Most everything that is important in life has a path: there is a first, second, third, fourth point to the journey. As a line from a song in “The Sound of Music” says, “Nothing comes from nothing; nothing ever could…” I remain mesmerized by thoughts of the Universal Call to Holiness that is such a theme in Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium. How do new understandings that come from seeing it with clarity influence my life? Is there a path that makes it more likely that I answer that call? If so, what is it?
The path is the kerygma—the Good News of the Gospel. Today’s readings give us two important points of the kerygma path: Adam and Eve’s choice to veer from what God told them to do, and Jesus’ choice to handle temptation in a very different way. Today’s third reading, a deep one from Romans, describes how important these two points on the universal holiness journey are for each of us.
Let’s look at the readings.
Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7
How many times we have read or heard the story of Eve, Adam, the serpent, the fruit, and God! Do we take it to heart? Fr. Brian Bransfield, in his book, The Human Person According to John Paul II, quotes St. Pope John Paul, “the first sin…is described in the book of Genesis so precisely that is shows all the depth of the reality of man contained in it.” (p 122—quoted from the General Audience, December 20, 1978)
Bransfield goes on to say, “The experience of evil in the world is directly related to man’s free choice. God created man with a choice. The basic conditions of man’s choice arise from his identity within creation. Man is created in between. He is made from the highest, the breath of God, and the lowest, the mud of the earth.” (p 122-123)
Bransfield then names the seven steps of sin, as described in multiple General Audiences of St. Pope John Paul II and contained in Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body.
The seven steps are:
- Bypass the family structure—Satan approaches Eve alone.
- The innocent little question—“Did God really tell you not to eat of any of the trees of the garden?
- The lie—“You surely will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad.”
- Fear—Fear comes from giving in to the lie—Fear is an essential ingredient in every sin. Satan twists God’s words and introduces the fear of death.
- The choice and the act—Adam and Eve take the fruit that is forbidden and eat it.
- Hiding—hiding the truth about ourselves, covering it before others
- Blame—when we blame we hide the truth from ourselves.
As I look at these seven steps of sin and compare them to sin through the years in my life, I see: yes, that is the path I have taken, too. It is the human path.
And it is not the path to universal holiness. It is the path of original (and continuing) sin.
Matthew 4:1-11
So enter Jesus, the Christ. Enter Jesus, the new Adam. This Sunday we go back some in the narrative of Jesus. He has just been baptized. The Holy Spirit leads him into the desert to be tempted. Satan tries with Jesus what he has tried and succeeded with so many times. He starts the path of temptation and sin by getting Jesus alone. He starts the conversation. He offers Jesus options: Turn the stone to bread—get out of the natural order of things. Even IF you are the son of God, you are hungry. Use your power to satisfy yourself. It’s not all that different from what Satan did with Eve.
Jesus is ready. He answers the suggestion with Scripture, “You shall not live by bread alone.” He will not be tempted by the needs and urges of his body.
Satan is undaunted. He didn’t succeed with the suggestion for self-service, but he goes to the next step: the suggestion that God may not be fully trustworthy. Put the Father to the test, Satan suggests. He quotes Scripture to Jesus.
Again, Jesus is ready. He calls a spade a spade. “It is written,” Jesus says, “You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
Most likely, Satan is now seeing he is dealing with someone a cut above us other sinners. He takes Jesus to see all the kingdoms of the world. “Worship me,” Satan says, “and you may have them.” Ah, now, that’s a true lie. All the kingdoms of the world do not belong fully to Satan. They are not his to give.
Again, Jesus is ready—and maybe out of patience. He pulls out his aces to say, “The Lord your God you shall worship. Him only you shall serve.”
Satan left him—for the time.
Romans 5:12-19
Paul puts it all in context: Adam and Eve started it, but this human nature, a mix of God and mud, does not have the power or perspective to fully follow God’s way. But Jesus, also made of mud, gives a different response and so changes everything. His offering of himself to stand fully against evil, from baptism through the cross, makes a difference for us. It wasn’t what he proved. It was his great gift of self AND his example of gift of self.
Applications
And so, we begin Lent again. Temptations to satisfy our passions and lusts, to live for power and influence, to act from pride—those temptations come to us as they came to Adam and Eve and as they came to Jesus. Do we follow the mud or the breath of God?
How do we use this holy season to choose God’s way—and thus, to grow in holiness and claim some little part of the world for God?
Prayer
Lord, let me follow you. Help me overcome the mud and choose the Breath of God.
