Chapter 1 - Creation and Sin.

Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

“In the beginning – God.” Thus begins the Bible. With this opening line, our holy scriptures make a couple of things clear right off the bat.

One is that God is the beginning of everything. Nothing and nobody exist without God’s creative action.

Another is that God is. The Bible never tries to prove God’s existence. That is a given. What the Bible does do is describe what God is like and what that means for us.

A third is that the Bible is describing God through story. The Bible is not a science book or a history book; it is the book of God’s story with creation. It strives to answer many questions in form of a story. Why do we rest on the 7th day? Let me tell you a story. Why does it hurt to have children? Let me tell you a story. Why is it so hard to earn a living? Let me tell you a story.

We are familiar with this concept through Aesop’s Fables. When we read those stories about foxes and lions and mice interacting, we don’t assume that those conversations actually took place in real life; yet we also recognize the deeper truth the story reveals about people or about life.

We are also familiar with this idea through Jesus’ parables. When Jesus talks about the Good Samaritan or the Rich Farmer or the Unjust Judge, then he is not reporting about what happened to real people, but he uses characters in a made-up story to reveal truth about how real people act and how God acts.

Many of the stories in the first 11 chapters of the Book of Genesis are like that: They tell stories that might or might not be literally true, but they tell us deep truths about the world, about people, and about God.

The first deep truth is that God made the world, made it beautiful and perfect and amazing, and that God loved everything about. When God finishes the original creation, he looks at it and declares it “very good”. I imagine God smiling and thinking, “This is going to be great!”

Unfortunately, it is not great for very long. The next story we read is that of Adam and Eve. God had created humans to be in community with God and with one another, and together they were to take good care of God’s creation. They lived in the perfect environment, they were literally made for each other, and they were allowed to use anything in the Garden of Eden for their livelihood.

Anything, that is, except for the fruit on the tree of knowledge. One would think that this rule isn’t too difficult to obey, considering that God took care of everything they needed for a good life. And yet, they can’t resist. The one forbidden thing just nags at them. This forbidden fruit taunts them.

Along comes the serpent and tempts them to give in to their desire, their curiosity. According to the serpent, by eating the fruit Adam and Eve will become like God, knowing good and evil.

This phrase “good and evil” makes use of a Hebrew way of describing a whole bunch by giving the two extreme outliers. It’s like when we say “everything from A to Z” and we mean every letter in between. When the serpent talks about knowing “good and evil”, it means knowing everything. And knowing everything would make them like God.

The serpent tempts Adam and Eve to doubt God’s goodness, to suspect God of keeping something good from them, of God being jealous of his position.

In the end, Eve and Adam do eat the forbidden fruit. And yes, their eyes are opened, but not in the way they had hoped. Suddenly the fact that they are naked bothers them, and they make themselves loin cloths out of fig leaves. That is really pathetic. They thought they would be like God, and here they are stitching scratchy leaves together to cover their shame.

This eating of the fruit, this act of rebellion against God’s rules, this desire to be like God, leads to the first two huge cracks in God’s beautiful creation.

One is the crack in the relationship between God and people. Originally, Adam and Eve were on a very personal, intimate level with God. Our reading talks about God strolling through the Garden of Eden at the time of the evening breeze, looking for the humans. I love that image.

But the humans are no longer comfortable before God. They are hiding. They know what they have done, and it ruins their amazing relationship with their creator.

The next crack develops between Adam and Eve. Confronted by God about their transgression, they blame each other. These two people who were literally made for each other are now fighting. It’s awful.

As a result of their disobedience, God kicks them out of the Garden of Eden. Life will be much harder for them now. Childbirth will hurt. Eeking out a living will be hard labor. Women will hate snakes. Death enters the picture: Humans will die and return to the dust.

God blocks reentry to the Garden of Eden by posting cherubim with flaming swords as guards.

