We are not computers with pre-installed programs wired into us. God could have created us that way, “factory loaded,” to always make the right decisions throughout our lives. If we were the creator, we might have designed humans that way. It certainly would have made for a neater world, less conflict and pain, for sure. But that’s not how we were made. From the beginning we were given the freedom to choose.
The record of human endeavors shows we haven’t always use that freedom well. Certain individuals and communities have shone like beacons in the dark. While others have pursued their own interests and power, resulting in human conflict and pain for a sizable portion of humanity.
There stands in the middle of today’s Old Testament narrative the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The tree doesn’t appear anywhere else in the Bible. But there are hints of it in the temptation story and, at the end of the gospels, the tree of the cross appears. In the Genesis account the tree suggests that living according to God’s commands will benefit humans; not following God’s commands ends in disaster. Humans are given the power to choose.
Adam and Eve don’t choose wisely. They opt for power and disobey God. That disobedience breaks the bond of friendship and intimacy they had with God. They want what they want, when they want it, and their disobedience alienates them from God. Later, Adam will blame his wife for what they did and so the disobedience alienates them from one another as well. Their “fallen” condition isn’t what God had in mind when God created them. What started in the Garden will echo throughout Scripture: God’s benevolence towards humans; our rejection of the gift and the alienation that breaks our relationships with God and neighbor. The bottom line: our choice for an illusionary freedom only results in enslavement.
The story of Adam and Eve is a powerful mythic tale. Did it literally happened the way the story tells it? No. But it’s a true story because it echoes throughout human history, right up to this present moment. The freedom to choose is at the center of our own garden and we have frequently chosen for our own benefit. We want power and that is the tree in the center of our garden, whose fruit we reach out to pick and eat.
In the Adam and Eve story we Christians anticipate the coming of God’s anointed, the Christ, who would forsake the quest for power and, instead, choose service and sacrifice for others. Christ’s tree, the cross, is the center of our own garden and the fruit of that tree is God’s love which enables us to choose love and, like Jesus, to give our lives for others.
Today, in Romans, Paul reminds us of the consequence of Adam’s transgression, “the many died… death came to reign.” He then succinctly summarizes the gospel, the message of what God has done for us. “For if, by the transgression of the one, the many died, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.”
Matthew wrote his gospel for a mostly Jewish Christian community and so his narrative stirs Jewish memory. For example: “40 days and 40 nights” has many Old Testament roots. Rain fell for 40 days and nights during the flood that delivered Noah, his family and the animals from evil; Elijah fasted in the desert for 40 days and nights; Moses fasted for 40 days and nights on Mount Sinai while he wrote the Ten Commandments; Israel wandered for 40 years in the desert failing frequently in her devotion to God. Now Jesus, led by the Spirit, enters the desert, fasts for 40 days and 40 nights and, though tempted, stays faithful to God and God’s ways.
The devil suggests that Jesus use power for his own satisfaction. A temptation some city, state and nationally elected officials were recently found guilty of doing. Jesus will not take care of his own needs, God will. As necessary and basic as bread is, Jesus’ mission is about something even more important and that’s where he will focus his energies.
In accomplishing his mission Jesus will be vulnerable and suffer pain and death. The devil suggests God could protect him from harm — if Jesus were the beloved of God. Our own sufferings might cause us to doubt God’s love. “If God really loves me, why am I going through this crisis?” Jesus trusted God throughout his ministry and would not use his power to keep himself safe and pain free.
But, even if Jesus won’t use his power for his own benefit, or to draw people to his mission, at least he could accomplish his task by aligning with the influence, prestige and powers of the world’s kingdoms. Jesus rejects this final temptation as well. The kingdom of God he has come to announce will not adopt the power and ways of the nations; but will have “mustard seed beginnings” and will, like yeast, be a quiet and subtle leavening agent for the world.
In what powers do we put our confidence? Aren’t we tempted, even for a noble purpose, to push through our agendas without listening to those who suggest other means to accomplish an end? Even at a parish council meeting, while discussing good projects, how much true listening goes on?
We will learn more about Jesus as we follow Matthew’s lead these Sundays through our liturgical year. In his gospel the temptation scene begins to reveal Jesus to us. The temptations will continue through his ministry, until the powers he refused to bow to, or compromise with, turn on him with fury. Still, Jesus will not use his power to impress people; he will not perform miracles for those who demand them in order to believe, and his healings will be signs of life, not flashy displays of power.
Jesus teaches us that we are not to bow to any earthly powers, nor let their leaders take possession of our hearts and minds. Political realities are not the kingdom of God. God’s rule is present now, but it directs our gaze beyond history. Having seen the kind of powers Jesus rejects, we chose to live his life. We are asked to do what Jesus asked of his disciples: “Follow me.”