Word to the Wise
Friday, February 13, 2015 - Friday in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 3:1-8 and Mark 7:31-37]The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. [Genesis]
How can something that is "good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom" be a bad thing? Didn't God declare all of creation to be "good?" God did so declare. And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a good thing. But God gave a clear and unmistakeable command, which the woman indicated she knew because she recited the command to the tempter. Adam and Eve were clearly disobedient. It is the content of their disobedience that creates a big problem. They thought that by eating that fruit, they would become like "gods who know what is good and what is evil."
The issue here is authority. The tempter leads Adam and Eve to believe that God is arbitrary and has no right to decide what they can and can't eat. In fact, God is placed on an equal basis with them because God is keeping something from them that they have a right to have. We can see the reasoning because it is still a common path of logic that leads to trouble.
If we are people of faith we must acknowledge that we are not God, and that God has given some clear commands in regard to certain things. God has also given us the gift of free will to obey or not obey. If we choose not to obey, we cannot blame anyone other than ourselves for the consequences. Adam and Eve forgot about the consequences - death. They thought they could be "gods." We "inherit" the same choices, but death remains a permanent feature of life. It would ultimately require another death to free us from death. AMEN
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