Ever since, life has been a struggle for people. And ever since, people have longed to return to the Garden of Eden. The hope of all believers is to enter the garden again, to enter Paradise. A lot of our Christmas and Easter hymns pick up on this imagery, talking about Christ opening the way back to the garden.

 The next big crack develops in the relationship between siblings. Cain and Abel are Adam and Eve’s first two sons. One is a farmer and one is a sheep herder. Sibling rivalry develops between them. When it looks like God prefers Abel’s sacrifice over Cain’s, he can’t control his jealousy and kills his brother. How many stories do we know of siblings being jealous over one another because they believe the other one receives more parental love or gets more breaks or whatever. Yes, we know what this crack between siblings looks like.

It’s not what God wants. At one point God asks Cain where Abel is, and Cain answers angrily, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The answer is yes! Yes, we are called to take care of our siblings. When we don’t, these terrible rifts form and hurt God and God’s community.

The next crack shows up between heavenly and earthly creatures. We hear of sons of God hooking up with daughters of man. What exactly this means we don’t know. But we do know that God does not like this at all, and that God puts up a barrier between the two realms.

By this point, God has had it with humans. God’s perfect creation has fallen apart because of their actions. Rifts have developed: between God and humans, between husband and wife, between brothers, and between heaven and earth.

So disappointed and fed up is God that God regrets having made people. Is there a sadder statement than God being sorry he created humans? Heartbreaking.

God decides to start over. In a big flood God drowns out everyone except for Noah and his family. Noah will be the person with whom God will start over. When he and his sons and all their wives get out of the ark, they give thanks to God, but the good vibes don’t last very long. After a very short time, Noah gets drunk and his son doesn’t handle it well and humanity is once again caught up in sin and riddled with those awful cracks.

One more crack breaks open soon after: between nations. Once again, people want to be like God. They decide to build a tower that reaches the heavens so they can live where God lives. Before they get very far, God stops their effort by putting up language barriers. Different tribes speak different languages; they can’t cooperate any more, can’t use their unity to rebel against God any more. This rift between races and nations is in our news every day. If only we could all learn to speak one another’s language and use that unity for good!  

That is what God calls us humans to do: build community in order to be a blessing to the world. Our reading from Ephesians states that God’s desire is to unite all things in heaven and earth in him. God wants to rebuild the Garden of Eden through us, God’s people.

Our reading from Ephesians points to the grace we have received in Christ that enables us to embark on this calling in hope. We often have this impression that the Old Testament is all about a judgmental God and the New Testament is all about a gracious, forgiving God.

This is not true. As we go through the stories in Genesis 1-11, we see God’s grace all over the place.

God tells Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge or they will die. The original language is quite emphatic about that: You will surely die a death! But then God is gracious and does not strike them dead. He kicks them out of the Garden of Eden, but he remains in relationship with them and even provides clothes for them.

God banishes Cain after he murders his brother. Banishment was a terrible fate. Back then, there was no police or justice system. Your only protection was your kin and your tribe. If nobody was around you who would avenge injustice against you, your life was severely threatened. In great mercy, God marks Cain with a divine sign that will protect his life.

God regrets having created human beings and sends a flood to drown them all. But then he preserves Noah and his family and the animal world. After the flood, God makes a covenant with them and promises never ever to send such destruction again.

When the nations gang up against God, God creates division through language barriers and scatters the peoples. But God has not given up on his plan to bring all creation home to him. He now stops working with all humanity and instead zeros in on one man and one woman and their offspring, one people through whom God will bless the world and recreate harmony between God and all creation. That’s next week’s sermon topic.

These first eleven chapters of Genesis are packed full with truth. Among other things they tell us that God created this world, owns this world, loves this world, and wants to restore it to its original beauty, harmony, and peace. When people destroy that vision by sinning and by trying to be like God and by thinking they know it all, God responds by demanding accountability, but also with amazing grace. We as God’s beloved people are called to do our best to undo the damage sin has caused and is causing, and by bringing all people into union with God and each other, so that we can all experience joy in this life and paradise in the life to come. Amen.