becoming iconoclasts and losing contact with historic Christianity.  Their mistake is described by GK Chesterton, "Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about." 

When he met Jesus, Paul was willing to leave behind those traditions of his fathers and follow Jesus, just like the other disciples.  The traditions of his fathers, however, related primarily to the Pharisaic laws which Jesus frequently violated.  It was those traditions that Paul was zealous for and those traditions which he left behind because he saw Jesus as the pearl of great price.  An encounter with Jesus will reveal that compared with Him, nothing else has value.  Let us hold fast to those things which express His ultimate worth and let go of those things that do not draw us closer and higher but keep our eyes fixed on things "under the sun."