Original mercy. March 1, 2020 The Rev. Kathleen M. Sturges

Genesis 2:15-17,25; 3:1-8

It was years ago. My eldest son, Matthew, was very young at the time probably around age two or three. We were playing hide and seek. And when it was his turn to hide he would scurry over to the corner of our living room, put his hands over his eyes and stand there in plain sight. He thought he couldn’t be seen. Clearly, he was mistaken.

And he’s not the only one. In our reading from Genesis, Adam and Eve are pretty much doing the same thing. But sadly, this isn’t a game. They are hiding because they have just eaten what was forbidden, the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and they are ashamed.

But let’s take a moment to back up just a bit. The world in all of its God-given glory has just been created. In this second story of creation, the rivers come first, then the trees, then a man, then animals, birds, and finally woman. All of creation finds its culmination when man and woman, named Adam and Eve, are together. “And,” Genesis tells us, “the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.” Yes, this verse is about physical nudity, but that’s the least of it. What’s most significant here is that in the beginning human beings were created to have no barriers between one another. No hiding. No faking. No shame. That was the plan - for Adam, for Eve, for us all. But that state of openness and authenticity only lasted for so long because, as the story goes, one day a crafty serpent strikes up a conversation with Eve and suggests that perhaps God is not as trustworthy as one might think. So after mulling it over, Eve takes the forbidden fruit, eats, and gives some to Adam who also eats.

And in that act everything changes. Many theologians claim this is the moment that sin entered into the world, calling it “original sin.” That because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience their state of sin is now passed down from one generation to the next. But oddly enough, sin is never mentioned here in the story. What is, is shame. Before this event, Adam and Eve were naked and we are explicitly told they were not ashamed. But now, after this act, they are. And how do we know? Because immediately they cover and hide - both clear indicators of shame. The world has indeed changed.

A word about shame. It’s different than guilt. Guilt focuses on behavior, as in, “I made a mistake.” Guilt is that uncomfortable feeling we have when we know we haven’t lived up to our values. And when that’s the case, guilt is a good and appropriate response which can spur us on to positive change. Shame, on the other hand, puts the focus on oneself. Instead of, “I made a mistake,” shame says, “I am a mistake.” And that feeling of being fundamentally flawed is intensely painful and paralyzing. Rather than spurring us on to change it does just the opposite. It shuts us down.

Because what do we do when we feel shame, whether we are Adam, Eve, or anyone else? We cover and hide. We decide which parts of us to let others see and which parts to conceal. In today’s world that can look like putting on a happy face or posting enviable pictures on social media. It may take the form of over achieving, over consuming, or over criticizing. The ways we try to hide ourselves from others and from God are endless. And they all work just about as well as loincloths made of fig leaves and taking cover behind a bunch of trees.

Which is where our reading ends with Adam and Eve covering and hiding from God. But what happens next is that God pursues them. God seeks them out in their shame - not in anger or wrath as in, “How dare you?!?!”, but with the question, “Where are you?” As if God didn’t already know. But that question is an invitation - an invitation to repair the relationship. Because at its core sin is the breaking of relationship. And what God is doing here is asking Adam and Eve, and all of us really, to trust enough to come out of hiding so that relationships can be genuinely restored. Not that everything can go back to the way it was, but by moving forward there is healing and hope. As it is with Adam and Eve. Just as they are about to leave the garden and head out into the big, wide world God knows that fig leaves just won’t do. They need more. So God becomes seamstress and dresser to the two of them as Genesis records further on how, “the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them” (3:21).

Ultimately, this story of our beginnings isn’t about original sin or even original shame, but about original mercy. God’s great mercy that creates the world and creates us in hopes that we might fully live - without any shame, with nothing to hide, with no need to ever feel embarrassed, inadequate or lacking. But when things go awry, when we sin, because we all do, we do things that break relationships with ourselves, with others, with the world, with God - when that happens God’s mercy always seeks us out with love and forgiveness. 

As we enter into this season of Lent, God’s mercy is calling, “Where are you?” It is an invitation to a time of sacred honesty, to trust enough to come out of hiding - because really who are we kidding here? Our attempts to hide who we are from God are just about as effective as standing in a corner with our eyes covered thinking we can’t be seen. When the truth is that God not only fully sees us but fiercely loves us. So much so that God simply refuses to give up on us until we are the ones who are able to see the fullness of original mercy that abounds in our lives, in the lives of others, and in all of creation.