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Who is responsible?

February 26, 2023

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7  |  Psalm 32  |  Matthew 4:1-11  |  Romans 5:12-19

When I read the Genesis story of the Garden of Eden for today’s blog, I groaned. The profoundly destructive influence this story has had on our Judeo-Christian cultures has bothered me since I learned to think critically. It has been analyzed, parsed, praised, debated, debunked, ridiculed, or accepted as fact by so many that there is little left to say, and certainly nothing that hasn’t been said before. So I’ll avoid my tree hugging, feminist, human rights rant and try to find meaning from the writers’ attempts to understand how they and this amazing universe came to be.

I realize that the intent of the combined readings for today is not just “the fall”, but the redemption from sin and death through Jesus. 

If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.  Romans 5: 17

However, I seem to be focused on the Genesis story and the verses which follow – the attempt of Adam and Eve to hide their disobedience from God. What two year old or teenager, or for that matter any of us, when told to stay away from something forbidden, does not reach out for it, or at least wonder why it’s forbidden and what would happen if we tried it? And who among us, when “caught,” does not try to think of some excuse or someone to blame?  “She gave it to me.” “The serpent told me it was okay.” From the smallest preschool classroom to the mightiest halls of government we can find examples of such thinking. We do not want to admit that we have made a decision and are responsible for the outcome, unless of course the outcome is positive.

I like to think there are three “r’s” of moral and ethical behavior: rights, respect, and responsibility. We cannot have the first without the others. Adam and Eve had the rights to the Garden of Eden and all that was in it. They also had the responsibility to keep and till it and to respect the will of God that they not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Since there were no other people around, they did not have to worry about respecting the rights of others.) They asserted their rights and ignored the respect and responsibilities.

It seems to me that our current ethos is focused too much on rights without concern for respect and responsibility. The helicopter parent who fails to teach the child responsibility, the news media that value ratings over truth, government which focuses on power rather than its responsibility to the people: all assert their presumed rights without respect for others, and without being held accountable for the responsibility to “keep and till” what has been given. This is not new or unique to our times. What I think is new is the endless access to examples of these behaviors which give them some legitimacy and give too many a perceived permission to do likewise, knowing they will not be held accountable.

I wonder if we have relied too much on the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness and have eschewed accepting our own responsibility for our thoughts and deeds.

Sally House

P.S.
A word about the redundant “free gift.”  A gift is free.  If it’s not free, it’s a bargaining chip.

P.P.S.
You can find pictures of the “real” Garden of Eden on line.