Word to the Wise
Saturday, February 13, 2021 - Saturday in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 3:9-24 and Mark 8:1-10]Then the Lord God said: "See! The man has become like one of us, knowing what is good and what is evil! Therefore, he must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever." The Lord God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken. [Genesis]
Although the words may not have occurred to the authors of the story of the fall of Adam and Eve, they knew the meaning of "passing the buck." Adam tries to blame Eve and, indirectly, to blame God for putting her there in the first place. Eve blames the serpent. In the end, all three [and subsequent humanity] suffer. St. Augustine called this the "original sin" and linked baptism to it as a necessity to overcome the ancestral guilt for it. The consequences for our first parents were dire and we share those consequences. Choices have consequences.
There are many "what if's" that theological and philosophical speculation could offer. "What if" Adam and Eve had not chosen to eat forbidden fruit?" for example. The biblical authors were not concerned with those questions. The hard necessities of life - labor in the field and labor in the womb - are the consequence of choosing a material/psychological benefit over God, a form of idolatry. We know this now from our own experience! Whatever form of development has taken place in humans coming to experience disobedience and guilt, it had to start somewhere. The story reminds us that we can choose to obey God's commands or not. If we disobey, we choose something else besides God and suffer the consequences. If we obey, we choose God and enjoy the consequences. AMEN