Lent 1 A + Away with shame + 3.1.20

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M. Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
(Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Ps. 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11)
Genesis 3:1-7
3 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?”
2-3 The Woman said to the serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’”
4-5 The serpent told the Woman, “You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.”
6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.
7 Immediately the two of them did “see what’s really going on”—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves. (The Message)
Today’s story of Adam and Eve in the garden is so iconic in our culture that we often focus on what we know about it rather than on the real story. We have heard how it tells us of how humanity first sinned and separated from God, and often that fault is blamed on women. But I would like to posit that it is in large part a story of shame. And not the shame on us as a culture that we deserve for making women out to be temptresses and leaders into sin. But rather it is the story of the serpent finding a way to make Adam and Eve feel that they lacked something. That they were somehow incomplete.
Before the Fall, Adam and Eve were whole human beings. They lacked for nothing in God’s pleasant garden that provided all of their needs. They even had a close relationship with their creator and could even talk with God. But, as often happens to us humans, they got focused on something in the center of the garden, something they had been told to avoid. Do you ever get stuck on something? You know it is not the most important but it distracts you and you become convinced that if you just had that, everything would be good. That is what happened to Adam and Eve. And rather than trust that it was not for them, they began to listen to the serpent’s lies.
The serpent said that they were not complete without the fruit of this tree. They tricked them into thinking that their worthiness was dependent on having more knowledge. Does that sound familiar? If I strive but a bit more, I will finally be a human being of value? Or if I have this wealth, or this power, it would all be perfect?
They were complete as they were. They had access to all knowledge via God, but the serpent would not have it. So the serpent convinced them to defy the specific instructions of God. Well, that didn’t go so well. And so they were cast out. And until Jesus came, and even now, we find ourselves wandering back to that place.
After they ate, they became aware of their nakedness. What had been natural before was now shameful. Do you remember a time in your childhood when you realized something that had seemed natural to yourself was shameful in the world? Do you remember that sinking feeling?
It is interesting to know that the words for “crafty” and “naked” in Hebrew are homonyms.[1] They are not the same, but in the hallowed Hebrew tradition of wordplay, they play together. They say something each about the other. That which causes us shame can be used by the deceiver to play tricks on us, tricks that would tell us we are not worthy.
But Jesus came into this world to show us that was a lie. That we are worthy, just as we are. Brené Brown says:  “When you get to a place where you understand that love and belonging, your worthiness is a birthright and not something you have to earn, anything is possible.”[2]
Somehow, Jesus knew about shame. He came into this world, and as he prepared to enter his ministry, he went into the desert, ironically to gain strength. And, as often happens when we begin to follow our call, Satan paid him a visit. But he would not fall for the tempter’s tricks. You see, Satan (the tempter) wanted to play the same game with Jesus. Convince him that he was lacking in something. See this bread? I know you are hungry. Have some. But man does not live by bread alone. How about trying to prove that God loves him by pitching himself off of the temple? If testing God didn’t work, how about power? The tempter could give him power over the nations. But Jesus was not ashamed. Jesus was whole. He already had the power he needed – power to love and to heal, inside himself.
As you enter this Lenten season, I encourage you to look at the ways in which you see yourself as incomplete. Acknowledge your nakedness in the world; that which brings you shame. And then begin to ask Jesus to show you how to forgive yourself, or others, and how to begin each day anew. Because Jesus came into the world to feed us with the bread that lasts forever, and to show us that God loves us so much that we can never do anything to tempt God not to love us. Jesus showed us that all the power of the world is less than the dust of Ash Wednesday. If we accept our love and belonging, our worthiness that is our birthright. You don’t have to earn it. You just have to be you; the best “you” you can be. And then go out and show the world the unashamed glory of God fully alive in you! Amen.

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