First Sunday of Lent, Cycle A
GENESIS 2:7-9 and 3:1-7
The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman:
– Did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree in the garden”?
The woman said to the serpent:
– We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, or you will die.”
But the serpent said to the woman:
– You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
This is a summary extracted from chapters 2 and 3. Its author (whom we call “The Yahwist” because he usually calls God “Yahweh”) is concerned with the creation of man and his condition on earth.
He sees that in the human being there is pain and toil with effort. He sees, above all, that there is a dangerous tendency to evil, to believe oneself a god, to enjoy what one desires against the Law of God.
And he constructs this beautiful story to express all this: his message is magnificent: God has created the human being. The human being is a living being of the earth, like all, but God has put his spirit in him, and has given him laws to live by. The human being despises these laws, believing himself wiser than God, and from this come his misfortunes.
Of course, this is not the account of something that happened. The human being did not historically begin this way, nor was there ever any Garden of Eden. It is a story invented by the Yahwist to send that magnificent message.
The author is not interested in knowing purely out of scientific curiosity what happened a million years ago: he is interested in knowing what the human being is, and expresses with this story something fundamental of his faith: with God, light and order; without God, chaos and misfortune.
This will be one of the most important lines of argument in the entire Book of Genesis, and even in the Bible as a whole.
ROMANS 5:12-19
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned…
If, because of the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
So then, as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
Paul uses the text of Genesis and develops it. He accepts the symbol of Adam, the first man, and presents Jesus as the “new Adam.” From Jesus comes new life, the life of children. Adam symbolizes man subject to sin. Jesus is the man, Son of God, who triumphs over sin. Through Him, through Jesus, we can all be children, overcome temptation, enter the Kingdom.
But this text is obscure. It seems to indicate that Paul used the Genesis account as if it were historical, or applied it as such. In short, it creates more problems than it solves.
I suggest replacing it with Romans 7:5 and following.
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
…
Indeed, willing the good is within my reach, but not accomplishing it, for I do not do the good I want, but I practice the evil I do not want. And if I do what I do not want, it is not I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
I discover, therefore, this law: even when I want to do good, it is evil that presents itself to me.
For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man, but I perceive another law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
It is a text in which Paul gives a magnificent description of “the condition of a sinner.” I do not see what is to my advantage, and even when I do, I do the opposite.
We can very well call this “original sin,” that which is at the origin of my sins, that darkness that makes me confuse good with evil, and that impotence that makes me choose what is not to my advantage even though I know it is not to my advantage.
And the ending is magnificent: Who will free me from that dark force that kills me? Jesus Christ, the Liberator.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.